Boston Sports Then and Now

January is really a terrible time for the New Year. It’s always cold, often snowy, the days are short and nobody really enjoys champagne that much.

No, July 4th is a much better time to celebrate a new year. There’s grilling, fireworks, some of the longest days of the year, beach weather, beer, summer vacations – it’s just a much happier time.

But whether you choose to celebrate your changing of the calendars in January with the rest of the world or July with those a little more inclined to sanity, you agree on one thing: a new year means two things. The first is a fresh slate, a tabula raza, if you will, in which anything can happen – as Bill Watterson once aptly put it, “It’s a Magical World.”

The second, of course, is a chance to learn from your mistakes in the years prior.

Flashback: Monday, September 14th, 2009. Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Patriots, riding a consecutive-wins streak of 11 over the lowly Buffalo Bills found themselves trailing, 24-13 with 5:32 to go. Tom Brady looked unsure of himself in the pocket, thanks in large part to Bills’ DE Aaron Schobel spending more time in the Pats’ offensive backfield than any of Brady’s teammates.

The Bills were going to beat the Patriots for the first time at Gillette Stadium. On Monday night. On national television. In Week One. Trent Edwards was going to beat Tom Brady – who, by the way, hadn’t lost a regular-season game since December. Not of last year or the year before, but December of 2006. Could it really be?

Brady and Moss will need to be on the same page at all times if the Patriots have any hope of ascending to NFL greatness again.

Naw, of course not. This was Tom Brady’s team.

This was homo-undecuple perfection. They wouldn’t lose at home in Week One. Definitely not to the Bills. Brady wouldn’t let them.

And he didn’t; in the game’s last 2:06, Tom Terrific twice found Ben Watson in the end zone for Pats’ touchdowns, giving the Patriots a hard-earned (but maybe not hard-fought) victory over a once-proud AFC East patsy.

As the season wore on, however, something became painfully evident: these weren’t your now-18 month old cousin’s Patriots.

Perfection was not their forte – petulance, perhaps, or maybe even pitiful was more like it.

And by the time Ray Rice went MAC Truck on their front seven in the first round of the playoffs the next January, something Pats fans had feared since the Week 2 loss to The Sanchize’s New York Jets had become a painful reality: they just weren’t that good.

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Belichick's shocking resignation.

LeBron James stole the summer headlines with his over publicized and much scrutinized signing with the Miami Heat. This got us thinking about the one of the biggest choices made in Boston sports in recent memory: Bill Belichick’s decision to coach the New England Patriots.

Following the end of the 1999 NFL season, coach Bill Parcells decided to retire from head coaching the team. He handed over the “keys to the car” to Belichick, his long time disciple, in what would be BB’s first gig since his time in Cleveland half a decade earlier.

The Jets’ organization and fanbase were disappointed to see the legend Parcells go, but they assumed it would be a seamless transition, as Parcells thought very highly of his top assistant.

To the surprise of just about everyone, at Belichick’s press conference where he was supposed to be named the future coach of the Jets, he read his letter of resignation. Days later, Coach Belichick would sign with the New England Patriots.

The Jets claimed that Belichick was under contract with the team, and that they deserved compensation for the tampering that took place. As a result, the Patriots indeed gave New York their first round pick in the 2000 draft.

In hindsight, this was one of the most lopsided exchanges in sports.

So why did Belichick choose New England over the New York?

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The Mastermind enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Forbes Magazine recently released a list of the top 10 paid coaches in sports. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was second on this list with a salary of $7.5 million. This is the first concrete number we have heard about Belichick’s contract, as the Patriots as an organization are secretive when it comes to these types of things.

So that got us thinking. What are the Kraft’s and the Patriots organization getting for their money?

In his ten year tenure with the Patriots, BB has a regular season record of 112-48 and he is 14-3 in the playoffs which includes a 3-1 Super Bowl record. Amazing numbers.

He is a renowned Xs and Os wizard amongst the NFL community and his innovative style makes him stand apart. In a copycat league, Belichick continues to lead by example. His intelligence of the game is not just reflective in his win-loss record, but in his coaching tree that has seen ten assistant coaches to go on to be NFL or NCAA head football coaches.

Belichick isn’t just getting paid to coach. He has final say on all personnel decisions within the organization. A man with a vision, BB has very unique criteria when building a team. For example, he craves versatility. It is important for him to have multidimensional players that can help in numerous facets of the game. He also doesn’t mind taking on a player who was a problem in other organizations (ie Randy Moss, Corey Dillon). The atmosphere he has instilled within the organization does not allow for players to become bigger than the team.

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Tedy Bruschi went through a season like no other in 2005.

This was the best of times for the Patriots.

They were just coming off their third Super Bowl title in four years with a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Jacksonville.

New England was enjoying their new reign as the modern day NFL dynasty.

Tedy Bruschi was reveling in another championship and his selection to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

However, shortly after he returned home, the linebacker and one of the Patriots’ team leaders experienced a stroke.

Bruschi was only 31 years of age. Way too young to experience a life threatening moment like this.

The Patriots were going into the 2005 season without the heart and soul of their defense.  It was uncertain that Bruschi would ever play again.

Offensive coordinator, Charlie Weiss and defensive coordinator, Romeo Crennel left the team for head coach gigs at Notre Dame and Cleveland.

The team released long time Patriot, Ty Law. Would the fallout be similar to that of Lawyer Milloy?

The defending Super Bowl champions faced adversity right out of the gate.

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Tom Brady and the Patriots are in for a dogfight in the AFC East.

It looks like the Patriots will be in a dog fight this year in the AFC East, the division that New England has dominated over the last decade.  The Pats have captured the AFC Crown seven of the last ten seasons, but a changing of the guard is looming on the horizon.

The Patriots are looking more like the least than the beast of the AFC East.

The New York Jets are getting better every day it seems. The team that went to the AFC Championship last year on the shoulders of rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez is loading up their arsenal.

On the offensive side of the ball they acquired disgruntled Cleveland Browns wide out, Braylon Edwards last season. A talent for sure, but has consistency issues and a chronic case of the drops. However, he showed sparks of what he is capable of when he is focused. In 12 games with New York, Edwards caught 35 catches for 541 yards with 4 td’s.

This off season the Jets have been very busy signing former San Diego and fantasy football stud, LaDainian Tomlinson. Tomlinson replaces the productive Thomas Jones who was unsigned before landing with the KC Chiefs. A puzzling signing considering Jones was more productive than LT. Jones had 1400 yards and 14 touchdowns in comparison to Tomlinson’s 730 yards and 12 touchdowns.

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After the 2001 Super Bowl Victory, the Patriots were Tom Brady's team.

In 2002, the Patriots were coming off their first championship in team history.

They were about to open a state of the art stadium in Foxboro.

New England traded franchise quarterback, Drew Bledsoe to the division rival Buffalo.

The team was now Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady’s.

Everything was looking up for a franchise that was a laughing stock in the early 90’s.

In their history the Patriots have had difficulties in stringing together winning seasons.

Would 2002 break this trend?

New England came out like gangbusters with three straight wins over the Steelers, Jets, and Chiefs by a combined score of 115-51. Unlike Patriots teams in the past, New England started fast, really fast out of the gate.

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