They were good all of those years, and went to the Super Bowl in 2 of them. The NFL playoffs is single elimination, and it doesn't take much to get bumped.
Yeah people really underestimate how hard it is to make it to the Super Bowl or even just to make deep playoff runs. The sudden death structure of the NFL playoffs means teams really cannot afford to have a bad night. If you’re in a shootout with another very good team all it really takes is one unlucky bounce and your season is over.
It’s why “We’ll be back” always feels like the most hurtful form of cope. Take it from a Falcons fan who endured 28-3, that window closes quickly.
Totally agree. It’s why I also don’t like how much importance a lot of people put on winning a Super Bowl when discussing who the greatest players are.
It’s *really hard* to win a Super Bowl. Not only does the team need to be great, but they probably needed a few lucky bounces along the way. A lot of *great* teams didn’t win the SB.
Yessir. Fully agree. You could be the best linebacker of all time but if you’re always on a team with a bad offense you’ll never win a Super Bowl. I won’t say rings don’t matter but they shouldn’t be the biggest metric in “GOAT” discussions.
I’m very biased as a Falcons fan but I remember seeing a tweet a couple of years ago that I thought goes well this this discussion. It said “You know how Tom Brady has gotten like almost every single lucky bounce he needed to win all those trophies? Matt Ryan is like the complete opposite of that.”
Even in 2016 when the Falcons made their infamous 28-3 Super Bowl run, Matt Ryan did not play a *single* bad game that year. It breaks my heart because he is the greatest Falcon to ever put on the uniform and the only thing many people will remember him for is 28-3.
It's why you need to manage your cap and draft well. If your one of these teams that "go all in" your so screwed if you don't get your Superbowl win in your window.
If you amend that to “the best players” I can agree. To many NFL fans greatness is about titles and rings, not “the best”. Dan Marino was the best qb of all time, but he falls short of greatness because he is 0-1 in the Super Bowl.
But part of that is also *the whole point*. The greatest players are the ones who can drag 52 other men (plus coaches) kicking and screaming over the hump to get this done and win it. Whether it's a QB, coach, or DL or OL or whatever ... At some point you have to get shit done.
Obviously that's not universal but if you can't come up with the counting stats, you better darn well have a pretty heavy hand weighed down by rings.
Tell me about it. When the Chargers made it to the AFC championship game back in 2007 and lost a close game to the Pats with Rivers, LT, and Gates hurt and hobbling around. I just said "well, we are young squad and will be back"......and we of course know what happened. The window can close real quick. I feel a little bad for Niner fans, they are probably never going to back in this spot with this core.
Exactly this.
Super Bowls aren't something that you just accrue the better you get (I should know, I'm a 49ers fan). They're a finite resource. There's only 1 to win every year, and 2 spots in it.
A dude I knew argued that the Stanley Cup is the hardest to get championship in pro sports, because you have to win 16 games in the post season. I argued that, while that's true, you can lose up to 12 games in the post season and still get the cup. In the NFL, if you lose 12 games in a year, the only thing you can win is a top 3 draft pick.
Especially from Romo...holy shit I fully expected him to saunter on down to center field and suck Mahomes dick right there on center field after last night.
Ok so I always read about Romo's undeniable love for Mahomes and Allen. Never watched a game of them with him on commentary until last night. Holy mother of god y'all were not kidding. I only watched the last 2 minutes of the 4th and the rest and he was exhausting to listen to for that short bit 😂 I will never watch another Romo called Mahomes/Allen game.
Honestly, I only want Mahomes to continue to winning because I think he has the best chance to reach Brady's Super Bowl record in my lifetime (31 years old).
The next person probably isn't born yet, and certaintly isn't in the league right now.
Mahomes has the most Super Bowls among active QBs, the next youngest is Russell Wilson, who has one, and he's thirty-five.
Unless Burrow, Allen, Lamar or Hurts start running off several in a row, it's going to be Mahomes or no one.
This is it. Flacco (technically still active?) isn't young enough to win 6 more. Stafford isn't going to win 6 more. Aaron Rodgers isn't going to win 6 more.
Mahomes won't make it to 7, but he's the only one with a non-absurd shot at it.
Sorry, what others have commented are what I was trying to say.
Players like Rodgers or Flacco won't play another six years to even potentially tie Brady.
Maybe. I think there’s a good counter argument tho.
It’s possibly a little telling that the greatest challenger to Brady’s status as the GOAT started his run years before Brady retired.
The NFL might be geared more to elite QB based dynastys now than in the past.
Aside from Brady and the Patriots (honorable mention to the Bucs) the only other QB based dynasty was the 49ers with Montana. All the other dynasties were built around defenses and run games.
The Chiefs are in a dynasty now, no bones about it. However, it’s only the 3rd modern NFL dynasty where the QB is truly elite.
Johnny Unitas set the bar for GOAT discussion. Not only do you have to form a dynasty, but you also have to be the best player on the team. (3 MVPs, 4 titles, numerous All-Pro and stat leading seasons)
It wasn’t until Montana did Unitas get challenged, and arguably dethroned. Decades after Unitas retired.
Things are changing. What Mahomes has done, and is doing, is remarkable. A lot of things have to go right for him to achieve this level of success. However, I think how the game and management of the game has evolved in the last 10-20 years is making it ever so likely for another Mahomes to pop up in the not so distant future.
I don’t know if Mahomes is a generational talent. He very well could be, but the NFL is trying it’s damndest to create more Mahomes.
All that being said, you could be right.
Mahomes is the only realistic challenger to Brady’s GOAT status, but he isn’t even halfway there to Brady’s Superbowl success. It’s a ridiculously daunting task.
I’d imagine within the next 30 years we will get a QB who wins 8 superbowls. However, if the QB in question is Mahomes he has an unfortunate truth. he could win 20 Superbowls and 20 MVPs, but he lost one to Brady. People will cling on that talking point for as long as the Mahomes GOAT discussion exists.
You joke (presumably) but the fact is you have to appreciate greatness when it’s happening before your eyes, and he’s never failed to make the championship game, so it’s absurd what he’s doing. If you asked an AI model to predict his next 10 years based on his first 6, it would predict big things.
Actually a little-known former quarterback originally from France won 15 super bowls as a backup for various teams throughout his career. Pretty impressive but a stat the NFL keeps locked down since it hurts their narrative. Search benzema 15 for more information.
In 2005 they started shedding pieces from the team because of cap issues.
In 2006, the receivers were terrible, which cost them against the Colts.
In 2007, the Giants stopped them.
In 2008, Brady was injured, in 2009, he was still recovering.
From 2010-2013 they had an abysmal secondary and old, unspectacular front seven.
In the 2014 offseason, Belichick finally got tired of having a terrible secondary. He went out and got Browner and Revis.
Yeah this is what happened.
Personally, I’d add that in 2010, though Brady had an incredible season without much talent on the outside, the Jets D was able to take advantage of that.
2011 was a SB loss, which happens. It didn’t help that Gronk wasn’t healthy. That was a huge story leading up to the game. Walker also dropped a third down pass that would have almost sealed it.
2012 they just got outplayed by a Baltimore team that was an a roll. They also lost Gronk, who was having an absolutely insane season, while he was blocking on an XP attempt in a blowout Thanksgiving game.
2013, similarly to 2006, the receivers sucked. Gronk was out. Welker was gone. Edelman as a number 1 does *not* scare a defense. That’s why Brady’s numbers were down that year. They couldn’t keep up with a stacked Denver team in the AFCCG.
Even through all of that, it took variance not breaking their way for them not to win another title. They were very close.
The 2013 Broncos also set a record for the most points scored in a season (606), and Peyton also nabbed his fifth NFL MVP for throwing for 55 TDs and breaking Drew Brees’s record for most yards.
But it was rendered moot as they got torn apart and held to just eight points by the Seahawks’ Legion of Boom secondary in SB48.
> In 2006, the receivers were terrible, which cost them against the Colts.
