What does the Patriots dynasty mean for rest of the NFL?
MINNEAPOLIS — A few days after the Patriots clinched their second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl — and third in the past four years — Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall called out the NFL for its lack of competition.
“Eighteen years,” he said of New England’s Tom Brady-Bill Belichick tandem. “Almost 20 years, they’ve been doing this together. The league is not competitive. We all should be ashamed.”
Speaking on NFL Network’s Inside the NFL, Marshall said players, coaches, and owners should all be embarrassed for letting the Patriots continue to win “year in and year out.”
Super Bowl LII will be New England’s eighth Super Bowl appearance in the past 15 years. Led by team owner Robert Kraft, Belichick, and Brady, the team has won their division title for nine straight seasons and hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2008.
“Congratulations, you guys are phenomenal,” Marshall said. “You guys are great — can’t get any better. But how do 31 other organizations let this happen?”
Retired offensive lineman Matt Light told Boston.com he believes Marshall’s words were “spoken out of frustration.”
“I think the point he was trying to make was, look, there’s a reason for the success in New England,” Light said. “It’s multi-faceted, but it’s amazing when you distill it all down. There’s no rocket science. It’s just the ability to be very disciplined and be willing to put aside your own wants and your own needs for that of the organization and the sake of winning.”
“It just means you’re willing to work harder than everyone else,” the three-time Super Bowl champ continued. “That’s the key to a lot of things. For anyone whose ever watched somebody do something at a really high level, that rings true with all those folks.”
Light — who played his 11-year entire career with the Patriots — noted the reality of the NFL, and life in general, is that most individuals aren’t willing to put forth the necessary input to achieve the desired output. “If they were, then you’d see more of what you see” with the Patriots, Light said.
NBC Sports sideline reporter Michele Tafoya echoed this sentiment. Citing the Patriots’ 18-1 season along with their share of — albeit limited — regular-season losses, Tafoya argued teams need to recognize New England is, in fact, beatable.
“You just got to figure out how,” she told Boston.com. “If you’re going to sit there and complain you can’t beat the best, I say you don’t belong in the league. You’ve got to go out and try to compete with the best, try to knock them off. That’s the joy in this game.”
For those who find themselves vexed by the Patriots’ success, griping that the Patriots have won enough, Tafoya said it’s important to put things in perspective. With every snap, Belichick, Brady, and the Patriots are making history.
“I know that some people want to say, ‘It’s too much. I’m sick of them,'” she said. “But sit back and remember what you’re witnessing.”
Sportscaster Dan Patrick believes that Brady’s sustained greatness has moved the conversation away from comparisons with other quarterbacks, and instead, has sparked a larger discussion with athletes like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Roger Federer.
“We’ve moved out of the Brady vs. [Joe] Montana, so who do we compare him to?” he said. “I’ve got to take it into another realm. That’s what’s fun. It’s apples and oranges, but it’s dialogue. It’s conversation. It’s arguing. Whatever it is, I like the fact that there’s dialogue with this.”
Not only is Patrick a fan of the newfound debates, but he also said he thinks the Patriots dynasty is “great” for the NFL “because it’s parity.”
“They want parity,” he said. “If you went 4-12, they want you to go 12-4. They give you a schedule that makes it easier to do that. But the Patriots battle through all of this stuff — Brady’s been suspended, Brady blew out his knee, star players have been traded, everything they’ve gone through with their controversies.”
“They’re so good at leaving it all behind in the rearview mirror,” Patrick continued. “They’re unbelievable. I think we like having that team to root against.”
Regardless of which side of the hate ’em or love ’em mentality people might be on, there’s no denying consistent victories and championship rings forces other teams across the league to play catch up — something that Tony Dungy points out has been an element of the league for decades.
“It forces people to execute,” the former Indianapolis Colts head coach said. “But it’s always kind of been that way. In the 50’s, people were chasing the Browns. In the 60’s, they were chasing the Packers. In the 70’s, they were chasing the Steelers. In the 80’s, they were chasing the 49ers and then the Cowboys. In the last 15 years, we’ve had people chasing the Patriots, and I think it’s elevated the play.”
That constant catch-up is both a good and bad thing to NBC Sports broadcaster Chris Collinsworth.
“I think you want to establish greatness, and then I think you want everybody taking shots at that greatness, so when somebody overcomes it, it’s special,” he told Boston.com. “But at the same time, the league is built around everybody getting their turn at the Super Bowl.”
“For all the teams that have never been and aren’t getting there, it’s a little rough on them to sell tickets and generate general interest,” he continued. “Sometimes you have too many eyeballs on two or three teams that are continually the ones that are always on top. It’s good to spread that love around a bit.”
Must-see photos from Super Bowl LII:
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