2003: The Super Sequel Part I | Featuring Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison & More

The 2003 New England Patriots bounced back from a Super Bowl hangover and emerged as the NFL's newest dynasty, as told by those who were there to witness the historic season firsthand, mixed with the iconic sounds that accompanied it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Two Super Bowl championship in three years for the fare. Yeah,
and they are now the dominant dam in the NFL
of the brand new century two super Bowls the Century
n go.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Usually in the movies, sequels are supposed to be bigger
than the original. The first one was so good, everybody
wants more massive sets, exotic places, new characters, deafening explosions,
and let's face it, likely away bigger budget. The New
England Patriots Championship sequel in two thousand and three wasn't
quite any of those things. Two thousand and one was
too hard to top. An underdog story with a backup

(00:41):
quarterback as sending to greatness submit a backdrop of nine
to eleven, a coach's tragic passing, and a new style
of NFL team that would change the game forever. The
two thousand and three Patriots may have lacked that theatrical
flare that the two thousand and one Super Bowl champs had,
but they wrote their own sequel in their own way.
No longer the plucky underdog, theirs was a story of
a fully functional football machine, the ground up opponents anyway

(01:03):
it needed to in relentless pursuit of a Championship while
going through some of the game's best stifling defense, timely offense,
and a knack for making the biggest plays when it
was all on the line. That was who The two
thousand and three Patriots were not a one off, but
a fledgling dynasty that was about to stake a historically
long place atop the NFL. Two thousand and three was

(01:28):
a sequel al right, but our characters were older, wiser,
and better than never losing the chip on their shoulders
that gave them the underdog's edge and showed how two
thousand and one was but a preview of what would
fully come to fruition in two thousand and three. Now
twenty years later, we're revisiting that historic season, hearing from
different perspectives that were there to witness it firsthand and

(01:48):
tell the tale. Mixed with some of the most iconic
sounds that defined the season, it will be a unique
journey back as we follow the roots of the Patriots
dynasty to the team's second championship season. I might do so,
and this is a Patriots Super Bowl sound outyssee two
thousand and three, the super sequel.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
The next one that's my favorite.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
They are Super Bowl champions for the first time, the
New England Patriots coming out onto the Gillett Stadium term.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
This crowd has been given this team a standing ovation
for over an hour.

Speaker 5 (02:29):
This is more like a Super Bowl celebration than an
opening band.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
The season after shocking the world and winning their first championship,
the two thousand and two Patriots started hot, winning their
first three games of the season after raising a banner
against the Steelers, but they then lost their next four
in a row and that started an up and down
season that will bought them out. The two games skid
in late December against the Titans and Jets that put
their playoff hopes in doubt.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Disappointing loss for the Patriots here tonight in Nashville, Tennessee.
The fall to eight and six after forcing the Jets
to punt. A fumbled punt recovered by the Jets at
the Patriots twenty yard line, and the Jets regained the
lead on the field goal and the Patriots were never
able to recover. Very disappointing game.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Scott Pioli, Patriots director of player personnel.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
Going into the two season, you know, we knew that
there were holes. We knew that there were limitations with
our roster, and we didn't make the playoffs, which was
really frustrating to us on a number of different levels.
But we also knew that we were saying, you know,
the ground was being set for this to be a

(03:33):
good up and coming team.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Paul Perillo, Patriots Football Weekend.

Speaker 7 (03:37):
They were way ahead of schedule, you know, with their
performance in two thousand and one, and it was, you know,
in retrospect, fairly remarkable that that team was able to
win the Super Bowl. So I think that you got
an impression that everything had sort of been, you know,
progressed to a spot that really it hadn't been.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Nick Fitzi Stevens, Patriots fan and per personality.

Speaker 8 (04:00):
Coming off of the shocking two thousand and one Super
Bowl victory super Bowl thirty six, I think everyone regionally
was so high and so grateful, so blown away by
what the Patriots accomplished that year, that in a lot
of ways, the next season was gravy to Pats fans
two thousand and two, like, hey, whatever you guys do,

(04:21):
it's cool because you just delivered us a super Bowl championship.
But this being New England as well, our expectations can
be a little high sometimes.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
In the final week of the regular season, New England
avenged an earlier loss to the Dolphins with an overtime
victory that capped off a thirty seven hundred yard passing
campaign from Tom.

Speaker 5 (04:38):
Brady Brady touchdown to Toy Brown.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
A nine and seven record to finish the year while
putting the Patriots back into playoff contention.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
The kicking the kick is bot itit's God.

Speaker 9 (04:49):
The Patriots well.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
That their playoff hopes would depend on a Jet's victory
over the Packers later that afternoon.

Speaker 10 (04:58):
And if we are inside the meadowlands, here at is
brother for New Jersey.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
The New York Jets taking the.

Speaker 11 (05:04):
Field at this moment, they do not know their fake
Christian Fourier University of Colorado. We need the Jets to
beat Green Bay. They had already had it locked up.
Gets over on a six post six four New York Jets.
It's crazy how quickly the season just ended. The end
the game with so much excitement, and you know, hope,

(05:25):
and you're like, yeah, all we have to do is
make the dance games over.

Speaker 9 (05:28):
Everybody's high five and everybody.

Speaker 11 (05:30):
Thirty minutes later, we all realized that the game was
over and the season was over.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Matt Chatham, linebacker and special teamer.

Speaker 12 (05:37):
I think two thousand and two was just still part
of the process, you know, where where Scott and Bill
were trying to get it too, and it's just sort
of a transition kind of period. We we didn't do
a lot of those little things down the stretch that
we did no one.

Speaker 13 (05:54):
Teddy Bruskie Arizona.

Speaker 14 (05:55):
I mean, we were worried about things we shouldn't have
been worried about in two thousand and two. I mean,
I remember were captain's meetings with a coach Belichick, and
we were talking about uniforms you're going to wear. It's
like we want to go blue on blue, you know,
So how's that sound Bill? And Bill's looking at that
as like, what are you guys talking about? And so
our heads were, you know, I think we were still
in the clouds because I mean as much as Bill

(06:17):
could could, you know, sort of preach one game at
a time and do your job and all that stuff
human nature about becoming a champion, it is hard to forget.
It's hard to forget, and I don't think we could
do that.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
In two thousand and two, despite not making the playoffs,
There were some silver linings to come out of the
two thousand and two season, most notably the emergence of
rookie wide receiver Dion Branch, who had forty three catches,
four hundred and eighty nine yards and two touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Brady quick fires over the middle clock first down by
Dion Branch, the rookie terrific.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
Cat absolutely Dad spot all over.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
The sensational catch Branch will become a vital part to
Super Bowl title wins.

Speaker 7 (06:54):
Paul Perillo, Branch was terrific from from day one, and
he was one of those guys that training can that
you watched, and you we've seen a lot of training
camps now together and you can see these guys, you know,
they stand out, they pop right away, and Branch was
one of those guys. So you kind of had an idea,
this is this is the kind of receiver they like.
They like to accentuate the slot, guys you know that

(07:15):
are more concerned with route running than necessarily the explosiveness.
So he was he was a perfect fit I think
for that for that offense.

Speaker 15 (07:25):
Dion Bran new the most important piece is going into it,
you know, having an opportunity to be dropped by the
team that just came off.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
A Super Bowl victory.

Speaker 15 (07:33):
Uh, just being around these guys and then taking all
that stuff in, Uh, being blessed to have guys like,
you know, Troy Brown as my my my captain, my leader.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Uh, you know, obviously Tom Brady is the quarterback, you know.

Speaker 15 (07:45):
But but but being in the room with Troy Brown
and my our brother, the love brother who passed and
left us, uh, David Patton and a guy who I
love so much of respect so dearly and have taken
a lot of things from it. But being blessed to
be in that room with those individuals, to be a
part of the greatest team and the greatest head coach
man that was everything as a rookie. You know, it's

(08:06):
just trying to be a sponge. I didn't take anything
from it. My most important piece.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
I want to do.

Speaker 15 (08:10):
Everything that these guys accidentally, and I tried my best
to do that.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Tom Brady showed he was no flash in the pan.
But the lack of a playoff Berth called any immediate
talk of the team being a perennial contender after winning
a standalone championship.

Speaker 16 (08:21):
That kind of gets me fired up because I'm thinking,
you know, the hell of these people.

Speaker 7 (08:24):
Know obviously what Tom Brady did, you know was remarkable
in two thousand and two, I think Brady showed you
that he in fact was going to be that guy.
You know, a lot of people forget that he led
the league in touchdown passes, you know. To the defense, however,
started to lose some of the pieces that were part
of that that core because Bill brought in a lot

(08:47):
of you know, his guys, you know, the Circle of
the Wagon, guys that were kind of veterans in one
big part of the team. Try to replace some of
those guys, and it didn't work out. And I would
say to you know, the very short answer to your question,
what happened in O two? They couldn't stop the run.
They absolutely could not stop the run.

Speaker 17 (09:04):
Christian Fourrier, University of Colorado.

Speaker 11 (09:06):
You know, we were nine and seven, and it was
interesting because Brady had so much attention and accolades after
that was his second year in the league, winning the
Super Bowl. And then I remember we played the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He had a great game beat them, but then we
finished nine and seven. We lost like three games in
a row was ugly. We were really fighting at scratching
and then nothing. So it almost felt like, you know,

(09:30):
the whole Brady MANI had kind of died down. He
was still a young, good looking quarterback that had a
lot of you know, upside to him, but no one
really knew what it was.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Nick Fitzi Stevens.

