Meet the Patriots’ all-time Super Bowl team
From Tom Brady to Josh Miller, these players starred on the NFL's biggest stage.
COMMENTARY
Over the course of the first 30 Super Bowls, only 44 players could say they took the field as a member of the Patriots. As the NFL gets set to kick off the 51st edition of its title game, there are a whopping 250 players who can make that claim. Thirty more could join that not-quite-exclusive club on Sunday night. Such is the way when a franchise is about to set a league record with its ninth appearance in pro football’s signature event.
The Patriots have split the first eight, recovering from a couple earlier embarrassments to win four of the six they’ve played in what will ultimately be remembered as the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era. But as important as those two have been, New England’s gilded history has been a product of more than just its coach and its quarterback.
With that in mind, here’s one attempt at pulling from those 250 participants to put together a Patriots’ All-Time Super Bowl team — which, naturally, trends far more heavily toward the four championship rosters of this century than those that were overwhelmed under the spotlight during the last.
OFFENSE
QB: Tom Brady
Brady and Aaron Rodgers are the only passers ever to throw at least three times as many touchdowns as interceptions over a minimum of 1,500 regular-season pass attempts. Still, Brady’s ratio is actually even better in Super Bowls, when it’s 13 to 4. All due respect to Drew Bledsoe, Steve Grogan, and, forgettably, Tony Eason, the only possible way there would have been a debate at this position would’ve been if Joe Montana had been a Patriot, too.
RB: J.R. Redmond
Antowain Smith piled up 175 workmanlike rushing yards in two games. Kevin Faulk amassed 199 yards from scrimmage, plus a huge two-point conversion late against Carolina. And Shane Vereen made a team-high 11 catches in the win over Seattle. But the nod goes to Redmond because without him Super Bowl XLVI almost certainly wouldn’t have ended the way it did — and momentum says it may not even have ended with a Patriots win.
Redmond had touched the ball once before the final drive of that game against the Rams. (Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis gave him a carry on the first drive of the third quarter. He lost four yards.) But after St. Louis tied the game with 1:37 remaining, Redmond carved out a legacy in New England sports lore. He made three consecutive catches to advance the Patriots 24 yards. On the third, he managed to lunge just far enough to reach the sideline and stop the clock with 33 seconds to go. Had he gone down in bounds, it’s unlikely the Pats would’ve had the time or field position required to give Adam Vinatieri his chance to win it. Instead, he did. And history happened.
WR: Deion Branch
Branch had 10 catches and 143 yards in his Super Bowl debut, and it wasn’t until a year later that he was named MVP of the game by racking up 11 catches and 133 yards. His 321 yards are 139 more than any other receiver in team history, and his 16 first-down catches in the Super Bowl are more than than any Patriot besides Wes Welker (18) has catches of any kind in that game.
WR: Troy Brown
Characteristically, Brown’s contributions were both efficient and clutch. He caught 16 of the 18 passes thrown to him over three games, including the grab that ultimately brought the Pats into field-goal range on the final drive against the Rams, and the first two Brady completions of the game-winning possession against the Panthers.
WR: Julian Edelman
Two plays before the Patriots’ first score against the Seahawks, Edelman picked up 23 yards on third and 9. During the fourth-quarter drive when the Patriots trimmed their deficit from 10 to three, he converted third downs of 14 and 8 by getting 21 yards on each. Then he scored the winning touchdown a drive later. Not bad for a guy who’s first Super Bowl appearance was as a defensive back.
TE: Rob Gronkowski
There was real temptation to put Mike Vrabel here, given that he and David Givens are the only Patriots with two Super Bowl touchdowns. But Gronk had a huge score himself before the first half buzzer against Seattle, then picked up 33 of New England’s 64 yards on the deciding drive.
OT: Matt Light
He was the Pats’ starter at left tackle in five Super Bowls, with the offensive line’s highlight coming against the Panthers. Consider: In the two Super Bowls before Light, the Patriots allowed 12 sacks; in the five with him on the line, the Pats allowed a total of 11.
OT: Nate Solder
Assuming he starts Super Bowl LI, he’ll join Light and Sebastian Vollmer as the only offensive tackles to make multiple Super Bowl starts for the Pats. And he played well in his first.
C: Dan Koppen
The Boston College product made his first Super Bowl start as a rookie, eventually making three and winning a couple of rings. His debut came against a Carolina team boasting Mike Rucker and Julius Peppers. They had combined for 19.5 sacks in the regular season, but didn’t sack Brady that night. Thanks to Koppen and his linemates, New England rushed for 135 yards, and surrendered only four total tackles to Carolina’s feared defensive duo.
OG: Joe Andruzzi
He and Light were the only linemen to start in each of the three Super Bowl wins from 2001-04, and Andruzzi’s resume shows two starts at right tackle and one on the left side of center. He’s underrated among the list of three-time champs.