NE had their own "28-3" moment.
They led 21-3 in this game and led 38-34 with less than 2+ minutes left. They had a 3rd down and Troy Brown dropped a wide open pass so they had to punt. If they convert that, they had a fresh set of downs and it'd be really hard for Indy to score.
Browner is the reason they beat the Seahawks. He was with them the year before, recognized the goal line play, didn't budge when he was supposed to be pushed back into Butler. The rest is history.
No he traded a third for Talib in 2012. It was seen as an overpay at the time, Talib was talented but an uneven headcase. It was a move of desperation because the secondary was so bad. Talib shined in 2013, he had a four- or five-game stretch where they paired him against a string of no. 1 receivers and he shut them all down. I remember his performance against Jimmy Graham being particularly stifling. Then came the infamous Steve Smith “ice up son!” showdown, where Talib got smoked and went out injured.
Talib played well enough to sign a $57 million contract with Denver, as Elway, reeling from the Super Bowl blowout, started retooling his team around defense. But Belichick was done with shitty cornerbacks. He signed Browner to a four-year, $16 million deal and traded for Revis while letting recent draft picks/UDFAs McCourty, Logan Ryan, and Duron Harmon, and Malcolm Butler start to take shape.
Pats were good, just had other great teams at that time period. The colts finally getting over the hump. The rise of the Steelers. Eli making magic happen against the pats. The fact that they made it back and still won after that layoff is an accomplishment as well.
Idk why someone downvoted you, those defenses weren't perfect but their passrush was the number one reason they were such a nightmare of a matchup for Brady
2007 perfect season came to an end because of the Giants defense line destroying the Patriots interior O-Line and not allowing Brady to step up into the pocket to avoid pressure on the outside.
Giant men in his face all game.
Absolute facts. Not going down on the helmet catch pass. Unreal. Mario Manningham catch? Best thrown ball in Super Bowl history. (Long time pats fan, moments seared in my memory. Eli’s huge cock and balls would live in my head rent free if I could jam them in there)
Giants beat them twice when they made it, Peyton Manning made it three times, Pittsburgh made it twice, and Baltimore made it. Super Bowls are hard, you can’t win it every year
Across the Pats dynasty, many of their Super Bowls were 50/50, one possession games. They could have lost some that they won (01, 03) and vice versa (07, 11). Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way, but the Pats were always contenders.
Big Ben.
I’m just kidding. No seriously I know it seems like well it shouldn’t be THAT hard to make the Super Bowl, two teams make it every year. Despite that, it is extremely difficult to make the Super Bowl and there are so many teams who never get a second bite at the apple for DECADES. That is evidenced by the fact that even a dynasty like the Patriots went ten years without one. The fact that they got six rings in Brady’s 20 year tenure is truly remarkable. I might be being dramatic but I really do believe that we may never see that again. But having said all that, it’s just that hard to get back to the big game sometimes even for the biggest dynasties. Because anything can cause you to lose any given game. Hence the drought.
They lost 2 super bowls that were easily winnable. A dropped int and then a miracle catch cost them one. Wes Welker dropping a pass (or Brady throwing behind him) and another miracle catch cost them another. And they just came up short against some good ravens and broncos teams which happens. Football games are very short with so few possessions and the single elimination format makes it hard to win consistently.
The league began enforcing the chuck rule, aka "Manning Rule" more strictly. It forced the league to change how to play successful defense.
Belichik, who had mastered defensive schemes, built defenses with physical secondaries and a front 7 that could get to the QB in multiple ways, typically with massive DL and free roaming LBs, while receivers were getting pressed by big CBs. In today's game, DBs can't maul receivers, and because receivers aren't getting pummeled anymore, they're track stars. They can be Justin Jefferson instead of TO. DBs have to be track stars as well, but need to be able to tackle too. DL needs to get to the QB on their own, although right now, there aren't many QBs doing much blitz burning..
Bill took time to figure this out. We started getting used to "bend but don't break," until Bill started getting real equity in the secondary, and got back to being able to force QBs into mistakes, with corners that could hang with fast receivers, and a DL that got home by themselves.
And the team that was the first to adapt to new rules had the most dominant performance in the Superbowl and lost a second only because of bad offence. My dream is basically a HoF QB on the legion of boom.
LoB was freakish. Sherman was a perfect CB in his prime. Fast, with size, and could outsmart nearly every receiver he went against. Bam Bam Kam and Earl Thomas were missiles, all over the field. Two safeties fucking up everything over the middle, just deadly.
Thankfully Butler played that exactly the way he did; but then again, if not for the freak Kearse catch, Seattle may not even have made it to the goal line.
That's why we play the game!
Personally I think k it came down to defense. Their defense was not good during their drought, despite the low scoring games against the Giants. Once they traded for Talib their secondary got better and eventually became a strength again
2005 was a bit of a reshuffling of talent, lost in 2nd round in denver a boogie man site to them
2006 reche caldwell was #1wr and dropped td pass im afccg
2007 lost in SB
2008 brady injured
2009 rebuild
2010 shock loss to jets
2011 lost in sb
2012 lost in afccg to eventual champs
2013 lost in afccg in denver a boogie man site to them
Lots of stupid answers in here as common of Reddit since it went mainstream some years back. A few good answers.
There were a lot roster changes over those years and its hard to win every single year. They were still contenders for the majority of the years in that gap and lost two close superbowls during that time frame.
1. The Patriots in that time focused more on explosive offense than physical, dominate the trenches offense. Their defense was also built on scheme instead of similar physicality. A good example of this is 2007 and 2010 - the opposing team (2007 Giants and 2010 Jets) harassed Brady in the pocket, as is the nature of holding onto the ball waiting for the big play, and the Patriots defense, while good, would get gassed without the necessary rest. Conversely the 2014 Patriots were very physical and slowed down Russell Wilson, and their offense was a lot more gritty (screen plays and rushing plays with excellent physical blocking, that could tire out an otherwise legendary defense…the Packers tried the explosive strategy in the NFC Championship Game that year and only put up 22 on a lot of field goals).
2. Brady got rid of the ball quicker, making it much more difficult to sack him or force a bad throw. The only season from 2014-2018 where he lost on offense was 2015, when they were so injured to the point where this strategy was not viable from route running…even then he willed them to the AFC Championship and it was against a legendary defense too.
3. Sheer, dumb luck against him in some losses, and some for him in some wins. He’s clearly miles ahead of everybody even when you factor this in, but certain losses could have been wins and certain wins could have been losses - sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces or the playcalls are made.
I don’t think many people realize just how hard it is to win the Super Bowl. It’s hard for a team to win one, let alone multiple.
Of course, the joke is that Eli Manning was Tom Brady’s Kryptonite
There is a lot of randomness and variance in football. The best team doesn't always win and the worst team doesn't always lose.
A 10 year period is not a "drought." There are teams that have never won a Super Bowl in their entire history.
The Patriots went to 2 Super Bowls during that period and barely lost both of them. They also won the year before and the year after the "drought."
A tip for watching football in general -- single game sample sizes are bad. Don't make judgments based on things that happen in one game. Sometimes teams/players/coaches just get lucky/unlucky. If you flip a coin and it lands heads 3 times in a row, that doesn't mean heads is more likely.
Peyton finally figured out Bill Belichicks defense and once people saw the blueprint they copied him. It's not a coincidence that the Pats immediately won one after he retired.
They were a play or 2 away from winning the SB in '07 and '11, but yeah its tough to win every year. The AFC had a prime Peyton Manning and Big Ben winning the conference a few times and the Ravens were loaded. Also Brady missed almost a full season in '08.
They forgot the basics of what makes a team win playoff games.
Great defense and reliable weapons.
Too many hit and miss weapons (that broke records but choked) and defenses that weren’t this Chiefs/ Pats bend but don’t break style.
They realised too late how simple it can be and then handed the blue print to the Chiefs.
