After the millennium, the 21st century officially kicked off.
Over the past twelve years, the NFL has been exciting.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants each reached two Super Bowls, rewriting team history; the St. Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers also made breakthroughs with their defensive teams and won a Super Bowl; in addition, Payton- The Indianapolis Colts led by Manning, the New Orleans Saints led by Drew Brees, and the Green Bay Packers led by Aaron Rodgers each achieved glory once.
But if someone asks, the most successful NFL team in the 21st century, the New England Patriots are undoubtedly the worthy choice.
Founded in 1959, the New England Patriots are one of the founding members of the American Football Conference and one of the first teams to join the NFL in 1970. The team is located in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts. In 1971, it officially moved its home court to Foxborough, a suburb of Boston, and changed the team name from the "Boston Patriots" to the current "New England Patriots."
The home stadium of Gillette Stadium is located in Foxborough, so many fans also affectionately call it "Foxborough".
Historically, the New England Patriots were not a strong team. From 1970 to 1990, they only entered the playoffs twice, and there was a period of 13 consecutive years of missing the playoffs. That was at that time The longest record of missing the playoffs. Although they had a highlight in the 1985 season and reached the Super Bowl, they faced the devilish Chicago Bears defense that year and lost with "10:45". That was also The record-breaking Super Bowl margin at the time.
In fact, even during that downturn, the New England Patriots were hated by countless people around the league. This has historical causes.
Dating back to the European pioneering - or the initial history of the invasion of North America, New York and Boston are the main port locations, but there are still slight differences between the two regions. Traveling to New England, where Boston is located, is mainly to escape religious persecution. British Protestants; those who stayed in New York were more diverse, including speculators, blue-collar workers, poor people at the bottom, etc.
It is precisely because of this difference that the New England region gradually developed more rapidly. In the mid-20th century, they transferred most of their traditional industries to other states in the United States or overseas where labor costs were lower, while Boston was the center. High-tech areas have begun to emerge, including biotechnology, education, finance, services, pharmaceuticals, etc.
Slowly, this area has become the richest and most high-end area in the United States. Yale University, Harvard University, MIT, etc. are all located in this area; law, economics, politics, finance, etc. are also all located in this area. It has a unique leading position in this area.
Naturally, people living in this area actively or passively distinguish themselves from other areas, and the distinct hierarchy of classes begins to penetrate every corner of society:
From economy to politics, from education to law, from news to gangs, from language to culture, all of these, this area seems to be an area independent of the United States. They have their own pride and dignity. Refuse to be compared to other states.
In fact, the statement in New England itself is "discriminatory" because they claim to be descendants of the British Empire, rather than the mixed descendants of native Indians and other immigrants.
Nowadays, the term "New England" is no longer applicable. It specifically refers to the area connected by six states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, while Boston It is the center of gravity of the entire region. Although it contains six states, the area and population are not large——
The population of the entire New England region ranks fifth among all states in the United States; and the area of the entire region ranks twentieth among all states.
In other words, this is a very, very small area. But they have their own system. Even in Hollywood, they have a unique Boston Gang, which is different from other groups and excludes all outsiders. The story of the movie "Spotlight" takes place in Boston. Through the movie, you can see the unique system of this area.
When people talk about the North American continent, the West Coast headed by Los Angeles and the East Coast headed by New York are in tit-for-tat opposition due to geographical and historical reasons; but among them, the New England region headed by Boston stands aloof and stays out of the matter. Even New York looks down on it, showing a kind of arrogance and arrogance.
Therefore, New England was inherently unpopular with other states. The teams of the four major sports leagues are located here, including baseball's Boston Red Sox, basketball's Boston Celtics, ice hockey's Boston Bruins, and football's New England Patriots - in addition to football's New England Revolution, among others The area is not popular.
The reality is that the above-mentioned five teams are all strong teams in their respective leagues, and they have all aspired to win the highest championship in their respective leagues many times.