OG: Dan Connolly
Like Andruzzi, Connolly made Super Bowl starts at two different positions. After opening XLVI at center, he played XLIX at guard. His veteran presence was an important factor for the line that faced Seattle.
DEFENSE
DL: Richard Seymour
He’s perhaps the best playmaker New England has had along the defensive line during its championship era, and that carried into the title game. In four appearances he had two sacks, 14 tackles, three tackles for loss, a fumble recovery, and knocked down four passes. Of course, had he one more sack — like, after getting his hands on Eli Manning before the David Tyree helmet catch — he might well have four rings.
DL: Rob Ninkovich
He’s not the same player in 2017, but just two years ago he was integral in helping the Patriots stay in the big game during the second half. With Seattle driving, he forced the Seahawks to settle for a field goal by stopping Marshawn Lynch for no gain on third and 1 at the Patriots’ 10. Then he prompted a punt by sacking Russell Wilson on third down early in the fourth quarter. He also had a sack against the Giants in 2012.
DL: Mark Anderson
Had the Patriots beat the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, Anderson would’ve been considered a big reason why. He had 1.5 sacks in that game, both on third down, and helped keep New York to 3.5 yards per rush.
DE/LB: Willie McGinest
The NFL’s all-time leader in postseason sacks picked up three of those in his four Super Bowl appearances. Still, his biggest contributions might’ve been what didn’t show up on the stat sheet against the Rams, when he set the Patriots’ physical tone and repeatedly pummeled Marshall Faulk at the line of scrimmage.
LB: Mike Vrabel
On top of his exploits at tight end, his 3.5 Super Bowl sacks are the most for any New England player. He was also the guy in Kurt Warner’s face when pressure provoked a poor throw that Ty Law turned into a pick six, and forced a fumble the Pats converted into their first points against the Panthers.
LB: Adalius Thomas
He was undoubtedly a bust in New England — but Super Bowl XLII might’ve been his best game, featuring five solo tackles, two sacks, another tackle for loss, and a forced fumble.
LB: Tedy Bruschi
Rodney Harrison is the only other Patriot with both a sack and an interception in his Super Bowl career. The pick was timely, too, coming midway through the fourth quarter against the Eagles, just after the Pats stretched their lead to 10. Donovan McNabb tried to hit a deep throw to tight end L.J. Smith, but Bruschi was there to take it away and help seal the victory.
CB: Malcolm Butler
During Super Bowl XLIX, a reporter in Arizona tweeted, “If Chris Matthews isn’t the Super Bowl MVP, it could be Malcolm Butler who made one of the biggest plays for the Patriots.” And that was 51 real-time minutes before his game-saving, goal-line interception. Butler’s interception will be remembered forever, but the way his three second-half pass breakups stabilized a wobbling Patriots’ defense shouldn’t be forgotten, either.
CB: Ty Law
Otis Smith was excellent in both of his Super Bowl appearances, and had an interception himself against St. Louis. But Law’s pick rates among the most important plays in New England sports history because after jumping in front of Isaac Bruce he raced 47 yards to the end zone. To that point, the Patriots had accumulated just 55 yards over three offensive series, but suddenly they had a 7-3 lead, and further belief they could achieve the all-time upset that kickstarted an NFL dynasty.
S: Rodney Harrison
Rodney Harrison came to New England for an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl — and he seized that opportunity like few have. He was the Patriots’ leading tackler in two of his three appearances, ranking second in the other. He had a sack of Jake Delhomme. He intercepted Donovan McNabb twice. And he was all over the field against the Giants, making 12 tackles. It’s too bad the enduring image of Harrison in a Super Bowl is him clinging to Tyree’s back as the receiver miraculously held the ball to his helmet. Harrison’s play in those major moments earned him better than that.
S: Lawyer Milloy
Harrison was brought to Foxborough in part because his predecessor at safety struggled to make plays in 2002, but Milloy was terrific in Super Bowl XXXVI. He made seven tackles, broke up three passes, and was the more reliable half of the safety combination that also included Tebucky Jones.
KICKING GAME
P: Josh Miller
Handling punting duties against the Eagles, Miller pinned the Birds inside their own 20 on three of seven punts, including one that left them on the 4-yard line with 46 seconds to play, needing to get into field-goal range to force overtime. In a game when Philadelphia had decent success moving the ball, and on third down, his 42.4 net yards per punt pinned them with an average field position inside their own 25.
K: Adam Vinatieri
He missed a 31-yard field goal against Carolina, then had a 36-yarder blocked later in that same game — but even a pedestrian line of 6 for 8 in his four Patriots Super Bowls can’t undo the epic boots Vinatieri drilled against the Rams and Panthers. In fact, nothing can. Despite what the Gillette Stadium boo-birds might’ve tried to argue over the years since he split for Indianapolis.
