Confessions of a Patriots Fan

Tom Brady and the Patriots, slowly falling from the top teams in football.

Whenever someone asks me about my team, I will defend the team in the best way possible.  No matter what sport. Even if the team is not doing well, or the player is facing something. It is my team, and I was given a choice to support it, and have to support it until the very end.  However, one must say everything about their team. Not just the team’s triumphs, but its struggles as well. A person who can admit all of these facts about their team is a true fan. 

Tom Brady is no longer the best quarterback in the NFL. That being said, he is still in the top-tier of quarterbacks. Just not the best quarterback. The Patriots are a great team. They are just not the greatest team anymore. These are facts that every Patriots fan should realize. 

Yes, yes it’s true. A Patriots fan acknowledging that his favorite team is not the premier team in football. I remember when I first became a Patriots fan. I was 5-6 at the time, and it was when the Patriots were in the Superbowl. The first football game I watched was Superbowl XXXVI, when Adam Vinateri kicked the game winning field goal to beat the Rams 20-17. Ever since then, I have watched Tom Brady win two other Superbowl games, and have an (almost) perfect season. 

After the win against the Rams, the Pats took a year off, and then proceeded to win 2 straight Superbowl championships. Following the win against the Eagles 2 years later,  the Patriots have yet to win another championship. They came close, losing to the Giants in the Superbowl because of a catch some guy made who isn’t in the NFL anymore.  They have failed to win a play-off game since the 2007 season. 

So why then does everyone think the team is a play-off contender? Because of Thomas Edward Brady. Brady is a fantastic quarterback, who has the ability to lead a team. He is surrounded with fantastic receivers, and the coach of the decade, Bill Belichick. A fantastic team on paper, but on the field...

The truth is, the team is not as good as it used to be. Sure the Patriots had Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Adalius Thomas, and other notable players at one point. But when a team has countless stars, and have already won 3 championships in the past 4 years; they are expected of winning everything. When this team was formed, a new Patriots dynasty was expected to have started. It lasted about a season and a half, before Moss was released, and the team couldn’t win in the play-offs.

The glory days of the Patriots are behind them. Vinateri is gone. Deion Branch is no longer the Superbowl MVP winning receiver, and sadly, Brady is getting old.  Every football fan has the team as one of their picks to win the Superbowl each year, but the team can’t do it.  It’s almost as if the team is cursed. They cannot seem to win, anymore. In fact, the Patriots lost to the Bills this year for the first time since 2003. In the current season, the Patriots are in a 2 game losing streak that could extend to 3 games this week. 

Patriots fans, we must come to the realization that our team needs to be improved. We need to continue cheering our hearts out for victories, because our team isn’t as good as it used to be. The Patriots need our support We need to still root for our team, and be loyal. And never give up. Go Patriots, and let’s beat the Jets on Sunday!