Quote:
Originally Posted by skinsfan69
01 Pats did not have the most talent. That is for damn sure. But they were the best team. Look at the 05 Redskins? We played some of the shitiest teams in the NFL on our playoff run. We got to play teams that were on their 2nd and 3rd qb's. But no one cares. A win is a win in the NFL.
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There was the Rams game...and that was it right?
Yeah, a win as a win, and the goal of the game is to win, but not all wins are of equal difficulty, obviously. The 01 Pats didn't get a lot of quality wins, and you could make a case that there were teams more deserving of their playoff spot than they were. But due to the way scheduling is designed to help lesser teams win more games (thus, parity), NE just happened to win 11 games.
I mean, obviously the biggest function of luck was Bledsoe getting injured...the only time he missed games in his career. Thats not going to be an 11 win team with Bledsoe, not even close.
Even with Brady, they lacked a lot of talent. I mean, they were among the better half of teams that year, but I mean shouldn't have been able to run with Oakland or Pittsburgh, much less the Rams.
The tuck rule received a lot of publicity, but what sometimes goes unnoticed is that had the weather not been such a big factor in that game, the score wouldn't have even been close.
Oakland lost the last three games of their season after starting 10-3 and clinching their division in Week 14. They lost to Tennessee, Denver, and someone else that year to end the season, all three on the last play of the game. Crazy finishes, too. But thats how close they came to securing the No. 2 seed, and being able to blow out an inferior New England team in the divisional round, assuming they even made it that far.
But that's the role that luck plays in football. Makes legends out of players who aren't necessarily deserving (and Brady would become deserving within 2 years, but we didn't know that).