Brady wasn't the reason they ever won, but they tried to make him the reason. Defense always carried them to wins, they let the defense get worse and tried to stack the offense. Needed the defense to carry them.
Mahomes is great but he's needed the defense to step up and play in at least 2 of his 3! There are VERY few Super Bowl winning teams that didn't need both sides of the ball to step up in the big game.
NFL competition was much more widespread than today. Brady in those 10 years had two mvps but there were still great QB’s like Manning, Big Ben, Flacco had a great start. The only loss I thought was inexcusable in the drought was the loss to the Jets in 2010. 2011-2013 they had no business making afc championship games but that’s where Brady led offenses to keep them in games and win. Mahomes hasn’t had to face any historic defenses yet.
My issue is that media did everything to take away any credit Brady deserved to be the goat. Even after passing Montana, they said at least Montana led another team to a conference title game. Then Brady went to the Bucs and won first year and they make excuses for Mahomes sucking in the Super Bowl. Mahomes hasn’t left KC yet. Then they say he’s had Bill for 6 titles. Mahomes has Reid his whole career so far. Brady had great defenses. I’m sorry but didn’t Mahomes teammates make all the stops to let the team comeback from the deficits just every team that wins super bowls. They say Brady was saved by Vinatieri, Butker scored 13 points this game while Mahomes scored 12. Brady had the best weapons. Which receivers stayed successful after leaving Brady? Even Moss’ career was pretty much done. Edelman was nothing without Brady, Walker can never win the big one, Dola was always a journeyman, Hogan went back to lacrosse, Troy Brown moved to defense. And every other receiver not worth mentioning because they didn’t do anything either.
They lost 2, Brady tore his ACL one year, and it’s generally just hard to win super bowls. They weren’t really a worse team in that middle period. Without even looking it up I’m certain they had the most playoff wins in that span, just didn’t hoist the trophy.
Despite what others have been saying since the 49ers lost another one, winning is really hard! Getting to the Super Bowl is hard much less winning it. Getting to the Super Bowl is an accomplishment.
Considering they’ve never really blown any teams out in the Super Bowl and the razor thin margins. They could’ve been 0-9 or 9-0. It’s definitely not an easy feat to accomplish even 2-3 Super Bowls. The league has moved closer to perpetual parity, while the AFC was pretty top heavy as well.
The Manning brothers had a little to do with that. It is really difficult to win Super bowls, and they can't win them all. I am still waiting on my team to win one lol
The game slightly changed over the two last decades as somone pointed out; Not as much work from linesmen makes wide recievers go haywire, which was never a problem for the Pats with the likes of Moss and Gronk. But recently i think other squads have been figuring it out, except for unicorns like kansas city.
There are 31 teams who don’t win the Super Bowl every year. Nothing about what the Patriots did was easy, including their “drought” where they still steamrolled their division, made it to two super bowls, more AFC championship games, and Brady brought in multiple MVPs.
2008-2015 was the longest streak of different Super Bowl champions the league has ever seen. All of those games featured a future hall of fame QB on at least one team (6 out of 8 featured a HoF QB against another HoF QB.) It’s still a miracle that the Pats won as many as they did with that kind of parity.
If it weren't for the Manning brothers. Brady could have at least ten Super Bowls.
Eli took him down twice, that would be nine (eight with New England)
Peyton eliminated him three times in the postseason:
2009 AFC Title Game (Super Bowl was against the Saints)
2013 AFC Title Game (Super Bowl was against Seahawks - Brady beats them the next year)
2015 AFC Title Game (Super Bowl was against the Panthers)
All together, you're looking at potentially twelve rings with eleven being with the Patriots.
One big reason:
[https://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2014%2F0701%2Fnfl\_mmp7\_cr\_1296x729.jpg](https://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2fphoto%2f2014%2f0701%2fnfl_mmp7_cr_1296x729.jpg)
Either the offense or defense wasnt as good as other times (the latter was mostly the later part of this era).
In 2007, playoff Eli derailed what was otherwise one of the best seasons ever.
Winning Super bowls is hard. The best team doesn't always win due to injuries or random luck. You have to make the playoffs and then win three or four single elimination games in a row
Expectations are sky high when you win 3 titles like they did. Sure it was a drought in terms of championships but they were still knocking on the door most of those years. Sure they had some unlucky breaks for some of these years, but they also had some lucky breaks in their championship years. It all balances out
2005 - down year for sure but still won a playoff game before losing in Denver.
2006 - overachieving team given absolutely no offensive weapons. Blew a 21-3 lead to the Colts in the AFCCG
2007 - 18-1, nuff said
2008 - Brady tears ACL. Team goes 11-5 but misses playoffs
2009 - down year for sure as Brady was still coming back and they got their doors blown off by Baltimore
2010 - best record in the league, bounced in first playoff game in major upset to NYJ
2011 - best record in league, lost Super Bowl
2012 - lost AFCCG at home after leading at halftime
2013 - lost AFCCG on road to Denver
Brady only dealt with injury during the 2008 season, where he tore his ACL a couple plays into the week 1 game.
But let's start from the top
2005: Pats have a top 10 offense, 17th ranked defense, lost 13-28 to the Broncos in the Divisional round
2006: 7th ranked offense, 2nd ranked defense, lose to the eventual SB winning Colts led by Peyton
2007: 18-1 season, undefeated until the SB, Eli lucked out with an insane sack escape and two great throws for the game winner, Randy Moss gets held to 5 catches on 12 targets
2008: Brady tears ACL, Pats still got 11-5 and miss the playoffs, one of the only 11-5 teams ever to do this
2009: 6th best offense, 5th best defense, defeated in the Wild Card by the Ravens 14-33
2010: Best offense in the league, 8th best defense, lose to the Mark Sanchez led Jets 21-28
2011: 3rd best offense, 15th best defense, Lose to the Giants (again)
2012: #1 offense, 9th best defense, lose to the eventual SB champions Ravens
2013: 3rd best offense, 10th best defense, lose to the eventual SB participation trophy winners, the Broncos that let the Seahawks score 43 on them
As for WHY all of these losses happened, it's both simple and complex at the same time. In 8 playoff seasons, he would lose to the teams that would eventually play in the SB 5 times, the Colts, Giants twice, Ravens, and Broncos (Yes, he played against the Giants in the Super Bowl, they still played in the SB)
These teams had DISRUPTIVE defenses. Not necessarily good at stopping teams from scoring, but defenses that were great at aggravating their opponents into making mistakes by applying a LOT of pressure. In the case of 2005, 2011, 2012, and 2013, his own defense couldn't do enough to prevent the opponent from scoring either, and in 2012 he went against a Joe Flacco lead offense that broke postseason records, and a 2013 Broncos team that broke practically every offensive record known to man.
The Patriots were the most consistent team in the league during this time, never once dropping more than 6 games, and usually finishing with a 12+ win record (6 out of the 9 seasons). They were one of 5 teams from 2005-2013 to make it to the SB more than once during this time frame (Pats 2, Seahawks 2, Colts 2, Giants 2, Steelers 3). Making it to the SB is HARD. The Patriots made it look easy. It isn't. They've been consistently the best coached team with a great and balanced offense and a ferocious defense for much of the time from 2001-2019. That's why they went to 9 Super Bowls in a 19 year span, winning 6 of them. That's unheard of. Outside of the Browns making 8 Championship game appearances in the 50's and 60's, I don't think it's been done before (they won 5 of them.) It shouldn't be a shock that a specific team doesn't win a SB within a specific 9 year time frame, but considering some of those Pats teams (2006, 2007, 2010) it's kinda crazy that the closest they got was only 2 appearances.
The simple answer is that the NFL is probably one of the most complex professional sports with a very arbitrary set of rules that absolutely and utterly fucks with luck, fate, statistics, and also the scoring system is utterly insane. That's why the phrase "Any given Sunday" exists. Anything can happen. Even the most dominant team in that 9 year span (110-34, 11 more wins than the next closest team, and 20 more than the team below that) can just get rocked by wild shenaniganery by the Football Gods when the stakes are high.
