September 9, 2021 • 38 mins
In this episode we break down the rise of Tom Brady, from early promise and growing pains to lesson-filled losses to the Dolphins and Broncos, and a final loss that catalyzed the team’s resolve for a playoff run.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The two thousand and one New England Patriots, the team
that started an NFL dynasty. In a season full of
dramatic twists and turns on and off the field, the
upstart Pats shocked the world, redefining what it meant to
be a team and a Patriot. Twenty years and six
Super Bowl championships later, we're revisiting that historic season, hearing
(00:26):
from different perspectives that were there to witness it firsthand
and tell the tale, from players to coaches, local and
national media, and even some fans, mixed with some of
the most iconic sounds that define the season. It will
be a unique six part journey back as we follow
the roots of the Patriots dynasty for the one championship
that started it all. We are all Patriots, and tonight
(00:47):
the Patriots at champions I might do so. And this
is two thousand and one a Super Bowl Sound Odyssey,
Episode three. Brady begins from beginning to win. We don't
know what to expect from this young man. I know
the players and the coaches are very high on him,
and it'll be interesting to watch the whole thing unfold
(01:08):
and see what he does well. He spent two years
in this system, so nothing's really gonna sneak up on him.
They may actually go in with a more core type
of game plan than obviously one that they'd have with
Drew Bledsoe in here, after a national tragedy and owing
to start and their starting quarterbacks sustaining a life threatening injury,
the Patriots prepared to turn the page to the next
man up at the most important position in football, a
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philosophy that would be tested many times over the next
two decades. But having already turned heads in training camp,
there was an underlying confidence in young Tom Brady. I've
always told myself, do you ever get this opportunity, because
you never know how many you're gonna get, and when
you do get your opportunity, you're ready to take advantage,
especially how competitive this league is and how good and
every team you play is Scott Pioli, Patriots director of
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player Personnel. You know, I give a ton of credit to,
you know, the coaching staff. They knew what Tommy could
do at that point in his career, and they knew
what he couldn't do or what might be a stretch,
and they made sure that they set him up for
success and put him in a position to succeed and
not ask him to do things that might be might
(02:13):
have been beyond what he was capable of that at
that particular point. Tell us about him. What did the
break of the table? Well, we watch him in practice.
Friday made all the throws, had strong enough arm to
hit that out route and really feels confident. In fact,
wasn't nervous at all. It was kind of surprised. Antoine Smith,
running back. I think at that point, I think early
on in the season, I think, well, let's shaky. Like
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I said, we went to Cystem that he lost to
him the first game with a season, and maybe at
that time wasn't beating nobody. The Bengal's new attitude pays
off of the twenty three seventeen Whenever the Patriots today
their first season opening victory in four years, you know,
did we lose drews lose our quarterback Tom Brady isn't again. Yes,
you're right, Drew blood Cell is not on the ball again.
(02:56):
It's like any other young quarterback getting your feet with
You don't want to put too much on him, but
you know, you try to bring him low slowly. Obvious
keys to today's game is how well, Tom Brady can
fill in for Drew Bledsoe. Tom Brady, this will be
his first NFL start in his second year as a Patriot.
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He had a fine exhibition season, but exhibition in preseason
games are much different than facing the reigning AFC East champion.
I would believe Brady's first start came in the third
game of the season, with the two and o Colts
coming to Foxborough and favored by eleven and a half points.
You know, the one thing mentally Tom Brady can do
is you know, there's very little expected of him that
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being a fill in for Drew Bledsoe. Few expected the
battered Brady led Patriots to mount much resistance to a
Peyton Manning led offense that had already put up eighty
seven points in eight hundred and eighty eight yards and
two dominant wins over the Jets and Bills. Hey career
high four twenty one yards throwing for Peyton Manning he
had true for all the Tds, the four of them.
Peyton Manning pretty good day. With an explosive off and
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a growing array of weapons, Colts would become the Patriot's
biggest rival of the next decade. Nick Fitzie Stevens, Patriots
fan and personality. Here comes Peyton Manning, who ultimately would
have the greatest rivalry ever Brady Manning. It'll never get
any better than that. And Manning throws this little pass
over the middle to Jerome Pathon, who usually just was
able to get away with whatever he want because he's
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a fast Cults receiver and the pat stink and Brian Cox,
who's one of the veterans that Belichick brought in to
help sort of change the tone and culture there hit him,
so decleats him and just levels him, like you have
no idea That hit from cox On Pathon changed everything.
Manning with his backs and us split his back to
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throw looks fires to the left of his plot there
and down there at the forty two help Brian Cox
really labeled the receiver Jerome Pathon at the forty two
yard line. Powered by two pick sixes and a mistake
free game from Brady, the Patriots pulled off the decisive
upset and the Patriots rock off the field victorious, running
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all over the Indianapolis Colts here this afternoon, as the
Patriots rushed forty one times for one hundred and ninety
eight yards on the ground. Tom Brady was thirteen of
twenty four passing for one hundred and nineteen yards. Well,
that's a three hundred and seventeen yard offense for the Patriots,
and defensively certainly did their job, holding the high powered
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Indianapolis coach too only thirteen points Pepper Johnson's linebackers coach,
And we got a different urgency of the players in
that room taking ownership of the defense. And that didn't
come from the coaching staff because we can only stay
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so much and we can only do so much. That
came from the players, and the players kind of bought
in two that were and more as the season progressed,
and unfortunately for Bretzel, but was a plus for us
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in a way as a whole that when we lost
him during the season and Brady comes in, that made
us like Kate, now we have to scrap it on
the thing that I appreciate out of what the Patriots
did on their defensive game plan. They came up what
they were. They're facing the number one offense in the NFL,
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and they didn't try to get exotic or spectacular with
their defense. They played sound, fundamental and basic defense. Tommy
Current Metro West Daily News. It was a resounding victory
for the Patriots. Brady mostly at his hands at tenant
two and just got the car out of the garage,
down the street and back to the garage. And that
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was a sense after that game. Well, at least he
didn't wreck the family car. I think that the Patriots
ability to keep the ball on the ground and run
it as well as they did for all over one
hundred and one, one hundred and fifty yards or something
um enabled the Patriots to keep the ball away. Paul Perillo,
Patriots Football Weekly. And I remember thinking, to be honest,
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you know, they had the great first game against Indianapolis
where thy Law returned. I think ODIs Smith had had
a pick man. He looks, Fires, Oh they stuck. They
the fifth. That's twenty five, heading left for the thirty
yard line, turning wide to the fireside of the field,
turning food quarter at the forty forty five, he's at
make feet more quarters. He took the thirty five, thirty,
twenty five, twenty. He still a fifteen to the ten
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to the five n in touchdown sifth Wall returned one
for a touchdown, Fires to the right, it is intercepted,
picked off by Taylaw. It's a twenty HEADO fteen still
at his feet at the ten, heading to the right
till the five head he is going to go in.
It was all defense. I mean, Tom didn't do a
whole lot. He didn't have to do a whole lot.
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So with the final score of the New England Patriots
forty four the Indianapolis Colts thirteen, that is it from Foxboro.
But the forty four to thirteen win over the Colts
was followed up with a thirty to ten loss in Miami,
a game location that would give the Patriots plenty of
fits during the next two decades. It's Brady through for
just eighty six yards and took four sacks. Brady play
action fake, Oh, he's gonna be sacked, loses the ball.
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It's on the ground and I believe the Dolphins recovered it,
which will end this one. The Patriots fell to one
and three with their season hanging by a thread, leading
coach Belichick to take unique measures to put the loss
behind them. Tom e current the next week against Miami
when they played there and get their asses he handed
to him. Thirty to ten was well that was nice,
but now you see why Drew bledso will be back
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in place before too long. Slotted to the nearest side
left for Brady. On second to Tenie fumbles the snap,
loses the ball at side of the end zone, touchdown Miami.
Tom Brady fumbled the snap, the ball went bouncing back
to the goal line and a Miami Dolphin was Johnny
on the spot to pick it up and run in
for a touchdown. Dave Patent wide receiver, to come in
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to a Wednesday practice after a demoralizing laws and you
see a big hole at the end of the practice field.
He's like, what's going on? And he comes to he
he buries us in the meeting, but then when he
goes to bury the ball, he's like, now, everything I've
said to you guys, everything we messed up in this game,
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We're burying it right here, and we have a chance
to start over from this point for and do something special.
I will never forget that the Patriots will be getting
the ball first. It'll be interesting to see what Tom
Brady does in his third start. He had a good
game against the Colts, a poor game against Miami, and
now this will be the third time around the following
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week against the San Diego Chargers, Brady and the Patriots
offense turned a corner. Unleashed and throwing a season high
fifty four attempts for three hundred and sixty four passing
yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The offense showed
it could be more than a passenger during the season.