Speaker 8 (09:42):
Entering the two thousand and three season, now we're at
this sort of flashpoint, this very pivotal moment with these Patriots, like, hey,
is this Tom Brady guy really gonna be something special
in the long haul? Is this team going to be
perpetually competitive or were they a flash in the pan
who caught a little lightning in the bottle? And rather
now they more are an eight and eight, nine and

(10:02):
seven type of team.

Speaker 18 (10:04):
Karen Grigian with the Boston Herald.

Speaker 19 (10:06):
Well, I think, you know, after they won that first
Super Bowl, to the shock of everyone, I think people
sat back and you know, looked at the team, looked
at their defense, and looked at this up and coming quarterback,
and you know they were thinking, well, maybe, you know,
maybe they can make more of this, you know, and

(10:28):
especially with Bill Belichick as a head coach, there was
talk about the proverbial hangover, and with Tom Brady there
and his mindset of always wanting the next one, you know,
it seemed like that wouldn't happen to the Patriots, but
it did. And I actually think what happened in two

(10:51):
thousand and two fueled quite a bit of what happened
in two thousand and three.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Paul Parillo.

Speaker 7 (10:57):
They were banged up at by the end of it.
I think Tom himself had a separated shoulder by the end,
and they fell short. I mean, championship medal you could
see because that team just didn't have it, but they
found a way to stay relevant right until the last
game of the season.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
With the disappointing two thousand and two behind them, the
Patriots front office, led by Scott Peoli and Bill Belichick,
began building their team for the two thousand and three season,
adding outside linebacker Roosevelt Covin and Tyrone Pool in March,
as well as monstrous nose tackle Ted Washington to help
solve their defensive problems against the run.

Speaker 7 (11:28):
Ted was just so big and so intimidating. I had
a great interaction with him. I wrote a story you
know about him, and you know, he was very reluctant
to do the piece. He didn't talk to the media
at all. And you know, it's a big spread in
Patriots Football Weekly at the time. And we fast forward

(11:49):
to the next week the paper had come out and
he has the paper in his hand, and I had
my back to him at the other end of the
locker room, and he's walking toward me with the paper
in his hand, and Andy Hart, who was working with
us at the time, his whole face went white, just
like all of the color from his face, like he
thought that the guy was coming to kill me. And

(12:09):
he taps me on the shoulder. I turned around, and
this is as intimidated probably as I've been in that
locker room. He looks at me and he has the
paper in his hand and he goes, thank you. And
I'm pretty sure I just kind of like went like
I thought it was gonna die and and I said, what,
you know, what, you know, what did you think that

(12:31):
I was going to do? He goes, It's the first
time that anyone's ever written a story about me that
didn't have anything to do with my size. And that's
all that was all it took. His size was just
so like omnipresent that that's what everybody wrote about, you know,
when he was not just you know, a you know,
a big, fat defensive lineman.

Speaker 8 (12:50):
He was huge.

Speaker 7 (12:50):
He was like six ' six with shoulders like aircraft
Harry like, he was just so big.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Scott Pioli, the free.

Speaker 6 (12:57):
Exent acquisition we had that were so important. Even you know,
people don't mention a guy like Fred mccrairie, who was
important to us. You know, there were some other guys
and some moves that we made, you know, game Ted
Washington was critical and having him play the role that
we needed a big nose to have in Bill's defense.

(13:18):
So we went at it, and fortunately what was starting
to happen was the guys from the two thousand and
one draft, I mean, the first two picks in the
two thousand and one draft, they were maturing as well
a year label Richard Seymour and Matt White, and you
mentioned a bunch of the other names in the two
thousand and three draft. They were good players, they were

(13:40):
the right players, and the entire coaching staff really did
a tremendous job.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
The team made the most of their draft picks in April,
with a number of rookies and making immediate impacts upon
their arrival and throughout the two thousand and three season,
including starting center Dan Copen, cornerback of Sante Samuel, tight
end Daniel Graham, soon to be free safety Eugene will
and speedy wide out return man Bethel Johnson.

Speaker 6 (14:02):
When you look at guys like again Ty Warren, you
talk about how soon he started playing, Eugene Wilson and
Yes Sante Saniel Danny Copan. The Samuel and copd two
guys made Pro Bowls and not every pick hit, but
a lot of them contributed in pretty significant ways.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
But of all the offseason editions, it was a certain
hard hitting safety from the Chargers that turned everyone's heads
and truly changed the defensive dynamic fires to the.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
End zone, accept out of the enzone by Rodney Harraton.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
To take over.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Rodney Harrison signed in March, giving New England a superstar
with a newfound chip on his shoulder that matched the
kind of chip the Patriots had on theirs on the
way to their first title. However, with long time captain
Lawyer Malloy already the strong safety, it was uncertain how
things would play out over the summer as training camp approached,
Harrison and Maloy appeared on a collision course in more
ways than one.

Speaker 6 (14:51):
When we pursued Rodney, we didn't know how things were
gonna work out, right, It was we just we were
in this mode of we were going to get as
many good players on our roster that we liked and
thought that Bill's style of coaching and playing as we
possibly could. We knew Rodney, We respected Rodney. You know,

(15:11):
he ended up in a situation where he was let
go and we we we spent a lot of time
paying attention to players that had been tossed aside because
their salary got you know, too big. I'm using air
quotes for the team current that their current team that
didn't see the value and maybe it wasn't value and

(15:32):
they were going to take a pay that. So Rodney
gets cut and we had no idea where the Lawyer
team was going to go. And that became so complicated,
unnecessarily complicated for so many reasons in terms of the
negotiation of trying to get his salary down. But that's
another that's another whole segment, another story for another day.

Speaker 7 (15:52):
Paul Perillo, you could see again immediately in that three
training camp that he brought a presence about him in
an air of seriousness. You know, he was very competitive
like Tom you know on the practice field.

Speaker 13 (16:07):
That showed right away Teddy Bruski Arizona.

Speaker 14 (16:09):
Well, we wondered what was going to happen with Rodney
and Lawyer, I mean both being on the same team,
you know, basically the same guy, A strong safety and intimidator,
a hard hitter.

Speaker 20 (16:21):
Okay, how's this going to work?

Speaker 14 (16:22):
And Bill tried to sell a two safety package to us,
uh whatever, I forget what he called it. But Rodney
and Lawyer on the field at the same time won
the slash linebacker slash safety, and it was it was
a little bit of a mess, you know. So and
you could tell with Lawyer and Rodney. Rodney wanted to
defer the Lawyer because he had been here before and

(16:45):
he had won a championship. But Rodney just isn't like
that to his nature. So he who Rodney is, eventually
came out of course with you know, his aggression, and
we all ended up knowing who Rodney Harrison was.

Speaker 13 (16:55):
Rodney Harrison, Western Illinois.

Speaker 21 (16:57):
I was ready, man, you know, my intensity I came, man,
it was up to here because I was so bitter
at the Chargers, but I was so excited about my
new opportunity here and I and I heard the rumblings,
and I heard all of Rodney's why would you go
out and get a safety? This, this age, this, that
and the other. He's not the same, you know, where
is he gonna fit in on the defense?

Speaker 22 (17:19):
So I love that.

Speaker 21 (17:20):
So I love when I heard a lot of the
Patriots fans asking those questions, because I told, I told
my wife, I said, they have no idea what they're
in for. I'm gonna come out here and ball out.

Speaker 5 (17:29):
And off comes to Griffin trying to turn it. Why
do his laugh.

Speaker 15 (17:35):
Rodney Harris Harrison, Dean Brandton Lewisville edition of Rodney Trending
Kemp was a joke.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
You know.

Speaker 15 (17:42):
Rodney came in and just wanted to inject his uh,
his actual passion and and and the things that he
wanted to actually set the tone for with his team.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Being a new guy. We were always aware of who
he was.

Speaker 15 (17:53):
We just never played with it, you know, but just
having this guy alongside us and him just actually us
bringing him in and understanding this is our culture. You know,
I think the most important piece that stuck out the
most and training camp.

Speaker 18 (18:04):
Was the fight Karen Grigin.

Speaker 19 (18:06):
Within the first ten minutes. He basically laid out and
leveled Troy Brown coming across the middle of the field. Now,
stuff like that doesn't typically happen at all. I mean,
you don't want to hurt your own players, But that
was another jolt for the team. And I think, you know,
if this guy was going to practice like a madman

(18:27):
in practice and meant business like that, you know others
were gonna kind of follow suit, you know, wake up,
William Malloyd's gone boom, here comes Rodney, you know, destroying
people in practice. And I think it just hit home
on a lot of levels.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
You know, from that point, that point in training, CAB
and practice, we knew exactly what was what these guys.
I was talking about. Gaining the edge on guys.

Speaker 15 (18:53):
The edge is always putting in that extra work, you know,
for those who are always yeah, we know, we.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Got to go out to practice, we got meetings and
all this. What are you doing extra?

Speaker 15 (19:01):
What are some other things that are you doing extra
to try to gain the edge on your opponents?

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Are your teammates Matt Chatham.

Speaker 12 (19:08):
I mean he was nasty, and as a defensive player,
I mean I mean, obviously maybe offen some guys great
for by it and they'll love it. But as defender,
you think that's awesome, right, So it's exciting. Oh Rodney Harrison.
You know, he's he's kind of a jerk in a
good way, you know, like in that he's like the
kind of attitude that any defense would love to have.
And you know, he's a big personality, a big figure

(19:29):
in the league. So we were just at a time
where we were adding good players. It was just excited
to have somebody like him in the room.

