Love them or hate them, it is just about guaranteed that when Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and 52 other guys wearing Patriots uniforms are involved in a Super Bowl, there is a pretty good chance the game will be memorable and come down to the wire. Next Monday, when they take to the field in Atlanta it will be the ninth Super Bowl for the Brady-Belichick duo and 11th in the Patriots history, far and away the most of any NFL franchise. Pretty impressive when you consider the team has been to half of the last 18 title deciders.
All of the eight Super Bowls the duo has already played in have been decided by a single score and the result has come down to the final minute of the game, if not the final play. While many are probably sick of seeing the Pats in the Super Bowl (and we don’t blame you), at least you can take solace in the fact that come next Monday, we are more probably than not in for a great finish. With that in mind, we (ok the resident Patriots fan) decided to rank all ten Patriots Super Bowls on entertainment value.
10 – Super Bowl XX: The Debut
Unsurprisingly, the biggest blowout comes in at the bottom of the list as the upstart Patriots were no match for the all time Chicago Bears. While not quite the out of nowhere story, the Patriots were significantly overmatched in this one and just got blown out. New England actually scored first but were down 13-3 at the end of the first quarter and things only got worse with the Bears piling on the points, including a touchdown to defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry. While this game does carry the joy of being the side’s first appearance, the game itself was largely forgettable.
9 – Super Bowl XXXI: The Return
Back in the Superdome and up against the league MVP in Brett Favre, New England was in this game early taking a 14-10 lead into the second quarter. Unfortunately the tables turned quickly as the Packers piled on three scores before halftime. New England brought it back to an six point game down 27-21 before Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard returned a kickoff for a touchdown late in the third to give the Packers a cushion and allowed them to grind down the clock.
8 – Super Bowl XXXIX: The Dynasty Is Cemented
If you just looked at the final score from this game you might think that Donovan McNabb, Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles gave the Patriots a real scare in this one. What instead unfolded in Jacksonville was a defensive struggle that, despite the scoreboard, New England was by and large in control of. The game was tied at the end of the third quarter but a Patriots touchdown and field goal just about put the game to rest building a 24-14 lead. The Eagles did get a touchdown back through Greg Lewis but McNabb’s third interception of the game sealed the Patriots third Super Bowl title in four seasons.
7 – Super Bowl XLVI: A Not So Giant Loss
It might be a bit odd to Pats fans, putting a loss ahead of a win, but in all honesty, this was a better game to watch. First and foremost, it was a rematch of the phenomenal clash in Glendale four years ago (more on that one to come) but there were a couple of massive momentum swings in this game. The Giants got off to a great start, picking up a safety on the Patriots first offensive play followed by a touchdown on the next possession. New England responded with 17 straight points before the Giants brought it back to 17-15 going into the final quarter.
With 4:06 left in the game and the Patriots up 17-15, Tom Brady threw a high pass to Wes Welker which was dropped or uncatchable depending on who you ask, preventing them from being able to add to their lead. New York then drove down to the Patriots goal line and Ahmad Bradshaw tried to stop on the 1 yard line to allow the Giants to run down the rest of the clock. He accidently fell into the end zone for the most awkward winning score in NFL history. Not only that it’s given us another seven years of “Eli is Brady’s kryptonite” jokes.
6 – Super Bowl XXXVIII: … By the End of This Song
A phenomenal game that was overshadowed by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s halftime show conclusion, the Patriots and Panthers facing off in Houston had both extremes. First it was a defensive struggle with no points for 26:55 minutes of game time, then an offensive explosion which saw three touchdowns and a field goal before halftime. The third quarter returned to the defensive nature early on and the pregame under of 37.5 was back in play.
Having slugged it out for the first 45 minutes, the offences once again took over for the fourth quarter. New England scored two touchdowns and Carolina scored three to have the game level with 1:08 remaining. As the Panthers kicked off after their last touchdown John Kasay sent the ball out on the full, giving Tom Brady the ball and a chance to end the game on a walk off field goal by Adam Vinatieri. Brady moved the ball down to the Panthers 24 yard line and, just like two years ago Vinatieri sent his game winner right down the middle.
5 – Super Bowl LII: Video Game or Simulation?
13 years after the Patriots beat the Eagles in Jacksonville, Philadelphia had their shot at revenge in the icy north of Minnesota (inside a dome). For the old fashioned defensive purists, this game flat out sucked but for most fans, the game was wildly entertaining (and it says a lot that this game comes in fifth on the list). Of the 21 possessions in the game, 14 ended in a scoring play plus a missed field goal attempt and two end of half possessions. Several offensive production records were set in this one as the Patriots and Eagles just moved the ball at will (you can look up the full list yourself). Amazingly, in a game dominated by offence, the decisive play came from a defender as Brandon Graham strip sacked Tom Brady as he was trying to manufacture another game winning score. The Eagles extended their lead to 41-33 and were able to keep the Patriots last-gasp heaves out of the end zone.