Play actually take Brady Wall's life cut down. I kept
waiting for them to throw the ball. The wagons on
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the tight end, snake down ten points. Late in the game,
Brady made the first fourth quarter comeback of his career.
Is The Patriots tied up the game late, then got
their second win of the season in overtime forty four
yard field goal Adam Minitary good. It's good and the
Patriots with Tom Brady throwing an amazing amount of time,
Tom Brady thirty three and fifty four for three to
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sixty four one boys take Goods. Come from ten back
to ye, Rob Ryan linebackers coach Brady, you know, came
in there and we won. And I remember the optimism
of mister Kraft, you know, he was so optimistic, this
could be the guy. And I'm thinking, oh yeah, but
I'm like man I don't know, but sure enough he
(10:53):
was right. He was the guy. And uh, but all
of Brady's hard work paid off, like uh, you know,
he obviously such an overage, you know, a guy that
just made himself great, but he had great coaching along
the way. But he's he is really special. He took
the experience that he had as a rookie and I
think he did an excellent job of running the offense
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of being in command of the team when he was
on the field. Jermaine Wiggins tight end Tom was playing well,
and you're kind of looking you go, okay, we know
we got on defense, We're running the ball good with
ant Swan Smith, and you know, it seems like we
can throw the ball when we have to throw the football.
So that was the game that we looked at and said,
you know what, you know, we got some talent on
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this roster, and you know, we can put things together.
The two and three Patriots would keep the momentum going
as they traveled to Indianapolis, facing the Colts for the
second time in four weeks, led by David Patton, who
became just the second player since the NFL AFL merger
to score touchdown receiving Brady back to throw looks judge
it long and deep and fun at the fifty forty
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at the thirty five forty twenty five twenty win all
the way for a touchdown. David Patton one eighty one
eighty one yard touchdown. Pass rushing David Patton to the
thirty Patty Rtchel the twenty five, twenty fifteen ten five
damn touchdown David Patton and throwing Brady. It's a quick
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screen of the left and Patton's gonna throw the football
shoots at one and d Troy Brown, He's gotta He's
in touchdown always short, earning him AFC Offensive Player of
the Week. The special teams also stepped up with two
block field goal attempts, while the defense sack Peyton Manning
four times, recovered two fumbles, and held the prolific Colts
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offense to just one touchdown in the game. David Patton.
Everyone can't be the All American every every player can't
get the accolades, every player can't make it to the
Hall of Fame. But to say that I did something
that two Hall of famers did you know that, that's
really humbling and that makes me feel pretty good, because
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that's just it. When I when I was giving my opportunities,
I always felt like I could be an eighty kiss
ninety cash receiver any given season, but that just wasn't
my role with Tom Brady. That David Patton, what Chris
Berman ESPN. They're winning with Tom Brady, and they're winning
with Antoine Smith running for eleven hundred yards, and they're
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winning with an offensive line that is really good because
Dante Scarnetti is an unbelievable coach, and and they had
a rookie named Matt Light playing on the line, and
they had Damien Woody, and they had you know, and
Jerusium and they did The line was very good, so
that they were just a solid as a boring word.
But they wherever they were, they didn't add up on
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the Pro Bowl level talent. They played cohesively, which again,
looking back, there's the mark of all the Patriot teams,
whether it was a Super Bowl year or not, Paul Perillo,
if you avoid the big mistakes that are going to
put points on the board for the other team, you're
always going to have a puncher's chance. And I thought
Tom did a great job of keeping the team on schedule.
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He avoided a lot of negative plays. There weren't a
lot of turnovers. That weren't a lot. I mean, there
were some sacks there that come with a young quarterback
and inexperienced quarterback. But they ran the ball, they stayed
ahead of the chains. And then when it was third
and four, you know, he found a way to move
the chains and make plays often enough to keep the
team on schedule. And I thought that was the biggest difference.
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After putting together their first two game win streak and
evening their season record at three and three, the Pats
would regress in another spot that would give them plenty
of problems going forward. A mile high in Denver, so
the Patriots and the Broncos, the zage old AFL rivalry
is starting a new and this new stadium, and maybe
the Patriots can get off to a great start. The
Patriots squandered a ten point second half lead as Tom
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Brady would throw four interceptions, including one in the end zone.
The short circuit at any ability for New England to
CounterPunch after falling behind. But there was a silver lining
to the loss, Paul Perillo, it all came apart in
the second half of a loss at Denver. He threw
four picks Patriots half to go for it. Brady stands
in the pocket, fires down the field, and they ship
by delta oil at the thirty, at the twenty, five,
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at the twenty, at the fifteen, at the ten, breaking
tackles to the four yard line. Four fourth quarter interceptions
by Brady. You gotta feel bad for the young guy
because it is all come down on him like a
roof caving in here in the fourth quarter in Denver.
They went out to Denver, a place that they never
had any success, and they felt like they threw a
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game away, you know, and they had a young quarterback
who made his first real mistakes and they had an
opportunity to win. And I remember talking to Damian Woody
in the locker room after the game and he sort
of explained it. This game was different. There was an
anger because we felt like we let one slip away today,
And that to me was the day they decided, hey,
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we're pretty good. We can play with anyone. If we
can go out to Denver, play a C plus game
and still have a chance to win, we can compete
with anybody, clearly, you know. On the road, Tom Brady
trying to bring him, bring him from from that kind
of a deficit early as that you know the reason.
After the frustrating loss in Denver, New England would win
their next two games, first knocking off the Falcons by
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sacking Chris Chandler and Michael Vick combined nine times. Chandler
rolls who was hit? Game? Jason sat By, Richard Seymour
slot to the near side, Wiper, Chandler bull back off
Chat Whitest, Christian here Penza corners blitz Hey. They get
him back inside the twenty yard line, Vick is back
to throw. Oh what's a knockdown? By Tick Buckey Jones.
The following week, they knock off their divisional rivals, the
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Buffalo Bills, giving New England their first winning record of
the season at five and four. It's the game the
Patriots we're pretty much in control of, but the Bills
kept hanging around, hanging around, and when these two teams play,
this is the kind of game that usually happened. Over
the two games. The offense was powered by two hundred
and seventeen rushing yards by Antoine Smith, with Smith also
adding two touchdowns against his former team in Buffalo, including
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a four two yarder near the end of the game
that put the scrappy one win Bills away Patriots two
minutes to go and off comes to Smith to the
right pliles aheads hitside of twenty five twenty fifty ten
five good five touch down that Smith, Antoine Smith. I
think every player that get released by a team, you
have a chance to go back and play against that
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team that you want to do good. And that was
one of the things I would like. And I think, oh,
my teammates knew it that they gave meant more to
me than anyone else. Because you get released by Buffalo,
this your first chance to play against them. You want
to proa to them that y'all made a mistake. So
it was very satisfied to go out and have the
games that I had that that Sunday. Scott Paoli, I
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don't know if it was a particular game, but as
the momentum built, you know, because again we started off
we won a little bit, but then you know, we
had a couple of train wreak losses. But then when
we got on that role and you saw the team's
confidence building, and it was real confidence, particularly on the
defense and the trust that the team was having on
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you know, with Tommy on offense, he's just kept on
building and you were hoping that it was going to
build enough each week to go to to the point
where again you would have it next week. Matt Chatham,
linebacker and special teamer, think, you know, sort of the
growing confidence was something that happened throughout that season. Um,
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and I think that's what kind of made us special
and different. You know, we we were very well trained
to know that, you know, one good week of work
only guarantees you that that week, and it won't get
you something next week if you don't go do it again.
So we really had to sort of put them on
the line every single week. And uh, you know, if
any moment we had taken a step back, we wouldn't
got gotten what we only did. At the end of
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that year, we're just about set to go here in
Foxborough kind of a party atmosphere for this Sunday night
nationally televised game as the Patriots looked to try to
make it six wins in their last hey and see
if they can slow down the Red Hots St. Louis
ram at five and four and having won four of
their last five games. The streaking Patriots welcome to Saint
Louis Rams for a Sunday night matchup that saw the
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Rams favored by eight and a half points. Since winning
the Super Bowl in nineteen ninety nine, the Rams represented
a true test for the Patriots, and they're growing self belief.
We've talked to all the players are winning the Joe.
They can't wait for this game. Well, not only that,
a lot of the Rams players have never seen Bill
Belichick's style of defense, so it's gonna be new and
I would expect the first quarter to be a little
bit of a sparring match until both of them figure
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out what exactly they want to do. Sitting at eight
and one on the season, the Greatest Show on Turf
had one of the best offenses in the league, and
we're looking to establish themselves as the next great NFL dynasty,
Nick Fitzie Stevens. The Sunday night game against the Rams
was at the time the ultimate barometer game for the
two thousand and one Patriots, Like this was the test.
