Countdown to Super Bowl XLVI: Another title sure to spark best-ever duo debate - Ingles
History is written by the victors, and never was that more cruelly illustrated than in 2007. The perfect season, the Patriots [team stats]’ chance at immortality, slipped away in the same instant that ball stuck to the Velcro fingers — and helmet — of Giants receiver David Tyree.
The Patriots exited Super Bowl XLII heartbroken and unfulfilled, a team of great players unable to touch the greatness they felt belonged to them. Their story never was printed, while the Giants received the fairy-tale treatment.
No wonder guard Logan Mankins [stats] shakes his head and says, “That game’ll be with that team forever.”
If there is one truth apparent as the Patriots steady themselves to play the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, it’s that the drive for vengeance is not palpable. That’s not the motivation.
For fans, members of the organization and former players, it might be about revenge. A win Sunday might make that memory merely a tough one, not a traumatic experience.
“They still can’t watch highlights because it hurt,” said former safety Rodney Harrison [stats], the closest defender to Tyree that fateful night. “It still hurts me.”
Harrison sees revenge as a factor, but for those in it, that’s not the drive. A byproduct, yes. But not the focus.
The public is laying the baseline for a redemption song, the players are flipping the channel. The Patriots are more realistic about the results — even with a win.
“Does it take care of what happened?” receiver Wes Welker asked rhetorically. “I mean, no.”
History is history. The real motivator, though, is history . . . as in making it.
Rare company
As in putting the epic partnership of coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady [stats] not just into the pantheon of greats in NFL history, but atop it.
As in handing Brady his fourth Super Bowl ring to tie Joe Montana, his idol, and breaking a tie with Montana at 16 playoff victories. The same Montana he used to watch at Candlestick Park as a child “10 rows from the top,” Brady remembered.
“It’s cool to think as NFL players,” Brady said, “that there are some kids looking down at us who are going to have the same special memories of us.”
As in tying Belichick with a coach he has long respected, Steelers legend Chuck Noll, with his fourth ring as a head coach, though it would be Belichick’s sixth overall.
“It is very flattering to be mentioned in the same sentence with Chuck Noll,” Belichick said.
As in opening up the possibility of a second dynasty by finishing another season with 13 or more wins, this time ending it in confetti and tears of joy and accomplishment. As in proving owner Robert Kraft as a seer with his pre-AFC title game proclamation of where he wants Belichick and Brady to land in the annals of the game they love.
“I hope we have the best quarterback and coach in the history of the game,” Kraft said. “I guess to prove that we have a little more execution that we have to do over the next few years. I certainly hope we do it.”
Next few years? Maybe. What about next game? What about Sunday?
Would a victory Sunday — a win that by itself would not signify retribution of Super Bowl XLII — mean Belichick and Brady are the best duo in the game’s history?
Better than Noll and quarterback Terry Bradshaw? Better than Montana and 49ers coach Bill Walsh? Better than Vince Lombardi and Packers quarterback Bart Starr? Better than, well, anyone else?
“Chuck and Terry were unbelievable in their time, and to me, you got to put Brady and Belichick with them already,” said former Colts coach Tony Dungy, who idolized Noll. “They’ve been the best of this era. Are they better than Chuck and Terry? I’m never going to say that because my hometown bias is going to come into it.”
That’s a debate they will welcome at around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday if all goes well.
“For a coach-quarterback duo, how do you not say No. 1?” said NFL Network analyst and former coach Steve Mariucci, on the premise that the Pats win Sunday. “They’ve had more success together than anybody. There’s a certain cause and effect there. Quarterback helps makes the coach’s job a little bit easier, and that marriage between the coach and quarterback is important. Even though Bill is not exactly calling the offensive plays, there’s still a great relationship there. That goes hand-in-hand.”
If there is a Mount Rushmore in the NFL, surely Belichick is on it for coaches. Surely Brady is on it for quarterbacks. Shouldn’t they be together? A win would ensure they are in the history books, at least. They’d tie Bradshaw and Noll for the winningest duo ever, and with Brady wanting to play until he’s 40, they might not be done.
That desire to touch the gold standard is the driving force, moreso than revenge. That might be the outcome.
“I had an opportunity to work 15 years with (Nebraska coach) Tom Osborne, who has a PhD in psychology, and he was very right in saying that revenge is not a great motivator,” said Dr. Jack Stark, a sports psychologist who wrote the book, “The Championship Formula.”
“And if you look at history of human behavior, anger or revenge is not nearly as powerful as doing it for the positive side, which is playing to win and the satisfaction and joy. You can use anger for an edge to get started, but it doesn’t last long. Revenge wears off.”
Instead, the way Stark sees it, the Patriots are motivated by a completely different fact that leaves the 2007 season’s death in the desert alone.
“What appeals to them is making history,” Stark said. “Being special. We measure things in this life by big accomplishments. By winning championships. That’s what separates you.”
The Patriots way
The way it was built was simple. As Kraft notes, find good people, have them set the tone, be bold, then create an atmosphere for success. He calls Brady the game’s best quarterback and says, “There is no one I’d prefer to have more than Tom Brady.” He says the same about Belichick, declaring him “the finest coach in the history of the modern game.”
That’s before whatever happens Sunday. They’ve created a model that so many want to emulate, yet so few are able to. A veteran in the league for more than a decade, Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters won’t step outside himself and rate the duo in NFL history. But he does get why it is the way it is.
“I appreciate how they go about their jobs, how they coexist with one another,” Waters said. “That’s something that is not always as easy everywhere. Coaches, players, whatever the case may be, because everybody’s got egos, they think (they have) the best way of doing things. To have a coach set the tone and have a player follow the tone as good as Tom does, it’s hard for any player on your team to even think about having a different thought process.
“If the best player on your football team is buying in 100 percent, then who are you to be any different? And that’s something you have an appreciation for.”
It will all play out in one more game Sunday. In the eyes of some, it might not determine Brady’s and Belichick’s place among the greats. In the eyes of others, it’s everything. That’s the debate.
The wondering about whether a victory erases the pain of 2007 won’t be answered until the precious moments after the game.
If there is one fact they’ve learned from 2007, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork [stats] explains:
“This is something that is going to stick with you for the rest of your life.”
This article was written by Ian R. Rapaport and appeared in the Boston Herald.
Posted by Necesitamos Mas Football
on 10:26 a. m..
Filed under