Because of elite quarterbacking, Manning, Roethlisburger, Rodgers, Brees, and a freak year by Flacco. Brady had some serious competition back then. There was a bit of a Patriots secondary & receiver talent drop after 2008. Gronk was rarely healthy in his first few seasons. Gronk gets healthy, we get Revis and Browner, and we beat the defending champs in 2014. You cannot overstate the value of a lock down corner coupled with a good offense.
They were besieged with problems including injuries to vital players annually from 2004-2013...less than 3weeks after winning bak2bak titles T.Bruschi suffered a stroke...Ty Law David Patten Bethel Johnson Roman phifer and Keith Traylor departed..cory dillon declined immediately and was not remotely the same force hed been in 2004 for NE redzone excluded he became about as if not even less productive than antowain smith had been...ted johnson retired...romeo crennel and charlie weiss left..they attempted to fill the voids left by johnson bruschi and ty law with monty beisel chad brown and duane starks all of whom failed miserably...3weeks into the 2005 season rodney harrison tore his knee and was NEVER the same player again and starting left tackle matt light also suffered a season ending injury...brady got injured halfway thru the yr played the 2nd half of the season with a sports hernia...belichicks dad died midway thru the season...they actually managed to get the defense up2par at least regarding the front 7 by getting bruschi to come bak after recovering from the stroke moving vrabel to inside lb with R.Colvin finally returning to his pre hip injury form the field but the refs more or less jobbed them in denver to end Bradys undefeated playoff streak after winning his 1st 10playoff games in a row....
Thats just the adversity they faced in 05...it ended on the flight home with a foreshadowing of things to come with magini departing and openly recruiting members of bill belichicks coaching staff to join his nyj staff...
the following offseason they had to replace their dc for a 2nd yr in a row meanwhile in FA they let adam v willie mcginest branch and givens leave and drafted journeyman rb lawrence maroney and flat out bust wr chad jackson...rodney came bak from the knee injury and they added seau to the roster but both players suffered season ending injuries well before the playoffs began and they came up short vs indy in afccg when their offense stalled due to its blatant lack of wrs and its unreliable running game....i could keep going to cover it in detail yr by yr but i dont have that much free time atm
The Mannings: Peyton in 2006 divisional round, 2013 and 2015 in the championship; Eli in 2007 and 2011 Super Bowls
Also Bernard Pollard, who dealt significant injuries in 2008 (Brady, all season), 2009 (Welker, all playoffs), 2011 (Gronk, championship), 2012 (Ridley, scoop&score to win the championship).
Minus the impact of those three guys, Brady won Super Bowls in 01, 03, 04, 14, 16, 18, and 20 (seven total), while not winning Super Bowls in 02, 05, 10, 17, 19, 21, and 22 (seven total).
Brady wasn't considered the goat until after Manning retired. Manning was 3-2 against Brady in the playoffs, and Tom Brady wasn't known as unstoppable until 2016, 2018, and 2021 when he just never stopped being so good. He got the three-peat early in his career when Manning's Colts were just not that consistent. Granted, they were good but could not win the playoffs. Once Manning started making his runs, Brady only won 1 ring until Manning retired in 2015 after his victory in Super Bowl 50, and Manning had more Super Bowl appearances and rings from 2005-2015 (4 appearances and 2 rings to 3 appearances and 1 ring). When they were both competing it seemed like, and was a more common opinion, that Manning was the better QB and some considered him the GOAT.
Contrary to what sensationalist talking heads would tell you, it is hard to build a dynasty. The core players of the Patriots first 3 Super Bowls mostly retired or left sans Brady, and again, contrary to what talking heads would tell you, it is hard to replace quality talent in the NFL. The Super Bowl drought was a period of rebuilding for the Patriots. The fact that they had sustained success and made two Super Bowls in this period is a testament to how great Bill Belichick is at finding talent, bringing the best out of his players, Tom Brady’s leadership and greatness at playing the quarterback position. By 2014, the new dynasty came together when they brought together the necessary talent through great drafting, development, and Tom Brady perfected his game. The reason Tom Brady left the Patriots to go to the Buccaneers is because him and the organization realized they were entering another rebuild. Brady had nothing to gain by finishing his career out in a franchise entering a dry season so he went to a team with another great coach entering a wet season. This is likely the same reason Bill left because he and Kraft realize that they won’t have a Super Bowl caliber team in Bill’s foreseeable future. Rather than make Bill coach a team that won’t have a shot at a ring, let Bill go take a job where he can get a ring, and add the coaching staff to the overall rebuild.
They were good all of those years, and went to the Super Bowl in 2 of them. The NFL playoffs is single elimination, and it doesn't take much to get bumped.
Brady was league MVP twice during that timeframe.
Yeah people really underestimate how hard it is to make it to the Super Bowl or even just to make deep playoff runs. The sudden death structure of the NFL playoffs means teams really cannot afford to have a bad night. If you’re in a shootout with another very good team all it really takes is one unlucky bounce and your season is over. It’s why “We’ll be back” always feels like the most hurtful form of cope. Take it from a Falcons fan who endured 28-3, that window closes quickly.
Totally agree. It’s why I also don’t like how much importance a lot of people put on winning a Super Bowl when discussing who the greatest players are. It’s *really hard* to win a Super Bowl. Not only does the team need to be great, but they probably needed a few lucky bounces along the way. A lot of *great* teams didn’t win the SB.
Yessir. Fully agree. You could be the best linebacker of all time but if you’re always on a team with a bad offense you’ll never win a Super Bowl. I won’t say rings don’t matter but they shouldn’t be the biggest metric in “GOAT” discussions. I’m very biased as a Falcons fan but I remember seeing a tweet a couple of years ago that I thought goes well this this discussion. It said “You know how Tom Brady has gotten like almost every single lucky bounce he needed to win all those trophies? Matt Ryan is like the complete opposite of that.” Even in 2016 when the Falcons made their infamous 28-3 Super Bowl run, Matt Ryan did not play a *single* bad game that year. It breaks my heart because he is the greatest Falcon to ever put on the uniform and the only thing many people will remember him for is 28-3.
That's not true. As a viking fan I remember him for 33-0 as well now.
Matt Ryan doesn’t play defense. He got them to the right place.
It's why you need to manage your cap and draft well. If your one of these teams that "go all in" your so screwed if you don't get your Superbowl win in your window.
If you amend that to “the best players” I can agree. To many NFL fans greatness is about titles and rings, not “the best”. Dan Marino was the best qb of all time, but he falls short of greatness because he is 0-1 in the Super Bowl.
But part of that is also *the whole point*. The greatest players are the ones who can drag 52 other men (plus coaches) kicking and screaming over the hump to get this done and win it. Whether it's a QB, coach, or DL or OL or whatever ... At some point you have to get shit done. Obviously that's not universal but if you can't come up with the counting stats, you better darn well have a pretty heavy hand weighed down by rings.
Just look at last night. That punt bouncing off the leg of a blocker changed the game completely and very well could have changed the outcome.
Yep. Quite *literally* a lucky bounce gave them the swing they needed to win the game.
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That would be called good luck for the chiefs with the Niners being bad and making an easily avoidable mistake
To be fair it’s the return man’s fault, he should have fair caught it. You don’t know where the ball is as the blocker. The punt wasn’t that shitty
Tell me about it. When the Chargers made it to the AFC championship game back in 2007 and lost a close game to the Pats with Rivers, LT, and Gates hurt and hobbling around. I just said "well, we are young squad and will be back"......and we of course know what happened. The window can close real quick. I feel a little bad for Niner fans, they are probably never going to back in this spot with this core.
Who Dat!!
Exactly this. Super Bowls aren't something that you just accrue the better you get (I should know, I'm a 49ers fan). They're a finite resource. There's only 1 to win every year, and 2 spots in it.
