For those of us who are longtime fans of the New England Patriots, it seems like it was only yesterday that the Pats of Brady and Belichick were the dominant team in the NFL.
We were around in the early days of the AFL when the Boston Patriots were run (and eventually run into the ground) by the Sullivan family and their immediate successors, culminating with the depressing late ‘80s and early ‘90s before Bob Kraft bought the team.
But time flies (even when you’re NOT having fun) and the reality is that it’s been seven years since the Pats have had even a reasonable chance of reaching the Super Bowl. After two decades of our Pats grabbing the spotlight during the Brady era, we’ve been on the outside looking-in for these past six seasons
But after two of the most dismal seasons ever, head coach Mike Vrabel has turned the team around, along with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel and 23 year-old, second-year quarterback Drake Maye, into a legitimate Super Bowl contender that unexpectedly is one game away from reaching the big game.
The Pats are back, bringing our region together (even for the non-sports fans among us) in a way that only a shared passion for a sports team can do.
As fans across the country have witnessed during all of the exciting playoff games these past few weeks, the difference between winning and losing often (actually, usually) comes down to one or two outstanding (or freaky) plays.
Some might call it luck — and whether the football gods have aligned the stars (Josh Allen was eliminated and Bo Nix got injured on the second-to-last play of their game) to create a path for the Pats to reach the big game will not be known until Sunday evening’s final score is posted. But regardless of the outcome of the big game with the Broncos, we’d like to congratulate the Patriots’ players and organization for a great season that made our fall Sundays a bit more fun once again