Patriots dynasty seems on the verge of collapse
Can Brady, Belichick rekindle the magic to defeat the Titans?
The obituary writers — be they in the press box, on social media or even on the other side of the line of scrimmage — appear to be brazenly on high alert.
Tom Brady and the Patriots are done.
In with the new decade, out with the greatest dynasty in the history of the National Football League are the words almost scripted in stone anywhere outside of the New England states that form the team’s spoiled and loyal fan base.
Sounds like a logical — albeit ignorantly simple — storyline heading into the opening weekend of the 2019 NFL playoffs, doesn’t it? After all, Brady has struggled this season, he’s a 42-year-old free agent, and is purported to have played through both elbow and lower-back issues late in his team’s 12-4 season.
There’s just one problem with this line of thinking, of course: The man who has won six Super Bowls (and three in the past five years) started hearing such talk roughly three NFL titles ago.
Are there concerns with the defending champs, who without tight end Rob Gronkowski, for starters, aren’t nearly as dynamic on offence as they have been in recent seasons? Of course there are.
But to bury them now, prior to Saturday night’s AFC wild card matchup against the Tennessee Titans, is to ignore what has made them so accomplished en route to one of the more memorable runs in North American professional sport.
Led by their demanding and intellectually superior head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots will play on wild card weekend for the first time since 2009, but they’re still AFC East champs and proprietors of the statistically best defence in the NFL.
All those Super Bowl titles, including the thrashing of the Los Angeles Rams 11 months ago, guarantees nothing against a Tennessee Titans team coached by former Patriots defensive great Mike Vrabel, despite the fact they barely snuck into the post-season. But the basic tenets of Patriots football have proven repeatedly that they’re rarely incapable of rallying in most impressive fashion.
The past is the past, even Brady acknowledges, but that, too, is part of the Patriots way as they prepare for yet another playoff run starting at their own Gillette Stadium.
“As much as all those games were great to be a part of, they’re not going to help us win this game,” Brady said this week. “This game will be determined by the guys who are out there and 60 minutes of football on offence, defence and special teams.
“There’s nothing in the past that matters. Obviously, I think knowing what to expect can be a little bit helpful if you use the experience wisely. But it’s not going to help me to complete a pass this weekend. ”
As hard-core football folks know, with that coach and that quarterback, the Patriots are almost always to be feared, even if they finished the season with an uncharacteristic 2-4 record in their final six games and a particularly dreadful home loss to Miami in Week 17.
“They’ve got the No. 1 defence, they’ve got the best coach and they’ve got the best quarterback,” said Vrabel.
“The Patriots are no strangers to winning playoff football games at home. I know what’s ahead. We’re basically walking into the viper’s den.”
The Titans, meanwhile, arrive in New England as two-point underdogs, but in the eyes of some, a team with a real shot at an upset. They bring with them the NFL’s leading rusher in Derrick Henry, and quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who since replacing Marcus Mariota early in the season, has had the best passer rating in the NFL.
“It’s obviously a big challenge for us and a huge challenge on the road,” Tannehill said.
“I’ve always wanted to be playing in January and competing for a championship.” rlongley@postmedia.com