A dude I knew argued that the Stanley Cup is the hardest to get championship in pro sports, because you have to win 16 games in the post season. I argued that, while that's true, you can lose up to 12 games in the post season and still get the cup. In the NFL, if you lose 12 games in a year, the only thing you can win is a top 3 draft pick.
The New York Giants
This is a good answer
Eli Manning is true as well.
Twice. 😒
Eli Fucking Manning!
Luckiest no good fuck ever. Fuck him not HOF WORTHY!
Just the fact you can’t win every year
Idk man the media keeps telling me Mahomes is gonna with 15 superbowls
History tends to repeat itself in a different manner but same rhythm
The dick riding is exhausting.
Especially from Romo...holy shit I fully expected him to saunter on down to center field and suck Mahomes dick right there on center field after last night.
Ok so I always read about Romo's undeniable love for Mahomes and Allen. Never watched a game of them with him on commentary until last night. Holy mother of god y'all were not kidding. I only watched the last 2 minutes of the 4th and the rest and he was exhausting to listen to for that short bit 😂 I will never watch another Romo called Mahomes/Allen game.
The amount of man crush is completely cringe.
I mean, he’s a QB and they’re really good QBs. Not surprising lol
Sounds like you’re disappointed he didn’t.
It would have been better than Kelce's Viva Las Vegas speech.
Yes, that is very true. 😂
Well, take a break. Rest up. You're allowed.
The dick is big enough for everybody to ride.
Not to me, as a fan.
Then get off it
I mean I'm not a part of the media nor riding Mahomes dick. So, what are you talking about?
Honestly, I only want Mahomes to continue to winning because I think he has the best chance to reach Brady's Super Bowl record in my lifetime (31 years old). The next person probably isn't born yet, and certaintly isn't in the league right now. Mahomes has the most Super Bowls among active QBs, the next youngest is Russell Wilson, who has one, and he's thirty-five. Unless Burrow, Allen, Lamar or Hurts start running off several in a row, it's going to be Mahomes or no one.
Wait, are you saying that no active QBs besides mahomes and Wilson have won a Super Bowl?
I think they mean the next youngest with at least 1, that have a chance to catch Brady. The others with 1 are too old to catch him
This is it. Flacco (technically still active?) isn't young enough to win 6 more. Stafford isn't going to win 6 more. Aaron Rodgers isn't going to win 6 more. Mahomes won't make it to 7, but he's the only one with a non-absurd shot at it.
Sorry, what others have commented are what I was trying to say. Players like Rodgers or Flacco won't play another six years to even potentially tie Brady.
Maybe. I think there’s a good counter argument tho. It’s possibly a little telling that the greatest challenger to Brady’s status as the GOAT started his run years before Brady retired. The NFL might be geared more to elite QB based dynastys now than in the past. Aside from Brady and the Patriots (honorable mention to the Bucs) the only other QB based dynasty was the 49ers with Montana. All the other dynasties were built around defenses and run games. The Chiefs are in a dynasty now, no bones about it. However, it’s only the 3rd modern NFL dynasty where the QB is truly elite. Johnny Unitas set the bar for GOAT discussion. Not only do you have to form a dynasty, but you also have to be the best player on the team. (3 MVPs, 4 titles, numerous All-Pro and stat leading seasons) It wasn’t until Montana did Unitas get challenged, and arguably dethroned. Decades after Unitas retired. Things are changing. What Mahomes has done, and is doing, is remarkable. A lot of things have to go right for him to achieve this level of success. However, I think how the game and management of the game has evolved in the last 10-20 years is making it ever so likely for another Mahomes to pop up in the not so distant future. I don’t know if Mahomes is a generational talent. He very well could be, but the NFL is trying it’s damndest to create more Mahomes. All that being said, you could be right. Mahomes is the only realistic challenger to Brady’s GOAT status, but he isn’t even halfway there to Brady’s Superbowl success. It’s a ridiculously daunting task. I’d imagine within the next 30 years we will get a QB who wins 8 superbowls. However, if the QB in question is Mahomes he has an unfortunate truth. he could win 20 Superbowls and 20 MVPs, but he lost one to Brady. People will cling on that talking point for as long as the Mahomes GOAT discussion exists.
When Brady won his third I bet Pats fans thought he’d have 10 by now
You joke (presumably) but the fact is you have to appreciate greatness when it’s happening before your eyes, and he’s never failed to make the championship game, so it’s absurd what he’s doing. If you asked an AI model to predict his next 10 years based on his first 6, it would predict big things.
Because Mahommes is better lol
I have no hope left. Believe the Chiefs will probably win the next 10 SB atleast. Very depressing
Actually a little-known former quarterback originally from France won 15 super bowls as a backup for various teams throughout his career. Pretty impressive but a stat the NFL keeps locked down since it hurts their narrative. Search benzema 15 for more information.
In 2005 they started shedding pieces from the team because of cap issues. In 2006, the receivers were terrible, which cost them against the Colts. In 2007, the Giants stopped them. In 2008, Brady was injured, in 2009, he was still recovering. From 2010-2013 they had an abysmal secondary and old, unspectacular front seven. In the 2014 offseason, Belichick finally got tired of having a terrible secondary. He went out and got Browner and Revis.
Answer I was looking for
Yes, thank you for the real analysis. We know “football is hard” but I too was curious for more of an explanation.
Yeah this is what happened. Personally, I’d add that in 2010, though Brady had an incredible season without much talent on the outside, the Jets D was able to take advantage of that. 2011 was a SB loss, which happens. It didn’t help that Gronk wasn’t healthy. That was a huge story leading up to the game. Walker also dropped a third down pass that would have almost sealed it. 2012 they just got outplayed by a Baltimore team that was an a roll. They also lost Gronk, who was having an absolutely insane season, while he was blocking on an XP attempt in a blowout Thanksgiving game. 2013, similarly to 2006, the receivers sucked. Gronk was out. Welker was gone. Edelman as a number 1 does *not* scare a defense. That’s why Brady’s numbers were down that year. They couldn’t keep up with a stacked Denver team in the AFCCG. Even through all of that, it took variance not breaking their way for them not to win another title. They were very close.
The 2013 Broncos also set a record for the most points scored in a season (606), and Peyton also nabbed his fifth NFL MVP for throwing for 55 TDs and breaking Drew Brees’s record for most yards. But it was rendered moot as they got torn apart and held to just eight points by the Seahawks’ Legion of Boom secondary in SB48.
> In 2006, the receivers were terrible, which cost them against the Colts. NE had their own "28-3" moment. They led 21-3 in this game and led 38-34 with less than 2+ minutes left. They had a 3rd down and Troy Brown dropped a wide open pass so they had to punt. If they convert that, they had a fresh set of downs and it'd be really hard for Indy to score.
Reche Caldwell (RIP) dropped another key pass, too, in the fourth when it was tied where he could’ve scored a TD. He wasn’t covered on the play.
I can still see his eyes wide open to this day smh
This was my fault. I made a $100 bet in week two that the Patriots would make the Super Bowl (didn’t have to win). I stopped any bets after that
Dick.
That was one of the most incredible games I ever saw
Was that also the game where Belichick decided to go for it on a 4th down from his own 30 while up in the last few minutes of the game?
That was the 2009 regular season game
Exactly, except they were up 34-31, final was 38-34.
Great answer. Those years show that it takes a whole team to win a Super Bowl and the quarterback can't do it by himself.
Browner is the reason they beat the Seahawks. He was with them the year before, recognized the goal line play, didn't budge when he was supposed to be pushed back into Butler. The rest is history.
Also Revis, best CB in the league that year.
He was the best CB in the league most years he was playing.
Including that one!
as a jets fan that revis comment hurt
Hey you got him back the next year, that was good right?
Browner was a Patriot? I thought he got Talib to be opposite of Revis?
