Never Gets Old: Tom Brady's Patriots Are Six-Time Super Bowl Champs

By The Boston Globe

Is this the sweetest championship of them all? And more pointedly, could it be the last of an era? Take a good, long look at pro football's acknowledged greatest dynasty, one equally revered and reviled. It started out 17 years ago when, as lovable 14-point underdogs, the New England Patriots pulled off one of the game's biggest upsets. Now, with their record-tying sixth Super Bowl title in their record 11th appearance, they may have earned their final acclamation against a team that was seeking to avenge that very loss in 2002 that started the Patriots on their path to greatness.

In the Boston Globe's Never Gets Old, New England fans far and wide can savor this sixth championship, earned in spite of the usual accompanying distractions. There were questions about the quarterback: was he finally too old, at 41, to carry what some saw as a mediocre team? But those who were convinced by reports that a major rift among New England's holy trinity of owner Robert Kraft, mastermind Bill Belichick, and field marshal Brady—first reported last season—would deter them from their appointed task, simply hadn't been paying attention. This triumvirate tunes out the noise and shows its opponents how the game should be played.

Relive every moment of the 2018 regular season and 2019 NFL playoffs, from opening kickoff to the latest hoisting of the Vince Lombardi Trophy. There's also a comprehensive Super Bowl retrospective section, which chronicles all 11 of the Patriots' appearances in the big game since 1986. With its vibrant color photographs, essential statistics, memorable quotes, and acclaimed commentary by some of the nation's best sportswriters, this book is the ultimate New England Patriots keepsake. Never Gets Old takes you inside the legacy and behind the scenes on an all-access pass, providing commentary and insights on Brady, Belichick, All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore and the rest of a roster that silenced the doubters once again. And it fully commemorates what Patriots Nation has known for most of the 21st century: This is a team for the ages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Feb 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781641252744

Book preview

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Contents

Introduction

Having already cemented their spot among the game’s dynasties, the Patriots’ sixth title matched the Steelers in the Super Bowl era, but was attained in less than half the time: 17 seasons vs. 35.

Super Bowl

In a game dominated by defense — with the exception of slot receiver Julian Edelman, the MVP — the Patriots stifled the Rams and Jared Goff and eked out a deciding fourth-quarter touchdown.

AFC Championship

It took overtime, but New England found the formula to take down league MVP Pat Mahomes and the top-seeded Chiefs: a dominant running attack and uncanny third-down conversions.

Divisional Round

The Chargers had proven to be road warriors all season, but they were no match for New England’s punishing ground game and an unerring knack for taking advantage of their opponent’s miscues.

The Season

As recent history has shown, the Patriots’ uninspiring early-season play and a pedestrian 11-5 record (by their standard) are no harbingers for how they will perform when the chips are down.

Facts & Figures

Long-suffering fan Robert Kraft bought the Patriots and kept them from moving to St. Louis in 1994. Who would have believed what his 25 years of ownership have meant for New England and the NFL.

Introduction

By John Powers | Globe Correspondent

Thus did supremacy come full circle, 17 years to the day when the Patriots hoisted their first championship trophy, accomplished by the same coach and the same quarterback against the same rival. Yet if New England’s record-tying sixth ring was a familiar outcome, it capped a most unfamiliar campaign during which five unsettling losses, all to non-playoff teams, made even the team’s most fervent supporters wonder whether the dynasty finally had faded.

The odds were stacked against us, Tom Brady mused as his teammates were making their resolute post-season run. It hasn’t been that way for us in a while and it certainly was this year. And yet the Patriots once again found a way to be the last team standing, kissing the Lombardi Trophy amid a blizzard of confetti in Atlanta.

We fought through it, Brady proclaimed after New England had stifled the Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII for their third triumph in five years. It’s unbelievable to win this game. And while this victory wasn’t as historic as the first one, when four decades of frustration vanished with the final play in New Orleans, it was immensely satisfying given what the Patriots had to overcome along the way. It was a crazy year, said Julian Edelman, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player after running across and around the Los Angeles defense all evening. We had a resilient bunch of guys. It was unreal.

It was a season during which the 41-year-old Brady was being dismissed as past his prime and coach Bill Belichick was thought to be losing his mystical mojo. The team that had dropped the previous Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles had seen half a dozen regulars decamp elsewhere during the off-season, including receiver Danny Amendola and running back Dion Lewis. Then Edelman, Brady’s favorite target, missed the first four games with a drug suspension.

When the Patriots absorbed ugly early smackdowns at Jacksonville and Detroit, their critics across the country were delighted. But Belichick typically took the long view. I don’t think anybody was eliminated today, he observed after the 26-10 loss to the Lions.

New England responded by winning eight of their next nine outings, which made their December stumbles all the more puzzling. After the jaw-dropping 34-33 loss at Miami on a 69-yard hook-and-lateral play that involved everyone but the Dolphins cheerleaders, followed by a 17-10 road loss to the Steelers, whom the Patriots customarily mastered, their usual playoff bye and divisional home date appeared in jeopardy.

And while the Patriots eventually did lock up a 10th straight AFC East crown, their road to the title game still appeared daunting. But their players, who perennially thrive on an ‘Us Against the World’ theme, relished their relative underdog status. I know everyone thinks we suck and can’t win any games, Brady observed after a startling 41-28 thumping of the Chargers in Foxborough. We’ll see. So it will be fun.Edelman dared doubters to ‘Bet Against Us’ on his website T-shirt. After the Patriots, who hadn’t won a road playoff game in a dozen years, knocked out the Chiefs 37-31 in overtime at Arrowhead Stadium, they found themselves favored against the Rams. It’s hard to believe this is the ninth time doing this, Brady observed.

Los Angeles hadn’t played in a Super Bowl since they’d lost to New England. The Patriots had won five rings. They earned their sixth by playing old-school football, keeping the Rams out of the end zone and driving the ball down their gullets for the killer touchdown by rookie Sony Michel. Everybody counted us out from the beginning of the season, observed Belichick. But we’re still here.

New England players cited the overwhelming pro-Patriots’ slant of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium crowd. Kyle Van Noy and Rob Gronkowski exulted afterward. Far left, Ty Law held the Super Bowl trophy after the Patriots’ first title, which was won over the Rams 17 years earlier to the day. Tevin Coleman (26) and Devonta Freeman.

Super Bowl

Stalwart defense helps Patriots achieve sixth title as Brady overcomes struggles to guide trademark fourth-quarter drive.

By Dan Shaughnessy | Globe Staff

Take those old records off the shelf. The Patriots have joined the Steelers as the winningest teams in Super Bowl history, securing their sixth Lombardi Trophy with a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

This one will not go into the vault as an instant classic. It was a punt-filled rock fight that will best be remembered