2014 in 8 Days: Top Patriots Moments

(Photo by Getty Images)

by Dakota Antelman

After beginning 2014 with a loss to the Broncos that ended a vastly understaffed season for the Patriots, fans were treated to an off season roster shakeup as well as a roller coaster start to the 2014-2015 season. 

This season has featured the return of Rob Gronkowski, the departure and ensuing return of LeGarrette Blount as well as the signing of Darelle Revis. This year has at once featured some of the highest and lowest times in the career of Tom Brady and ends with Brady on top.

As we enter 2015, Patriots fans look back on what was a generally decent calendar year for their team...

1) Patriots fall 41-14 to Chiefs in Week Four  AND "We're on to Cincinnati"

There was a time in 2014 where once loyal fans were calling for Tom Brady to be traded. Those calls were never louder than they were in Week Four following a stunning Patriots collapse against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Brady was flat in the game getting pulled due to performance issues for one of the first times in his career. Though absurd in hindsight, the general consensus was that Brady was done with the NFL.

"Trade Brady, start Garapolo!" Sounded the calls of fans.

But Bill Belichick and his team kept true. Belichick addressed his team following the loss and then turned to the media with his signature cold faced demeanor.

"Were on to Cincinnati," he said. And so they were. New England beat up on the Bengals the next week and proceeded to rattle off seven straight wins following the loss to the Chiefs.

As 2014 fades into the history books, that four word quote from Belichick will stand as a defining moment, a memoir of devotion and direction following a chaotic loss.

2) Patriots fall to Broncos in AFC Championship

Many months before the Patriots even started the 2014-2015 season they were in Denver playing in their third consecutive AFC Championship game. 

Things did not go so well for them though as a team, devoid of receiving targets, struggled to put up points against the Broncos. Without Rob Grokowski and with Wes Welker playing for the Broncos instead of the Patriots, they were beaten by a score of 26-16.

As a result, the off season began two weeks too early for Brady and company.

3) Darelle Revis comes to New England, excels

In the wake of the loss to Denver that was as much punctuated by inept tackling and defense in the secondary as it was offensive deficiencies, the Patriots went out and bought themselves a franchise cornerback. They signed former Jets and Buccaneers conerback Darelle Revis to a one year $12M contract. He came to the team mere hours after they lost former star Aqib Talib via free agency.

The Patriots definitely took a chance on Revis but the decision paid off in the end. Revis has played every game of this season. He has made two interceptions and effectively shadowed a range of receivers from Wes Welker to Calvin Johnson.

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Agree with the Go Titletown rankings? Be sure to chime in down in the comment section or mention us on Twitter (@GoTitletown) with your own "Top Patriots Moments of 2014". 

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Brady, Edelman do it again as Patriots defeat Broncos 43-21

November 3rd, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. But after Brady’s Patriots rolled out a 43-21 demolition of Manning’s Broncos, the debate was at least temporarily settled; even Manning acknowledged that much.

On a cold afternoon in Foxboro, Brady threw for four touchdowns and 333 yards while Manning’s proneness to weather initiated mistakes was highlighted by 23 incompletions and a pair of interceptions.

“I don’t normally stink but I stunk today.” Manning said glumly after the game.

The Patriots shut down Manning from kickoff on. Bill Bilichick started the attack by sending Manning throwing into the wind.

As the game went on, the Patriots continued to break the backs of the Broncos. Most notably, a huge hit by Devin McCourty on Wes Welker resulted in one of Manning’s passes being deflected up in the air by Welker and eventually intercepted by Patriot linebacker, Rob Nincovich. With multiple similar turnovers limiting Denver’s time on the field, the Patriots churned out a 24 point second quarter and thus effectively ended the game.

"The quarterback stinks, usually you're not going to win many games," he said.

Beyond Manning’s blunders though, the Patriots offence was once again rolling. Rob Gronkowski caught nine passes for 105 receiving yards and a touchdown grab. Behind him, Julian Edelman put up an 89 yard receiving day. He also scored a touchdown during the second quarter offensive explosion.

His most impressive play though came roughly three minutes after the touchdown catch when he ran a Denver punt 84 yards into the endzone. Edelman was the beneficiary of strong blocking by the Patriots kick return unit but also contributed to his own cause with a mid-field cut back rout that threw him into a vast wealth of open space.

"Minitron can do so many things, he's so quick," Brady said of Edelman. "What he did on the punt return was incredible."

New England has now scored 94 total points in the past two games with Tom Brady throwing for 9 touchdowns. The team is rolling and has long since distanced themselves from their worrisome 2-2 start to the season.

Needless to say though, this win carries a whole new kind of momentum boost. Knocking off the Broncos to take over control of the number one seed in the AFC east has the Patriots riding high going into their bye week.