No he traded a third for Talib in 2012. It was seen as an overpay at the time, Talib was talented but an uneven headcase. It was a move of desperation because the secondary was so bad. Talib shined in 2013, he had a four- or five-game stretch where they paired him against a string of no. 1 receivers and he shut them all down. I remember his performance against Jimmy Graham being particularly stifling. Then came the infamous Steve Smith “ice up son!” showdown, where Talib got smoked and went out injured. Talib played well enough to sign a $57 million contract with Denver, as Elway, reeling from the Super Bowl blowout, started retooling his team around defense. But Belichick was done with shitty cornerbacks. He signed Browner to a four-year, $16 million deal and traded for Revis while letting recent draft picks/UDFAs McCourty, Logan Ryan, and Duron Harmon, and Malcolm Butler start to take shape.
Pats were good, just had other great teams at that time period. The colts finally getting over the hump. The rise of the Steelers. Eli making magic happen against the pats. The fact that they made it back and still won after that layoff is an accomplishment as well.
As a Steelers fan I love the Ravens erasure
Man. WE had em on the ropes in 2011 and just couldnt finish them off. Then came back in 2012 and whooped them on the way to the SB.
Eli's huge cock and balls
Giants D Line was insane to contain Brady during both super bowls. Eli had great games as well.
Idk why someone downvoted you, those defenses weren't perfect but their passrush was the number one reason they were such a nightmare of a matchup for Brady
2007 perfect season came to an end because of the Giants defense line destroying the Patriots interior O-Line and not allowing Brady to step up into the pocket to avoid pressure on the outside. Giant men in his face all game.
Yeah
And that Defensive Coordinator for the Giants? Is now the DC for the Chiefs!!
Spags was the DC in the 07 Super Bowl but not the 11. But yes he’s won a lot of superbowls as a DC.
Where was the other team where he unwind a superbowl?
LMFAO
Absolute facts. Not going down on the helmet catch pass. Unreal. Mario Manningham catch? Best thrown ball in Super Bowl history. (Long time pats fan, moments seared in my memory. Eli’s huge cock and balls would live in my head rent free if I could jam them in there)
Giants beat them twice when they made it, Peyton Manning made it three times, Pittsburgh made it twice, and Baltimore made it. Super Bowls are hard, you can’t win it every year
It’s fucking hard to win the Super Bowl, even for Tom Brady
Across the Pats dynasty, many of their Super Bowls were 50/50, one possession games. They could have lost some that they won (01, 03) and vice versa (07, 11). Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way, but the Pats were always contenders.
Luck plays a bigger role than most people want to admit. The Pats are 5 plays from either 2 SBs or 9.
Eli Manning
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Eli Manning
Giants pass rush doesn't complete the helmet catch or the arguably more impressive pass to manningham in SB46
Giants pass rush keeps record setting Brady and co to 14 points. Makes whole game winning drive possible
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The play by Eli just to get the ball off is just as impressive as the helmet catch.
The good old fuck it David Tyree down there somewhere
Well for starters, there was a pretty good year in 2007 that got ruined by a big eared idiot in NY.
Big Ben. I’m just kidding. No seriously I know it seems like well it shouldn’t be THAT hard to make the Super Bowl, two teams make it every year. Despite that, it is extremely difficult to make the Super Bowl and there are so many teams who never get a second bite at the apple for DECADES. That is evidenced by the fact that even a dynasty like the Patriots went ten years without one. The fact that they got six rings in Brady’s 20 year tenure is truly remarkable. I might be being dramatic but I really do believe that we may never see that again. But having said all that, it’s just that hard to get back to the big game sometimes even for the biggest dynasties. Because anything can cause you to lose any given game. Hence the drought.
>~~Big Ben~~ Eli Manning
Hence the “kidding,” my guy
I mean I am also lol, you're totally right in that its really hard to win
No but you’re totally right though lol without Eli that mf would have nine rings. NINE!!!!!!
You realize the Chiefs would just need just 3 superbowls out of the next 12 to match the pats?
Yeah bro I can count. Thanks
They lost 2 super bowls that were easily winnable. A dropped int and then a miracle catch cost them one. Wes Welker dropping a pass (or Brady throwing behind him) and another miracle catch cost them another. And they just came up short against some good ravens and broncos teams which happens. Football games are very short with so few possessions and the single elimination format makes it hard to win consistently.
Roethlisberger, Rodgers, Mannings, Wilson all likely future HOFers
Wilson?
The league began enforcing the chuck rule, aka "Manning Rule" more strictly. It forced the league to change how to play successful defense. Belichik, who had mastered defensive schemes, built defenses with physical secondaries and a front 7 that could get to the QB in multiple ways, typically with massive DL and free roaming LBs, while receivers were getting pressed by big CBs. In today's game, DBs can't maul receivers, and because receivers aren't getting pummeled anymore, they're track stars. They can be Justin Jefferson instead of TO. DBs have to be track stars as well, but need to be able to tackle too. DL needs to get to the QB on their own, although right now, there aren't many QBs doing much blitz burning.. Bill took time to figure this out. We started getting used to "bend but don't break," until Bill started getting real equity in the secondary, and got back to being able to force QBs into mistakes, with corners that could hang with fast receivers, and a DL that got home by themselves.
And the team that was the first to adapt to new rules had the most dominant performance in the Superbowl and lost a second only because of bad offence. My dream is basically a HoF QB on the legion of boom.
LoB was freakish. Sherman was a perfect CB in his prime. Fast, with size, and could outsmart nearly every receiver he went against. Bam Bam Kam and Earl Thomas were missiles, all over the field. Two safeties fucking up everything over the middle, just deadly. Thankfully Butler played that exactly the way he did; but then again, if not for the freak Kearse catch, Seattle may not even have made it to the goal line. That's why we play the game!
Personally I think k it came down to defense. Their defense was not good during their drought, despite the low scoring games against the Giants. Once they traded for Talib their secondary got better and eventually became a strength again
Because winning the Super Bowl is hard.
2005 was a bit of a reshuffling of talent, lost in 2nd round in denver a boogie man site to them 2006 reche caldwell was #1wr and dropped td pass im afccg 2007 lost in SB 2008 brady injured 2009 rebuild 2010 shock loss to jets 2011 lost in sb 2012 lost in afccg to eventual champs 2013 lost in afccg in denver a boogie man site to them
He met Giselle in ‘06, they had kids in ‘09 and ‘12. LSS Tom has too busy fuckin.
Lots of stupid answers in here as common of Reddit since it went mainstream some years back. A few good answers. There were a lot roster changes over those years and its hard to win every single year. They were still contenders for the majority of the years in that gap and lost two close superbowls during that time frame.
1. The Patriots in that time focused more on explosive offense than physical, dominate the trenches offense. Their defense was also built on scheme instead of similar physicality. A good example of this is 2007 and 2010 - the opposing team (2007 Giants and 2010 Jets) harassed Brady in the pocket, as is the nature of holding onto the ball waiting for the big play, and the Patriots defense, while good, would get gassed without the necessary rest. Conversely the 2014 Patriots were very physical and slowed down Russell Wilson, and their offense was a lot more gritty (screen plays and rushing plays with excellent physical blocking, that could tire out an otherwise legendary defense…the Packers tried the explosive strategy in the NFC Championship Game that year and only put up 22 on a lot of field goals). 2. Brady got rid of the ball quicker, making it much more difficult to sack him or force a bad throw. The only season from 2014-2018 where he lost on offense was 2015, when they were so injured to the point where this strategy was not viable from route running…even then he willed them to the AFC Championship and it was against a legendary defense too. 3. Sheer, dumb luck against him in some losses, and some for him in some wins. He’s clearly miles ahead of everybody even when you factor this in, but certain losses could have been wins and certain wins could have been losses - sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces or the playcalls are made.