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Here comes the Greatest Show on Turf against these scrappy
upstart you know, discount budget, hard hit and fundamentally sound
New England Patriots. We Warner back to throw a quick
rush fires over the middle of intercept by Terrell Buckley
at the forty five forty Fike sorry, by thirty five thirty,
He's gonna go all the way touchdown Terrell Buckley. Carrell
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buck Lay goals fifty five yards with a past interception.
Mike Greece Metro West Daily News. And I will tell
you I was a fan that day because I was
splitting the beat with Tom Curran, and I was in
the stands for that game and the last row aluminum
bleachers leaning up against the press box saying, maybe I'll
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see you guys in the next home game, but I'm
gonna enjoy this one as a fan. With two interceptions
in the first quarter, one return for a game time touchdown,
the defense set the tone for the game. Pepper Johnson,
that game kicks me back to my childhood when me
and my friends would go to watch a karate movie,
and every movie you had this this point in time
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where the start a good guy was getting ready to
side his nemesis and he's saying, and um, that was us.
We felt like we was was battle tough. Paul Perilla,
what I was struck with that game was how physical
it was. I thought it was a really hard fought game.
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Warner's back to throw on play actually steps up into
the pockets got to be shot back at about the
thirty four yard line that time. The pressure was there
and a lot of Patriots in on the hit. I
thought the Rams were markedly better and didn't play very
well that night. Um, now it turns out that it
wasn't the case, and we know, you know, they got
a chance to play again, you know, a couple of
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months later. Um that but that Rams game I thought
was a continuation of sort of what I felt against Denver.
Like this team they can play with anybody. They they're
they're a good team and they can play with anyone,
and they know they can play with anyone. Now, Antoine
Smith is offset as the right half. Three receivers to
the near side left for Brady first in gold at
the Ram ten Brady back to throw looks looks. But
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Poli think the players really believe at that point in time, like,
wait a second, We've actually got a good football team.
We just played well against a really good team. If
we didn't turn the ball over, we might have had
a chance, and I just remember that there was an
odd It was a combination of frustration but manifested itself
also in a confidence because after that, you know that game,
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you know, I think it was the Saints we played
after that, and we thumped the Saints, and then we
went against the Jets and you know, pretty good Jets
teams and beat them, and it just felt like the
confidence was building again because it was one again a
game where we played one of the best teams in
football and we're right there with them, Jermaine Wiggins. But
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when you're in striking distance and you know late in
the fourth quarter, that gives a team a lot of
confidence to say, Okay, here's what type of football team
we really are. We got to fix something so we're
able to win those games, but we know we can compete.
And I think that was what that Rams game showed us,
is that we know we can hang with the big dogs.
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And when you know you can hang with the big dogs,
that's all you need. In the NFL. The Patriots certainly
showed tonight that they can play with the big boys,
the Saint Louis Rams, but we're unable to get it
over the top. Rob Ryan Belichick turned the entire organization
around when he went up in front of the team
after losing that night game. And this is the first
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time he ever was super positive with the guys in
night that year, in six weeks or whatever it was,
when he stepped up and he goes, I'll tell you
what that game's on me. I blew it. I blew
this game, no question it was me. He goes, If
you guys play as hard as you did in this
game every week, and if we coach as hard as
we did like we did this week, we'll see him again.
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We'll see that team again. And sure as hell we did.
With six games to go, when a renewed Comf's despite
a disappointing loss that dropped them back to five hundred,
Belichick made a critical decision about the direction of the team,
naming Tom Brady the starter for the rest of the season.
My job is to make the decisions for the football team,
and that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make the
best decisions I can for the football team. That's what
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That's what mister Krafts pay me to do, and that's
what I'm going to do. I'm gonna make the decisions
and I think are the best for the football team
Team am as in team Mike Greece. It really seemed
like there were two camps. In the media, it was
like Drew's got to get his job back. You can't
lose your job because of injury. And it was like
people going to bat for Drew almost like they had
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been with him since nineteen ninety three. It's a feast
of the franchise. Can't take it away from him. There's
very little loyalty in the NFL anymore. There really isn't.
And the way things change with free agency with new
players coming in. Hey, if you know, if somebody's on
the field, they're doing your job and they're doing it well,
then hey, look out that don't don't go off the field.
(25:01):
Hey man, if you if you hurt, do whatever you
can to stay out there. And then there was another
group in the media that was almost like on Brady's side,
that was like like the guy's gotta go and you
can't turn away from him now, like I'm sorry, but
this is professional football. And that that's what I remember
the most, almost like the division within the media on
(25:23):
that topic. You know, when you're the quarterback. You always
feel like I've had a big part to do with
this game, or when you're the backup quarterback, you don't
even feel like you're on the team. You feel like
you're a fan. You know that, God, I didn't do
anything to help our team win. You always feel that
I'm just I'm just taking up space. Pepper Johnson, we
start getting them of the neck confidence um that that
(25:44):
ruin inside of all of us. I came to say
the players, but the coaches as well. You know you
could you could feel it, and you can start seeing
in the play and how the guys responded on the
sidelines when something bad happened. They was snipping at the
(26:05):
bid to get back out there on the field because
they didn't like what they just did or what just
happened to him. That's when you, to me, you really
know that Jersey we are championships college. Mike Rabel. That
will always be the thing that stood out to me
is that after Thanksgiving we won nine games in a row.
(26:27):
And so you know, like a lot of the times,
it takes you a little bit to kind of figure
out who you are, and you know, we ran to
football and took care of the football, played good defense,
good good and scoring defense, and you know, opportunistic on offense.
With Brady secure under center, the Patriots would reel off
six straight wins to end their season, going from an
(26:48):
afterthought to conference contender. And so they complete the remarkable
turn around from five and eleven and last to eleven
and five and first in the AFCA. Week after losing
to the Rams, Brady through four touchdowns as the Pats
blew out the scenes thirty four seventeen. It was the
high watermark for the offense in two thousand and one,
as they posted four hundred and thirty two yards at
total offense. On second down, Brady rolls out to the right,
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brows it back to the left. It as a screen
complete the Smith. He's clear at the forty thirty five
thirty third, twenty five, twenty les sideline, fifteen ten to
five clutch down and twice Smith prignantly executed screen pass
and he erupted for the touchdown forty one yard. Against
their divisional rivals, the New York Jets, the Patriots fell
behind thirteen nothing at halftime, but claude their way back
(27:32):
with Brady leading a fourth quarter drive to secure the
winning field goal testa Birdie long come drops back, the throne,
steps up, fires and Septad intercepted at the thirty three
yard line. The Patriot takeover on the pass interception. They're
mobbing the player who made the interception. I'm not sure
who it was drifting over to make the interception. This
(27:54):
Terrell buck La Tarrell bucked over with a pass interception
with two O two to go on fourth down, and
the Patriots take over at their own thirty three yard lines,
blunting the Jet ride. With the victory in New England,
advanced to seven and five, matching the Jets win total
and putting the Patriots firmly in the playoff conversation, Brady
goes to a knee. The ball game is over. The
(28:15):
PA t s Pats, Patch Pats have beaten the New
York Jets, and the Patriots will improve to seven and
five and really improve their playoff chances with this one. GINO.
This was a very gutty win by a team that
played very poorly in the first half and just played
great football in the second half on both sides of
the ball against the six and five Browns. The Patriots
(28:37):
would fall into another first quarter hole after Tom Brady
threw a pick six that gave Cleveland the ten three lead.
Now an empty backfield for Brady quickly dropped back to
pass fires and it is picked off intercepted by Corey
Fuller at the thirty twenty five. At the twenty Brady
can't get him. He's gonna go in for a touchdown.
The Cleveland Browns lead the NFL and pass interceptions with
now twenty six, and that one has taken to the
(28:59):
house for a time. At the methodical and balanced Patriots
would come back and pull away for their eighth win
of the season, the special teams playing a significant role
once again and the defense forcing four turnovers. Troy, this
team is charging towards the playoffs right now. When did
you believe you could be a playoff contender. You came
into the season thinking we could be a cloff contender,
but we didn't get up to a good starting this year,
and I get to think out sales out of a hole,
(29:20):
and now we got ourselves, you know, turned them down.