Speaker 8 (19:36):
Nick Fitzi Stevens, I think a lot of fans were
at first mythed because why do we need to replace
someone who's still really good. Who's our guy? Like we
loved Lawyer Malloy. The Patriots went to a Super Bowl,
won a Super Bowl with Lawyer Malloy. He's our guy.
Now here comes this other guy with this nasty reputation.
He's a hard hitter, cheap shot artist. Rodney Harrison was

(19:58):
one of those guys we loved to root again. He
was one of the league's sort of villains, if you will,
so we replaced one of our favorites with one of
the league's villains. Ultimately, Rodney Harrison would become the quintessence
of the guy you love to hate on every other team,
but ultimately you're so glad to have on yours.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
The safety situation would finally come to a resolution just
days before the two thousand and three season was set
to open at Buffalo. To the shock of everyone, fans, media,
and even the team itself, mlloy was released. I quickly
signed with the Bills, set to face the Patriots on
opening weekend Tuesday.

Speaker 8 (20:31):
Laura malloy was the defensive captain of the England Patriots
until he was cut financial reasons Thursday, he signed with
the Buffalo Bills.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Lawyer malloy safety.

Speaker 23 (20:40):
There was a lot of factors going into that. It was,
you know, just over the weekend. He gave me until
to that Monday. It was over the weekend. I had
a lot of time to process from my rookie year,
you know, me, you know, getting a chance of no
Belichick to meet vouching for him to be the coach

(21:03):
to turn it around during my free agent year, to
ultimately me being the first you know, signee that he
signed going to my second Pro Bowl, and I mean
uh to I think it was my fourth Pro Bowl
and in five years at that point, uh being a captain,

(21:24):
you know, uh being a uh uh I guess, a
touchable figure and in in the Boston community community, all
that stuff I had to process that weekend. I just
I came back on Mondays and I can't. I can't
do it like. You know, even if I did it like,
I wouldn't be able to look at you in the
in the face. And and that was my decision.

Speaker 8 (21:46):
Out of nowhere. As they're heading into the season, the
news comes across the wire like early one random midweek
afternoon during training camp. Uh, lawyer Malloy cut they didn't
get anything for him. This guy's a member of the Patriots.
He won the Super Bowl, just like over a year ago.
This is one of Brady's bestieson branch Lewisville.

Speaker 15 (22:08):
A departure of our lawyer really showed me something and
taught me something as I grew within the business of
the NFL.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
You get what I'm saying, and that's exactly what it is.
You know, for whatever reason, things didn't work out between.

Speaker 15 (22:20):
The front office and Lawyer that's something out of my control,
but me personally knowing that this is our captain on
the defense side of the ball. You know, a guy
who I highly respect for us. To lose him at
the fashion and the manner that it went down, it
really showed me something early on that hey, if you
don't actually do X.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Y Z, you will not be around too long.

Speaker 13 (22:40):
Teddy Bruski Arizona.

Speaker 14 (22:41):
That's when I mean I was really really conflicted emotionally.
I talked to Sports Illustrated and it might have been
Peter King saying I was more loyal to my high
school and my college than I was the Patriots, because
that's how hurt. I was about, Okay, this is how
business is now. Okay, here we go. So you have
that of mentality and I expressed it like that, but

(23:02):
then everybody felt that way.

Speaker 17 (23:04):
For he a University of Colorado.

Speaker 11 (23:06):
That one week when Lawyer was traded would still be
one of the top five five weirdest moments of my career,
just based on didn't really I mean, I knew Lawyer,
but it wasn't like I didn't have this really hard,
strong bond like the.

Speaker 9 (23:18):
Other guys did.

Speaker 11 (23:18):
Based on winning that first Super Bowl and I never
played against them, but I liked him and it just
was weird the way everything went.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Matt Chatham.

Speaker 12 (23:27):
I think the quick lesson is, you know, anybody at
any tick can go. Everybody so and it isn't necessarily
the thing that you don't continue to be a good player.
It's just fit or whatever it is the organization is
looking for. Might be a cost issue or maybe something
to do with on field, who knows, but in that situation,
he was a guy had a ton of respect in
the room, throughout the room, right he was one of

(23:49):
our leaders. I think it just kind of put guys
on notice that you know, tomorrow's not guaranteed. They're not
showing their cards and what it is they you know,
certain see it for the future of the team.

Speaker 19 (24:01):
Karen Grigian, I mean there was a lot of why
Bill Belichick cut lawyer molloy loose. Some of it was
money related, but I also think it was like a
wake up call. I think he needed to shock the
team back into you know, and to look, you won
one year, it means nothing, you know, and nobody is safe.

(24:26):
So and it did shock the team. They got croaked
the first week but again, I do think it served
a purpose. I just think it was the aftershocks of
that abrupt departure and unexpected departure that led to thirty
one nothing.

Speaker 10 (24:45):
And you know what, it's really nice to see this
rivalry that started in the American Football League back in
the sixties. This was the big rival for the Patriots,
and the Patriots were the big rival for the Buffalo Bills.
But this has been read develop and I think a
couple of people have a lot to do with that.
And maybe Drew Bledsoe.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
And Lawyer Maloy with two former beloved Patriots, and Drew
Bledsoe and Lawyer Maloy now in Bill's uniforms a nightmare
scenario and folded as Buffalo took the Patriots the proverbial
Woodshed in a thirty one to zero knockout. Scott Pioli,
hey right in the gate.

Speaker 6 (25:20):
That was a buzzkill. Now, there's no way around it,
because there was so much chaos. But we also felt
pretty confident that we had not only the players, but
the leadership because that was another big part of our
you know, you know, our early success was the locker
room was always such a really, really good place.

Speaker 13 (25:37):
Teddy Bruskie Arizona.

Speaker 14 (25:38):
So you go into Buffalo and you get your butts
kick thirty one to zero.

Speaker 5 (25:41):
The Patriots get a hammer at thirty one to nothing.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
And I'll tell you what it was as bad as
it sounds, because Buffalo totally dominated the game from start
to finish. They came out juiced up, whacked the Patriots
upside the head on their opening drive when eighty yards
for a touchdown. La Patriots never fully recovered from that.

Speaker 14 (26:01):
You know, that was a little bit of a wake
up call for a lot of us, because you know,
we started to learn about moving on and how this
was when a player even moves on for someone that
you thought, you want a championship and this is the
way it's supposed to be. This is the team we're
supposed to have to continue on and this is the
team we'll do it with, and no, it's gonna constantly change.

(26:23):
And we learned that really quickly.

Speaker 9 (26:25):
Safety watching time.

Speaker 19 (26:27):
Remember thirty six, Karen Grigian, You know here we are
with you know, Tom Brady's the new hero and you
know he had a Soso two thousand and two season.
He throws four picks in that game and got replaced
by Rohan Davy right, not his.

Speaker 9 (26:49):
Day four ties, his worse than the interceptioning.

Speaker 19 (26:52):
Department ever, and again you have drew Bledsoe on the sideline.
So there, you know. I'm not going to say there
was panic in the streets, but people were kind of
scratching their heads a little bit after that game, Paul Perillo.

Speaker 7 (27:06):
I mean everything that could go wrong, and that game
went wrong. They were thoroughly outplayed. They had no they
had no desire to be there. They didn't understand why
Lawyer had to go.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
He's one of them now as Bill Belichick knows what
kind of player he is, but maybe he didn't anticipate
it would be this bad.

Speaker 9 (27:21):
This suit.

Speaker 7 (27:22):
I still to this day don't understand why Lawyer had
to go. It all worked out, obviously, but they had
no zip and this was an opening day game, Mike,
that they didn't show up for and they were not there. Now,
Buffalo wasn't bad, but they weren't thirty one nothing, you know,
better than the Patriots actually found out later in the season.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Nick Fitzi Stevens.

Speaker 8 (27:42):
It was a disheartening loss on so many levels. It's
Bledsoe's revenge. Oh no, Buffalo got one on us. As
we've come to know, you know, the city of Buffalo
became basically Brady's ashtray for twenty years. But not that day.
Lawyer Milloy gets a sack of Brady. He does his
sack celebration, ump in the fist, like the engineer and
the train, and I'm like, that's our celebration. You do

(28:04):
that in our uniform, and stop that, Lawyer Malloy.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Brady back, that's roll.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Roll's kind of like hurting slack at the five yard.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
Line by lawyer malayd.

Speaker 8 (28:14):
Don't you dare, Don't you'd be nice to Brady. That's
your best friend. It's hurt.

Speaker 17 (28:18):
Christian Fourrier a University of Colorado.

Speaker 11 (28:20):
Losing the way we did in such embarrassing fashion in
Buffalo was not necessarily a wake up call, but it
was like, holy crap. It just things got out of
hand quick and everybody let their emotions get the best
of them.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Lawyer Malloy.

Speaker 23 (28:34):
For me individually, I was like I'm gonna be okay,
you know, because no matter how how good you are individually,
how strong you are as a man, when you go
through something life changing like that, like there's some uncertainty, right,
so us going out, me going out and really being
around a bunch of strangers, having two days to prepare for.

Speaker 20 (29:00):
Anybody, let alone your, your, your, your, the team you
just left.

Speaker 23 (29:04):
I mean there was I was in not a new city,
I was sleeping in a new bed like it was
all all those things packed into it. So when we won,
it was it was more just confirmation, like, yeah, Lawyer,
that does sucked, but.

Speaker 6 (29:17):
You're gonna be okay.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Scott Poli.