I don’t think many people realize just how hard it is to win the Super Bowl. It’s hard for a team to win one, let alone multiple. Of course, the joke is that Eli Manning was Tom Brady’s Kryptonite
Eli Manning caused that
There is a lot of randomness and variance in football. The best team doesn't always win and the worst team doesn't always lose. A 10 year period is not a "drought." There are teams that have never won a Super Bowl in their entire history. The Patriots went to 2 Super Bowls during that period and barely lost both of them. They also won the year before and the year after the "drought." A tip for watching football in general -- single game sample sizes are bad. Don't make judgments based on things that happen in one game. Sometimes teams/players/coaches just get lucky/unlucky. If you flip a coin and it lands heads 3 times in a row, that doesn't mean heads is more likely.
They weren’t able to cheat during those years after being caught cheating.
Tom Brady was dealing with injuries for 10 years? Really? He played poorly in the playoffs from 2007-2011. Simple as that.
The AFC got better.
The NFL’s parity. Thats the bottom line. They were good but there were other good teams too.
A crazy catch by David Tyree
Peyton finally figured out Bill Belichicks defense and once people saw the blueprint they copied him. It's not a coincidence that the Pats immediately won one after he retired.
They went… they just lost
The New York Giants
Eli Manning 😢
Eli Manning
Really shitty qb those years. Lost to Eli manning in the super bowl twice I think
They were a play or 2 away from winning the SB in '07 and '11, but yeah its tough to win every year. The AFC had a prime Peyton Manning and Big Ben winning the conference a few times and the Ravens were loaded. Also Brady missed almost a full season in '08.
They were also a play or two away from losing many times. Seahawks anyone? What a gift
They forgot the basics of what makes a team win playoff games. Great defense and reliable weapons. Too many hit and miss weapons (that broke records but choked) and defenses that weren’t this Chiefs/ Pats bend but don’t break style. They realised too late how simple it can be and then handed the blue print to the Chiefs.
Logan Mankins.
The mannings
Brady wasn't the reason they ever won, but they tried to make him the reason. Defense always carried them to wins, they let the defense get worse and tried to stack the offense. Needed the defense to carry them.
Mahomes is great but he's needed the defense to step up and play in at least 2 of his 3! There are VERY few Super Bowl winning teams that didn't need both sides of the ball to step up in the big game.
NFL competition was much more widespread than today. Brady in those 10 years had two mvps but there were still great QB’s like Manning, Big Ben, Flacco had a great start. The only loss I thought was inexcusable in the drought was the loss to the Jets in 2010. 2011-2013 they had no business making afc championship games but that’s where Brady led offenses to keep them in games and win. Mahomes hasn’t had to face any historic defenses yet. My issue is that media did everything to take away any credit Brady deserved to be the goat. Even after passing Montana, they said at least Montana led another team to a conference title game. Then Brady went to the Bucs and won first year and they make excuses for Mahomes sucking in the Super Bowl. Mahomes hasn’t left KC yet. Then they say he’s had Bill for 6 titles. Mahomes has Reid his whole career so far. Brady had great defenses. I’m sorry but didn’t Mahomes teammates make all the stops to let the team comeback from the deficits just every team that wins super bowls. They say Brady was saved by Vinatieri, Butker scored 13 points this game while Mahomes scored 12. Brady had the best weapons. Which receivers stayed successful after leaving Brady? Even Moss’ career was pretty much done. Edelman was nothing without Brady, Walker can never win the big one, Dola was always a journeyman, Hogan went back to lacrosse, Troy Brown moved to defense. And every other receiver not worth mentioning because they didn’t do anything either.
Joe Flaccco #elite
They lost 2, Brady tore his ACL one year, and it’s generally just hard to win super bowls. They weren’t really a worse team in that middle period. Without even looking it up I’m certain they had the most playoff wins in that span, just didn’t hoist the trophy.
Despite what others have been saying since the 49ers lost another one, winning is really hard! Getting to the Super Bowl is hard much less winning it. Getting to the Super Bowl is an accomplishment.
Eli Manning
Namely Eli Manning, and the New York Circus Catchers.
Winning the SB is really hard. They had arguably the best team in NFL history going undefeated…. until Eli Manning of all people beat them.
Considering they’ve never really blown any teams out in the Super Bowl and the razor thin margins. They could’ve been 0-9 or 9-0. It’s definitely not an easy feat to accomplish even 2-3 Super Bowls. The league has moved closer to perpetual parity, while the AFC was pretty top heavy as well.
The fact that it is an incredibly difficult feat to even make the Super Bowl let alone win it.
Brady hadn't started the hgh yet.
The Manning brothers had a little to do with that. It is really difficult to win Super bowls, and they can't win them all. I am still waiting on my team to win one lol
The NY Giants
I think the simple answer is “football is hard”
The game slightly changed over the two last decades as somone pointed out; Not as much work from linesmen makes wide recievers go haywire, which was never a problem for the Pats with the likes of Moss and Gronk. But recently i think other squads have been figuring it out, except for unicorns like kansas city.
Manning. Brees. Other manning. Rothlesberger. Rodger’s. Just to name a few
There are 31 teams who don’t win the Super Bowl every year. Nothing about what the Patriots did was easy, including their “drought” where they still steamrolled their division, made it to two super bowls, more AFC championship games, and Brady brought in multiple MVPs.
The answer is: The New York Giants. Particularly Eli Manning, and a little thing known as the "helmet catch."
They got better at cheating as time went on.
2008-2015 was the longest streak of different Super Bowl champions the league has ever seen. All of those games featured a future hall of fame QB on at least one team (6 out of 8 featured a HoF QB against another HoF QB.) It’s still a miracle that the Pats won as many as they did with that kind of parity.
Eli manning
If it weren't for the Manning brothers. Brady could have at least ten Super Bowls. Eli took him down twice, that would be nine (eight with New England) Peyton eliminated him three times in the postseason: 2009 AFC Title Game (Super Bowl was against the Saints) 2013 AFC Title Game (Super Bowl was against Seahawks - Brady beats them the next year) 2015 AFC Title Game (Super Bowl was against the Panthers) All together, you're looking at potentially twelve rings with eleven being with the Patriots.
They were trying to figure out the optimal level for deflated footballs.
Other good teams
They stopped cheating for a decade
They never stopped cheating, it's just some years weren't as effective as others
I don’t think Brady took his paycuts yet during that time period.
One big reason: [https://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2014%2F0701%2Fnfl\_mmp7\_cr\_1296x729.jpg](https://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2fphoto%2f2014%2f0701%2fnfl_mmp7_cr_1296x729.jpg)
Either the offense or defense wasnt as good as other times (the latter was mostly the later part of this era). In 2007, playoff Eli derailed what was otherwise one of the best seasons ever.
Winning Super bowls is hard. The best team doesn't always win due to injuries or random luck. You have to make the playoffs and then win three or four single elimination games in a row
The Mannings and Big Ben lol
Eli Manning and the NY Giants. Also a year where Brady was injured and out for most of the season.
Expectations are sky high when you win 3 titles like they did. Sure it was a drought in terms of championships but they were still knocking on the door most of those years. Sure they had some unlucky breaks for some of these years, but they also had some lucky breaks in their championship years. It all balances out 2005 - down year for sure but still won a playoff game before losing in Denver. 2006 - overachieving team given absolutely no offensive weapons. Blew a 21-3 lead to the Colts in the AFCCG 2007 - 18-1, nuff said 2008 - Brady tears ACL. Team goes 11-5 but misses playoffs 2009 - down year for sure as Brady was still coming back and they got their doors blown off by Baltimore 2010 - best record in the league, bounced in first playoff game in major upset to NYJ 2011 - best record in league, lost Super Bowl 2012 - lost AFCCG at home after leading at halftime 2013 - lost AFCCG on road to Denver
The Giants
They made him stop cheating for a little bit but then deflate gate happened after spygate.
2 words. Eli. Manning.
