2007 New England Patriots: 18-1 Failures

An epic upset and the greatest play in Super Bowl history, a Hall of Fame center gets traded, a Hall of Fame head coach resigns and a Hall of Fame pitcher used steroids.

What a week in sports.

While it might seem that all I do at ESPN is watch a game every night and make the highlights for that game; there’s actually other things I do. For instance, right now I begin each day in one of the studios prompting “Outside the Lines” with Bob Ley.

This leads me to reason #161 why I love my job: As I was driving to work Wednesday, I called my father for the first time in a few days. As I walked into the building, we were discussing the Eli Manning to David Tyree play in Super Bowl XLII and why I thought it was the greatest play in Super Bowl history. No longer than 90 seconds had passed after our conversation ended, when I walked onto the set and they were filming a segment for the show. There, on set, Bob Ley is sitting next to—and interviewing—none other than David Tyree.

What other job can someone casually talk about the Super Bowl during a phone conversation and then see a hero from the game minutes later? Awesome things.

Back to the game, I was shocked like most of the country that the Giants won. They were definitely the better team. That being said, I can’t even begin to imagine how Patriots fans must feel. For 5 months, their team was in a different galaxy than the rest of the NFL. Every story written inevitably discussed their place in history as the greatest team ever. All along, they knew it would come down to 1 game—it did, and they lost. The undefeated Miami Dolphins and 1985 Chicago Bears re-enter the picture as the greatest teams of all-time because they won the game that mattered most.

I imagine I’d know the empty feeling inside Patriots fans if a similar thing had happened to the Chicago Bulls during the 90’s. But, there’s the difference and another example of why Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete of all-time. Everyone knew the Bulls were the best team, everyone knew they were going to win the championship—and they did. They never failed to live up to the hype on the grandest stage.

Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Randy Moss failed in Super Bowl XLII—and that’s what will be remembered about the 2007 New England Patriots.

‡ Does anyone else find it somewhat amusing and rather ridiculous that it took roughly 23 hours for the Miami Heat to trade Shaquille O’Neal yet took nearly 2 weeks for the Baltimore Orioles to trade Erik Bedard?

At first, I didn’t understand this trade for the Phoenix Suns. But after days to analyze, it’s a terrific move. Suns’ general manager Steve Kerr has the right mindset, one similar to White Sox GM Ken Williams—to win NOW. The window of brilliance for Steve Nash is closing, either the Suns go for it all now or they risk rebuilding without ever really trying to win it all.

Shawn Marion was bolting at season’s end and the “fifth gear” offense hadn’t gotten the team to the NBA Finals the last few seasons anyhow. Shaq can rest for a while, and as long as he is in decent shape when the playoffs come around, the trade will be seen as a good move.

Possible playoff opponents will feature elite big men such as Tim Duncan, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer and David West. The Suns have trouble with elite big men (see Al Jefferson’s splits vs. the Suns this season). Add it all up and the Suns added a unique dimension to their high-octane style. It’s a dimension that brings solid defense and the capability to settle into a half-court game, which will undoubtedly occur in the playoffs.

‡ Speaking of Gasol, I must hand it to John Paxson yet again for failing to make a splash via trade. Clearly he’s content sitting at 20-29, with no true stars. Then again, at 9-games under .500 the Bulls are currently in the playoffs in the JV (Eastern) Conference. If somebody—anybody—has any idea what Pax’s plan is for making the Bulls a championship contender once again please let me know. I am completely dumbfounded by his lack of aggressiveness and my patience is paper-thin.

‡ The Chicago Bears off season got started in tremendous fashion, here is an excerpt from Steve Rosenbloom’s latest blog on Chicagosports.com:

Brian Urlacher underwent neck surgery. This will do nothing to help the arthritis in his back. That's apparently hopeless. The Bears aren't saying anything. Maybe they're too afraid. Understandable, because this news goes along with Lance Briggs' expected exit in a month. Worse, Adam Archuleta is still here. Same goes for Fred Miller. Who knows what planet Cedric Benson is on? And the coach is fine with returning all three quarterbacks from one of the worse offensive seasons in captivity. Be the first kid on your block to write off next season.

‡ Finally, I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks will miss the playoffs yet again. Injuries took their toll around the All-Star break, the youngsters finally slowed down and some veterans lack of commitment began to show. I echo Denis Savard’s plea to his players to “Commit to the Indian” and take great pride in the rich tradition the Indian-head sweater represents.

While their season will come to an end after 82 games—again—there is finally promise in the organization. Former greats Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito have returned to the Hawks family as ambassadors and the crop of youngsters Dale Tallon has complied show real promise. Now if he can only fix the gaping hole between the pipes that they call the “Bulin Wall.” If Nikolai Khabibulin is a wall, he’s made out of glass—not brick. Frozen rubber will shatter—and go through—glass when traveling at high speeds.

‡ The Cubs still haven’t won a World Series in 100 years, a streak of epic proportions. If they should happen to win one in October maybe I’ll blog about them. In the meantime, I won’t waste my time on the biggest losers in sports history.