We're back on top now and we're fighting to win
the ac AFC East right now, so hopefully we can
keep it going next week, all right, Troy, congratulations, good
luck inst Buffalo next week. Back to you, Boomer. The
Pats are hot. A mid December trip to Buffalo went
to overtime after the Bills and Pats traded three field
goals a piece and regulation in a classic AFC East
slug fest. Gonna keep it and go at the forty
(29:41):
l he gets his helmet knocked off where the vicious
hit at the forty yard line. Wow. With the Patriots
driving in overtime, Tom Brady completed a pass along the
sidelines for thirteen yards to David Patton. Patton took a
huge hit, falling unconscious with his head hitting out of bounds,
but the ball still inbounds there whether it catch fumble. However,
(30:02):
while the receivers had worth touching out of bounds, he
was in contact with the ball, making that out of bounds.
Either keep the ball all right forty one? That's what
I was wondering, whoa a break? What a break? He
was out of bounds while he had the ball. That
put the ball out of bounds and the Patriots retained
(30:24):
possession at the Buffalo forty one yard line. Rob Ryan,
remember the one one game in Buffalo were who was
a David Pattoncott. The ball got knocked unconscious Scott us
in field goal range and he's still holding one of
the ball. I mean he's asleep, but he's still hold
on the ball to get us in field goal range
in the fourth quarter. That's what kind of took, you know,
to to win the damn you know, to get in
(30:47):
the playoffs, and to get home field advantage and all
that stuff. Fortuitous bounds of the football helped set up
the game winning kicks. The magical season continue to roll
on for New England. Ball down, the kick up and
the Patriots wins. Adam vine Terry kicks a twenty three
yard field goal with nine fifteen showing on the clock.
The Patriots come out of it a tough, tough, tough
(31:09):
ball game to win. The Patriots would stay in the
division the following week, taking on the defending chants of
the AFC East, the Miami Dolphins and what appeared at
the time to be the final sendoff of the old
Foxboro Stadium, New England raced out to a twenty to
nothing lead in the first half and never looked back,
capping off their home schedule with an impressive win twenty
to thirteen. Ready takes the knee again, Bill Belichick hugging
(31:31):
his players on the sideline. Down to thirty three seconds
to play, the Patriots will win their final regular season
game at Foxboro Stadium. They will go into first place,
where their fifth win in a row to improve to
ten and five. One more game to go in two
weeks against Carolina. So with a final score of this
final regular season game in chilly foxborow, with the sun
(31:55):
gone down on the darkness around the New England Patriots twenty,
let's make that the first place New England Patriots twenty
the Miami Dolphins fourteen. That's got a nice ring, yes, sir,
that's it from Foxboro Stadium. Mike Greece. I loved it,
like I loved the old stadium for the intimacy, the
you know, we can look back on the aluminum benches
(32:16):
now with like some maybe fond thoughts. They were so
freaking uncomfortable, Like we were just lucky. We were in
literally the last row, so we could lean up against
like the concrete of the press box. So that was
our chair back, you know. So I will tell you, like, yeah,
(32:36):
there's a little nostalgia on that day with a last
when you're thinking it's the last game against Miami. Oh
you know what, we had. We had some good memories
here over the last eight ten years for me, but
we felt like it was time to go. What about you,
you know, coming from when the team was on too
and you take over. Did your dream it would come
(32:57):
to this? But I think you prepare for you know
that when your numbers called, to be ready to play,
and you know each week it's about getting better and learning.
And you know, being a young quarterback, you realizer you're
gonna learn every week and some days are better, some
days are better than others. I'm continuing to learn. After
a week sixteen by, the Patriots found themselves heading to
Carolina with a chance to secure an AFC's Division championship
(33:18):
and possibly if they got some help, a first round playoff.
By the game was never in question, as the Pats
returned two interceptions and a punt for touchdowns in a
thirty eight to six romp that closed the season out
in style. Congratulations because of New England Patriots. They began
the here or and two and now they are chants
of the adds that I'm likely champion, but it champion.
(33:42):
The cos in with a six game winning drinking a
Pro Bowl quarterback from the don't where Tom Brady. The
team would have to wait to find out if they
secured the second seat in the division and the buye
that came with it. This is Gil Santo's reminding you
that either next weekend the Patriots will play in the
first round of the playoffs, or if Oakland lose to
the Jets, the Patriots would be the number two seed
(34:02):
and have next weekend off. We'll have to wait and
see on that one, Paul Perillo. So now the Raiders
are playing the Jets. The Jets are out in Oakland,
and we're on the flight home and Charlie Weiss has
got his portable television, you know, thirty thousand feet in
the air, and you know, the reception was just as
you were would imagine. It's in and out. It's in
(34:24):
the fourth quarter, and the game is close, it's going
back and forth, and Charlie's given play by play. I
can't even describe it. There's literally like two dozen players
huddled around Charlie's chair on the plane as we're flying
home from Carolina, and they're living and dying with every play,
half of which mind you. They can't even see because
they don't know exactly what's going on. So the plane
(34:46):
ride is just a roller coaster of emotions and it
looks like that's it. Everybody was deflated. Everybody was defeated.
Half of the guys went back to their seats, and
all of a sudden, Charlie goes, wait, they have the
ball back. Yeah, you talk about the snow that was
going to happen in the division around game. The snow
on Charlie's TV was much much worse than the snow
(35:07):
in the stadium in Foxborough, States, So yet no one
had any idea. He kicks it, and then all of
a sudden, the absolute loudest ovation you ever hear, because
he made the field goal, and that forced the Raiders
to have to play on wild Card weekend against the
Jets again, and then travel all the way across the
country the following week to play the Patriots. It was surreal,
(35:30):
absolutely surreal that plane ride home. Damian Woody, Let's just
say that the alcohol float a little bit in that
plane ride. It was it was. It was a George
of Kase. I mean, because we went down in Carolina,
we had fun, We handled business against the Panthers in
that game, and I just remember on the plane ride
just the energy level was like wow, you know wow,
(35:53):
like things just broke our way. As far as you
know how to post these, you know coming, we're gonna
come about us. So yeah, I mean, it was just
a tremendous playing rod for us, Tom E current. You
could see it unfolding, and you could see the self
belief that the team had. But it was also based
in culture, and it was based in the fundamentals that
they played with and that they didn't beat themselves. And
(36:16):
as great as Bledsoe was as a passer and as
good a leader as he was, he did have a
mentality of I gotta do this. It's gotta be me.
It's all gonna come down to Drew, and he wanted
it that way, and Brady wasn't like that. It was
a running game, it was special teams, it was unbelievable defense,
it was a secondary loaded with players, and they liked
(36:39):
each other. Chris Berman, I think what you notice is
that when you look back at those November and December games,
they were doing a lot of little things really well,
which now as time is going on, everybody knows that's
a trademark of coach Belichiff's teams. They played really sharp
(37:04):
defense that if the offense, you know, would they win
a game all on field goals? I think a buffalo, right,
So if the offense wasn't going to put up a
ton of points, which usually they did not, the Patriots
would be in the game. Nick Fitzie Stevens. I always
look forward to every Sunday because I'm a football addict
and I'm a die hard Pats fan. But the way
(37:24):
people started looking forward to Sundays when Tom Brady was
the quarterback and the Patriots started winning was it was
an electricity that you couldn't even describe, just because it
was unique to you. At this point, you didn't know
what this was. Everyone was always like, oh, man, yeah,
like you know, I of your Red Sox town and
Boston's Boston. But like, ah, the upstart Pats, Like, oh
(37:45):
they're so cute. Oh that's adorable. Look at that all
American quarterback Tom Brad. Who doesn't love Tom Brady just
like what a success story he's That's that's adorable. I mean,
you guys aren't gonna win anything special, Like there's no
chance you guys, if you guys make it to the playoffs,
you'll get your door is blown off, but like, don't
get your hopes up, but like have fun on this
cute little ride. I don't think any of us knew
(38:06):
what to expect come playoffs next time. On two thousand
and one, A Super Bowl Sound Odyssey, Patriots say goodbye
to their first permanent home stadium with a game for
the Ages. Two thousand and one. A Super Bowl Sound
Otyssey was produced by Mike Dusot with audio engineer Matt
Morrell for Patriots dot Com. Can't get enough Patriots two
thousand and one content. Relive the historic here by following
(38:28):
the Patriots time Machine, a social media account twenty years
after its time, following the Patriots two thousand and one
season as if it were happening live. See daily transactions,
watch game highlights, and go back in time to the
start of the Patriots Super Bowl dynasty. Follow along on
Twitter and Instagram at Pat's time Machine
The two thousand and one New England Patriots, the team
that started an NFL dynasty. In a season full of
dramatic twists and turns on and off the field, the
upstart Pats shocked the world, redefining what it meant to
be a team and a Patriot. Twenty years and six
Super Bowl championships later, we're revisiting that historic season, hearing
(00:26):
from different perspectives that were there to witness it firsthand
and tell the tale, from players to coaches, local and
national media, and even some fans, mixed with some of
the most iconic sounds that define the season. It will
be a unique six part journey back as we follow
the roots of the Patriots dynasty for the one championship
that started it all. We are all Patriots, and tonight
(00:47):
the Patriots at champions I might do so. And this
is two thousand and one a Super Bowl Sound Odyssey,
Episode three. Brady begins from beginning to win. We don't
know what to expect from this young man. I know
the players and the coaches are very high on him,
and it'll be interesting to watch the whole thing unfold
(01:08):
and see what he does well. He spent two years
in this system, so nothing's really gonna sneak up on him.