Speaker 6 (29:19):
One of the worst parts that team was not only
the beating, but after the beating. When you used to
leave the old Buffalo Bill Stadium. I would go out
with the coaches and we would all go down together
as a group and they would be waiting with these
golf carts to drive you down through the crowd to
get to the elevator. And those people, they were meanest snakes.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Man.

Speaker 6 (29:41):
It was ugly.

Speaker 14 (29:45):
I Teddy Bruski Arizona. I think that cut the cord.
That was a tough game for us, And you know,
as as quickly as I could, getting over the loss
of Lawyer, and you love the guy, but look at
that he's over there on the other sideline pumping his
elbow up and down, all of his celebration and beating us.
So it's like, Okay, let's get over that, because that

(30:08):
was a conflicting day because Drew was also over there,
and I'm seeing guys that I went to two Super
Bowls with in Drew bled so in ninety six when
we lost to the Packers and it was pre Brady,
So it's like, you're emotionally attached to guys, but then
when you see them kick your ass, it's like, all right,
screw them and let's move on, you know. So that
sort of helped, I guess, getting beat the way we did.

Speaker 24 (30:29):
With the fans and media wondering if the Patriots were
already ready to fold their two thousand and three season,
New England headed to Philadelphia to try and get their
season back on track, while the media pondered if the
team was turning on its coach.

Speaker 9 (30:41):
It is SportsCenter.

Speaker 20 (30:44):
I want to say this very clearly. They hate their coach.

Speaker 13 (30:47):
Brought me Harrison Western Illinois.

Speaker 22 (30:49):
Well to us.

Speaker 21 (30:50):
It wasn't controversy because it was someone saying something outside
of our locker room, and although it was early in
the season, it really was just what we needed to
come together. It was that little spark that we needed
just to be able to come together and really buying
as a team, and that's what we did. We said, man,
hate coach Belichick. We're the ones out there playing. Yeah,

(31:12):
the coaches could have probably done a better job of
preparing us for that game, but ultimately we're the ones
out there playing. So it was just like we kind
of laughed at it was like, Okay, if this is
what they think we are, we're gonna buying together and
we're gonna go on a run.

Speaker 22 (31:24):
And that's exactly what we did. We went on a run.

Speaker 15 (31:26):
Dean Brandt Lewis Moving forward to the Philly game, that
was a pretty good game. Clearly it's not the way
we wanted to start the season, but that was a
good game to bounce back on.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
But we got that payback, that get back at the
end of the year.

Speaker 8 (31:39):
Nick Fitzi Stevens as became the norm that season. Early on,
like there was another major injury, like Teddy Johnson broke
his leg. I believe Mike Compton got hurt early and
then the high price free agent Roosevelt Covin breaks his
hip in a game where he gets a sack and
looks like a quality addition.

Speaker 5 (31:55):
That back to throw goes to the left wood.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
He's very everybody chasing half through it, and.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Who has Patriots?

Speaker 1 (32:02):
My Patriots recovered Roosevelt called them recovered it.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
And he is limping off the field.

Speaker 8 (32:07):
Now he's toast for the season as well. So it
felt like at the start of the two thousand and
three season, the Patriots just couldn't catch a break.

Speaker 13 (32:15):
Teddy BRUSKEI Arizona.

Speaker 20 (32:16):
So we go into Philly and I had a pretty
good game.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
The Donovan McNabb Harrison showing blitz back to threl McNabb
steps fires peck off Teddy Bruskey.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
He won't walk into the young zone. Touch down.

Speaker 14 (32:30):
Yeah, we're all over Donovan McNabb, bald disruption all over
the place, and I finished.

Speaker 20 (32:36):
It with the pick six, like he said.

Speaker 14 (32:38):
But in the locker room after that, I truly felt
that we had moved on with Rodney, with Ted Washington,
who was an absolute luxury to play behind as a
linebacker when you don't get touched because this guy's just
taken two to three, I mean two guards in a
center and you just get to run around. So the

(32:58):
transition was made after that, pat I believe Matt Chatham.

Speaker 12 (33:02):
We were as good a group as you'll find, you know,
throughout the years, a relative to guy that can do
that job alone. So we were tough.

Speaker 7 (33:11):
You.

Speaker 12 (33:12):
I mean, it's of course you got to face it,
you know, growing in this league, Tom Brady and all
that and the challenges that are offense gave people and
our defense is loaded to But when when the Patriots
run your schedule, you were facing one of the best
special teams groups that you're going to face.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Ken Water to punt from his own twenty three I
in the air, a real boomer, Westbrook settles under it.
The ball it's on the ground, Philadelphia goes after it,
the Patriots go after it inside the fifteen yard line,
and let's see who has it Patriot's recovery at the
Philadelphia fourteen yard line.

Speaker 12 (33:47):
We're a little bit unique. I mean, I'm a two
to fifty plus guy, and I can run, and I
love to hit, and if you had me that week,
you're gonna get hit. And we're crazy physical. I mean,
we forced a lot of rules changes in the box
on special teams of being Larry and myself and double
D and you know, just basically on pump returns, you know,

(34:09):
assaulting people, you know, and and clear and big lanes
for Troy Brown. I mean, we knew we were really good.
I know everyone had the facis knew it as well,
and we knew we were gonna have fut games every week.

Speaker 17 (34:19):
Christian Fourier University of Colorado.

Speaker 11 (34:21):
Going on the road and beating Philly definitely it was like, Okay,
there's a hint of what we can do. There's like
a little little little glimpse of what is possible if
we just all kind of have a good practice and
do the right things, don't turn it over.

Speaker 9 (34:35):
Everybody gets their blocks.

Speaker 11 (34:37):
So that was definitely like something that I think we
all felt like, Okay, this is this is how it
should feel.

Speaker 7 (34:45):
Brady play action.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Christian you foury a, there is you Fourier in New England.

Speaker 11 (34:50):
But it still was only the second game of the season,
so we had no clue what or who we were.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
The Patriots would return to Foxborough for their home opener
against the Jets and continue to find their winning formula.
Rookie of Sante Samuel had to pick six, but the
injuries continued to mount, with both Ted Washington and David
Patton leaving the game and Brady battling through an elbow injury.
New England stout defense again won the day, holding the
Jets to just one of thirteen on third down.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Patriots with the ball up the Jet twenty four yard line,
the Patriots will improve the two and one on the
season and the Jets will fall to h and three.
Brady takes the knee, tosses the ball back to the referee,
and that's all she wrote. Oh, the Patriots win the
home opener. It was a mail byer, but they win it.
Where the final score the New England Patriots twenty three the.

Speaker 5 (35:34):
New York Jets sixteen. That's it from Foxborough.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
But the Pats would backslide against Washington despite holding quarterback
Patrick Ramsey to just ten of twenty two for one
hundred and forty seven yards. Brady had three interceptions and
Kevin Falk had a fumble. As turnovers did the Patriots in,
leaving them to wonder what kind of team they were
going to be in two thousand and three. Scott Pioli
and that loss to Washington was, you know, just straight

(36:00):
on a lot of levels.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
Again, it was a team that we were better than
a game we should have won. We were distracted and
we were sitting there at two and two, what are.

Speaker 20 (36:08):
We going to do?

Speaker 11 (36:09):
When we lost to the Redskins. I remember going, this
is horrible. How did we lose to this team? Nothing
went right?

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Fourth and three for the Patriots, trailing by three, forty
five seconds left, three receivers to the like for Brady
takes the snatch, looking looking fires down the field.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
It is incomplete, untended for Daniel.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
Graham, broken up by Payani Ahallahi and the Washington Redskins
will take over on down.

Speaker 5 (36:38):
So the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Opportunity goes by the boards. They had a chance and
couldn't make it work.

Speaker 11 (36:44):
We were getting a we started accumulating a ton of injuries.
Guys are dropping like flies, and here we have to
play at home against the Titans.

Speaker 9 (36:52):
And I remember going, listen, we got to get our
act together.

Speaker 11 (36:55):
And I remember walking off the field with Brady talking
with him, and we're just just confused.

Speaker 9 (37:03):
Why we were so bad? Why were we two and two?

Speaker 7 (37:06):
Paul Parillo, they had a fourth down pass that that
Tom I think Tom tried to hit Daniel Graham incomplete,
And you're like, did we just lose to Washington, and
Washington I think, you know, I don't think that Washington
was very good that year. And they're two and two,
and you said, you're starting to think, well, the aberration

(37:26):
was what happened in OH one, This is reality nine
and seven, last year, two and two, this year, they're okay,
they're a good team, but they're not one of the
best teams in football. And they never lost again.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
At two and two and wondering which direction their season
was going to go, the Patriots welcomed an AFC powerhouse,
the Tennessee Titans, who featured Steve McNair in the midst
of an MVP season in the twelve and four finish.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
A couple of teams that the well that no a
bit in recent.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
Years about getting to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 10 (37:52):
At least, and one of them was one one year
the Patriots and Bill Belichickson was going to get the
Titans to coach Jeff Fisher.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
It was a defining game the Patriots on the path
to victory that would not end until October of two
thousand and four.

Speaker 25 (38:05):
Scott Poli, I remember going into that game where you know,
the team knew everyone in the organization knew that, Hey,
this is time to stand up.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
Like you said, that is a pretty good Tennessee team.
I mean, you know, we knew that we had to
stand up at that moment because he was gonna, I
don't want to say it was going to define the season,
but it was gonna give us an idea of.

Speaker 5 (38:25):
Who we were and what we were.

