HOUSTON -- In August, as training camp was drawing to a close, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked if there was anything about his team that would surprise people.
In a wide tunnel in the belly of Gillette Stadium, Belichick chomped down on half of a turkey sandwich, swallowed and said: "We will be younger. But we will be better."
They needed to be. In the fourth season under Belichick, the Patriots were at a point where their master plan was fully in place. Belichick, his coaching staff and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli had fully implemented their philosophies. They had recruited the players they wanted. The players had bought into the program.
But the worrisome detail was the way 2002 went. Following up their stunning Super Bowl win in 2001, the Patriots started well but staggered when their defensive weaknesses were exposed. Mainly, they couldn't stop the run. When injuries struck the offense, the Pats attack, which had been wide-open early in the year, devolved into an unwatchable collection of short passes and fruitless runs.
A four-game losing streak in October to some of the best teams of 2002 showed the NFL that these Patriots were quite beatable. The Pats sagged back to the pack, finished 9-7 and failed to qualify for the postseason.
Free-wheeling dealings The free agent portion of the offseason was spent recruiting players to do three specific things -- cover receivers, tackle well and put pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
The Patriots landed cornerback Tyrone Poole and safety Rodney Harrison to help out in the secondary. Outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin -- who'd had 21 total sacks the previous two seasons in Chicago -- was the biggest addition.
When the draft came, the Pats added more defense -- defensive tackle Ty Warren in the first round, cornerback Eugene Wilson in the second and cornerback Asante Samuel and defensive lineman Dan Klecko in the fourth. They also grabbed a little offense -- center Dan Koppen and wide receiver Bethel Johnson.
Nationally, the draft was lauded; but locally, it seemed the Pats had failed to answer problems at running back and depth problems at linebacker. The players they drafted didn't appear to be immediate-impact types.
By training camp, that started to change. Samuel and Wilson progressed so quickly at corner that veteran Otis Smith was released. Meanwhile, Colvin and veteran Mike Vrabel were playing brilliantly in the preseason. In August, the Patriots swung the deal that made the most difference, adding veteran nose tackle Ted Washington by sending a fourth-round pick in this year's draft to Chicago.
The Patriots wanted to go to the 3-4 defense because of their skill at linebacker, but they didn't have the massive run-stopper in the middle of their defensive line who could occupy blockers and let the linebackers run free. Second-year man Jarvis Green wasn't cutting it and veteran Rick Lyle was not a long-term answer. Washington would be.
Lawyer and disorder Against the backdrop of a 4-0 preseason, the Patriots pointed themselves toward their opener at Buffalo. But on the Wednesday before the season opened, the Patriots announced they'd released safety Lawyer Milloy. Milloy was unwilling to take a smaller raise in 2003 than he had originally signed for. The raise would have made him the highest-paid safety in the game and Milloy -- who had a decidedly invisible season in 2002 -- wasn't playing at that level. The Patriots figured Milloy would come to see it their way -- if he didn't renegotiate, they'd have to release other players. Milloy refused to budge. Belichick and Pioli stunned the NFL by releasing him.
Even though Belichick said it was the hardest move he'd ever had to make as a coach, he still took significant heat because Milloy was generally recognized as the defense's spiritual leader. Having traded Tebucky Jones earlier in the offseason, the Pats now had a 2003 secondary in which only one player -- Ty Law -- was a holdover. The team was stunned and said as much on Wednesday.
For a coach as averse to having distractions as Belichick, this was a major one and it seemed preventable. Meanwhile, Milloy was shopping his services and he landed -- fittingly -- in Buffalo, where he and fellow ex-Patriot Drew Bledsoe would try in the season-opener to make Belichick rue the day he turned his back on them.
Milloy was the final player introduced before the opener in Buffalo, and not long after that, the slaughter was on. The Patriots lost, 31-0. Tom Brady was picked off four times, Bledsoe had an outstanding game and Milloy sacked Brady and tipped a pass that led to an interception.
Beyond that, inside linebacker Ted Johnson suffered a fractured leg. A worse script couldn't have been imagined.
