New England Patriots Are Back to Basics without Tom Brady

So this is how it feels to be a fan of most NFL teams?

Being a New England Patriots fan last season instilled a feeling about being a fan that was really different than anything I had ever experienced. Even when the Pats put together back-to-back 14-2 regular seasons, capped off with Super Bowl wins, they, for the most part, always won in workmanlike fashion.

It was always about great defense, smart offense, and doing whatever it took to win a game.

Then came last year. With a good defense, the Patriots threw out a dynamic offense that, week after week, rolled through the league. As a fan, you went into every week expecting them to win. You weren't thinking about if they would, but rather by how much.  

It was fun to watch, but as the season went on, some of that joy went away. Thinking back on the nail-biting wins late in the season over the Eagles, the Ravens, the Giants; I can’t honestly say I enjoyed watching those games.

Between weekly point spreads tipped heavily in New England’s favor, and the pressure even a fan felt of wanting to see the team go undefeated, winning games became more of a relief than something to enjoy.

The expectations were so high that anything but a decisive win almost felt like a loss. I remember the game against the Ravens—the Patriots were cruising through the season, 11-0. They had already clinched the AFC East the week before and had all but clinched home-field advantage.

You would think because of all of that I would have been able to sit back and just enjoy the game. That, however, was far from the case.

The game remained close, and I watched every single play the way you would expect someone to react while watching a tightly-contested Super Bowl. It was because of the expectations; it was because of the pressure of going undefeated. When the game ended, with New England pulling out a 27-24 win, I wasn’t happy or excited. I was drained.

Watching the rest of the season felt the same exact way. You can imagine what it was like watching the Super Bowl. When that game ended, I had nothing left as a football fan. I shut the TV off and remained seated on the floor, completely numb.

As opening day of the 2008 season grew close, I became increasingly excited. Could the team repeat the success it had last year?  Could the offense be as dominant? Could a healthy Richard Seymour and the additions of draft picks Jerod Mayo, Shawn Crable, and Terrence Wheatley provide the needed youth for an aging defense?

Then Tom Brady got hurt, and at first nothing else mattered. The win over the Chiefs was completely secondary. All the high expectations I had quickly disappeared. With Brady, you expected to win, and against most teams, you expected to win easily. Without Brady, who knew what to expect?

Early in the week, I was down. Losing the Super Bowl still hurts, but all offseason the one thought that helped at all was thinking that maybe they can come back and win the Super Bowl this year.

I didn’t care about an undefeated season; that was too much to think about. But remembering how the 2004 Red Sox World Series win took the pain away from the 2003 ALCS, I thought the only thing that could make up at all from losing Super Bowl XLII would be a win in XLIII.

Losing Brady also hurt because it deprived fans for an entire season of the chance to see a once-in-a-lifetime player, and seeing him and Moss and the rest of this offense. You take things for granted as fans. No matter how many times you remind yourself nothing in sports is guaranteed and things can come to an end quickly, you never really think that will happen.

But as we got closer to game time yesterday, I started getting excited, in a way I can honestly say I have not been in years as a football fan. It was the excitement that comes from the unknown.

It was back to basics. Winning became all that mattered.  It didn’t have to be pretty; it didn’t have to be by three touchdowns. It just had to be a win.

A year ago, the Patriots hosted the Jets late in the season and won. But because the score was only 20-10, it almost felt like a loss. I wanted to see a blowout, and I took for granted how difficult it is to just win games in the NFL.

As a fan, I had become arrogant. Maybe not outwardly (you would have to ask those around me if that is the case), but at the very least, I was arrogant on the inside. I didn’t just want wins, but I wanted easy wins, multiple touchdown-passes, and a ton of receiving yards, as if winning games and putting up stats could be achieved in reality as easily as it can be when playing Madden.

Then the injury to Brady humbled me as a fan.

Yesterday, I didn’t care that the Patriots only scored 19 points, or that Randy Moss only caught two passes. The offense did enough to win, didn’t turn the ball over, and the defense made the plays they needed to make.

I am not comparing Matt Cassel to Brady. But when Brady first took over as QB for the Patriots, he was far from the Brady we saw last season. He did enough to win games, limited mistakes, and the defense led the way. That is what I saw yesterday from the Patriots.

The Patriots became known for simply finding ways to win and for not making crucial mistakes, even if the other team might have superior talent on paper.  

The Patriots of a year ago got away from that a little, and instead relied on Brady and the offense to make up for mistakes in other areas of the game. And it worked for 18 games.  With Brady, and only a few other quarterbacks, you come to believe that scoring touchdowns is easy.  

Going forward, I don’t know what to expect from the Patriots. They played well yesterday, but it was just one game. I would like to see Moss more involved in the offense and want to see what Cassel can do when he has to score a touchdown in a game.

I will miss No. 12 all season and can’t wait to see him back under center in Week One next year. This season though, the Patriots are just like a number of teams in the NFL: a good team that has a chance to win every week, but can easily lose to any team.

Maybe that isn’t what I envisioned for the 2008 season. But for now, I am alright with that, and I am excited for what the possibilities could be for the remainder of the season. 

Now they just have to beat the Dolphins on Sunday.