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| Reload or Rebuild? The 2005 Patriots' season prooved that Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and company are indeed mortal. Gone was the invincibility and unblemished records against the Indianapolis Colts and Belichick and Brady's unblemished playoff records. So to was the aura of playing your best at the most important time. The playoff game in Denver looked more like the Patriots' of the 1980s then the dynastic Patriots of the early 21st century. To add to the uncertainty of the Patriots, the loss of some of the key players of the Patriots four Superbowl trips since 1996. Big Play Willie McGinest - Gone. Adam Vinatieri - Gone. Ditto David Givens. To name but a few ket Patriots that left. Again, another apple from the Belichick coaching tree was plucked when Eric Mangini was hired to be the head coach of division rival Jets. The anxiousness was further fueled when the new collective bargainning agreement was reached between the NFLPA and owners; which resulted in a salary cap boost of 20 million dollars. Yet, the Patriots signed few notable players and saw more leave. The Patriots headed into the 2006 draft with clear needs at linebacker, secondary, running back and wide receiver. Much speculation was made that the Patriots would look to reload their defense in the first round and on the first day of the draft, but in typical Belichick/Pioli fashion, the Patriots went left when everyone was expecting them to go right. The did not select a defensive player until the 6th round as the notable selections on the first day of the draft were: RB Laurence Maroney of Minnesota in the first round, WR Chad Jackson of Florida in the second round, TE David Thomas of Texas in the third round. The Patriots entered the season as the favorites to win a fourth successive AFC East title and be a contender for the Superbowl title from the AFC behind defending champion Pittsburgh and Indianapolis. The Patriots season began with a thud. Twelve seconds into the season, the Patriots found themselves already trailing as Buffalo converted a Brady fumble into a quick TD. All was not lost as the Patriots came back from a 17-7 defecit to post a close 19-17 victory. The Patriots' followed their opening act with another close division game as they nearly blew all of a 24-0 lead before holding on for a 24-17 victory over the Jets. The next two weeks showed how perception and reality are rarely as they appear in the NFL. First, Patriots hosted their own personal kryptonite in Denver. The Broncos were struggling and the Patriots undefeated. The Broncos, as they had done 15 of the previous 18 meetings, beat the Patriots rather easily 17-7. Next up, a road trip to the undefeated Bengals who had just beaten the defending champion Steelers easily. The Patriots were struggling. The offense was having trouble adjusting to the departure of Deoin Branch. Plus, the secondary was missing two starters against the explosive Bengals. As has been the case over the previous seasons, with their backs against the walls and against seemingly impossible odds, the Patriots played their best game of the season. After falling behind 6-0 to the explosive Bengals, the Patriots began to establish themselves. Laurence Maroney made is 7-6 scoring on an 11 yard run. His run capping an 83 yard drive. Doug Gabriel put the Patriots up 14-6 at half with a nice 25 yard catch on a third and five. The Bengals closed the gap to 14-13 after a Patriots missed field goal, but Maroney bulled his way to his second touchdown on a 25 yard run through the Bengals defense to make it 21-13. With the game still in doubt entering the fourth, the defense forced two Carlson Palmer turnovers after a Patriots field goal made it 24-13. The offense capitalized on the short field as Corey Dillon scored from 1 yard out and Daniel Graham on a 3rd yard pass to make the final score 38-13. The Patriots followed the resounding win with a two victories over division foes Miami (20-10) and Buffalo (28-6). On how good the 2006 Patriots could be would be on determined over the next two weeks. The Patriots first faced Minnesota on Monday night. An expected battle between two hard hitting defenses turned into a rout as the Patriots exploited Vikings turnovers and won easily 31-7. The Patriots would then host their seemingly annual visit from Peyton Manning and the Colts. The Colts/Patriots match-up, almost a year to the day that the Colts and Peyton Manning finally broke through and beat the Patriots, had the unbeaten Colts visiting Foxoboro. This year the Patriots were in a little better condition on defense. The teams started trading touchdowns after the Patriots opening drive ended on a Tom Brady interception. Clinging to a slim 17-14 lead late in the first half, the Colts defense came up with their second interception of Tom Brady on the night. As the second half started, the Colts had seized control