They may actually go in with a more core type
of game plan than obviously one that they'd have with
Drew Bledsoe in here, after a national tragedy and owing
to start and their starting quarterbacks sustaining a life threatening injury,
the Patriots prepared to turn the page to the next
man up at the most important position in football, a
(01:31):
philosophy that would be tested many times over the next
two decades. But having already turned heads in training camp,
there was an underlying confidence in young Tom Brady. I've
always told myself, do you ever get this opportunity, because
you never know how many you're gonna get, and when
you do get your opportunity, you're ready to take advantage,
especially how competitive this league is and how good and
every team you play is Scott Pioli, Patriots director of
(01:52):
player Personnel. You know, I give a ton of credit to,
you know, the coaching staff. They knew what Tommy could
do at that point in his career, and they knew
what he couldn't do or what might be a stretch,
and they made sure that they set him up for
success and put him in a position to succeed and
not ask him to do things that might be might
(02:13):
have been beyond what he was capable of that at
that particular point. Tell us about him. What did the
break of the table? Well, we watch him in practice.
Friday made all the throws, had strong enough arm to
hit that out route and really feels confident. In fact,
wasn't nervous at all. It was kind of surprised. Antoine Smith,
running back. I think at that point, I think early
on in the season, I think, well, let's shaky. Like
(02:33):
I said, we went to Cystem that he lost to
him the first game with a season, and maybe at
that time wasn't beating nobody. The Bengal's new attitude pays
off of the twenty three seventeen Whenever the Patriots today
their first season opening victory in four years, you know,
did we lose drews lose our quarterback Tom Brady isn't again. Yes,
you're right, Drew blood Cell is not on the ball again.
(02:56):
It's like any other young quarterback getting your feet with
You don't want to put too much on him, but
you know, you try to bring him low slowly. Obvious
keys to today's game is how well, Tom Brady can
fill in for Drew Bledsoe. Tom Brady, this will be
his first NFL start in his second year as a Patriot.
(03:17):
He had a fine exhibition season, but exhibition in preseason
games are much different than facing the reigning AFC East champion.
I would believe Brady's first start came in the third
game of the season, with the two and o Colts
coming to Foxborough and favored by eleven and a half points.
You know, the one thing mentally Tom Brady can do
is you know, there's very little expected of him that
(03:38):
being a fill in for Drew Bledsoe. Few expected the
battered Brady led Patriots to mount much resistance to a
Peyton Manning led offense that had already put up eighty
seven points in eight hundred and eighty eight yards and
two dominant wins over the Jets and Bills. Hey career
high four twenty one yards throwing for Peyton Manning he
had true for all the Tds, the four of them.
Peyton Manning pretty good day. With an explosive off and
(04:00):
a growing array of weapons, Colts would become the Patriot's
biggest rival of the next decade. Nick Fitzie Stevens, Patriots
fan and personality. Here comes Peyton Manning, who ultimately would
have the greatest rivalry ever Brady Manning. It'll never get
any better than that. And Manning throws this little pass
over the middle to Jerome Pathon, who usually just was
able to get away with whatever he want because he's
(04:21):
a fast Cults receiver and the pat stink and Brian Cox,
who's one of the veterans that Belichick brought in to
help sort of change the tone and culture there hit him,
so decleats him and just levels him, like you have
no idea That hit from cox On Pathon changed everything.
Manning with his backs and us split his back to
(04:41):
throw looks fires to the left of his plot there
and down there at the forty two help Brian Cox
really labeled the receiver Jerome Pathon at the forty two
yard line. Powered by two pick sixes and a mistake
free game from Brady, the Patriots pulled off the decisive
upset and the Patriots rock off the field victorious, running
(05:03):
all over the Indianapolis Colts here this afternoon, as the
Patriots rushed forty one times for one hundred and ninety
eight yards on the ground. Tom Brady was thirteen of
twenty four passing for one hundred and nineteen yards. Well,
that's a three hundred and seventeen yard offense for the Patriots,
and defensively certainly did their job, holding the high powered
(05:25):
Indianapolis coach too only thirteen points Pepper Johnson's linebackers coach,
And we got a different urgency of the players in
that room taking ownership of the defense. And that didn't
come from the coaching staff because we can only stay
(05:48):
so much and we can only do so much. That
came from the players, and the players kind of bought
in two that were and more as the season progressed,
and unfortunately for Bretzel, but was a plus for us
(06:10):
in a way as a whole that when we lost
him during the season and Brady comes in, that made
us like Kate, now we have to scrap it on
the thing that I appreciate out of what the Patriots
did on their defensive game plan. They came up what
they were. They're facing the number one offense in the NFL,
(06:31):
and they didn't try to get exotic or spectacular with
their defense. They played sound, fundamental and basic defense. Tommy
Current Metro West Daily News. It was a resounding victory
for the Patriots. Brady mostly at his hands at tenant
two and just got the car out of the garage,
down the street and back to the garage. And that
(06:51):
was a sense after that game. Well, at least he
didn't wreck the family car. I think that the Patriots
ability to keep the ball on the ground and run
it as well as they did for all over one
hundred and one, one hundred and fifty yards or something
um enabled the Patriots to keep the ball away. Paul Perillo,
Patriots Football Weekly. And I remember thinking, to be honest,
(07:13):
you know, they had the great first game against Indianapolis
where thy Law returned. I think ODIs Smith had had
a pick man. He looks, Fires, Oh they stuck. They
the fifth. That's twenty five, heading left for the thirty
yard line, turning wide to the fireside of the field,
turning food quarter at the forty forty five, he's at
make feet more quarters. He took the thirty five, thirty,
twenty five, twenty. He still a fifteen to the ten
(07:35):
to the five n in touchdown sifth Wall returned one
for a touchdown, Fires to the right, it is intercepted,
picked off by Taylaw. It's a twenty HEADO fteen still
at his feet at the ten, heading to the right
till the five head he is going to go in.
It was all defense. I mean, Tom didn't do a
whole lot. He didn't have to do a whole lot.
(07:57):
So with the final score of the New England Patriots
forty four the Indianapolis Colts thirteen, that is it from Foxboro.
But the forty four to thirteen win over the Colts
was followed up with a thirty to ten loss in Miami,
a game location that would give the Patriots plenty of
fits during the next two decades. It's Brady through for
just eighty six yards and took four sacks. Brady play
action fake, Oh, he's gonna be sacked, loses the ball.
(08:18):
It's on the ground and I believe the Dolphins recovered it,
which will end this one. The Patriots fell to one
and three with their season hanging by a thread, leading
coach Belichick to take unique measures to put the loss
behind them. Tom e current the next week against Miami
when they played there and get their asses he handed
to him. Thirty to ten was well that was nice,
but now you see why Drew bledso will be back
(08:39):
in place before too long. Slotted to the nearest side
left for Brady. On second to Tenie fumbles the snap,
loses the ball at side of the end zone, touchdown Miami.
Tom Brady fumbled the snap, the ball went bouncing back
to the goal line and a Miami Dolphin was Johnny
on the spot to pick it up and run in
for a touchdown. Dave Patent wide receiver, to come in
(09:02):
to a Wednesday practice after a demoralizing laws and you
see a big hole at the end of the practice field.
He's like, what's going on? And he comes to he
he buries us in the meeting, but then when he
goes to bury the ball, he's like, now, everything I've
said to you guys, everything we messed up in this game,
(09:25):
We're burying it right here, and we have a chance
to start over from this point for and do something special.
I will never forget that the Patriots will be getting
the ball first. It'll be interesting to see what Tom
Brady does in his third start. He had a good
game against the Colts, a poor game against Miami, and
now this will be the third time around the following
(09:47):
week against the San Diego Chargers, Brady and the Patriots
offense turned a corner. Unleashed and throwing a season high
fifty four attempts for three hundred and sixty four passing
yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The offense showed
it could be more than a passenger during the season.