Speaker 8 (38:27):
Nick Bitsy Stevens in the two thousand and three season,
one of my all time favorite memories of watching sports
with my dad, not just the Patriots, but sports with
my dad in Braintree. I was home from New York
for the weekend and I the Red Sox were playing
the Oakland Athletics in the American League Divisional Series. And Sunday,

(38:49):
the two and two Patriots have a massive home game
against the Tennessee Titans. Steve McNair here at to Lette Stadium.

Speaker 10 (38:56):
This is a big one for the Patriots and they
have to be ready to challenge this a very physical
Tennessee team, especially on defense. And guess who's got the
best road record since nineteen ninety five the Tennessee Titans
thirty eight to twenty years.

Speaker 8 (39:11):
So you've got a playoff game at Fenway, and you've
got basically like a almost playing for your season type
of game to what would ultimately start a huge win
streak for the Patriots at Gillette. So Boston was just on.
This was the hub of the American sports world.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
On that Sunday, McNair takes the the rec snap, Bean
Rush fires to the right, Peck Cup Tila left shot.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
He's gonna go on away, Tyala.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
A Patch interception returns touchdown Patriot and a Patch cap
Cup first turnover can't.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Make it count.

Speaker 8 (39:44):
And I remember like the Patriots made a pivotal play
to seal the deal and win the game. A shootout
against the Titans thirty eight to thirty an absolute regular
season classic.

Speaker 17 (39:55):
Christian Fourier University of Colorado.

Speaker 11 (39:57):
So when we beat the Titans, I remember walking off
the field and saying, this is what it takes.

Speaker 9 (40:02):
This is what it should feel like.

Speaker 11 (40:04):
Now we know exactly what we need to do, how
much work we need to put in, how we need
to say mentally focused during the game, how hard we
needed to work. That was and that was an example
of what it should look like. And and I think from
there on there was there was no looking back. That's
where I personally feel like everything flipped as far as

(40:25):
just what we were capable of doing.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
A week after tossing three picks against Washington, Tom Brady
hit Troy Browns for a fifty eight yard touchdown.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Here Brady back to throw stands in, stands in, shoots
it long and be Troy Browned got it in touchdown on.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
A right flow, and ty Lock closed things out with
a sixty four yard pick six. As the formula for success,
timely big plays and the tenacious defense started to emerge
brought me.

Speaker 13 (40:50):
Hererison Western Illinois.

Speaker 22 (40:52):
Man, I tell you, that's where I really got to
know Tom.

Speaker 21 (40:54):
That's when I got a chance to really see how
competitive and how fiery he is.

Speaker 9 (40:59):
Like that for every day because as.

Speaker 22 (41:02):
Nice as he is off the.

Speaker 21 (41:04):
He was he was a jerk on the field right there.
Like he was yelling and cussing and mad because we're
jamming his receivers in a red zone MF and us
And he was just a competitive.

Speaker 22 (41:18):
Son of a god, you know, And I loved it.

Speaker 8 (41:19):
Well, No, we ain't done.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
We talked about that.

Speaker 22 (41:22):
I was like, Wow, this is our quarterback. That's awesome.
He's yelling and cussing at us, that's great.

Speaker 26 (41:26):
Once he got to a certain point there about the
mid season of the three season, and then in the playoffs,
and then from then on him it was his level
of performance and play and consistency was at the very top.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Of the league.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
That formula continued against the Giants the following week, as
the Patriots offense stumbled out of the gate outgained one
hundred and ninety nine to twenty nine in the first
half alone.

Speaker 5 (41:47):
Toss sweet left side to Tiki Barber, hitting.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
The back up front, tick up the break, heading down
the right sideline, mat Chat him He's gonna low.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
End touchdown that they used another defensive score and a
whapping four interceptions to knock off New York can improve
to feign two bits.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
That our tractor pickcock by Patriot Rodney Harrison at the
fourteen yard lives.

Speaker 5 (42:07):
It's fires.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
It is on our top cub pickcock Hey Tyrone Harrison.

Speaker 5 (42:12):
Harris comes on their side. Harrison is knocking out of
bounds on the their side.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
With just eight completions for one hundred and twelve yards,
it was Tom Brady's least productive day of the season,
but with solid special teams and defense, the Pats won
their second straight.

Speaker 5 (42:25):
Well we got a game and a half right here, folks.

Speaker 10 (42:27):
It's the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins and
first place in the Eastern Division. Hinges on two comes
out of here victoriously.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
In Week seven, a battle for the AFC East was
fought in Miami, historically tough place to play for the
Patriots against a four and one Dolphins team looking to
assert their own dominance over the division. Scott Pioli, Patriots
director of player personnel.

Speaker 6 (42:50):
It was huge. It was a big moment for a
lot of reasons because, you know, as you mentioned it was.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
You know, I know what it was like.

Speaker 6 (42:57):
I want to say it was in the middle of Octobers,
but we had usually, you know, we were so used
to being down there for the first team and having
them back where we had struggled in Miami, and the
fact was that, you know, again we were this team
that was still trying to sort it out again. We
knew we were good, but we didn't know if we

(43:17):
were going to be good.

Speaker 18 (43:19):
Karen Grigian the Boston Herald.

Speaker 19 (43:22):
You know, Miami was the team, you know, and they
just they couldn't beat them, whether it was in Miami
or in New England. But especially in Miami.

Speaker 10 (43:33):
As we were talking about it earlier, that the record
that Miami Dolphins enjoyed down here really in their favor
to a point where it doesn't seem like it really
should be that way, But we have to go on what.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
History has shown us.

Speaker 19 (43:46):
The way they won that game again, I do think
it was a catalyst for them going forward.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Nick Fitzi Stevens, Patriots fan and personality.

Speaker 8 (43:57):
One of my favorite games, not just a two thousand
and three but all time, was Week seven down in Miami.
Everybody knows Miami, or at least playing down in Miami,
is the clown outside Bill Belichick's window. They can not
only never win in Miami, it seams, but they play
so terribly they have how many decades of head scratching.

(44:18):
So it was a low scoring affair and the Pats,
you know, like to prove that you're something and to
run the division, they needed to go to Miami and win.

Speaker 24 (44:26):
It was another low scoring affair as the two teams
went to overtime tied at thirteen, setting the stage for
one of the most infamous throws of Tom Brady's career.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Brady, with one long setback spins pump fakes looking over
the middle.

Speaker 5 (44:38):
Now nobody there. Now he shoots it long MD for
Troy Brown.

Speaker 10 (44:42):
He's got it, He's got in the fifteen to.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
The Taple squad, touch up, touch down, touch down, Tom
Brady tot ninety two yards touch out path tout Troy Brown.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Paul Parillo, Patriots Football Weekly.

Speaker 7 (44:57):
One of the most underrated throws of Tom Brady's if
you go back and look at that, the footwork of
him sliding in the pocket, backing up to buy some time,
never taking his eyes off the intended receiver downfield, and
throwing an absolutely perfect bomb for a touchdown.

Speaker 10 (45:15):
Tom Brady working his way in position to just love
up a long pass.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
Troy Brown looked like he was covered. He separated from
both of those.

Speaker 10 (45:25):
Guys at the last minute, a perfectly thrown pass. Troy
Brown did not miss a stride, and you know, if
he's gonna touch the ball, he's.

Speaker 9 (45:33):
Gonna catch it.

Speaker 10 (45:34):
And then he pulled away from them to go all
the way for the distance to score the touchdown.

Speaker 8 (45:40):
I still say through his absolute best pass of all time.
This sixty yard laser, a freaking laser. I mean, this
thing was a dark a seed. It was perfect right
for the jungular Brady.

Speaker 5 (45:55):
Troy Brown had the renew go oh no way, Katy.

Speaker 9 (45:59):
To your Patriots win nineteen thirteen on the ball.

Speaker 8 (46:04):
And it just sails over everybody and lands in the
outstretched hands of Troy Brown streaking down the left sideline,
running through Joe Robbie Stadium, which had the outline of
the Marlins infield in it as well, and everything and
Brown scores.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
And the Patriots winning over time. Oh bab what I win?
I win?

Speaker 9 (46:26):
Oh mile my.

Speaker 8 (46:28):
I remember dick Enberg was on the call for CBS.
He just lost his mind.

Speaker 9 (46:33):
He comes.

Speaker 8 (46:38):
And then Brady's freaking out. And Belichick. I'm not sure
if Belichick's headset, which he threw up into the air
has landed yet.

Speaker 9 (46:45):
The streak is.

Speaker 11 (46:46):
Over Bill Belichick's team, which lost thirty one to nothing.

Speaker 9 (46:50):
To the first game of the year in Buffalo.

Speaker 8 (46:52):
He is in first place. But to him winning in Miami,
winning in the forbidden zone, if you will, in the
upside down of football for the Patriots was just.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Tom Brady, by the way, is the guy that some
people say can't throw the ball along.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
Excuse me, folks, he can throw it long.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Tom Brady ninety two yard touchdown passed Detroy Brown at
the five forty five minute markup overtime, and the Patriots
are in first place in the AFC East despite all
the injuries. What a great coaching job by Bill Belichick
and his staff.

Speaker 17 (47:24):
Christian Fier University of Colorado.

Speaker 11 (47:26):
And now listen, and I also told you that I
would not have gotten a touchdown. Okay, there was a
full on check release on my part. Two tight ends
that Dan Dan Graham was right behind me. I was open,
and I would have gotten a touchdown. I would have
moved the chains. Absolutely would have moved the chains. But
we probably would have you know, probably had to kick
a field goal. It was not it would not have
been a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Scott Pioli.