of the game, but the Patriots' defense did enough to keep the Patriots in the game by holding the Colts offense. Ex-Patriot Adam Vinatieri missed a field goal that would have given the Colts a 10 point lead with under two minutes in the game. Trailing 27-20, the Patriots started driving for the tying score when a pass intended for Kevin Faulk bounced off his hands and into a Colts defenders hands. Brady's 4th INT of the night, third off a tipped pass sealed the Colts second consecutive win in Foxboro. If the Patriots were not already at a low, the New York Jets came to Foxboro on the heals of the Colts loss and former defensive coordinator Eric Mangini's Jets beat the Patriots on a muddy field 17-14. With the season seemingly in the balance, the Patriots traveled to Green Bay for a game against the resurgent Packers and Brett Favre. As they had down the past few seasons with their backs against the wall, the Patriots came out and blasted the Packers 35-0. Next up for the Patriots were the 9-1 Bears. The game was a chance for the Patriots to erase some doubt. The Patriots had played their worst games against the best teams on their schedule. While the Bears game was an exteremly sloppy game with the Patriots losing the turnover battle 5 to 4, the Patriots made enough plays and Assante Samuel sealed the 17-13 victory with his third interception with under two minutes to go in the game. The Patriots followed the Bears victory with a sloppy (3 TOs, 10 penalties and 1 safety) 28-21 win over Detroit. With a chance to all but wrap up the AFCEast title, the Patriots made their annual trip to Miami. As usual, it was a forgettable performance as the Dolphins only playing for pride, throttled the Patriots 21-0. The Patriots first shutout since 2003. The Patriots rebounded with an easy 40-7 victory over the Texans. At 10-4, the Patriots had their last two games on the road. Needing one victory to clinch their fourth straight AFC East title, the Patriots wasted little time and beat the Jaguars 24-21 to clinch the division. The Patriots traveled to Tennessee to close the season with little on the line. Unlike 2005, the Patriots put a little more effort against a resurgent Titans team. The Patriots finally seized control late in the game and brought Vinny Testaverde in for a shot at the record book. In the closing moments, Vinny threw a short TD to Troy Brown to set an NFL record with a TD pass in 20 straight seasons. Assante Samuel would close the 40-23 victory with his 10th interception. The Patriots would open the 2006 playoffs by hosting division foe N.Y. Jets. The much publicized match-up of Mentor (Belichick) and Protege (Mangini) lived upto it's billing. While the final score of 37-17 suggests a blowouts, the game was much closer. The Patriots opened scoring behind on the legs of a Corey Dillon 11 yard run. The Jets added a field goal and 77 yard TD strike to Jerricho Cotchery. His third 40 yard plus TD against the Patriots this year. After the Patriots tied the score at 10, they went ahead 17-10 at half as Brady lofted a pass over a Jets linebacker to Daniel Graham in the back of the endzone. After exchanging field goals for most of the second half, the Patriots seized control with a long drive that ended with Kevin Faulk hauling a Brady pass in from the 7 for a 30-16 lead. The Patriots ended any doubt on the game as Assante Samuel intercepted a Chad Pennington pass and returned it for a touchdown and the final 21 point margin. The win pushed the Patriots into the division round with a match-up against the AFC's number 1 seed, the 14-2 San Diego Chargers. There were several underlying themes for the game. Could Marty Schotenheimer, a 200 win coach, improve on his 5-12 playoff record? Would LT, the reigning league MVP run rampant over the Patriots like he did in 2002 and 2004? It was a physical hard hitting game from the outset. After being pinned deep in their end early, the Patriots finally started a drive outside the 20 and opened the scoring on a 50 yard Gostkowski field goal. The Chargers did an excellent job of pinning the Patriots in their end during the first half. After forcing a punt, the Chargers culminated a 48 yard drive with a 1 yard LT run. After holding the Patriots, the Chargers went on a quick 6 play 77 yard drive that was largely done on the running of LT who turned a screen pass into a 58 yard gain. Mike Turner made it 14-3 with a six yard run. Brady would close the gap to 14-10 by using almost all of the last two minutes of the first half. The drive ended when Brady hit Jabar Gaffney with 8 seconds left in the back of the endzone. Both teams made adjustments and neither offense moved particularly well inthe second half. After being held, the Patriots captialized on a fumbled punt and unsportsmenlike conduct penalty to cut the score to 14-13. The Chargers finally put a drive together in the 4th to open up an 8 point lead after LT punched it in from 3. Trailing 21-13 