Play actually take Brady Wall's life cut down. I kept
waiting for them to throw the ball. The wagons on
(10:08):
the tight end, snake down ten points. Late in the game,
Brady made the first fourth quarter comeback of his career.
Is The Patriots tied up the game late, then got
their second win of the season in overtime forty four
yard field goal Adam Minitary good. It's good and the
Patriots with Tom Brady throwing an amazing amount of time,
Tom Brady thirty three and fifty four for three to
(10:29):
sixty four one boys take Goods. Come from ten back
to ye, Rob Ryan linebackers coach Brady, you know, came
in there and we won. And I remember the optimism
of mister Kraft, you know, he was so optimistic, this
could be the guy. And I'm thinking, oh yeah, but
I'm like man I don't know, but sure enough he
(10:53):
was right. He was the guy. And uh, but all
of Brady's hard work paid off, like uh, you know,
he obviously such an overage, you know, a guy that
just made himself great, but he had great coaching along
the way. But he's he is really special. He took
the experience that he had as a rookie and I
think he did an excellent job of running the offense
(11:16):
of being in command of the team when he was
on the field. Jermaine Wiggins tight end Tom was playing well,
and you're kind of looking you go, okay, we know
we got on defense, We're running the ball good with
ant Swan Smith, and you know, it seems like we
can throw the ball when we have to throw the football.
So that was the game that we looked at and said,
you know what, you know, we got some talent on
(11:37):
this roster, and you know, we can put things together.
The two and three Patriots would keep the momentum going
as they traveled to Indianapolis, facing the Colts for the
second time in four weeks, led by David Patton, who
became just the second player since the NFL AFL merger
to score touchdown receiving Brady back to throw looks judge
it long and deep and fun at the fifty forty
(11:57):
at the thirty five forty twenty five twenty win all
the way for a touchdown. David Patton one eighty one
eighty one yard touchdown. Pass rushing David Patton to the
thirty Patty Rtchel the twenty five, twenty fifteen ten five
damn touchdown David Patton and throwing Brady. It's a quick
(12:17):
screen of the left and Patton's gonna throw the football
shoots at one and d Troy Brown, He's gotta He's
in touchdown always short, earning him AFC Offensive Player of
the Week. The special teams also stepped up with two
block field goal attempts, while the defense sack Peyton Manning
four times, recovered two fumbles, and held the prolific Colts
(12:38):
offense to just one touchdown in the game. David Patton.
Everyone can't be the All American every every player can't
get the accolades, every player can't make it to the
Hall of Fame. But to say that I did something
that two Hall of famers did you know that, that's
really humbling and that makes me feel pretty good, because
(13:00):
that's just it. When I when I was giving my opportunities,
I always felt like I could be an eighty kiss
ninety cash receiver any given season, but that just wasn't
my role with Tom Brady. That David Patton, what Chris
Berman ESPN. They're winning with Tom Brady, and they're winning
with Antoine Smith running for eleven hundred yards, and they're
(13:22):
winning with an offensive line that is really good because
Dante Scarnetti is an unbelievable coach, and and they had
a rookie named Matt Light playing on the line, and
they had Damien Woody, and they had you know, and
Jerusium and they did The line was very good, so
that they were just a solid as a boring word.
But they wherever they were, they didn't add up on
(13:46):
the Pro Bowl level talent. They played cohesively, which again,
looking back, there's the mark of all the Patriot teams,
whether it was a Super Bowl year or not, Paul Perillo,
if you avoid the big mistakes that are going to
put points on the board for the other team, you're
always going to have a puncher's chance. And I thought
Tom did a great job of keeping the team on schedule.
(14:07):
He avoided a lot of negative plays. There weren't a
lot of turnovers. That weren't a lot. I mean, there
were some sacks there that come with a young quarterback
and inexperienced quarterback. But they ran the ball, they stayed
ahead of the chains. And then when it was third
and four, you know, he found a way to move
the chains and make plays often enough to keep the
team on schedule. And I thought that was the biggest difference.
(14:29):
After putting together their first two game win streak and
evening their season record at three and three, the Pats
would regress in another spot that would give them plenty
of problems going forward. A mile high in Denver, so
the Patriots and the Broncos, the zage old AFL rivalry
is starting a new and this new stadium, and maybe
the Patriots can get off to a great start. The
Patriots squandered a ten point second half lead as Tom
(14:51):
Brady would throw four interceptions, including one in the end zone.
The short circuit at any ability for New England to
CounterPunch after falling behind. But there was a silver lining
to the loss, Paul Perillo, it all came apart in
the second half of a loss at Denver. He threw
four picks Patriots half to go for it. Brady stands
in the pocket, fires down the field, and they ship
by delta oil at the thirty, at the twenty, five,
(15:14):
at the twenty, at the fifteen, at the ten, breaking
tackles to the four yard line. Four fourth quarter interceptions
by Brady. You gotta feel bad for the young guy
because it is all come down on him like a
roof caving in here in the fourth quarter in Denver.
They went out to Denver, a place that they never
had any success, and they felt like they threw a
(15:34):
game away, you know, and they had a young quarterback
who made his first real mistakes and they had an
opportunity to win. And I remember talking to Damian Woody
in the locker room after the game and he sort
of explained it. This game was different. There was an
anger because we felt like we let one slip away today,
And that to me was the day they decided, hey,
(15:54):
we're pretty good. We can play with anyone. If we
can go out to Denver, play a C plus game
and still have a chance to win, we can compete
with anybody, clearly, you know. On the road, Tom Brady
trying to bring him, bring him from from that kind
of a deficit early as that you know the reason.
After the frustrating loss in Denver, New England would win
their next two games, first knocking off the Falcons by
(16:15):
sacking Chris Chandler and Michael Vick combined nine times. Chandler
rolls who was hit? Game? Jason sat By, Richard Seymour
slot to the near side, Wiper, Chandler bull back off
Chat Whitest, Christian here Penza corners blitz Hey. They get
him back inside the twenty yard line, Vick is back
to throw. Oh what's a knockdown? By Tick Buckey Jones.
The following week, they knock off their divisional rivals, the
(16:37):
Buffalo Bills, giving New England their first winning record of
the season at five and four. It's the game the
Patriots we're pretty much in control of, but the Bills
kept hanging around, hanging around, and when these two teams play,
this is the kind of game that usually happened. Over
the two games. The offense was powered by two hundred
and seventeen rushing yards by Antoine Smith, with Smith also
adding two touchdowns against his former team in Buffalo, including
(16:59):
a four two yarder near the end of the game
that put the scrappy one win Bills away Patriots two
minutes to go and off comes to Smith to the
right pliles aheads hitside of twenty five twenty fifty ten
five good five touch down that Smith, Antoine Smith. I
think every player that get released by a team, you
have a chance to go back and play against that
(17:20):
team that you want to do good. And that was
one of the things I would like. And I think, oh,
my teammates knew it that they gave meant more to
me than anyone else. Because you get released by Buffalo,
this your first chance to play against them. You want
to proa to them that y'all made a mistake. So
it was very satisfied to go out and have the
games that I had that that Sunday. Scott Paoli, I
(17:43):
don't know if it was a particular game, but as
the momentum built, you know, because again we started off
we won a little bit, but then you know, we
had a couple of train wreak losses. But then when
we got on that role and you saw the team's
confidence building, and it was real confidence, particularly on the
defense and the trust that the team was having on
(18:04):
you know, with Tommy on offense, he's just kept on
building and you were hoping that it was going to
build enough each week to go to to the point
where again you would have it next week. Matt Chatham,
linebacker and special teamer, think, you know, sort of the
growing confidence was something that happened throughout that season. Um,
(18:24):
and I think that's what kind of made us special
and different. You know, we we were very well trained
to know that, you know, one good week of work
only guarantees you that that week, and it won't get
you something next week if you don't go do it again.
So we really had to sort of put them on
the line every single week. And uh, you know, if
any moment we had taken a step back, we wouldn't
got gotten what we only did. At the end of
(18:46):
that year, we're just about set to go here in
Foxborough kind of a party atmosphere for this Sunday night
nationally televised game as the Patriots looked to try to
make it six wins in their last hey and see
if they can slow down the Red Hots St. Louis
ram at five and four and having won four of
their last five games. The streaking Patriots welcome to Saint
Louis Rams for a Sunday night matchup that saw the
(19:07):
Rams favored by eight and a half points. Since winning
the Super Bowl in nineteen ninety nine, the Rams represented
a true test for the Patriots, and they're growing self belief.
We've talked to all the players are winning the Joe.
