New England continues an ugly trend

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Ever notice how the Super Bowl loser tends to fall apart the following year?  In fact, except for one case, the Super Bowl loser has not made the playoffsthe following year in each of the past nine seasons.  Although in some cases the team was decimated by injuries, a lot of times, the team's front office thinks their only one piece away from winning it all, and makes personnel moves accordingly.  Here are the past Super Bowl losers starting with the 2000 season, and what they did the following year:

2000- New York Giants- Failed to make the playoffs in 2001 after posting a 7-9 record.

2001- St Louis- Missed the playoffs in 2002 and Kurt Warner lost his starting job to Marc Bulger.

2002- Oakland- Finished last in their division in 2003 and missed the playoffs.  A player munity caused coach Bill Callahan his job. 

2003- Carolina- Injuries decimated the Panthers in 2004, particularly to Jake Delhomme.  This caused a drop to 7-9. 

2004- Philadelphia-  T.O. proved to be a major cancer and was sent home by the team.  Without him, Donovan McNabb's play went south in 2005. 

2005- Seattle- Won the NFC West with an 9-7 record in 2006, but clearly were not the same team they were in 2005.  Shaun Alexander's play declined after being awarded a fat contract, injuries decimated the team, and their divisional competition was weak.  Any division in the AFC and they would've been sitting at home. 

2006- Chicago- Rex Grossman was the reason they lost the Super Bowl, and he was the reason they sunk to 7-9 in 2007 and finished last in their division.  The Bears front office, needing a good QB, failed to go after one. 

2007- New England- Injuries decimated this team in 2008, particularly to Tom Brady and Lawrence Maroney.  Although they posted an 11-5 record, it wasn't enough.  Oddly, an 8-8 team out west won their division.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I would not classify NE as "falling apart". 

Yes, they missed the playoffs.  But they had the exact same record as the team who won the division.  In fact only 5 teams in the NFL had a better record than NE.  Tied for 6th place is not falling apart.  Also NE outscored their opponents by 101 points, 6th best in the NFL.  By comparison the Dolphins only outscored opponents by 28 points. 

I subscribe to the "you are what your record says you are" theory.  By that measure the Patriots are not worse than the Dolphins, not better but not worse.  The Dolphins did not make the playoffs by having the best win loss record.  Dolphins made the playoffs because of the fourth tie breaker. 

NOTE: I am not complaining about the Patriots not making the playoffs, nor about what the tiebreakers are. (so don't claim that is my point, it isn't) I am pointing out NE did not "fall apart."

Once you get past head to head the tie breakers are pretty arbitrary.  Had the tie breaker been net points, total TDs, total points scored, least points surrendered, or strength of schedule or one of several others all possible tie breakers and all equally as valid a measure if not more so than conf record NE would have gotten in instead of the Dolphins.  I am not complaining about the order tiebreakers, just pointing out that if you think the 4th tie breaker means much objectively you are fooling yourself. 

A losing record can be called falling apart.  Going 11-5 is not falling apart even in a year when by quirk it doesn't lead to a playoff berth. 

[Spider-Dan]

I tend to agree.

SEA won their division (and a playoff game) in 2006, immediately after losing the SB.
NE went 11-5 immediately after losing the SB.

One of these two teams is an exception to this trend.

[StL FinFan]

2003 Rams win NFC West
2004 Rams get a wildcard spot

They didn't exactly "fall apart" until the 2005 season.

[Defense54]

I heard someone saw Tom Brady on a street corner offering blow-jobs for crack...........then he got into a fistfight with Shanny over who owned the corner, then as he took out his teeth to bite Tom on the nose, Mangini Jumped ahead of both of them and got scooped up by a guy looking to make some money at a local glory Hole.

[bsmooth]

I heard someone saw Tom Brady on a street corner offering blow-jobs for crack...........then he got into a fistfight with Shanny over who owned the corner, then as he took out his teeth to bite Tom on the nose, Mangini Jumped ahead of both of them and got scooped up by a guy looking to make some money at a local glory Hole.

