Tom Brady is 40 years old. By human standards, his hair should either be gone or thinning. At the least, there should be flecks of gray. His jawline shouldn’t be defined, and his body should be aching.
Yet Brady isn’t human, at least by NFL standards. The hair flows, the jaw juts and the body ticks on, keeping time with each championship won. The New England Patriots are led by their 40-year-old warrior, one who has unequivocally made himself the greatest quarterback in league history, and his team the greatest to ever play this game.
Since spawning in Canton, Ohio back in 1920, the NFL has seen greatness throughout the near-century of action. The Chicago Bears lorded over the league from 1933-46, winning five championships in that span. The Cleveland Browns reached six consecutive title games spanning 1950-55, winning three of them.
In 1961, the Green Bay Packers launched a run of five championships in seven years under coach Vince Lombardi. The Pittsburgh Steelers dominated the ’70s, winning four Super Bowls in six years, while the San Francisco 49ers enjoyed similar success in the ’80s, with four rings over nine seasons. Finally, the ’90s saw the Dallas Cowboys win three Super Bowls in four campaigns, all leading to the Patriots.
New England has now been to the Super Bowl on eight occasions since 2001, winning five and with another in the balance this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots were the dynasty of the ’00s and have extended that run into the current decade, spanning just shy of 20 years.
One could argue that going to six championship games is more impressive. A historian could say that five titles in seven years is paramount to what New England has accomplished as well, but they would be incorrect.
Unlike all of the aforementioned dynasties predating the Patriots, they have to navigate free agency and the salary cap. The NFL didn’t institute unrestricted free agency until 1993 and the cap a year later, something done strictly to create an even playing field across the league.
The premise has worked, shown by the lack of great teams being able to sustain themselves for long periods of time. Before the ’93 season, there were five instances of teams winning consecutive Super Bowls. Since, it has only happened twice, with the Patriots being the latest example in ’03 and ’04.
Now, the Patriots are trying to turn the trick again, something that no team has accomplished sine the Steelers in ’74-’75 and ’78-’79.
New England has defied everything we’ve known about the NFL in the modern age. Teams are supposed to regress to the mean as star players demand higher wages, and lower draft slots begin to erode the base. Eventually, even the best-run franchises have a rebuilding phase, needing to get younger and cheaper to replenish a spent roster.
Somehow, this doesn’t apply to the Patriots. Since ’01, New England has not endured a single losing season. While it must be mentioned that their AFC East rivals have largely been terrible since that time, the Patriots have won their division in 15 of 17 seasons.
New England has reached the AFC Championship 12 times over this current span. The Philadelphia Eagles and Steelers have each been there six times since ’01, the most of any other teams.
The Patriots’ constants have been Brady and Belichick, and little else. Throughout New England’s five titles, Brady is the only player to have been there for four.
The common refrain railing against the Patriots as the best we’ve seen usually involves the notion that Brady and Belichick have enjoyed incredible longevity, therefore skirting the system. This is undoubtedly true to an extent, with both men being highly-unusual. Removing Brady, the longest-tenured starting quarterbacks for their current team are Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning, both dating back to 2004. Both have won multiple Super Bowls, but neither has enjoyed a sustained run of excellence quite like Brady.
New England has consistently morphed from one identity to another, doing this better than any team in history. The first three championships were won on the back of a power run game and bruising defense, while the latter two have been more about Brady’s prodigious arm and a spread passing concept that highlights backs and tight ends.
In this vein, the Patriots are unparalleled. New England has constantly been at the forefront of trends, whether it’s a two-tight end attack or the usage of the slot receiver as a weapon. In most games, it’s easy to spot an unorthodox formation or personnel grouping, specifically tailored to their strengths and an opponent’s weakness.
Now, New England focuses in on another Super Bowl. A victory would give Brady and Belichick a dozen Super Bowl rings between them, furthering the case that this dynastic run has never before been witnessed. For Brady, he would be two championships clear of Joe Montana or Bradshaw for most by any starting quarterback in the Super Bowl era. Only Noll would have more than half the titles that Belichick does over that same time period.
Many fans may complain about being tired of the Patriots. It’s understandable. They make Super Bowl runs more often than some franchises have winning seasons. The season can feel predetermined, especially for supporters of an AFC team.
Still, New England must be appreciated in its own team. The Patriots have dwarfed the competition for two decades, repeatedly finding ways to reinvent themselves all while staying on a championship course.
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On Sunday, the Eagles will try to knock them off their perch, perhaps for good with the inevitable twilight of Brady and Belichick looming in the foreseeable future.
Yet if history tells us anything, it will be New England once again celebrating a title, while all the world around it groans in defeat.