Great read. This is definitely a new Patriots team from the Super Bowl winning teams- the only real continuation is with Matt Light, Kevin Faulk, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick (and Pepper Johnson and Dante Scarneccia). It’s a new team with a new future. I’m excited to see what this future holds.

This team development is mirroring what the Patriots did at the beginning of the century. They had a strong defense- defense wins championships- with a young and unproven offense. I hate to say that it reminds me of the Jets, but it does. Too bad for the Jets is that they’re drafting and picking up egos and not team players.

I believe the Patriots are being set up for another fantastic decade. Let’s home the team can get back to the top!

Always nice to have more opinions kicking the tires around here!

This is a good post and I’d like to add a point with a related anaology. The Dynasty may be over, but the Tom Brady Era isn’t. Whether it’s another string of SBs that finished his career or just one, I think that’s the next real measurement of time for consideration.

To me the comparison between the Yankee Dynasty and the Patriots dynasty is interesting. They started in similar fashions, each have had to “transition on the fly” in terms of overhauling significant parts of their teams while remaining extremely competitive in their sports, and through it all their leaders have remained premier athletes in their sports. Consider:

’96 Yankees run starts with a team of good players, spare parts and a dynamic rookie named Jeter – who changed the energy and personality of the team.
’01 Pats run starts with a team of good players, spare parts and a dynamic rookie named Brady – who changed the energy and personality of the team.

’98 (two years later) the Yankees Dynasty produced the best team of their dynasty and one of the best of the decade, perhaps all time.
’04 (three years later) the Pats produced their best team of the dynasty and one of the best of the decade.

’01 (three years later) the Yankees lose in game 7 of the series and their dynasty is over.
’07 (three years later) the Pats lose in the final 2 minutes of the SB, and their dynasty is over.

The Yankees run is certainly different, but so are the sports.

What I find interesting now is the post-dynasty team, the Jeter/Brady Era.

The Yankees were very competitive ’01 – ’09 missing the playoffs only 1 year and in each year general being considered one of the more dangers and hated teams in MLB.
The Pats have missed the playoffs once since their last SB and have also becoming one of the more hated franchises in the NFL and winning at a very high percentage.

For the Yankees – it took them 9 years to get back to the top, the key to their return was to get the balance back.
Jeter was always a key piece of the offense, and the offense maintained it’s strength, actually got stronger after the dynasty (Arod, Texeria, etc.) But it wasn’t until they got their pitching back to a high level that they were able to win again, last year with Fatty and cream pie boy.

And similarly with the Pats, the offense has been stronger post SBs, but the defense has let them down and has been in transition. And it won’t be until the defensive team develops it’s core strengths that this team returns to the top.

As mentioned above, this years defense feels (as much as you can get a feeling in July) like it’s ready to turn the corner from “in transition” to “setting a tone/establish itself.” And if the Yankee/Patriot comparison is accurate – this would be a very, very good thing for New England.