The injuries mount Quickly, though, the Patriots turned the page. They admitted the Milloy situation was a distraction, but they resolved to bury the memory of that game. What good would it do to pine about Milloy when he was obviously doing quite fine with the Bills and a new contract that was even richer than the one the Pats released him from?
In week two, they traveled to Philadelphia to play the two-time defending NFC champion Eagles. It wasn't close. The Pats led 17-7 by halftime and cruised to a 31-10 win as Brady went 30 for 44 for 255 yards and three touchdowns. The Patriots started the rookie Wilson at safety next to Harrison and he appeared to play without any unsettling incidents despite never having played the position in college.
But in the course of the win, the Pats lost Colvin, who fractured his hip stooping to pick up a fumble. They also lost Compton, who had been trying to play with a hairline fracture in his leg.
Now, two games into the season, the team was without its starting right guard, its prized free-agent linebacker and its former Pro Bowl safety. Things were looking bleak for the long term.
In week three, the Pats knocked off the Jets, 23-16, in the home opener. Samuel, the rookie corner, helped seal the game with a juggling interception he returned for a score early in the fourth, but there was more bad news. Washington broke his leg, right tackle Adrian Klemm injured a knee and Vrabel fractured his forearm.
In three weeks, the Patriots had lost six starters to injury and one projected starter had been released. When the Pats lost the fourth game of the season at Washington -- a very winnable game -- it seemed like one they'd lament. They'd had several chances to go ahead before falling, 20-17, but Brady threw three awful passes that were intercepted. With the number of players they were missing, it seemed a shame to lose a game they should have won.
After the loss, Brady sat for a long time staring into his locker. He was resolving then, he said later, to not cost the team another game with stupid mistakes.
A titanic struggle The Patriots were seemingly in for it the following week. Tennessee, which had manhandled New England the previous season, was visiting Foxboro. A depleted Pats team figured to have no chance. But in one of the more entertaining games of the year, the Patriots won, 38-30, as running back Mike Cloud, of Portsmouth, carried seven times for 77 yards and two scores in his first game back from a league suspension for steroids violations.
There was no way of knowing at the time, but no visiting team would score a touchdown at Gillette Stadium for another more than two months of Sundays.
The Patriots dominated the New York Giants in the season's sixth game, moving to 4-2 with a 17-6 win. That day, they were without injured tight end Daniel Graham and wide receiver Deion Branch. Brady completed just eight of 21 passes, but Kevin Faulk ran for 87 yards on 14 carries and Matt Chatham, forced into starting linebacker duty, returned a fumble 38 yards for a score on the Giants' second drive. Linebacker Roman Phifer had a mammoth game, finishing with 19 tackles, and the Patriots picked off Kerry Collins four times.
Then the Patriots were off to Miami. Even playing without Ty Law, who'd been injured in the Giants game, the Patriots were inspired. They fell behind, 10-3 and 13-6, but tied the game late in the third quarter Brady's TD pass to David Givens.
Miami's chance to win on Olindo Mare's 35-yard field goal with two minutes left was snuffed when Richard Seymour blocked the kick.
In overtime, Mare pushed a field goal attempt to the right, then Tyrone Poole picked off a Jay Fiedler pass with six minutes left. On the next play, Brady took the snap, coasted to his left and threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Troy Brown, who'd snuck behind safeties Sammy Knight and Brock Marion. The overtime win seemed to signal that there might be something special about this team.
The Patriots won a rock fight with Cleveland the next week, 9-3, as Faulk ran for 96 yards and Brady was 20 of 33 for 259 yards. Cleveland gained a meager 203 yards all day.
Now the 6-2 Patriots were off to Denver to play on Monday night. They hadn't won in Denver since 1968. In a back-and-forth affair, the Patriots led, 20-17, late in the third quarter until the Broncos' Deltha O'Neal returned a Ken Walter punt 57 yards for a score. New England managed a 28-yard field goal by Vinatieri early in the fourth to make it 24-23, Denver. Then, pinned in their own end late in the game, the Pats decided to take a safety rather than punt from their end zone. The safety gave the Broncos a 26-23 lead with 2:49 left. All Denver needed was a first down, and with Clinton Portis in the midst of the only 100-yard rushing game -- the only one allowed all season by the Pats -- it figured the Broncos would get it. They didn't. The Pats took over at their own 42 with 2:15 remaining. Brady hit Faulk with two quick screens to get the Pats inside the Broncos' red zone. Then Brady found Givens on the left side, turning O'Neal inside-out at the front of the end zone. Givens hauled it in for the game-winner with 30 seconds left. Now, for the second time in two weeks, the Pats had made the rest of the league take notice.