Speaker 6 (47:47):
I spends every game in the coach's booth, sitting right
next to Ernie Adams, and you know, we all had
jobs while we were up there, and I just remember
that moment and happening, you know, going through the almost
thrown through the roof, because it was we saw it unfolding,
We saw it happening, and it was you know, and

(48:07):
in those moments, your mind has split and part of
your mind is sending you the visual of the play
being completed. The other part of your mind is showing
the visual of the play not working out. And it
was one of those moments where that was a critical
win for us. Again, Miami was a pretty good team
then too, so that.

Speaker 5 (48:27):
A big win.

Speaker 6 (48:28):
But again the fashion in which we did it was
really important too.

Speaker 7 (48:32):
I think Paul Perillo the Patriots earned that victory in
every way that you could possibly do it. And to
have it happen down there Mic where so many bad
things that happened, you know, even before, and sense it
was just kind of like this one year where we're
gonna go down there and no matter what they do,
we're gonna find a way to come away.

Speaker 9 (48:50):
Well.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
The final score the Patriots nineteen the Dolphins thirteen and overtime.

Speaker 5 (48:55):
That's it from Miami.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
The season back on track. After the thrilling win in Miami,
Patriots were turned to Gillette Stadium, where they suffocated the
Browns with another stellar defensive effort that included three sacks
from Mike Fable, who returned from an earlier injury.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
There's this map here in the watch rules for the
right got to be heading sacks back inside the fifteen
yard line.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
By Mike Ribel for the second time in three games.
The Pats d did not allow a touchdown, defuddling both
Browns quarterbacks Tim Couch and Kelly Holcombe, and.

Speaker 4 (49:21):
The Patriots win been the kind of nine to three,
and if Patriots are.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Now six to two, Miami had been New England's house
of horrors. Denver wasn't far behind, and in two thousand
and three, the five and three Broncos were ready to
ruin the Patriots win streak on Monday Night football.

Speaker 10 (49:34):
The temperature for free though, it's thirty two degrees here
in Denver, We're ready for Monday Night Football.

Speaker 5 (49:41):
The Patriots and the Denver Broncos.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
It was a game that would be forever remembered for
how it highlighted Bill Belichick's mastery of situational football. It
would be just New England's second win in fourteen games
in Denver.

Speaker 19 (49:53):
Karen Grigian, it doesn't matter if they have six Super
Bowls or none. Those are two of the toughest venues. One,
you know, Miami because of the heat, and people just
aren't used to humidity in December and January or November
or whenever it is. And then of course the altitude
in Denver, you know, plus they had good teams. You know,

(50:15):
even if you took the altitude out of it, it
would still be tough for them to win.

Speaker 5 (50:20):
There, toss the coin. The Patriots had the call. They
called heads, and guess what they came up tails? They
lost again.

Speaker 8 (50:29):
Nick Fitzi Stevens the signature genius of Bill Belichick's coaching
and why he and Brady together were just the perfect
ultimate winning combo in the NFL. Was the Monday night
game in Denver.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Fourth down and the Patriots are forced to punt from
the back of the end zone.

Speaker 10 (50:47):
Yeah, they just teed off on the Patriots that time
defensively and squeezed Tom Brady to a point where he
just had everyone in his face. And then they had
his arm hit as he threw the ball or got
hit in the chest as he was throwing the ball.

Speaker 8 (51:03):
The Patriots are losing by I think three or four
points late in the game, and Belichick has to punt
the ball back to the Broncos and has makes this
crazy decision to have the ball snapped out of the
end zone.

Speaker 5 (51:21):
Hi, snap, it's a safety.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
They were gonna hitch the goal post, so they give
them a safety.

Speaker 8 (51:28):
They were punting basically from like their own five. So
instead of giving the ball back to the Broncos with
good field position, where a drive with the field goal
would basically ice the game, he has the long snapper
sail it into the stands and it ends up bouncing
off the crossbar, and everyone's like, what what is he doing?

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Oh, Geneo, you think that was the smart choice to
make there, rather than take a chance that it was blocked.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
I'll let you know after the outcome. Oh, very clever.

Speaker 8 (51:54):
So he trusts his defense. Now you get to kick off,
you get to do the drop punt from the twenty.
So now they've pushed Denver way further back down the field.
They get the three and out stop they need. Brady
gets the ball back with like a minute fifteen, and
what does he do? Tom Brady things.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Waiting the snap on first contend at the Denver eighteen.
He's got it, look into the throw, fires to the left.

Speaker 9 (52:14):
Cut David Diggings touchdown.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Touch Crady baked yuch dud dagger given start with.

Speaker 5 (52:22):
Forty seconds to go.

Speaker 8 (52:24):
Everyone's stunted and the announcers now catching on to the
classic chess move that Belichick made Brady throws a dart
to the front corner of the end zone to David
Gibbons touchdown. Patriots, they win the game. That's when we knew, yeah,
I know when this season is gonna end late January
or early February.

Speaker 7 (52:41):
Paul Parillo, I mean that was one of those who
started to say, hey, this is getting a little LIKEO one.
You know, we're finding ways to you know, weird, weird
things that happening late in the game, and people remember
the safety. They don't remember the free kick that was
misplayed by Denver, which backed them up, you know, deep
in their own territory, made it much more difficult to
squeak out a first and run the clock out.

Speaker 15 (53:01):
Deon Brant Louisville, Well, I think overall, we we prided
ourself on being the number one team, situational football team,
you know, been the smartest team, and we proved that
weekend week out. We know going into the game exactly
what the game plan is and who's going to go
out here actually initiate and we're going to actually apply
this game plan.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
The way is to talk to us.

Speaker 15 (53:19):
Both of those games, tough game Division game with Miami
Denver was another tough game as well. This was just
situational football that we practice each and every day all
day practice.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
You know, we may go through a whole practice and
it's all situational football. You know. Coach Belichick is just
challenging us.

Speaker 15 (53:35):
I think the practices are going way more harder than
the game, and it made us that much more alert
and aware.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
And once we got in these situations.

Speaker 13 (53:42):
In the game.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
The Patriots came out of their by seven to two
and on a five game winning streak, including wins over
three significant conference rivals, two of which came on the road.
But a familiar face to many on New England greeted
them out of the buy as Bill Parcells made his
debut against the Pats as the new head coach of
the Dallas Cowboys. You're not talking about two social butterflies anyway, no.

Speaker 5 (54:01):
I mean, you know, Bill Parcells is focused on this
football game, as is Bill Belichick. They both know what's
at stake.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
You don't want to get lost in this thing between
the coaches and realize that these are two seven and
two football teams.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
The formula for victory continued, this time with the Patriots
defense pitching their first shutout in one hundred and thirty games. Well,
the offense made the most of two explosive passing plays
from Brady.

Speaker 7 (54:22):
The Dallas game was interesting because it was Parcels in
Belichick and I remember they had the iconic, you know
shot before the game of Parcels like in the background,
kind of looming and like, you know, these guys gonna
talk to each other. Ended up being obviously much ado
about nothing, and as Paul McGuire said earlier in the week,
neither one of them are gonna make a tackle to night.

(54:43):
Just one of those defensive battles. I don't think either
team really played all that well that night, but the
patriotsch control of the game.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Carter calling, Seguales carter handoff comes to Hambrick stuck in
the backfield by Teddy Rouse, cave Matt Chatham.

Speaker 12 (54:57):
I think this happens not just for us, but for
a lot of teams that have had a championship and
then been away from it for a bit and then
still have a lot of the people in the room
that have tasted that. I think you kind of learned
what it takes, you know what works, and you know
when it's not working and it started to build just

(55:19):
that we're doing the little things like you mentioned earlier, Mike,
there's a lot of really tight contests where it's just
a situational execution or not that's deciding these games.

Speaker 5 (55:27):
On first down, card to play action fake, here's a
rush gets the rid.

Speaker 20 (55:31):
Of the ball.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
It is intercepting tire lot nineteen yard lives.

Speaker 12 (55:36):
When you start doing that consistently, yeah, that feel sort
of starts to rise in the room. You know, the
guys that have been through this before you can kind
of sort of wink in and out and go, what's
happening again? You know this, we're doing what it takes.
And yeah, I think that's that's definitely a feeling that
that many of the guys in that room are familiar with,
and the handful of new faces were, you know, hungry

(55:58):
to get to taste themselves.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Carter takes the snap back to throw stands in there,
stands in, They're going to be sacked.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
Finally they got to him. Back at the twenty four.

Speaker 12 (56:06):
The makeup team was really rare. You know, it wasn't
a team with one or two big guys on each
side of the ball and Bill it was like six seven.
Guys that are just like venerable old heads, the kind
of guy you you know, hand off your daughter to
kind of thing, you know, like like people this could
be trusted with the organization. If Bill needed to take
a week off, like it's going to keep rolling. And

(56:29):
I don't mean that as a shot at Bill. I
just mean that, like he built it that way. He
built it. So there were just so many good leaders,
accountable people in their own right on you know, all
three in all three phases, and it becomes I think,
much more easy to win when the buy in and
people who don't need to be motivated by someone else,
they're all kind of working together.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Against the Texans, Brady would have his biggest passing yardage
day of the season, throwing from three hundred and sixty
eight yards and two touchdowns, but also throwing two interceptions.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Back to throw is Brady on third and ten gets
rid of the football and there's better Teptic kicked off
at the forty yard line of the thirty, five of the.

Speaker 5 (57:05):
Thirty to the right side of the twenty and haul down.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
Inside the fifteen yard line.

