- Dec 4, 2002
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See I just disagree with them being the GOAT franchise.
It's not hard to look good when you play in a trash division. Realistically they're guaranteed a playoff spot at the beginning of the season because 8-8 would be good enough in the AFC East most seasons. With most instances guaranteed a playoff bye because of the easy schedule. And when you have one of the best QBs of the past 20 years on the roster, this is pretty much a lock each year.
So realistically they only have to get up for maybe 2-3 playoff games a year. And to their credit most years they come through. But being able to coast through the regular season, while most other teams have to claw their way through is a big advantage.
Just use this year as an example. KC and San Diego duked it out until the last week of the season. Both finished with 12 wins. While New England coasted to 11 wins, because the closest team was Miami at 7-9. BS the Pats didn't rest some guys during the last 5 weeks, you bet they did, whereas KC didn't have that luxury.
Not to take anything away from them as they do get results in the playoffs. But being in a crap division with a top end QB makes life really simple for them. Not sure they get the same results playing in a better division for the past 15 years. Are they this dominant in the AFC North with Pittsburgh and Baltimore or even the AFC west where Manning played for a few years and San Diego with Rivers was always competitive? Simple fact they've had the luxury of playing in the worst division in football. All I can say is yes they win when it matters but they are far from the GOAT franchise.
Come on, Chet. Of course they're not FAR from the best. What, you're going to name a dozen teams who've had a better decade than NE just did?
I'm not fully buying this division argument. Yes, the non-NE AFC East teams have been generally under .500 for awhile, but part of the reason for that is that they can't beat NE. Also, NE has about the same winning percentage outside their division as they do within it. This article goes through that briefly: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/patriots-win-same-rate-vs-rest-nfl-they-do-vs-afc-east (It's a Boston news report, so keep that in mind).
I agree that there's something to be said for having a division locked up by week 13/14, and having to rest players now and again. But I don't think many playoff-bound teams do this that early, because they are A) fighting for that wildcard week off, then B) fighting for home field advantage. If anything, NE could have players take off week 17 or something, but I think this 'resting the players' thing is being overstated in the quoted post.
But in the end, NE is 29-10 in playoff games, where they're playing the best teams in the league. A .750 winning percentage against the league's best, across 17 years? Yeah, that's pretty GOAT-esque, even if you wish to discount the division titles.