and facing a 4th and 5, the Tom Brady delivered a pass that Marlon Mcree stepped infront of. During his return, Troy Brown stripped the ball and gave the Patriots new life at the 32. With a second chance, Tom Brady drove the Patriots to a touchdown and cut the gap to 21-19 by hitting Reche Caldwell on a 4 yard pass. A direct snap to Kevin Faulk and run on the conversion tied the game at 21. The Patriots defense which had a tough time all day forced a three and out. The Patriots again were pinned inside their 20, this time they started at their 15 yard line. On a 3rd and 10 from their 34, Tom Brady hit a streaking Reche Caldwell down the sideline for a 49 yard gain. 4 plays later, Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 31 yard field goal for a 24-21 lead. The Chargers drove into Patriots territory, but a 54 yard field goal fell short and the Patriots had a rematch with the Colts in the AFC Championship game. For the third time in four years, the Patriots would meet in the playoffs. On the Patriots side, their undefeated AFC Championship game streak, Brady and Belichick's impressive playoff numbers were on the line. On the other sideline, Peyton Manning and Coach Tony Dungy's playoff failures were hanging over their heads. The game seemed to be on the Patriots side, when Logan Mankins recovered a Laurence Maroney fumble in the endzone for a 7-0 lead. Assante Samuel would give the Patriots a 21-3 lead in the second quarter on an interception return for a touchdown. However, Peyton Manning and the Colts would not let this game get away. He closed the first half by driving for a field goal and then opened the second half and called his own number and cut the lead 21-13 early in the third quarter. The Colts would tie it at 21 four minutes later on a Manning to Klecko TD pass. Over the next 15 minutes, the Patriots would continually take the lead only to have the Colts comeback and tie the score. Stephen Gostkowski put the Patriots up 34-31 with 3:49 left in the game. With a career full of ghosts and playoff failures on hsi shoulders, Peyton Manning drove the Patriots quickly done the field and put his Colts up 38-34 with a minute left. However, this time there would be no Brady magic as the final Patriots drive of the season ended with a forced pass with under 20 seconds left. A question that would plague the Patriots would be how good could this team have been if they spent upto the cap? Buffalo 19-17 1-0 NY Jets 14-17 6-3 @NY Jets 24-17 2-0 @Green Bay 35-0 7-3 Denver 7-17 2-1 Chicago 17-13 8-3 @Cincinnati 38-13 3-1 Detroit 28-21 9-3 Miami 20-10 4-1 @Miami 0-21 9-4 @Buffalo 28-6 5-1 Houston 40-7 10-4 @Minnesota 31-7 6-1 @J'ville 24-21 11-4 Indianapolis 20-27 6-2 @Tennessee 40-23 12-4 Wildcard Playoffs 1 2 3 4 F N.Y. Jets 3 7 3 3 - 16 Recap/Boxscore New England 7 10 6 14 - 37 Division Playoffs 1 2 3 4 F New England 3 7 3 11 - 24 Recap/Boxscore San Diego 0 14 0 7 - 21 AFC Championship 1 2 3 4 F New England 7 14 7 6 - 34 Indianapolis 3 3 15 17 - 38 |
| 2006 AFC East W L T Pct. PF PA Patriots 12 4 0 .750 385 237 Jets 10 6 0 .625 316 295 Bills 7 9 0 .438 300 311 Dolphins 6 10 0 .375 260 283 |
| Passing Att Cmp Pct. Yards TDs INTs QBRtg Tom Brady 319 516 61.8 3529 24 12 87.9 Matt Cassel 5 8 62.5 32 0 0 70.8 V. Testaverde 2 3 66.7 29 1 0 137.5 |
| Rushing Att. Yards AVG TDs Corey Dillon 199 812 4.1 13 Laurence Maroney 175 745 4.3 6 Kevin Faulk 25 123 4.9 1 Heath Evans 27 117 4.3 0 Tom Brady 49 102 2.1 0 Chad Jackson 4 22 5.5 0 Patrick Pass 6 21 3.5 0 Troy Brown 2 18 9.0 0 Kelvin Kight 1 8 8.0 0 Reche Caldwell 1 5 5.0 0 Matt Cassel 2 4 2.0 0 Vinny Testaverde 8 -8 -1.0 0 |
| Receving Rec. Yards AVG TDs Reche Caldwell 61 760 12.5 4 Ben Watson 49 643 13.1 3 Troy Brown 43 384 8.9 4 Kevin Faulk 43 356 8.3 2 Doug Gabriel 25 344 13.8 3 Laurence Maroney 22 194 8.8 1 Daniel Graham 21 235 11.2 2 Corey Dillon 15 147 9.8 0 Chad Jackson 13 152 11.7 3 David Thomas 11 159 14.5 1 Jabar Gaffney 11 142 12.9 1 Heath Evans 7 34 4.9 1 Patrick Pass 2 24 12.0 0 Bam Childress 2 7 3.5 0 Kelvin Kight 1 9 9.0 0 |
| Sacks: Roosevelt Colvin 8.5; Jarvis Green 7.5; Ty Warren 7.5; Tully Banta-Cain 5.5; Mike Vrabel 4.5; Richard Seymour 4; Tedy Bruschi 1.5; Rodney Harrison 1; Bob Sanders 1; Junior Seau 1; Vince Wilfork 1; Mike Wright 1 Interceptions: Assante Samuel 10-120-0; Mike Vrabel 3-0-0; Ellis Hobbs 2-79-0; Chad Scott 2-32-0; Bob Sanders 1-21-0; Tedy Bruschi 1-8-0; Rodney Harrison 1-2-0; Artrell Hawkins 1-0-0; Richard Seymour 1-0-0 |
| 2007 |
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| 2006 |
| Coach: Bill Belichick |
| Pro-Bowlers DE Richard Seymour |
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| Statistics Offense Rushing: 499-1969-20 (12 of 32) Passing: 3590 (11 of 32) Total: 5559 (12 of 32) Points: 385 (7 of 32) Defense Rushing: 388-1507-11 (5 of 32) Passing: 3203 (12 of 32) Total: 4710 (6 of 32) Points: 237 (2 od 32) |
| Kicking XP XPA FG FGA PTS S. Gostkowski 43 44 20 26 103 |