Speaker 5 (57:10):
The pass intercepted by Marcus.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Colman Adam Finettieri missed a field goal and had another
blocked as miss cues kept the game close despite Kevin
Falk out gaining Houston all by himself.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Play action fake, Brady rolls to his right, throws it
back to the left of his caught by Falk. He's
across the fifty forty five left side forty at the
thirty five on his feet at the thirty inside the
thirty to the twenty six yard line. A great piece
of running by Kevin Falk. Rady calling signals. Brady on
the give to Kevin Falk. He's got the first down
to the thirty one yard line. Brady out of a

(57:43):
shotgun three receivers to the near side, right and motion
of the left goes Branch back in motion to the
right guns Branch direct snap to Brady, stands in there,
flips it left at the screen to Kevin Falk.

Speaker 5 (57:53):
He's at the thirty yard line, left side of the
twenty five.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
He's at twenty yard line, outside of the fifteen yard
line and.

Speaker 5 (57:57):
Knocked out of bounds at the thirteen yard line of Houston.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Brady and Vinitieri would make amends, with Brady leading a
game tying eighty r touchdown drive at the end of
regulation and Vinittieri delivering the game winning overtime kick in
the same stadium where he'd make an eventual Super Bowl
winning kick.

Speaker 7 (58:13):
Paul Perillo Houston game is another one of those that
you said, this season's different fourth down double catches by
Graham and the end zone just to get it to
overtime to.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Left goost four ya hand off to know when Brady
rolls right, looks right, looks looks fires end zone.

Speaker 5 (58:31):
Great rate being catched in the end zone by Daniel Briam.

Speaker 7 (58:35):
Again the Texans, I believe, took over in overtime in
Patriots territory like at the forty and didn't move an inch,
couldn't even kick a field goal, and ultimately end up winning.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Ball on the fire hash mark the angle to the
right four Adam Viniterry twenty eight yard field goal attempt
to try to win it in overtime, awaiting the snap
from Lonnie Packs and as ken Walder set the go
snap ball down, kick is up, kick is on the
way man, The kick is good. Patres win in overtime, and.

Speaker 7 (59:09):
I think that's the last time might be trailed in
that season before the Super Bowl.

Speaker 9 (59:15):
In the same stadium by the way.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Week eleven featured the biggest and most memorable game of
the two thousand and three regular season, a matchup against
two nine to two teams, with the Patriots heading to
Indy to face Peyton Manning in a high powered Colts
offense and what would develop into the greatest rivalry of
the decade.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
Bill Belichick's Patriots have won seven in a row.

Speaker 5 (59:33):
Peyton Manning has had the ford.

Speaker 4 (59:35):
Forgainst Belichick coach teams over the years.

Speaker 8 (59:38):
Nick Fitzi stevens their stacking wins a few snoozers, but
it's a w it's a w it's a w wow.
This team's really onto something, and if they're gonna get there,
they're gonna have to test their metal and face who
would ultimately become the best rival for Tom Brady in
what I think is inarguably the greatest quarterback versus quarterback
rivalry competition relationship of all time, Brady Manning. November thirtieth,

(01:00:02):
they go to Indianapolis, and this game of many between
Brady Manning is an all time classic back and forth.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
Brady out of a shotgun, has a fault to his
left in the backfield third and seven direct snap to
Brady stands in there, stands in there, fires, Pitness tun.

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
Hatscride five touchdown, Petreans.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Date rewards back and forth, direct snap to Manning fires
toward the end zone.

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
It is tap touchdowns kaping his feet inbound. Was wide
receiver Reggie.

Speaker 8 (01:00:33):
Wayne score score score.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Brady on the play action fake fires to the right,
open touchdown stand up day on Bridge.

Speaker 8 (01:00:43):
I still remember I was at a bar in Quinsy
with like my dad, my brother, some of my best friends,
and it was just apps and beer and back and
forth and yes and son of it, No, don't you
throw it to He's open? Just at this massive, loud,
emotional affair. Every one was so into this game. And

(01:01:03):
on fourth down when Willie McGinnis, who definitely was a
little bit off sides, but I don't care because my
team won. When he comes around the edge and gets
the edge and stops Edger and James short of getting
like the fourth down to be able to drive it
into the end zone.

Speaker 5 (01:01:19):
Four down, fifteen seconds to go, the head off the Edger.

Speaker 21 (01:01:24):
He is stop Willy McGinn.

Speaker 8 (01:01:29):
William McGinnis coming around the edge, stopping Edger and James
ceiling the win. I can still see him running down
the field, high step and pumping his fist.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
So fourth and.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
Goal, Willie McGinnis, who lipped off a couple of plays earlier.

Speaker 9 (01:01:42):
Makes the stop.

Speaker 8 (01:01:43):
This season doesn't just feel special, it feels extra special,
like we all thought we were plugged into yet another moment,
and the conversation really now began, like can these guys
go back and win another Super Bowl?

Speaker 18 (01:01:54):
Like Karen Grigian, I.

Speaker 19 (01:01:55):
Think the Colts thought he was feigning injury on that.
I don't know if Lily has ever admitted that, but still,
and the kicker of all was him making the last
play four than one, you know, so I think. I mean,

(01:02:16):
it was just it was great theater. It was suspense,
it was and again early on in Peyton Manning's career,
he just could not beat the Patriots, no matter what,
he could not beat the Patriots, and that had to
just eat away at him, you know, especially there he

(01:02:36):
was all he needed was a yard to finally get
over the hump, and nope, the Patriots defense did not
budget Arizona.

Speaker 20 (01:02:45):
Yeah, I mean our defense we really.

Speaker 14 (01:02:48):
Started to turn into something that, like you said, the
best that we had here I mean just stopping them
the way we did on that fourth down. I mean
because the Colts, I think they ended up trying to
to be pretend tough guys and they wanted to run
the football in And I mean I made a stop
on second down, third down game like Ted Johnson was

(01:03:09):
huge on that series also, and of course Ted Washington.
Everybody gives Willia McGinnis the credit, but Ted Washington. If
you look, there's a helmet that just pops out out
of nowhere through under the scrum and he takes I
think it was egwend James right Edwin James low and
then Willie comes and finishes him off. So Ted Washington
was really one of our MVPs of that season in

(01:03:31):
that game. Man, you just start to feel things that
on that streak to I think it was winning twenty
one games in a row, Scott Poli.

Speaker 6 (01:03:39):
It was one of those things because we were we
had started, we had built some real confidence right in
what this football team was. We knew they were a
good team. We knew we were a good team. We
knew that there were certain things that we had to
do in terms of ball control. You know, some of
the thought many years when playing the Colts, you know,
because of their offense and Peyton Manny, but sometimes are

(01:04:00):
our best defense was going to be our offense in
ball control and keeping them off the field. And that
was a big moment. You know, it seemed like we
had a couple of big moments. I felt like there
were things that happened, Like you mentioned the goal line stand.
There were moments within that game where like, Okay, we

(01:04:20):
can not only play the big boys, we are one
of the big boys. And that's kind of what that
game felt like, was that that was a heavyweight match
now and fortunately we were able to score a bunch
of points as well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Now alone atop the AFC, the Patriots next order of
business was closing out their second AFC East title in
three seasons, and they do it in snowy conditions. That
provided the perfect atmosphere for taking on a team from Miami.

Speaker 10 (01:04:42):
Because snow is coming down, the wind is blowing, it's
nice and cold.

Speaker 5 (01:04:48):
Nice grading to extend to the Miami Dolphins and coming
here and this is what it's all about right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
Teddy Bruski's late game pick six sealed the win. The
pack stadium crowd launching snowballs into the air celebration.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Miami comes out of the huddle, Chambers fireside right airside
leftist Thompson in motion right to left, the left to right,
rather goes McMichael back to throw Feeder on first down,
fires intercepting touchdown Teddy Brusky intercepting touchdown Teddy Brusk.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
It was one of the most iconic moments from the
two thousand and three season and in Patriots history. It
was the defense's second shoutout in four weeks and the
first sustained by Miami in thirty two games.

Speaker 14 (01:05:30):
Teddy Bruskie Arizona probably one of my favorite play as
a Patriot in doing that in the snow, because first
of all, playing New England and playing the elements, you
gotta be able to make plays in them, and we
prided ourselves on that, especially myself. And the snow was
coming down. I had some Ricky Williams and Manda Man
coverage and he went was he went to the defensive

(01:05:53):
left for protection, and then my eyes were on him,
but he he ended up protecting, helping protect on the
edge and I look back at Feedler and he's throwing
a slant right behind me, and I just jumped up.
I sort of jumped up and raised and caught it
and slid, of course in the end zone because it

(01:06:13):
was only about six yards, thank goodness. And Matt Chadams
slaps me on the back of the helmet and I
just woke me up right away while I was still
on my knees with the ball out, and everybody starts
throwing snow up in the air.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
He caught at at about the four or five yard
line and just waltz into the end zone and the
fans are throwing snow into the air.

Speaker 22 (01:06:32):
I mean, they don't throw it in the air.

Speaker 14 (01:06:35):
Raboltoks comes up to me on the sideline and says,
look what you did. And I look up in the
stands and they're still throwing it up in the air.
It was It was one of the best moments that
we ever had, I mean as a team. Actually because
of that celebration, the fans were great.

Speaker 5 (01:06:49):
Snow is flying everywhere. What a sighte wow, what a site.

