Everybody forgets how hard it is to make it to the playoffs, though. The pats are still the best overall team of the past decade and even the last 5 years. Just my opinion.
———————————

Why don’t we look at it this way – since the Patriots last won the Super Bowl in 2004, they’ve been there twice since and lost both times.

The Steelers, in that same time period, have been to the Super Bowl 3 times and won it twice.

So why isn’t anyone saying the Steelers are the dynasty here?

videotaping for the sidelines was the infarction, 8 yards back and in the stands not off limits. it’s really that simple. the pats have a .792 winning %, better than pre-spygate. also prespygate they had a better defense. they’re defense has sucked since 2007. the Giants were the better team. Also, the Giants don’t have a signal for a helmet catch. The other teams are good too.

Okay, so why haven’t the Cowboys been successful? The Chargers, the Ravens before this year? Because it’s hard to win.

Leaky Defense – Fancy Stats QB – one and dones instead of Championship Runs.

“Irrational hatred” isn’t a phrase for nothing.

However, this time around, against the Ravens, I felt that the Pats looked old. I was almost sure that the Pats would lose.

I feel that the run is over, much like all runs come to an end.

That said, are you guys really going to continue this “since spygate, not one SB win”? Um, since Spygate they have CONSISTENTLY been in the playoffs, made the Super Bowl several times, been in the AFC Championships, went 16-0… the list goes on and on.

What exactly is the argument? That they could do all that without “Spygate” but somehow can never win a super bowl? That makes no sense.

Sheesh, rivalries are fine and all that, but be logical.

Answer:YES

The team around him will need to be better equipped to win in the playoffs if he has any chance of pulling an Elway and winning Super Bowls at 37 and 38.

They have the 2 tight ends locked up for the rest of Brady’s career and have some good pieces on defense like Mayo, Wilfork, Spikes, McCourty, Jones, and Hightower. They aren’t that far away from putting it all together. We’ll see. PS – sign Talib.

I’m neither a Ravens or a 49ers fan, but they are two of the most complete teams in the league. Solid defense, running game, and good passing game as well.

They used to say a good running game and solid defense wins championships. Maybe that’s still true after all, even in this pass-happy flag football league.

Apparently videotaping signs is illegal if they were penalized for it with the heaviest fines ever seen in the sport and a loss of a 1st round pick.

The spygate theory still holds true. Yes, they have won 75% of their regular season games in the last 5 years or so. But what is their winning percentage in the playoffs is recent years? The playoffs are when the teams are all good and so evenly matched often games are decided by who has better coaching. Hard to outcoach everyone in the playoffs like he did before because he has no illegal videotapes to help him.

Secede or at least look at a map and move out of the NFC East.

*Disclaimer NYG fan since 1967

They do not have players that are like the ones they had during the true golden years. Those guys would have done something about guys like Pollard a long time ago.

Tedy B., Ty Law and Seymour used to take over games with turnovers and points off.
———–

I love how Barney is responsible for torpedoing several Patriots fans’ hopes and dreams. Not a single one of those guys would shoot the fair one with Pollard. It’s fun trying to live vicariously through those players in order to avenge your angst, huh?

Signed,
Skins fan.

——————————————————

Don’t forget about Vince.

But you have to wonder how much longer they will be a dynasty. Brady looks like he’s past his prime at this point.

Brady can only do so much welker can only do so much

Brady seems to be scared of the ravens Gronk was out

For all of you out there that want to run your mouths about Spygate let’s just be honest with ourselves for a minute and remember – EVERY TEAM DID THIS! I know that’s too much to handle for some of you.. No other team is capable of gaining a competitive edge like video taping, right? No one else has EVER done it, right? I cite the following as examples:

1. Before Super Bowl VII, “friends” of the Washington Redskins would take turns showing up at the Dolphins’ practice. A different friend would show up at each workout, and those who went to more than one did so in disguise.

2. The Patriots caught the Jets filming in the end zone in Foxboro in 2006. The Jets said that the Pats had given them permission, which they clearly hadn’t because Pats asked the cameraman to leave. The league did nothing but to say it was okay and did not confiscate tapes or investigate. The Jets were supposedly filming ‘coaching video’.