And now, the Patriots are making matters worse. They have changed the "Boston Patriots" to the "New England Patriots", using a name with a strong sense of pride, and the suffix is still "Patriot". This is clearly a provocation to the United States. All other regions pride themselves on being the pioneers and patriots with the purest blood.
Imagine, with such historical and cultural deposits, how could people like this team?
Every year, there are protesters in the league who want the Washington Redskins to change their name because the Redskins are discriminatory to Indians; similarly, there are countless fans who want the New England Patriots to change their name because they are provocative. The endurance of the entire United States.
The New England Patriots have never been the favorites of the American people. This is the reason for history; and later, after they created their own dynasty, they became even more arrogant, coupled with the dissatisfaction of the old fox Bill Belichick. The team has become a public enemy of the league due to their inhumanity and unscrupulous tactics, and negative news has emerged one after another.
After experiencing the turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s, the franchise reached a turning point in 1994, when Robert Kraft purchased the New England Patriots amid bankruptcy and turmoil; Prior to this, in 1993, the famous coach Bill Parcells, who led the New York Giants to two Super Bowls, took over the team, gradually giving the team a new vitality.
With the support of the new boss, Parcells gradually became more comfortable. Despite a poor record in the first half of the season, he boldly adopted a non-aggregation offense that almost no one dared to use at the time, ending with a seven-game winning streak. In the second half of the season, they reversed course and entered the playoffs.
In 1996, after Bill Belichick, Bill Passers' apprentice, was fired by the Baltimore Ravens, he came to the New England Patriots and became his mentor's assistant as the defensive backs coach.
However, after reaching the Super Bowl again in 1997, they lost to the Green Bay Packers led by Brett Favre. The relationship between Parcells and Kraft also broke down because Kraft was dictating the team. , interfered with Parcells' decision-making power as the team manager, and completely treated Parcells as a puppet. This relationship has been completely torn apart.
After losing the Super Bowl, Parcells chose to resign and tried to coach the New York Jets, their rivals in the same district. However, he still had a contract with the Patriots and could not change jobs, so the Jets came up with a compromise plan and hired Parcells' assistant Belichick served as the team's head coach, and then gave Parcells an advisory position to operate behind the scenes.
This incident triggered Kraft's rage. In the end, the league intervened and used the New York Jets' draft picks as compensation for Parcells, ending the farce.
In the following three seasons, the New England Patriots entered the era of Pete Carroll - now the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. However, Carroll's performance in Foxborough was unsatisfactory and he failed to enter the playoffs for three consecutive years. After the 1999 season, Carroll was fired, and Kraft hoped to invite a proportionate return team to serve as head coach.
Also in 1999, Parcells also resigned as head coach of the New York Jets, announced his retirement from the NFL for the second time, and negotiated with the team, and Belichick took over; but the news of his appointment was released the next day. At the meeting, Belichick wrote his resignation statement on a piece of loose-leaf paper, and the inauguration press conference became a resignation press conference.
The farce of Parcells leaving the Patriots happened again. The Jets refused to let Belichick leave, and the league intervened again. The Patriots exchanged a first-round pick in 2000 for Belichick to join. On January 27, 2000, the Patriots officially entered the Belichick era.
Later, in the 2000 draft, Belichick selected Tom Brady with the 199th pick in the sixth round. The story becomes simpler after that.
In 2001, 2003, and 2004, the New England Patriots became the second team in league history to win three championships in four years after the Dallas Cowboys; at the same time, they also reached the Super Bowl twice in 2007 and 20011, both of which were Lost to the New York Giants; in addition, the team also became the absolute dominant player in the American League East, never losing the top spot in the division except in 2002 and 2008.
Over the past twelve years, the New England Patriots have become the strongest and most stable team in the league, with no other team coming close.
People can find a hundred reasons to dislike the New England Patriots; but objectively speaking, this is the most consistent team in the NFL in the past ten years, bar none. The combination of Belichick and Brady is also the most dangerous duo in the league, although no one outside of New England likes them at all.