Speaker 8 (01:06:56):
Nick Fitzi Stevens, you know you're a team of destiny.
And not only do you defeat the Miami Dolphins the
way they did in overtime in the fall, but when
they beat the Dolphins a second time in that vintage
affair in the history of iconic moments at Gillette Stadium,
the Teddy Bruski interception off j Fiedler and the snow

(01:07:17):
fireworks instantly. Isn't just top five like it's on the
metal stand now, if it's like silver bronze goal, what
have you like? That is a top three, top five
at worst moment in the history of Jellette Stadium.

Speaker 5 (01:07:31):
To prop it up.

Speaker 8 (01:07:34):
It's like the two thousand and one Patriots season was
a movie that came out and people were stunned it
was as good as it was, and then the two
thousand and two season was like a meh sequel two
thousand and three. I don't even know if this has
ever happened in movies, where the third movie is almost
every bit as good as the first one and may
have actually ultimately been better.

Speaker 18 (01:07:53):
Karen Grigian, to be honest with you, I that was
like one game.

Speaker 19 (01:07:58):
I moved like an hour right from the stadium. I
didn't get there till half time. It was just, I mean,
it was ridiculous. It was a blizzard that made it
all worthwhile. Trudging up to the press box, I was
a mess, but seeing that at the end of the game,
I mean it was like Christmas.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
With nine straight wins in the division title wrapped up,
the Patriots set their sights on getting the top seed
in the AFC by closing out the Jaguars and Jets
with two more strong defensive performances five.

Speaker 5 (01:08:29):
To fifty six to go directionap to left, which looks fire's.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
Right in accepted Tyrone pull again left side twenty five,
twenty at the fifteen, at the ten, at the five,
and brought out of the one yard line.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Against the Jets, they'd also add their fifth pick six
of the season, as they intercepted Chad Pennington five times
en route to their thirteenth win of the year.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Jets with third and two at their own fifteen. They
cleared down play here early in the game. Martin the
long running back in motion from left to light goes Baker,
the tight end back to the left back with it old.

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
Pennington throws the running again it he was gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Run it in down Scott Poli.

Speaker 6 (01:09:05):
It's a fine line. Well, I don't think we ever
went into the game saying, oh, yeah, we just do this,
We're gonna be this. It's like no, it's gonna take
a lot of work. This is the way we have
to attack it. And then things happen within games that
you you know, that that make you alter, you know,
And I think that was again another one of the
things that Bill and the staff really did a great
job of, was they went into games not with a system,

(01:09:28):
you know. The system was that we were gonna do
what we had to do that specific week. But I
don't think that I don't ever really.

Speaker 25 (01:09:36):
Honest, I don't ever remember feeling, you know, like that, yeah,
if we do this, we got this, Like I just,
you know, every game I felt like at Skei, I
always felt like I was gonna throw up in my mouth.

Speaker 6 (01:09:47):
At some fore.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
The Patriots would close out the regular season the same
way they started it, facing the Buffalo Bills, but this
time it was far from the disjointed team that was
blown out thirty one to zero in the opener on
the heels of lawyer Malloy's release. This was the best
team in the AFC that had won eleven straight games,
and they were looking to avenge what went down in
Week one.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
Brady play action, fake wires, en zone touchdown, Daniel Brayle
all that could be picked off today.

Speaker 5 (01:10:11):
Betters up there on the.

Speaker 16 (01:10:12):
Fire side of the field by Mike Bradle Hacker Barty
at the thirty five amount of ours on the fire
side of the field at the thirty two yard line,
goes Mike and Brave over a bass interception, Wyers over
the middle pot by David Gibbon into the m zone touchdown.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
David Gibbon's right kick it over scores is six touchdown
of the season. Tom Brady has thrown four first half
touchdown basket.

Speaker 6 (01:10:37):
I knew there was an energy around the team that week,
and there was there was a feeling of vengeance, you
know with our football team. That was one thing about
our our team. They weren't those teams, weren't just talented.
They were extremely emotional and they score.

Speaker 17 (01:10:55):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:10:56):
There was you know, there were some dudes that kept
score of what were rabl McGinnis in everything, even Big Tad.

Speaker 2 (01:11:04):
Nick Fitzi Stevens.

Speaker 8 (01:11:05):
So Buffalo comes back in for the regular season finale,
and I'm sure Brady Belichick, the Patriots, everyone in Pat's
Nation was thinking, all right, we owe them one time
to put one back on the Bills. And it was
a dominant affair, and they sealed what was ultimately a
championship season a fourteen and two run, by not only
shutting out the Bills, but by literally delivering the exact

(01:11:28):
same score that the Bills put on them in Week one.
I mean, poetry the season.

Speaker 5 (01:11:34):
Then what I expect.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
Tack killer finished by the Patriots thirty one of nothing
over the Buffalo Bills, twelve wins in a row, fourteen
and two, best team in the NFL heading.

Speaker 5 (01:11:46):
To the playoff.

Speaker 8 (01:11:47):
At that point, playoff fever was sweeping through New England,
and delivering the thirty one to nothing victory against Buffalo
was just the chef's kiss on such an incredible season.

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
The Patriots have completed a miraculous regular season, a season.

Speaker 5 (01:12:04):
Let I'll tell you what I'll ever.

Speaker 13 (01:12:06):
Forget, Dean Brant Lewisville.

Speaker 15 (01:12:08):
But the funny part about it is Buffalo was driving
at the end of the game and all the starters
were out the game.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
This wasn't Coach Belichick's doing. This was the players.

Speaker 15 (01:12:19):
You know, guys were on the sideline and you just
see all the guys know we're going back in the game.
You know, Bill, take the guys out. We're going back
in and he's looking like, no, you guys, stay on
the sideline. Next thing, you know, you see all the
veteran guys run back on the field, shoulder pads barely strapped,
helmet's barely strapped, and they're running on the field to
make sure we stop these guys because he's gonna end
the same way at started.

Speaker 3 (01:12:38):
You know, that's a beautiful thing. And you know, we
knew this team, this was the team, man, and we
had to finish the job.

Speaker 13 (01:12:44):
Teddy Bruski, Arizona.

Speaker 14 (01:12:45):
We knew we were going in the playoffs at that point,
but to finish it right. And we just understood how
how bad it was, you know, in that in that
week one and and just the transformation we had and
then we saw the scoreboard and now we were we
were taking out of the game on defense, and everyone
else was in there. Larry Izzo, our special team's ace
was was playing linebacker for me in there, and they

(01:13:07):
were on the in goal line defense and he ends
up getting an interception to preserve the shutout.

Speaker 5 (01:13:12):
Play action fake get throw it to the end zone,
talk in the end zone, shut it in the end
zone by Wells. The Pictriots preserved the shutout.

Speaker 14 (01:13:25):
We were celebrating like we won the Super Bowl right there,
because to start and finish that way, it was like
a sandwich of like everything going on in between of
a successful season, and to finish like that, I think
it was, like you said, poetic because then you see,
you know, a lawyer and your teammate, your former teammates
afterwards and realize, you know, we're the ones that really

(01:13:47):
got through it all the right way, and we were
proud about that.

Speaker 9 (01:13:51):
Matt Chatham, Yeah, at the end of that game was
was amazing.

Speaker 12 (01:13:55):
And I mean just the I don't know if certainipity's
the right word. I'm not sure what it is, but
big words, but the butt point is the idea of
the scores mirroring one another and being the same opponent,
it being at the front and back of the entire season.
It's just it almost seems like fake movie script kind
of stuff to say that there was an emotional thing
to all that. I mean absolutely, I mean, the whole

(01:14:18):
roster was bought into the idea of keeping that score
at that score, and that sort of you know, kind
of as teams kind of do when you're at one end,
it kind of start to gather towards that end, and
after Larry makes the autome play, you know, the silent
face being dumping out as we all start celebrating together.
So that was really cool, and I mean it just
shows how close that that entire group had become.

Speaker 7 (01:14:38):
Paul Perillo, It was amazing, you know, the symmetry of
thirty one nothing, you know, thirty one nothing and then
again bittersweet for me, Drew throwing picks to Troy Brown,
you know, a shell of himself. But again you could
see how far they had come where not only they
had sort of put that bitter start to the season

(01:14:58):
behind them, but now they're just dominating. And like I said,
you know, you go from what was it That Houston
game was in November, so you go, you're talking about
the last six weeks of the season through the playoffs
without even trailing, like so you kind of went from all,
we're getting these breaks and we're finding ways to win

(01:15:19):
games to no one's even taking the lead on it.
No one's even getting the opening kickoff, you know, getting
a passing aperiance penalty and kicking a field goal to
make it three nothing.

Speaker 19 (01:15:29):
Karen Grigian, Yeah, it was like the perfect book end,
and it was illustrative of how far they had come
from that first game. I mean they were dominated in
game one, but they dominated in the final game. And
you know, as Bill Belichick's teams go, or how he

(01:15:51):
likes them to go, he likes them to build toward,
you know, playing their best football at the end of
the season. They won twelve straight after starting out two
and two. But again, it matters more how they look
in December, and you know, running the table at that
point again was another great sign for them going forward

(01:16:16):
into the playoffs and postseason.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
Scott Pioli, I think that was an exclamation point that
really gave us a different kind of confidence.

Speaker 6 (01:16:28):
You know, we had confidence during the scene, but it
was like, okay, let me get rid of rollings in
the playoffs and this is who we are we you know,
it was a beacon.

Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
That is all she went for two thousand and three
regular season. Now it's out of the playoffs as the
Patriots try to make it two Super Bowl championships in
the last three years.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
On the next episode of two thousand and three, The
Super Sequel, Patriots head to the playoffs to face back
to back MVPs before taking part in one of the
craziest Super Bowl games in NFL history. Join us next
time on this patriotsper Bowl sound out