The beat goes on After the bye week, the Pats hosted old friend Bill Parcells in their 10th game. It was a defensive battle won by the Pats, 12-0, as Willie McGinest forced Dallas quarterback Quincy Carter into a bad throw that was intercepted by Ty Law in the third quarter.
The Patriots then visited Houston with their 8-2 record and were nearly upset when the Texans took the lead in the fourth quarter, 20-13. But Brady again bailed the Pats out, throwing a touchdown pass to Daniel Graham on fourth-and-7 with 40 seconds left to tie it. After missing his first attempt in the overtime session, Vinatieri won the game late with a 28-yard field goal.
That 20-13 deficit back on November 23? The Pats haven't trailed in a game since.
They did come close though, the following week in Indianapolis when the two 9-2 teams squared off. But New England had its way with the porous Colts defense in the first half, bolting to a 24-10 halftime lead thanks to Bethel Johnson's 92-yard kickoff return for a TD just before the break. The Pats pushed their lead to 31-10, but two ill-advised throws by Brady were intercepted and the Colts turned those into touchdowns. A 6-yard pass from Peyton Manning to Troy Walters tied the game with 10:21 left. The Pats answered quickly as Brady hit Branch from 13 yards out. But an Indy field goal and a horrible punt by Walter put the Colts back in business with 3:27 left.
Indianapolis needed just 48 yards to win but they only got 47 as McGinest and Washington combined to jam Edgerrin James at the 1-yard line on the game's final play.
The following week, in a game made memorable by a huge snowstorm that prevented many fans from even making it to Gillette Stadium, the Pats blanked Miami, 12-0, to move to 11-2, recording their ninth straight win, clinching the AFC East. The following week, Jacksonville scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to snap the Pats' streak of not allowing a TD at home, but New England won, 27-13, as Poole picked off Jags quarterback Byron Leftwich twice.
The Patriots went to the Meadowlands the next week and undressed quarterback Chad Pennington in a nationally televised Saturday night game. New England picked him off five times and Brady hit David Givens for two scores, including the Pats' first offensive play of the game.
The Pats were now 13-2, but they had one score left to settle. The Bills came to town to close out the regular season. In a total thrashing, the Patriots won by the appropriate score of 31-0, total payback for their 31-0 loss on opening day.
All the answers After enjoying a week off for having the AFC's best record, not to mention the NFL's, the Patriots hosted the Titans on a frigid day at Gillette Stadium. The Pats struck in the first four minutes, Brady hitting Johnson from 41 yards out for a 7-0 lead. But the Titans came back to tie behind league co-MVP Steve McNair. The Pats regained the lead on a 1-yard run by Antowain Smith in the third quarter, but the Titans tied it again a few minutes later. From there on out, the game was a battle of field position, eventually won by the Patriots. They got Vinatieri in position for a 46-yard field goal and, despite the cold that made the ball rock hard, he made it. When the Patriots, blitzing the comeback-minded McNair, forced an incompletion on fourth-and-12 with less than a minute left, the game was theirs, 17-14.
But that merely set up a rematch with the Colts, who were torrid in the playoffs. In his first two playoff games, Manning had thrown eight touchdown passes, no interceptions and just 12 incompletions. But the Patriots manhandled Indy, taking a 15-0 halftime lead. They stretched the lead to 21-7 before Brady threw an interception in the end zone, his first pick at Foxboro all season. That stayed Indy's execution and allowed the Colts to close within a touchdown with 2:27 left. But Indy would get no closer.
When it was over and Bill Belichick was accepting the AFC Championship trophy while the Gillette Stadium crowd was drowning the Patriots in appreciation, it was clear. These Patriots were better than last year, just as Belichick had promised.
Good enough to get back to the Super Bowl. Good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the NFL's most acclaimed Good enough to win 14 straight.
Good enough to win a second title? That's the only question that remains.
