Here are details galore about the AFC Champs.
Profiling the Patriots
(rankings are 2017 regular-season only)
Total offense: First (394.2 yards per game)
Rush offense: Tenth (118.1 yards per game)
Pass offense: Second (276.1 yards per game)
Scoring offense: Second (28.6 points per game, 457 points)
Total defense: 29th (366.0 yards per game allowed)
Rush defense: 20th (114.8 yards per game allowed)
Pass defense: 30th (251.3 yards per game allowed)
Scoring defense: Fifth (18.5 points per game allowed, 296 points)
Penalties: 95 penalties (seventh-fewest), 835 yards (eighth-fewest)
Turnover ratio: Plus-6 (11th-best)
–The Boston Patriots were one of the eight original American Football League franchises. They were owned originally by the Sullivan Brothers.
–The team had four different home-field venues during the AFL years. The site included noted baseball stadium, Fenway Park, before the team moved into a stadium in Foxborough, Mass., which is located halfway between Boston and Providence, and changing its name to the New England Patriots in 1971. The team moved from Foxborough Stadium (also called Schaefer Stadium and Sullivan Stadium) to Gillette Stadium in 2002.
–The team has made a total of 25 postseason appearances (same as the 85-year-old Philadelphia Eagles) in their 58 full seasons. The Patriots have won 20 division titles, including the last nine straight AFC East crowns (tying an NFL record) and 14 first-place finishes over the last 15 years. In 1963, the franchise lost the AFL title game to San Diego. New England also has set new league records with seven straight AFC Championship Game appearances and ten Super Bowl appearances (5-4 record). Ironically, a fifth Super Bowl loss would give the Pats the record for the most defeats, breaking the record it now holds with Buffalo and Minnesota (0-4 each).
–The Patriots have made eight Super Bowls under head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. But let’s not forget that the Pats played in the big game twice before then, losing Super Bowls XX (to Chicago) and XXXI (to Green Bay). The team became the first AFC team to win three in a four-year span by taking Super Bowls XXXVI (over St. Louis), XXXVIII (Carolina) and XXXIX (Philadephia). New England has a chance to match that feat with another win over the Eagles in the upcoming game. The Patriots can also be the first win to back-to-back Super Bowls since they accomplished that fete with wins over the Panthers and Eagles.
–New England has played 53 postseason games in its history, the NFL’s fourth-most. Since 1994 it has racked up a regular-season win-percentage of .698–the best of any team in any of the four major American pro sports leagues. The team’s 34 postseason wins are just two behind Pittsburgh for the NFL record. The franchise also had four postseason wins after trailing by double-digit margins in the fourth quarter. No other team has more than one such victory.
–The Pats enter their seventh Super Bowl as the top AFC seed (3-3). Fifty of its players have postseason experience.
–-The AFC champion is the designated home team for an odd-numbered Super Bowl, so the Patriots will occupy the far-side bench (as viewed from the main TV camera), and the team logo will be painted in the right-side end zone. As the home team, the Patriots had jersey choice for this game, but instead of choosing dark jerseys (as most teams with the choice have done), they will wear white tops. Teams wearing white have won 12 of the last 13 Super Bowls–regardless of whether they had the choice or not. New England has a 3-1 record lifetime when wearing white at the game.
–This season, the Patriots reeled off an eight-game midseason winning streak and also won five of seven games decided by one score. They outscored their opposition in every quarter and tied Philadelphia for the league’s best scoring differential. The Pats were especially dominant in the second quarter (179-98). They averaged nearly six yards per offensive play, scored 16 rushing touchdowns and notched 50 first downs via opponents’ penalties.
–With only 18 takeaways on defense, New England was one of ten teams that created less than 20 turnovers. But the team only lost four fumbles all year, tied for the second-fewest. Brady threw only eight interceptions, but that was his highest total since 2014. New England was one of only seven teams to have fewer than ten passes picked off.
–The Patriots were flagged for the league’s seventh-fewest penalties, including just 15 false-start calls and 11 offensive holding penalties. They were called for delay of game just three times.
–The Patriots had the league’s tenth-best third-down conversion rate, moving the chains at a 40.6 percent pace. In the red zone, New England scored touchdowns at a 60 percent pace, the NFL’s fifth-best unit. Defensively, the Patriots weren’t quite as good on third-down plays. They allowed conversions nearly 40 percent of the time but, in the red zone, the team allowed touchdowns 43.7 percent of the time–the league’s fourth-best rate. The Patriots possessed the football for an average of 30:37 per game, 11th-best in the league.
–Head coach Bill Belichick (regular season of 239-83) has been the Patriots’ head coach since 2000. He’s the longest current-tenured coach in the league and is the 15th head coach in franchise history. His 28 postseason wins are an NFL head-coaching record, and he will achieve a record 11th Super Bowl appearance (as either a head or assistant coach). Belichick is an Annapolis High grad who began his career in the mid-70s as a low-level Baltimore Colts assistant. Father, Steve, was a Naval Academy assistant coach.
–Notable assistants have served on Belichick’s staff. They include former Maryland assistant Brendan Daly (defensive line), Josh McDaniels (offensive coordinator), who is slated to become the Indianapolis Colts’ next head coach, and Matt Patricia (defensive coordinator), who will become the Detroit Lions’ next leader.
