Patriots earn spot among the best ever
Deadlines fall at the most inopportune times when you consider last night saw the most important regular season game in NFL history, carried by both CBS, NBC and the NFL network, in the first mass broadcast of a game since Super Bowl I.
But, seeing Armchair Quarterback runs in Sunday’s edition and seeing our deadline is Saturday afternoon, I will now have to carry on like the biggest regular season game in league history never happened hours before when the New England Patriots went for regular season perfection against the New York Giants. Either that or I can do like the Mary Tyler Moore show did years ago when they correctly predicted, in their pre-taped show, that the Pittsburgh Steelers would beat the Minnesota Vikings in that year’s Super Bowl. However, I’m not quite ready to predict the outcome of the Patriot-Giant game.
While not ready to predict the outcome, I will take a step up and declare the Patriots one of the best teams ever to lace up cleats in the NFL. Are they the best, as a dynasty? No. I think the Steeler teams of the 1970s with Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Greene and Jack Lambert were a more dominant force, winning four Super Bowls in their era.
Sure, the Patriots will have won four Super Bowls in seven years if they win this time, but let’s remember that until this year, the Patriots were not always the favorites. Actually, we should remember they won all three Super Bowls by three points, the first of which, against the Rams, came despite them being a huge underdog. The next win was in a dog fight with the Carolina Panthers during a Super Bowl remembered as much for ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ as the game itself. And, the third ring came during the return of T.O. from a broken leg.
However, bottom line is they have not been dominant as the Steelers were in the 1970s or even as dominant as the Montana, Rice and Craig Niner teams of the 1980s. Actually, I would put the Patriot dynasty, and yes, it is officially a dynasty now, up there with the 1990 Cowboys. It was America’s Team which went from rags to riches in the 1990s, rising up from a 1-15 team to Super Bowl glory, similar to Tom Brady coming up from nowhere with the injury to Drew Bledsoe to lead the Pats to their first of three, maybe four, Super Bowl crowns.
While the Pats aren’t the best dynasty ever, win or lose last night, I have to put them up there with the best team of all time as far as domination during one season. Sure, the 1970s Steelers with their Iron Curtain may have been able to compete and perhaps the 1985 Super Bowl Shuffle Chicago Bears with Walter Peyton, but pound for pound, in a one game showdown, I think the 2007 Pats beat all comers. And yes, this includes the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins whose record they are chasing.
When we consider the entire body of work, the way they just destroyed professional teams on a weekly basis until their near disasters against the Ravens and Eagles late in the season, it’s hard to ignore we’ve been watching gridiron greatness in a time when the salary cap has been installed to assure a level playing field and defend against dynasties. Undefeated or not, the Patriots must be considered one of the best of all times, provided they go on to win the Super Bowl. Many a great team has been dethroned just before it’s coronation to greatness and to be considered a great, you must first win the ring. In this case, the Pats are running out of fingers to fill the rings.