4 – Super Bowl XLII: The Imperfect Upset
This game could have been number one, had the result gone the other way, just for the significance of the achievement at stake. New England was 18-0 going into this game and heavily favoured to beat the rolling New York Giants, five weeks after the sides played out a classic in the Meadowlands which the Patriots won 38-35. Brady and the Patriots record setting offence picked the worst possible moment for their worst game of the year, held to a paltry 14 points as the Giants pass rush had Brady on his back more than he was used to.
Despite the beating from the Giants, who were motivated and playing the game of their lives, Brady drove the Patriots down for a go-ahead score with two and a half to play. Then trailing 14-10 the defence could not get that one critical stop, first Asante Samuel dropped an interception, then came the helmet catch… (this would be a good time to skip to number 3 if you’re a Pats fan). Eli Manning was in the grasp of the Patriots defensive line and broke loose, heaved a ball down the field and down came backup receiver David Tyree with the ball pinned against his helmet. He had out jumped Rodney Harrison, one of the defensive leaders. A few plays later, Manning lofted a pass to the gigantic Plaxico Burress, one on one with Ellis Hobbs and holding a 20cm height advantage. The Giants took the lead and sealed one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, in the most dramatic circumstances.
3 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The Dynasty is Born
Super Bowl LIII marks a return to where the Patriots dynasty all began, playing the (St Louis) Rams, except this time they are the dynastic team and the Rams have the up and coming young stars. At that time Brady was the likeable underdog, just along for the ride, long before he ascended to being the best quarterback of all time, married a Supermodel and became a magnet for disdain. The Rams were 14 point favourites in this one, expected to run up and down the field on a Patriots team that had in all honesty, massively overachieved compared to expectation that season.
After holding the Rams to a lone field goal and forcing three turnovers in the first 50 minutes, Kurt Warner finally got things going and scored two touchdowns to level the scores at 17-17 with 1:21 to play. The dilemma at the time was, “can you trust a guy in his second year, on the biggest stage, to take over and win it?” Well as it turns out the Patriots could, they put the ball in Brady’s hands and he drove down to set up Adam Vinatieri’s game winning kick. Before the game a Rams player said “tonight, a dynasty is born!” He was technically right…
2 – Super Bowl LI: A Comeback for the Ages
Apparently winning four Super Bowls by a grand total of 13 points was not enough drama for some, so when it came to Super Bowl LI, the Patriots stepped it up another gear (or 25). Midway through the third quarter the team had been playing poorly, and had fallen in a massive hole down 28-3 to Atlanta. The biggest deficit overcome in Super Bowl history to that point was 10 points, and two of those three teams had done so in the second quarter. Of course the other team was the Patriots and they came back from a 24-14 hole in the fourth quarter two years ago against the “an all time defence” in the Seattle Seahawks.
In the space of about 18 minutes (or just over an hour of real time), just about everything went right for the Patriots as they mounted a historic comeback. First Brady hit James White for a five yard touchdown, but Steven Gostkowski’s extra point hit the post. Next was a Gostkowski field goal to bring the margin back to 16. Then Dont’a Hightower forced a fumble to give all the momentum to the Patriots.
New England probably had time for two possessions so their offensive margin for error was down to zero. First Brady threw a pass to Danny Amendola and with 57 seconds to go, James White crashed over for another touchdown, before the Brady to Amendola connection came through again to tie the game up and make it the first Super Bowl to go to overtime. New England won the toss and drove right down the field to set up on the Falcons two yard line. A sweep to James White saw him drive to the goalline and seal a touchdown and a title for the Patriots.
1 – Super Bowl XLIX: The Butler Steals It
Never have two fan bases seen their emotion swing so rapidly in the space of 2.5 seconds. Seattle was one yard away from a game winning score and had three chances to get there. New England was about to lose another Super Bowl on the back of another inhuman catch. These two heavyweight sides had traded blows in one of the most entertaining Super Bowls ever, not just Patriots ones and New England held a slender lead. Malcolm Butler, a rookie who had only made the team on a tryout basis back in March, and only got into the game because Kyle Arrington was having a shocker, came out of nowhere like he was shot out of a cannon to literally steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
What makes this game the best of the bunch was the fact the fans got to see two top notch sides go back and forth, trading blows like heavyweight boxers. Down 10 in the fourth quarter, Brady stepped to the mantle and was nothing short of superb as he guided the Patriots down the field twice to set them up with the lead.