"[Brady’s] playing unbelievable right now, and so is the team," Gronkowski said after the game. "Everyone, we’re just coming together. We’ve got team chemistry all over and we’re all playing well…”

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Dr. Brady lives in football lore and present gore, Mr. Brady rises to defeat: Exploring the Jekell and Hyde tenancies of late career Tom Brady

October 26th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

Robert Louis Stevenson begins his famed novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with a thick description in dense literary prose of a man named Mr. Utterson. Mr. Utterson is a lawyer bearing a strong, get-it-done personality and a polished, all but professional presentation.

As Stevenson’s piece draws on, the titular characters are introduced. Dr. Jekyll is a well-rounded man with a name accosted with medicinal proficiency. The villain of the piece, Mr. Hyde is a demonic wrongdoer who brings shame and emotional trauma down upon the inhabitants of the town he shares with Dr. Jekyll. The two are accosted closely with said association being labeled as the emotional and physical conflict of the piece. Such conflict is so vividly painful for Dr. Jekyll in particular. This is because he and the terrible Mr. Hyde are inhabitants of not only the same town but the same body.

At different times, Dr. Jekyll is both the wonderful, kind, actual Dr. Henry Jekyll and at others he is the terrible Edward Hyde who hurts the community he loves.

As a result of that book in particular, the phrase “Jekyll and Hyde” has become a recognized part of the English language. It refers to a person or incident that over a short period of time is both wonderfully happy and terribly painful and/or detrimental to its surroundings.

Though Patriot quarterback, Tom Brady, is no psychopathic murderer, he embodies the latter, more commonplace definition of being a person who is at times both good and bad. Especially in the past 3 to 4 years, Brady has been painfully Jekyll and Hyde like.

** Dr. Brady **

A young Brady rears back to throw a pass. 

The story of a young Tom Brady is one of glory and success. After garnering very little recognition and as a result, playing time in college, Brady barely snuck into the NFL as the 199^th pick in the 2000 NFL draft.

In the ensuing season, he managed to climb onto the Patriots roster as Drew Bledsoe’s backup. From that position, Brady crawled into a midseason game at the end of which he managed to toss 3 attempts as well as one nondescript 6 yard toss over the middle.

One year after that however, he was anything but nondescript. Drew Bledsoe was injured in the second week of the 2001 season opening the door for Brady to jump in as a starter. In 2001, Brady flourished, playing so well that when Bledsoe returned, Brady remained under center as the Patriots 1^st string QB. He threw 18 touchdowns and managed to lead the Patriots to only their second Super Bowl berth in history.

We all know what happened next.

For those who saw that Super Bowl, for those who saw the moment in which Brady pumped the Lombardi Trophy above his head as confetti fell around him, it was blatantly, wonderfully evident how unusually good Brady was. That kid, this tiny, unmuscular 7^th string quarterback out of Michigan State had just done what no Patriots QB before him had; win a Super Bowl.

But that is not where Brady’s record setting stampede stopped. Two years later, the Patriots won the NFL title again, one year after that they added the third Super Bowl triumph to the Patriots history books.

By week one of his 5^th NFL season, Brady had long since eclipsed 10,000 passing yards and was just 3 scores short of his 100^th career touchdown pass. Two seasons later, with the 2005 and 2006 NFL campaigns in the books, he had increased his career passing yards totals to a whopping 21,558 yards. His proficiency in the red zone had only gotten better with age and experience as Brady became more and more accurate with his throws under pressure.

As he developed a vast library of NFL football knowledge and experience driven lists of options, Brady’s on field presence of mind and ridiculous work ethic began to become evident. Brady started working QB sneaks and unpredictable read option running plays into his offensive repertoire baffling defenses and saving countless drives that appeared lost. 

In all truth, Brady was king. He was playing high quality football unrivalled by pretty much everyone but Peyton Manning. He came out of nowhere.

Then 2007 happened.

** Mr. Brady **

Tom Brady walks off the field in a sad daze after loosing the 2007 Super Bowl. The game was all but lost on the stunning David Ty Ree "helmet catch".

One of the greatest single season performances by a team in the history of professional sports began and ended with Brady. The Patriots were the first NFL team since the institution of the new 16 game schedule to go undefeated. They claimed the first seed in the AFC East and proceeded to romp through their divisional and conference final opponents.

Brady played to a passer rating of 117 that season, throwing for over 4,000 yards and setting an NFL record with his 50 touchdown throws in the regular season.

In those initial playoff games, he boosted his reputation as one of the greatest postseason quarterbacks of all time with back to back 300 yard games.

Following those wins in the divisional and AFC Championship games, The Patriots were one win away from doing the unthinkable; going undefeated in football. One win was all they needed to make history. One win was all Brady needed to tie Joe Montana as the quarterback with the most Super Bowl wins.

All they had to do was beat the then lowly New York Giants, a team that had snuck into the playoffs eventually making it to the Super Bowl by a similar margin. Due to the decisiveness with which the Patriots were winning and the shakiness with which the Giants were playing, the Patriots were unanimous favorites in that game.

