Ten years later, 2007 Pats season is still one to behold
The 2007 Patriots team provided a magical ride for New Englanders, flirting with a perfect season before falling short in the Super Bowl with a heartbreaking loss to the New York Giants.
That team was best known for its super-charged offense, one that scored at will on opponents, with Tom Brady throwing a record-setting 50 touchdown passes and Randy Moss on the receiving end of 23 of those. And with Bill Belichick’s 2017 team about to hit the stage, with an offense that’s loaded with weapons, it’s hard not to think back and reminisce about that special group.
We recently spoke with several members of the 2007 team to get a feel for what their journey was like, how they dealt with perfection, and what they considered their best and most memorable games. Matt Light, Donte Stallworth, Rodney Harrison, Kevin
Faulk and Heath
Evans provide the commentary.
team by 21 points, and he’d bring out the tape and make it seem like we lost by 21 points. So he did a good job of keeping us humble, keeping us focused, and forgetting about any past success we had from week to week. That’s his biggest strength.”
MEMORABLE MOMENTS
Kevin Faulk (third down back): “There are so many. Just the atmosphere walking into the locker room every day, understanding where you were ... you’d have to be focused. You’re trying to accomplish something that’s never been accomplished before, but at the same time, you’re not trying to talk about it. That was the fun thing about it. We all understood what was at stake, but at the same time it wasn’t something that we couldn’t talk about. It was something that we had to do.”
Stallworth (wide receiver): “We were playing the San Diego Chargers (in the second game). We had this thing where on first down they would play a 3-4 defense no matter what. They wouldn’t bring out the nickel no matter if you brought out three wide receivers. So they had four linebackers out there covering Randy (Moss), me, Wes (Welker) and Ben Watson. We knew no matter what the offense came out in on first down that they would stay in a 3-4 and wouldn’t move to nickel. So what Josh (McDaniels) did was we went no-huddle right away to keep them there in that 3-4. We were going so fast that there’s no time to sub. So you’d have to call a timeout. It’s things like that, the little things that people don’t pay attention to — we were going no-huddle until they stopped us or stopped doing that. There are little things like that to win ball games. We jumped out on them (24-0 in the second quarter) in Week 2, and it was really hard for them to catch up after that.”
Harrison: “Baltimore was a season-defining game (Week 12). For me, it was a tell-tale sign. They were a physical, tough defense, hard-nosed, they could run the ball and we stood up to them and got past them (27-24).”
Light: “The (Week 17) Giants game was a classic. We beat the tar out of each other. Up front, at the skill positions, special teams, big plays were being made, it was tit-for-tat. That’s the only game I remember that felt like a true playoff game. We had other big games during the regular season, but probably because of the undefeated side of it, and they were out to prove a point — no team’s going to go undefeated, we’re going to put an end to this — at least that’s what you felt when you were out there, and it was an intense game.”
Harrison: “I knew after that game (38-35 win Week 17), this was easily the best team we played. They played us on a different level. They played us with such confidence. They wanted to make a statement. They wanted to let everyone know they were serious. They wanted to beat us. The Giants game was definitely one of the most physical games I’ve played in my career.”
OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
Harrison: “Every time we sat on the bench after a 3-and-out, an interception or change of downs, I would sit back and I would just marvel at the offense and just say, ‘Wow.’ Because, back in ’98 I played with the worst offense in the National Football League, and now I was on the very best, so I was thankful. We knew if we got a turnover or a big play, the offense was going to capitalize. We were incentivized if we made a stop, the offense was going to score. It was fun playing like that. It was complementary. We weren’t jealous of one another. We were a very close group. And how humble we stayed during the year was absolutely remarkable.” Heath Evans (fullback): “To be able to do what we did, the 50 touchdowns, run the ball the way we wanted to were pretty doggone special.”
SUPER BOWL LOSS
... we
Light: “I never held onto it, even when it happened. You’re disappointed. You know there were things you could have done to make it better. There’s countless opportunities in any game to affect the outcome in some different manner. Every guy handles it differently. As a team, there were things we could have done better — when there are that many variables, eventually you just gotta say, ‘Hey, they got us. They won the game.’ It would have been great to say 19-0 and have another ring, but at the end of the day, I was very proud of what we did that season. We were one play here or there away from another championship. It wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened. If we would have won that game, we wouldn’t be talking about a perfect season now. There would be nothing to write about. We did the world a favor.”
Harrison: “I remember at the end of the year, after we lost, I talked to (defensive coordinator) Dean Pees. He said, ‘Rodney, we have nothing to be ashamed of. We had so many great memories. You guys worked so hard. We’re so proud of you guys. We have so much respect for you.’ That meant a lot. Because when you lose the Super Bowl, you feel like you lost everything. For him to put things in perspective, and say, ‘Hey guys, we built so much, we became better men, we became better teammates, we learned how to overcome adversity,’ that was the saving grace for the season. It wasn’t all for not.”
AND THIS YEAR?
Light: “Comparing any year to another is crazy. The one thing you can compare — you have the quarterback. You have Tom, plus the mindset of the offense. That hasn’t changed. You have Bill and Josh (McDaniels). That’s the same. Not sure how else you can quantify it.”