They can't wait for this game. Well, not only that,
a lot of the Rams players have never seen Bill
Belichick's style of defense, so it's gonna be new and
I would expect the first quarter to be a little
bit of a sparring match until both of them figure
(19:29):
out what exactly they want to do. Sitting at eight
and one on the season, the Greatest Show on Turf
had one of the best offenses in the league, and
we're looking to establish themselves as the next great NFL dynasty,
Nick Fitzie Stevens. The Sunday night game against the Rams
was at the time the ultimate barometer game for the
two thousand and one Patriots, Like this was the test.
(19:49):
Here comes the Greatest Show on Turf against these scrappy
upstart you know, discount budget, hard hit and fundamentally sound
New England Patriots. We Warner back to throw a quick
rush fires over the middle of intercept by Terrell Buckley
at the forty five forty Fike sorry, by thirty five thirty,
He's gonna go all the way touchdown Terrell Buckley. Carrell
(20:12):
buck Lay goals fifty five yards with a past interception.
Mike Greece Metro West Daily News. And I will tell
you I was a fan that day because I was
splitting the beat with Tom Curran, and I was in
the stands for that game and the last row aluminum
bleachers leaning up against the press box saying, maybe I'll
(20:32):
see you guys in the next home game, but I'm
gonna enjoy this one as a fan. With two interceptions
in the first quarter, one return for a game time touchdown,
the defense set the tone for the game. Pepper Johnson,
that game kicks me back to my childhood when me
and my friends would go to watch a karate movie,
and every movie you had this this point in time
(20:56):
where the start a good guy was getting ready to
side his nemesis and he's saying, and um, that was us.
We felt like we was was battle tough. Paul Perilla,
what I was struck with that game was how physical
it was. I thought it was a really hard fought game.
(21:17):
Warner's back to throw on play actually steps up into
the pockets got to be shot back at about the
thirty four yard line that time. The pressure was there
and a lot of Patriots in on the hit. I
thought the Rams were markedly better and didn't play very
well that night. Um, now it turns out that it
wasn't the case, and we know, you know, they got
a chance to play again, you know, a couple of
(21:37):
months later. Um that but that Rams game I thought
was a continuation of sort of what I felt against Denver.
Like this team they can play with anybody. They they're
they're a good team and they can play with anyone,
and they know they can play with anyone. Now, Antoine
Smith is offset as the right half. Three receivers to
the near side left for Brady first in gold at
the Ram ten Brady back to throw looks looks. But
(22:04):
Poli think the players really believe at that point in time, like,
wait a second, We've actually got a good football team.
We just played well against a really good team. If
we didn't turn the ball over, we might have had
a chance, and I just remember that there was an
odd It was a combination of frustration but manifested itself
also in a confidence because after that, you know that game,
(22:27):
you know, I think it was the Saints we played
after that, and we thumped the Saints, and then we
went against the Jets and you know, pretty good Jets
teams and beat them, and it just felt like the
confidence was building again because it was one again a
game where we played one of the best teams in
football and we're right there with them, Jermaine Wiggins. But
(22:49):
when you're in striking distance and you know late in
the fourth quarter, that gives a team a lot of
confidence to say, Okay, here's what type of football team
we really are. We got to fix something so we're
able to win those games, but we know we can compete.
And I think that was what that Rams game showed us,
is that we know we can hang with the big dogs.
(23:11):
And when you know you can hang with the big dogs,
that's all you need. In the NFL. The Patriots certainly
showed tonight that they can play with the big boys,
the Saint Louis Rams, but we're unable to get it
over the top. Rob Ryan Belichick turned the entire organization
around when he went up in front of the team
after losing that night game. And this is the first
(23:33):
time he ever was super positive with the guys in
night that year, in six weeks or whatever it was,
when he stepped up and he goes, I'll tell you
what that game's on me. I blew it. I blew
this game, no question it was me. He goes, If
you guys play as hard as you did in this
game every week, and if we coach as hard as
we did like we did this week, we'll see him again.
(23:55):
We'll see that team again. And sure as hell we did.
With six games to go, when a renewed Comf's despite
a disappointing loss that dropped them back to five hundred,
Belichick made a critical decision about the direction of the team,
naming Tom Brady the starter for the rest of the season.
My job is to make the decisions for the football team,
and that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make the
best decisions I can for the football team. That's what
(24:16):
That's what mister Krafts pay me to do, and that's
what I'm going to do. I'm gonna make the decisions
and I think are the best for the football team
Team am as in team Mike Greece. It really seemed
like there were two camps. In the media, it was
like Drew's got to get his job back. You can't
lose your job because of injury. And it was like
people going to bat for Drew almost like they had
(24:38):
been with him since nineteen ninety three. It's a feast
of the franchise. Can't take it away from him. There's
very little loyalty in the NFL anymore. There really isn't.
And the way things change with free agency with new
players coming in. Hey, if you know, if somebody's on
the field, they're doing your job and they're doing it well,
then hey, look out that don't don't go off the field.
(25:01):
Hey man, if you if you hurt, do whatever you
can to stay out there. And then there was another
group in the media that was almost like on Brady's side,
that was like like the guy's gotta go and you
can't turn away from him now, like I'm sorry, but
this is professional football. And that that's what I remember
the most, almost like the division within the media on
(25:23):
that topic. You know, when you're the quarterback. You always
feel like I've had a big part to do with
this game, or when you're the backup quarterback, you don't
even feel like you're on the team. You feel like
you're a fan. You know that, God, I didn't do
anything to help our team win. You always feel that
I'm just I'm just taking up space. Pepper Johnson, we
start getting them of the neck confidence um that that
(25:44):
ruin inside of all of us. I came to say
the players, but the coaches as well. You know you
could you could feel it, and you can start seeing
in the play and how the guys responded on the
sidelines when something bad happened. They was snipping at the
(26:05):
bid to get back out there on the field because
they didn't like what they just did or what just
happened to him. That's when you, to me, you really
know that Jersey we are championships college. Mike Rabel. That
will always be the thing that stood out to me
is that after Thanksgiving we won nine games in a row.
(26:27):
And so you know, like a lot of the times,
it takes you a little bit to kind of figure
out who you are, and you know, we ran to
football and took care of the football, played good defense,
good good and scoring defense, and you know, opportunistic on offense.
With Brady secure under center, the Patriots would reel off
six straight wins to end their season, going from an
(26:48):
afterthought to conference contender. And so they complete the remarkable
turn around from five and eleven and last to eleven
and five and first in the AFCA. Week after losing
to the Rams, Brady through four touchdowns as the Pats
blew out the scenes thirty four seventeen. It was the
high watermark for the offense in two thousand and one,
as they posted four hundred and thirty two yards at
total offense. On second down, Brady rolls out to the right,
(27:10):
brows it back to the left. It as a screen
complete the Smith. He's clear at the forty thirty five
thirty third, twenty five, twenty les sideline, fifteen ten to
five clutch down and twice Smith prignantly executed screen pass
and he erupted for the touchdown forty one yard. Against
their divisional rivals, the New York Jets, the Patriots fell
behind thirteen nothing at halftime, but claude their way back
(27:32):
with Brady leading a fourth quarter drive to secure the
winning field goal testa Birdie long come drops back, the throne,
steps up, fires and Septad intercepted at the thirty three
yard line. The Patriot takeover on the pass interception. They're
mobbing the player who made the interception. I'm not sure
who it was drifting over to make the interception. This
(27:54):
Terrell buck La Tarrell bucked over with a pass interception
with two O two to go on fourth down, and
the Patriots take over at their own thirty three yard lines,
blunting the Jet ride. With the victory in New England,
advanced to seven and five, matching the Jets win total
and putting the Patriots firmly in the playoff conversation, Brady
goes to a knee. The ball game is over. The
(28:15):
PA t s Pats, Patch Pats have beaten the New
York Jets, and the Patriots will improve to seven and
five and really improve their playoff chances with this one. GINO.
This was a very gutty win by a team that
played very poorly in the first half and just played
great football in the second half on both sides of
the ball against the six and five Browns. The Patriots
(28:37):
would fall into another first quarter hole after Tom Brady
threw a pick six that gave Cleveland the ten three lead.
Now an empty backfield for Brady quickly dropped back to
pass fires and it is picked off intercepted by Corey
Fuller at the thirty twenty five. At the twenty Brady
can't get him. He's gonna go in for a touchdown.
The Cleveland Browns lead the NFL and pass interceptions with
now twenty six, and that one has taken to the
(28:59):
house for a time. At the methodical and balanced Patriots
would come back and pull away for their eighth win
of the season, the special teams playing a significant role
once again and the defense forcing four turnovers. Troy, this
team is charging towards the playoffs right now. When did
you believe you could be a playoff contender. You came
into the season thinking we could be a cloff contender,
but we didn't get up to a good starting this year,
and I get to think out sales out of a hole,
(29:20):
and now we got ourselves, you know, turned them down.