But just as the Pats did to the Rams (albeit to a lesser extent) in 2001, the Giants proved that the statisticians in Las Vegas do not actually play the games. And just as they did in 2001 against the Rams, Pats fans witnessed yet another memorable image take shape in 2007.

There was one minute and 15 seconds remaining in the game when Eli Manning burst out of a scrum of Patriots on 3^rd down and chucked a 30 yard pass in the direction of receiver David Ty Ree. The name does enough to conger up painful memories for Patriots fans.

Ty Ree leapt up for the catch and, fighting through the defense of Rodney Harrison managed to pin the ball against the top of his helmet and somehow hold on.

As Patriots fans knew, the pain born out of the one in the 2007 Patriots record of 18-1 was unimaginable. It was one of those moments that fades into lore as the day part of the die-hard football fan dies.

But the hypothetical “piece of the fan” was not the only thing that took a huge hit that day. 7 years into his career, Brady’s first Super Bowl loss kicked off a string of years of minor statistical decline that conquered up whispers of doubt from Patriots fans of the man they had quickly come to idolize.

As fans know very well, Brady tore his ACL mere minutes into the 2008 season and missed the entire year rehabbing.

A year later, when he finally did return, Brady was wonderful in the regular season but flopped in the playoffs when he and the Patriots lost to the Ravens in the wild card playoffs. Brady turned the ball over 3 times in the first quarter of that game. It was one of his earliest playoff exits in his career. One year later, things were not much better.

Despite a good start to the season, the Patriots again crumpled in the playoffs falling to the Jets in the divisional round. Despite the additions of Rob Gronkowski to the Patriots passing target arsenal and the continued presence of Wes Welker on the wide receiver receiving yards leaderboard, quite a bit about the Patriots fell apart that day against the Jets.

That loss only furthered the trend of falling levels of Brady’s reliability. Of course, then came 2010 when Brady threw in an outlier of a season. He threw for 5,000 passing yards for the first time in his career and led the Patriots to their 7^thSuper Bowl berth.

Of course it took a miracle in an AFC Championship where Brady was flat at best to get them to the big game, at which they would be decisively beaten by same Giants team that crushed their dreams years before.

Since then, Brady has dealt with two of his worst seasons of his career. Without as many targets to throw to, Brady managed fewer yards and fewer touchdowns. His QBR fell 13 points and his team collapsed miserably in the AFC Championship game.

Thus the Mr. Hyde aspect of Brady’s persona was made evident. At first he was a dominant, unquestioned king, but as his career dragged on Mr. Hyde began to drop hints of his presence in Brady’s game.

** To name the right name **

So what, happened why have we suddenly started questioning Brady? Why has he given us reason to question him?

In all truth, it really does go back to 2007. More precisely, it all changed the singular moment in time in which David Ty Ree pinned that 30 yard pass against his helmet.

Since 2007, Brady has seemed skittish in the pocket taking an uptick in sacks and more and more contested passes. His throws that were once consistently bulleted spirals that were guided with near military precision to the hands he was trying to hit have been slowly mixed in with loose passes that have been tipped, intercepted or brutally fumbled due to bobbled receptions.

Brady is running less, becoming slowly less comfortable with throwing to a wide array of targets and overall simply losing a small step throughout his game.

These big slashes against the Patriot legend’s place atop the pedestal of quarterbacking greatness have been done overtime. They were initiated by the disappointment of the 2007 Super Bowl loss but reinforced by questionable decisions by the Patriots staff.

In 2012, mismanagement of contracts resulted in the loss of Brandon Lloyd while “unsolvable rifts” between Bill Bilichick and fan favorite Wes Welker resulted in the longtime wide receiver being moved to Denver.

The Patriots struggled to compensate, filling the majority of their empty receiving spots with young, inexperienced, fundamentally weak rookies.  

Also, as time has gone on, this Patriots organization that would originally stand by its cornerstone without question has allowed media and various anonymous sources within the clubhouse and the league attack Brady.

Though that is partially the reality of professional football, one cannot expect a player to perform at a high level when he is under the scrutiny and stress that the team has allowed Brady to be under of late. However at the same time it is Brady’s resiliency and unrelenting work ethic that once and still will make him great.

Tom Brady is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He is likely the greatest Patriot of all time and has done things in the NFL that nobody thought could be done.

Brady has smashed records, revived a team that was once a joke and guided said team to one of the strongest, most dynastic runs in recent sports history. But as with the wonderful, community loving, Dr. Jekyll, Tom Terrific has a dark side that, as he has aged, has begun to show.

Brady remains a good player and remains a future hall of famer. But his career is ending, and as a fan of Brady, as fans of one of the greatest quarterbacks in history, we should hope that when he retires that his career will be remembers for the good he did as Dr. Brady and not the mistakes that crept into his game as Mr. Brady.

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