Where was Crennel?

[Defense54]

Where was Crennel?

LOL!  He was dude looking to make the Money at the Glory hole! 

[run_to_win]

The Patriots did indeed "fall apart" ... almost literally.  Brady's knee, Maroney's shoulder, Jordan's quad, Harrison, as well as Crable, Wheatley, Alexander, Webster, Thomas, Woods.

Imagine Miami without Pennington, Brown, Ricky Williams and Yeremiah Bell. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The Patriots did indeed "fall apart" ... almost literally.  Brady's knee, Maroney's shoulder, Jordan's quad, Harrison, as well as Crable, Wheatley, Alexander, Webster, Thomas, Woods.

Imagine Miami without Pennington, Brown, Ricky Williams and Yeremiah Bell. 

You would got 1-15, like the last time your injury problems were almost as bad as the Patriots were this year.  Patriots managed to go 11-5 despite that. 

[Tenshot13]

New England continues and ugly trend...ugly weather...ugly personalities...ugly women...the list goes on and on

[YoFuggedaboutit]

2003 Rams win NFC West
2004 Rams get a wildcard spot

They didn't exactly "fall apart" until the 2005 season.

But what did they do in 2002?   I said they fall apart the FOLLOWING YEAR.  What they did after that year doesn't matter. 

This again shows the parity in the NFL

[MaineDolFan]

As banged up as New England was, they went 11-5 and would have gone deep into the playoffs.  Everyone knows it.  I think they were one of the top four teams in the league this year.  They lost two games due to stupid penalties and that killed 'em.  In a woulda / coulda / shoulda world the Pats should have been 13-3 with a 1st round bye.

[Pats2006]

As banged up as New England was, they went 11-5 and would have gone deep into the playoffs.  Everyone knows it.  I think they were one of the top four teams in the league this year.  They lost two games due to stupid penalties and that killed 'em.  In a woulda / coulda / shoulda world the Pats should have been 13-3 with a 1st round bye.

Agreed, you know I was a Little sceptical that they had a 11-5.  With all the big names that were hurt this season.  Goes to show you that Bellicheck is one of the best coaches NFL coaches ever.

[fyo]

Agreed, you know I was a Little sceptical that they had a 11-5.  With all the big names that were hurt this season.  Goes to show you that Bellicheck is one of the best coaches NFL coaches ever.

Also helps to play against the AFC West and NFC West...

The Dolphins were an average team that managed 11-5 due to an historically weak schedule and a bit of good luck.
The Patriots were a slightly above average team that managed 11-5 due to an historically weak schedule.

Feel free to throw the 11-5 Jets in there as well.

Bottom line, the AFC East was full of roughly average teams this year. Sure, the Patriots were only average because of injuries, but they were average none-the-less. The Ravens would have killed them, just like the Steelers did during the regular season.

The Patriots faced 2-3 good teams this year: The Steelers, the Colts and the Chargers. The latter two are good now that they're healthy, but weren't really that good when the Patriots played them. Even then, the Patriots lost all 3 games against arguably good teams - a combined 81-35, despite 2 of the 3 games being in Foxboro.

Just for fun I decided to look up strength of schedule for this season - despite it being just a rough indicator. The Patriots had the, by FAR, easiest schedule this year. 99 wins was all their opponents could muster. And that's despite playing against the Jets and the Dolphins who accumulated 11 wins because of insanely easy schedules themselves. For the record, Dolphins opponents managed 119 wins and Jets opponents 117.

[MaineDolFan]

Goes to show you that Bellicheck is one of the best coaches NFL coaches ever.

I will meet you half way and say that this was his best year coaching ever.  I think he deserved coach of the year.  Lost his all-world QB 16 plays into the game.  Lost his starting pro bowl safety, two corners, a probowl linebacker, played with a make shift line, lost RB1 and RB2 for considerable amounts of time...I've never seen a team hit with injuries like New England had...and yet they kept on comin'.