We're back on top now and we're fighting to win
the ac AFC East right now, so hopefully we can
keep it going next week, all right, Troy, congratulations, good
luck inst Buffalo next week. Back to you, Boomer. The
Pats are hot. A mid December trip to Buffalo went
to overtime after the Bills and Pats traded three field
goals a piece and regulation in a classic AFC East
slug fest. Gonna keep it and go at the forty
(29:41):
l he gets his helmet knocked off where the vicious
hit at the forty yard line. Wow. With the Patriots
driving in overtime, Tom Brady completed a pass along the
sidelines for thirteen yards to David Patton. Patton took a
huge hit, falling unconscious with his head hitting out of bounds,
but the ball still inbounds there whether it catch fumble. However,
(30:02):
while the receivers had worth touching out of bounds, he
was in contact with the ball, making that out of bounds.
Either keep the ball all right forty one? That's what
I was wondering, whoa a break? What a break? He
was out of bounds while he had the ball. That
put the ball out of bounds and the Patriots retained
(30:24):
possession at the Buffalo forty one yard line. Rob Ryan,
remember the one one game in Buffalo were who was
a David Pattoncott. The ball got knocked unconscious Scott us
in field goal range and he's still holding one of
the ball. I mean he's asleep, but he's still hold
on the ball to get us in field goal range
in the fourth quarter. That's what kind of took, you know,
to to win the damn you know, to get in
(30:47):
the playoffs, and to get home field advantage and all
that stuff. Fortuitous bounds of the football helped set up
the game winning kicks. The magical season continue to roll
on for New England. Ball down, the kick up and
the Patriots wins. Adam vine Terry kicks a twenty three
yard field goal with nine fifteen showing on the clock.
The Patriots come out of it a tough, tough, tough
(31:09):
ball game to win. The Patriots would stay in the
division the following week, taking on the defending chants of
the AFC East, the Miami Dolphins and what appeared at
the time to be the final sendoff of the old
Foxboro Stadium, New England raced out to a twenty to
nothing lead in the first half and never looked back,
capping off their home schedule with an impressive win twenty
to thirteen. Ready takes the knee again, Bill Belichick hugging
(31:31):
his players on the sideline. Down to thirty three seconds
to play, the Patriots will win their final regular season
game at Foxboro Stadium. They will go into first place,
where their fifth win in a row to improve to
ten and five. One more game to go in two
weeks against Carolina. So with a final score of this
final regular season game in chilly foxborow, with the sun
(31:55):
gone down on the darkness around the New England Patriots twenty,
let's make that the first place New England Patriots twenty
the Miami Dolphins fourteen. That's got a nice ring, yes, sir,
that's it from Foxboro Stadium. Mike Greece. I loved it,
like I loved the old stadium for the intimacy, the
you know, we can look back on the aluminum benches
(32:16):
now with like some maybe fond thoughts. They were so
freaking uncomfortable, Like we were just lucky. We were in
literally the last row, so we could lean up against
like the concrete of the press box. So that was
our chair back, you know. So I will tell you, like, yeah,
(32:36):
there's a little nostalgia on that day with a last
when you're thinking it's the last game against Miami. Oh
you know what, we had. We had some good memories
here over the last eight ten years for me, but
we felt like it was time to go. What about you,
you know, coming from when the team was on too
and you take over. Did your dream it would come
(32:57):
to this? But I think you prepare for you know
that when your numbers called, to be ready to play,
and you know each week it's about getting better and learning.
And you know, being a young quarterback, you realizer you're
gonna learn every week and some days are better, some
days are better than others. I'm continuing to learn. After
a week sixteen by, the Patriots found themselves heading to
Carolina with a chance to secure an AFC's Division championship
(33:18):
and possibly if they got some help, a first round playoff.
By the game was never in question, as the Pats
returned two interceptions and a punt for touchdowns in a
thirty eight to six romp that closed the season out
in style. Congratulations because of New England Patriots. They began
the here or and two and now they are chants
of the adds that I'm likely champion, but it champion.
(33:42):
The cos in with a six game winning drinking a
Pro Bowl quarterback from the don't where Tom Brady. The
team would have to wait to find out if they
secured the second seat in the division and the buye
that came with it. This is Gil Santo's reminding you
that either next weekend the Patriots will play in the
first round of the playoffs, or if Oakland lose to
the Jets, the Patriots would be the number two seed
(34:02):
and have next weekend off. We'll have to wait and
see on that one, Paul Perillo. So now the Raiders
are playing the Jets. The Jets are out in Oakland,
and we're on the flight home and Charlie Weiss has
got his portable television, you know, thirty thousand feet in
the air, and you know, the reception was just as
you were would imagine. It's in and out. It's in
(34:24):
the fourth quarter, and the game is close, it's going
back and forth, and Charlie's given play by play. I
can't even describe it. There's literally like two dozen players
huddled around Charlie's chair on the plane as we're flying
home from Carolina, and they're living and dying with every play,
half of which mind you. They can't even see because
they don't know exactly what's going on. So the plane
(34:46):
ride is just a roller coaster of emotions and it
looks like that's it. Everybody was deflated. Everybody was defeated.
Half of the guys went back to their seats, and
all of a sudden, Charlie goes, wait, they have the
ball back. Yeah, you talk about the snow that was
going to happen in the division around game. The snow
on Charlie's TV was much much worse than the snow
(35:07):
in the stadium in Foxborough, States, So yet no one
had any idea. He kicks it, and then all of
a sudden, the absolute loudest ovation you ever hear, because
he made the field goal, and that forced the Raiders
to have to play on wild Card weekend against the
Jets again, and then travel all the way across the
country the following week to play the Patriots. It was surreal,
(35:30):
absolutely surreal that plane ride home. Damian Woody, Let's just
say that the alcohol float a little bit in that
plane ride. It was it was. It was a George
of Kase. I mean, because we went down in Carolina,
we had fun, We handled business against the Panthers in
that game, and I just remember on the plane ride
just the energy level was like wow, you know wow,
(35:53):
like things just broke our way. As far as you
know how to post these, you know coming, we're gonna
come about us. So yeah, I mean, it was just
a tremendous playing rod for us, Tom E current. You
could see it unfolding, and you could see the self
belief that the team had. But it was also based
in culture, and it was based in the fundamentals that
they played with and that they didn't beat themselves. And
(36:16):
as great as Bledsoe was as a passer and as
good a leader as he was, he did have a
mentality of I gotta do this. It's gotta be me.
It's all gonna come down to Drew, and he wanted
it that way, and Brady wasn't like that. It was
a running game, it was special teams, it was unbelievable defense,
it was a secondary loaded with players, and they liked
(36:39):
each other. Chris Berman, I think what you notice is
that when you look back at those November and December games,
they were doing a lot of little things really well,
which now as time is going on, everybody knows that's
a trademark of coach Belichiff's teams. They played really sharp
(37:04):
defense that if the offense, you know, would they win
a game all on field goals? I think a buffalo, right,
So if the offense wasn't going to put up a
ton of points, which usually they did not, the Patriots
would be in the game. Nick Fitzie Stevens. I always
look forward to every Sunday because I'm a football addict
and I'm a die hard Pats fan. But the way
(37:24):
people started looking forward to Sundays when Tom Brady was
the quarterback and the Patriots started winning was it was
an electricity that you couldn't even describe, just because it
was unique to you. At this point, you didn't know
what this was. Everyone was always like, oh, man, yeah,
like you know, I of your Red Sox town and
Boston's Boston. But like, ah, the upstart Pats, Like, oh
(37:45):
they're so cute. Oh that's adorable. Look at that all
American quarterback Tom Brad. Who doesn't love Tom Brady just
like what a success story he's That's that's adorable. I mean,
you guys aren't gonna win anything special, Like there's no
chance you guys, if you guys make it to the playoffs,
you'll get your door is blown off, but like, don't
get your hopes up, but like have fun on this
cute little ride. I don't think any of us knew
(38:06):
what to expect come playoffs next time. On two thousand
and one, A Super Bowl Sound Odyssey, Patriots say goodbye
to their first permanent home stadium with a game for
the Ages. Two thousand and one. A Super Bowl Sound
Otyssey was produced by Mike Dusot with audio engineer Matt
Morrell for Patriots dot Com. Can't get enough Patriots two
thousand and one content. Relive the historic here by following
(38:28):
the Patriots time Machine, a social media account twenty years
after its time, following the Patriots two thousand and one
season as if it were happening live. See daily transactions,
watch game highlights, and go back in time to the
start of the Patriots Super Bowl dynasty. Follow along on
Twitter and Instagram at Pat's time Machine
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