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| Cinderella? Or dynasty in the making? Judging by the preseason magazines' pronostication, the Patriots magical ride to the Championship in 2001 had them as Cinderella with the clock striking midnight. The same questions also surrounded their young QB Tom Brady. Unfortunately for the Patriot faithful, the maddening inconstency the Patriots had shown for 40 of their first 41 years reappeared. The Patriots started quickly, by hosting the team they defeated in the AFC Championship game and the team most pundits picked to reign in the AFC: the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the score 7-7 and the Steelers driving, a personal foul penalty pushed a makable field goal out and the Steelers promptly missed and became unraveled The Patriots, a balanced team in their Championship season showed another side, as they threw 25 straight passes that pushed the lead to 27-7 and eventually led to a 30-14 truimph. Next up, was their recent nemesis the N.Y. Jets. Jets winners of 7 of the previous 9 meetings were dominated from the start as the Patriots rolled to another easy victory, this time 44-7. As the Patriots finally started receiving recognition, chinks in the armor appeared. The Run D that was solid in 2001 disappeared as Priest Holmes ran for 180 yards. Still the Patriots managed a 41-38 overtime victory despite blowing a 31-17 4th quarter lead. The Run D leak the Chiefs exploited was blown apart as the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 217 yards in a 21-14 Charger victory. The Patriots quickly wasted the 3-0 start with a 26-13 thumping at the hands of the Dolphins, followed quickly by a 28-10 loss to the Packers and a 24-16 thrashing (final score is not indicative of the domination) at the hands of the Broncos. With their season quickly going down the drain, the Patriots traveled to Buffalo to visit their franchise QB of the previous 8 years, Drew Bledsoe. The aptly named Drew Bowl I did not hold upto it's billing as the Patriots crushed the Bills 38-7. The Patriots followed that game with an epic comeback from a 27-6 third quarter deficit to beat the Bears 33-30. The Patriots would head to Oakland for a rematch of last seasons' "Tuck Bowl". Again the Patriots were dominated, despite the final score, as Tedy Bruchi's Toe interception TD return and Kevin Faulk's kickoff return TD made the score palatable at 27-20. As the 6-5 Patriots were reeling the soft part of their schedule arrived and they defeated the Vikings 24-17 and the Lions 20-12 on Turkey Day. In Drew Bowl II, the Patriots got out to a quick 17-0 first quarter lead and cruised to a 27-17 victory. With playoff implications on the line the Patriots had dates with two teams they were battling for the precious few playoff spots. A Monday night tilt with Tennessee and a Sunday night match-up with resurgent division foe N.Y. Jets. As has been the case too often in 2002, the Patriots became the first defending champ to yield 200+ rushing yards three times in their follow-up season,in losing to Tennesse 24-7. In the second meeting with the Jets, the Patriots dodged 167 Chad Pennington passing yards in the first quarter to tie the game at 17 in the third. After the defense held and forced a Jets punt, the Patriots usually sure handed punt returner, Troy Brown, fumbled the ball inside the Patriot 20. The Jets used the turnover to take a 20-17 lead and momenteum as the cruised to a 30-17 win. The final week of the season saw the Dolphins coming to Gillette stadium. A Dolphins win and they would be crowned AFC East champs. For 55 minutes, the Dolphins manhandled the Patriots (to the tune of 257 rushing yards) and led 24-13, but in the last 5 minutes the Champion's heart reappeared and the Patriots rallied for a thrilling 27-24ot victory. Sadly, three hours later both the Patriots and Dolphins were eliminated by a N.Y. Jets team that had the look of the 2001 Patriots. Pittsburgh 30-14 1-0 @Chicago 33-30 5-4 @N.Y. Jets 44-7 2-0 @Oakland 20-27 5-5 Kansas City 41-38ot 3-0 Minnesota 24-17 6-5 @San Diego 14-21 3-1 @Detroit 20-12 7-5 @Miami 13-26 3-2 Buffalo 27-17 8-5 Green Bay 10-28 3-3 @Tennessee 7-24 8-6 Denver 16-24 3-4 N.Y. Jets 17-30 8-7 @Buffalo 38-7 4-4 Miami 27-24ot 9-7 |
| 2002 AFC East W L T Pct. PF PA Jets 9 7 0 .563 359 336 Patriots 9 7 0 .563 381 346 Dolphins 9 7 0 .563 378 301 Bills 8 8 0 .500 379 397 |
| Passing Cmp Att Pct. Yards TDs INTs QBRtg Tom Brady 373 601 62.1 3764 28 14 85.7 Rohan Davey 1 2 50.0 3 0 0 56.3 Kevin Faulk 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 39.6 David Patten 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 39.6 |
| Rushing Att. Yards AVG TDs Antowain Smith 252 982 3.9 6 Kevin Faulk 52 271 5.2 2 Tom Brady 42 110 2.6 1 Marc Edwards 31 96 3.1 0 Patrick Pass 4 27 6.8 0 Troy Brown 3 14 4.7 0 David Patten 2 6 3.0 0 Damon Huard 1 4 4.0 0 J.R. Redmond 4 2 0.5 0 Deion Branch 2 0 0.0 0 Rohan Davey 2 -4 -2.0 0 |
| Receving Rec. Yards AVG TDs Troy Brown 97 890 9.2 3 David Patten 61 824 13.5 5 Deion Branch 43 489 11.4 2 Kevin Faulk 37 379 10.2 3 Antowain Smith 31 243 7.8 2 Christian Fauria 27 253 9.4 7 Marc Edwards 23 196 8.5 0 Cam Cleeland 16 112 7.0 1 Daniel Graham 15 150 10.0 1 Donald Hayes 12 133 11.1 2 David Givens 9 92 10.2 1 J.R. Redmond 2 5 2.5 0 Mike Vrabel 1 1 1.0 0 |
| Sacks: Willie McGinest 5.5, Richard Seymour 5.5, Tedy Bruschi 4.5, Mike Vrabel 4.5, Anthony Pleasant 3, Jarvis Green 2.5, Bobby Hamilton 2, Ted Johnson 1.5, Tebucky Jones 1.5, Bernard Holsey 1, Ty Law 1, Roman Phifer 0.5 Interceptions: Terrell Buckley 4; Ty Law 4; Tedy Bruschi 2; Otis Smith 2; Victor Green 1 (1 TD); Richard Seymour 1; Willie McGinest 1; Bobby Hamilton 1; Tebucky Jones 1; Mike Vrabel 1 |
| Kicking XP XPA FG FGA PTS Adam Vinatieri 36 36 27 30 117 |