3. The Dolphins bought game tapes of the Patriots to study Tom Brady’s audibles before a MNF game in Dec 2006. Zach Thomas admitted to knowing all Brady’s signals from the tape study. The league ruled that such tape study is okay.

4. Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan admitted in 2002 to hiring lip readers to steal signals. He bragged that his lipreaders could get all the signals by the end of the 1st half, sometimes by the end of the 1st quarter.

5. The KC Chiefs admitted that they had somehow got hold of a 49ers playbook and memorized it before a game against the niners. KC knew every play that KC called before the snap. This was when Tony Dungy was with KC.

6. Former Dallas Cowboy coaches Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson admitted to doing ‘similar stunts’ (video taping) while they were coaching.

7. Former KC coach Herm Edwards said that, ‘There isn’t a team in the league that doesn’t try to steal signals [but] I haven’t heard about teams recording footage like the Patriots were,’ said one longtime NFL[..]istant coach. ‘But you can bet everybody is trying to steal in some way. In fact, you can go to any NFL game and you’ll find some coach whose sole job is to look for defensive signals.’

8. Former Eagles QB Ron Jaworski admitted that when he played, his backup QB would spy on the defense and signal Jaws by dropping red flags to indicate blitzes. He also said that he had no problem with Pats taping the Rams before 2001 SB.

9. The Raiders, Broncos, Steelers, and 49ers were all caught cheating on salary cap limits and all were fined and lost draft picks.

The list goes on and on.. Not all of it is surrounded in Video Taping but the cheating/creating competitive edge against NFL rules has always been there and will keep happening by ALL OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS IN THE NFL!

The “How did it actually help any team that video taped” questions answered: Former GM of the Atlanta Falcons said this as well: “”New England realistically may have been able to catch one or two plays from doing that and they could’ve had somebody in the press box getting the same information,” said former Atlanta Falcons general manager Ken Herock, who also worked as an executive in Oakland and Green Bay. “And what you’re actually talking about is one or two plays out of about 60 snaps a game. That really isn’t a great advantage.”"

So Spygate won the Pats a Superbowl (or 3) aye? The Pats kept them winning (above .500 every year) from 2001 through now (which is now 5 full seasons after the Spygate ruling) and the Pats are 146 – 46 in regular season games since 2001, 58 – 22 from 2008 through now: Winning Percentages of:

–> .760 from 2001 through 2012..
–> .725 from 2008 through now..

Seems like his winning pct. is better since 2008.. Sounds like Spygate “Helping” Belichick is actually backwards.. If anything he’s done better since the beginning of 2008 (I’m leaving 2007 off just to keep the whiners from saying “They cheated in 2007 too!”)..

I know, I know “What about playoffs and Superbowls”.. Ok, the fact they’ve been to 5 Superbowls since 2001 means nothing? Has no one ever heard the former players, coaches, analysts etc. say that getting to a superbowl is the one of the hardest things to do let alone win one.. Now, Granted, their playoff record hasn’t been awesome since 2007 (even though they haven’t won a Superbowl since the 2004 season) but they still get there and compete.. The playoffs are what they are and people have to go home, end of story.. But 5 Superbowls in 12 seasons? The best of the AFC those 5 times? Throw in a couple of AFC Championship losses and you still have to say “They got that far! That, in itself, is very impressive!”..

BTW – For all of you haters; Just remember that you didn’t care about them before, when they were the DOORMAT of the NFL.. Outside of 3 or 4 good seasons (pre 2001) the Pats were the laughingstock of the NFL.. Now that they are on top the fact that there are and will always be Patriots haters is just laughable.. Really.. You call yourself fans of the sport and you have no real clue.. Most of you still just watch the ball when the game is on and don’t know much about watching the real game.. It’s a shame because you will always miss out because you’re being ignorant..

At some point you have to say those Super Bowl teams were special and the teams since have not been. This is largely due to the decline in defense over the past 5 years. I didn’t see Bruschi, Harrison, McGinest, Vrabel, Law, or Seymour on the field last Sunday.

Losing Gronk the past 2 seasons didn’t make things any easier with an average defense.