–Brady, fresh off his 13th Pro Bowl season, is heading for his eighth Super Bowl–the most by any quarterback and the most appearances by any player. He now outdistances Denver defensive lineman Mike Lodish (six). Brady, who is tied with Dallas Cowboys linebacker Charles Haley for the most Super Bowl wins (five), has four Super Bowl MVP awards.
—This season Brady completed 66 percent of his passes and led the league in pass attempts (581) and passing yards (4577). Brady also has flourished in close postseason games, winning eight games with fourth-quarter rallies. In seven previous Super Bowls, he has 15 touchdown passes, five interceptions and a 95.5 rating.
–The Patriots’ running attack is paced by 5-foot-8, six-year veteran Dion Lewis, who gained 896 yards, averaged five yards a carry, and scored six touchdowns. However, the multi-faceted ground game also features ex-Buffalo Bills back Mike Gillislee, as well as former Cincinnati Bengals runner Rex Burkhead, who scored five touchdowns each. James White, who scored last year’s Super Bowl overtime game-winning touchdown only got 43 carries this year. But caught 56 passes out of the backfield and scored three touchdowns. All told, Patriots running backs have scored an NFL-best nine receiving touchdowns.
–Tight end Rob Gronkowski, who did not play in last year’s Super Bowl, has been held out of early practices with a concussion and could miss this year’s game, too. He led the Patriots with 69 catches and eight receiving touchdowns, averaging 15 yards per reception. Former New Orleans Saints wideout Brandin Cooks led the wideouts with 65 catches and seven scores, averaging 16 yards per catch. Slot man Danny Amendola was a close third on the team with 61 receptions and a pair of touchdowns. Amendola has 18 postseason catches with two more scores. Former lacrosse player Chris Hogan had only 34 receptions, but he has scored five times.
–Left tackle Nate Solder, in his seventh year, is the most experienced member of the Patriots’ offensive line–a line that allowed 35 quarterback sacks during the regular season, but has had only three sacks in two postseason games. Right tackle Cameron Fleming is in his fourth NFL season, but the rest of the line is rather inexperienced. David Andrews (center) and Shaq Mason (right guard) are in their third seasons. Left guard Joe Thuney is in his second campaign.
–Defensive end Trey Flowers leads the Patriots with 24 quarterback hits and 6.5 sacks. It’s part of the team’s total of 42 takedowns (tied for seventh-most). Flowers also had a unit-high total of 61 tackles, three more than defensive tackle and former Ravens defensive end, Lawrence Guy, who contributed one sack. Also starting along the line are tackle Malcolm Brown (49 tackles, 2.5 sacks, five quarterback hits) and end Eric Lee (3.5 sacks, one interception). The unit is deep and experienced. NFL veterans Alan Branch and Ricky Jean-Francois are listed as backups.
–-Belichick, a defensive-oriented head coach, has been regarded as a master of disguising defensive schemes. On his depth chart, he deploys just two linebackers in his base defense–fourth-year player Kyle Van Noy and second-year man Elandon Roberts. However, former New York Jets veteran David Harris and longtime Pittsburgh Steelers veteran James Harrison, are two of the backups. Van Noy is third on the team with 73 tackles (5.5 sacks, nine quarterback hits) and Roberts is fourth with 67 (two sacks).
–According to the Pats’ depth chart, the base scheme includes a nickel defense with three safeties deployed. They include veterans Patrick Chung and Devin McCourty, as well as the unheralded Duron Harmon, who leads the team with four of the team’s 12 interceptions. McCourty is the leading tackler with 94 and Chung is next with 79 and nine pass breakups. Cornerbacks Stephen Gilmore and Malcolm Butler, the last-minute hero of Super Bowl XLIX, have two interceptions each and have combined for 21 pass breakups. Butler has a team-high 12, along with three forced fumbles.
–The Patriots’ special-team units ranked third in the annual Gosselin rankings. Longtime placekicker Stephen Gostkowski hasn’t missed a field-goal from inside 40 yards in three years, and he has just three such misses in his last five seasons. This year he did miss two extra points, but was 37-for-40 on field goals. Gostkowski has 32 postseason field goals, tied for the third-most all-time, and 171 total postseason points, which is good for third on the all-time list. Fifth-year punter Ryan Allen had only three touchbacks in 58 punts, netting only 40 yards per boot. Navy product Joe Cardona is the team’s long snapper.
–Amendola is the team’s main punt returner, averaging over eight yards per runback on 27 returns. However, he did have 18 regular-season fair catches. Lewis is the kick returner with a 24-yard average, including a 103-yard touchdown. The Patriots’ coverage teams have been very good, allowing only 4.6 yards per punt return and 18 yards for each kick runback.
–Nine different Patriots have at least five special-teams tackles, led by ex-Cleveland Brown coverage man and wide receiver Johnson Bademosi with nine. Notching eight tackles each are Brandon King, Brandon Bolden and Nate Ebner, while Jonathan Jones and perennial Pro Bowl pick Matthew Slater have seven apiece.