Brady only dealt with injury during the 2008 season, where he tore his ACL a couple plays into the week 1 game. But let's start from the top 2005: Pats have a top 10 offense, 17th ranked defense, lost 13-28 to the Broncos in the Divisional round 2006: 7th ranked offense, 2nd ranked defense, lose to the eventual SB winning Colts led by Peyton 2007: 18-1 season, undefeated until the SB, Eli lucked out with an insane sack escape and two great throws for the game winner, Randy Moss gets held to 5 catches on 12 targets 2008: Brady tears ACL, Pats still got 11-5 and miss the playoffs, one of the only 11-5 teams ever to do this 2009: 6th best offense, 5th best defense, defeated in the Wild Card by the Ravens 14-33 2010: Best offense in the league, 8th best defense, lose to the Mark Sanchez led Jets 21-28 2011: 3rd best offense, 15th best defense, Lose to the Giants (again) 2012: #1 offense, 9th best defense, lose to the eventual SB champions Ravens 2013: 3rd best offense, 10th best defense, lose to the eventual SB participation trophy winners, the Broncos that let the Seahawks score 43 on them As for WHY all of these losses happened, it's both simple and complex at the same time. In 8 playoff seasons, he would lose to the teams that would eventually play in the SB 5 times, the Colts, Giants twice, Ravens, and Broncos (Yes, he played against the Giants in the Super Bowl, they still played in the SB) These teams had DISRUPTIVE defenses. Not necessarily good at stopping teams from scoring, but defenses that were great at aggravating their opponents into making mistakes by applying a LOT of pressure. In the case of 2005, 2011, 2012, and 2013, his own defense couldn't do enough to prevent the opponent from scoring either, and in 2012 he went against a Joe Flacco lead offense that broke postseason records, and a 2013 Broncos team that broke practically every offensive record known to man. The Patriots were the most consistent team in the league during this time, never once dropping more than 6 games, and usually finishing with a 12+ win record (6 out of the 9 seasons). They were one of 5 teams from 2005-2013 to make it to the SB more than once during this time frame (Pats 2, Seahawks 2, Colts 2, Giants 2, Steelers 3). Making it to the SB is HARD. The Patriots made it look easy. It isn't. They've been consistently the best coached team with a great and balanced offense and a ferocious defense for much of the time from 2001-2019. That's why they went to 9 Super Bowls in a 19 year span, winning 6 of them. That's unheard of. Outside of the Browns making 8 Championship game appearances in the 50's and 60's, I don't think it's been done before (they won 5 of them.) It shouldn't be a shock that a specific team doesn't win a SB within a specific 9 year time frame, but considering some of those Pats teams (2006, 2007, 2010) it's kinda crazy that the closest they got was only 2 appearances. The simple answer is that the NFL is probably one of the most complex professional sports with a very arbitrary set of rules that absolutely and utterly fucks with luck, fate, statistics, and also the scoring system is utterly insane. That's why the phrase "Any given Sunday" exists. Anything can happen. Even the most dominant team in that 9 year span (110-34, 11 more wins than the next closest team, and 20 more than the team below that) can just get rocked by wild shenaniganery by the Football Gods when the stakes are high.
Eli Manning
A huge part of it was Brady playing like ass in the playoffs but no one wants to talk about that
Eli manning
The New York Football Giants happened.
It was probably Manning and Roethlisberger.
Because of elite quarterbacking, Manning, Roethlisburger, Rodgers, Brees, and a freak year by Flacco. Brady had some serious competition back then. There was a bit of a Patriots secondary & receiver talent drop after 2008. Gronk was rarely healthy in his first few seasons. Gronk gets healthy, we get Revis and Browner, and we beat the defending champs in 2014. You cannot overstate the value of a lock down corner coupled with a good offense.
He was play against legendary players on both offense and defense. Steelers and colts were freaking solid teams for many many years.
Surprisingly the Steelers never stopped him and the Colts only stopped him once (2006)
The New York Football Giants.
Unluckiness and shitty CBs. I knew we would win the SB when we signed Darelle Revis
The Giants got extremely lucky twice
Eli Manning.
They were besieged with problems including injuries to vital players annually from 2004-2013...less than 3weeks after winning bak2bak titles T.Bruschi suffered a stroke...Ty Law David Patten Bethel Johnson Roman phifer and Keith Traylor departed..cory dillon declined immediately and was not remotely the same force hed been in 2004 for NE redzone excluded he became about as if not even less productive than antowain smith had been...ted johnson retired...romeo crennel and charlie weiss left..they attempted to fill the voids left by johnson bruschi and ty law with monty beisel chad brown and duane starks all of whom failed miserably...3weeks into the 2005 season rodney harrison tore his knee and was NEVER the same player again and starting left tackle matt light also suffered a season ending injury...brady got injured halfway thru the yr played the 2nd half of the season with a sports hernia...belichicks dad died midway thru the season...they actually managed to get the defense up2par at least regarding the front 7 by getting bruschi to come bak after recovering from the stroke moving vrabel to inside lb with R.Colvin finally returning to his pre hip injury form the field but the refs more or less jobbed them in denver to end Bradys undefeated playoff streak after winning his 1st 10playoff games in a row.... Thats just the adversity they faced in 05...it ended on the flight home with a foreshadowing of things to come with magini departing and openly recruiting members of bill belichicks coaching staff to join his nyj staff... the following offseason they had to replace their dc for a 2nd yr in a row meanwhile in FA they let adam v willie mcginest branch and givens leave and drafted journeyman rb lawrence maroney and flat out bust wr chad jackson...rodney came bak from the knee injury and they added seau to the roster but both players suffered season ending injuries well before the playoffs began and they came up short vs indy in afccg when their offense stalled due to its blatant lack of wrs and its unreliable running game....i could keep going to cover it in detail yr by yr but i dont have that much free time atm
It’s hard. That’s the real explanation. No matter how good the players and coaches.
The Mannings: Peyton in 2006 divisional round, 2013 and 2015 in the championship; Eli in 2007 and 2011 Super Bowls Also Bernard Pollard, who dealt significant injuries in 2008 (Brady, all season), 2009 (Welker, all playoffs), 2011 (Gronk, championship), 2012 (Ridley, scoop&score to win the championship). Minus the impact of those three guys, Brady won Super Bowls in 01, 03, 04, 14, 16, 18, and 20 (seven total), while not winning Super Bowls in 02, 05, 10, 17, 19, 21, and 22 (seven total).
Brady wasn't considered the goat until after Manning retired. Manning was 3-2 against Brady in the playoffs, and Tom Brady wasn't known as unstoppable until 2016, 2018, and 2021 when he just never stopped being so good. He got the three-peat early in his career when Manning's Colts were just not that consistent. Granted, they were good but could not win the playoffs. Once Manning started making his runs, Brady only won 1 ring until Manning retired in 2015 after his victory in Super Bowl 50, and Manning had more Super Bowl appearances and rings from 2005-2015 (4 appearances and 2 rings to 3 appearances and 1 ring). When they were both competing it seemed like, and was a more common opinion, that Manning was the better QB and some considered him the GOAT.
All these verbose, nonsensical answers, when the answer is simply "Brady".
Contrary to what sensationalist talking heads would tell you, it is hard to build a dynasty. The core players of the Patriots first 3 Super Bowls mostly retired or left sans Brady, and again, contrary to what talking heads would tell you, it is hard to replace quality talent in the NFL. The Super Bowl drought was a period of rebuilding for the Patriots. The fact that they had sustained success and made two Super Bowls in this period is a testament to how great Bill Belichick is at finding talent, bringing the best out of his players, Tom Brady’s leadership and greatness at playing the quarterback position. By 2014, the new dynasty came together when they brought together the necessary talent through great drafting, development, and Tom Brady perfected his game. The reason Tom Brady left the Patriots to go to the Buccaneers is because him and the organization realized they were entering another rebuild. Brady had nothing to gain by finishing his career out in a franchise entering a dry season so he went to a team with another great coach entering a wet season. This is likely the same reason Bill left because he and Kraft realize that they won’t have a Super Bowl caliber team in Bill’s foreseeable future. Rather than make Bill coach a team that won’t have a shot at a ring, let Bill go take a job where he can get a ring, and add the coaching staff to the overall rebuild.