October 31, 2004: The NFL's Longest Winning Streak Ends

Ben Roethlisberger (left) and Tom Brady

October 31, 2004: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New England Patriots, 34-20 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh. This ends the longest winning streak in NFL history.

Coached by Bill Belichick, the Patriots surprised the football world in the 2001 season, losing starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe to injury early, and then replacing him with Tom Brady, and going on a run that ended with victory over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. After missing the Playoffs in the 2002 season, they won it all again for 2003.

On September 28, they lost away to the Washington Redskins, and ran the table the rest of the way, starting on October 5, home to the Tennessee Titans. They won their last 12 of the season, beat the Titans again in the AFC Divisional Playoff, beat the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game, and beat the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl XXXVIII. That made 15 straight wins.

They won their 1st preseason exhibition game, then lost their next 3, but that didn't break the official streak. They jumped out to a 6-0 start in 2004, for a total of 21 straight wins. The previous longest winning streak belonged to the 1972 and '73 Miami Dolphins: After losing Super Bowl VI, they went 14-0 in the '72 regular season, won the Super Bowl to complete the NFL's only undefeated full season to this day, and won their '73 opener before losing their 2nd game, for a total of 18 straight. The Patriots' 19th straight was their October 10, 2004 home win over, perhaps appropriately, the Dolphins.

Two Sundays later, on October 24, a concurrent streak, the longest unbeaten run in the history of top-flight English soccer, came to an end, as Arsenal, who had gone 49 Premier League games without a loss, were defeated by Manchester United. The Patriots won that day, beating the New York Jets, 13-7 at home, for 21 straight.

But on the afternoon of Halloween, they went into Pittsburgh for a tough one. Patriots vs. Steelers is not one of the NFL's bigger rivalries, but the Pats had eliminated the Steelers from the Playoffs in 1996 (when the quarterbacks were still Bledsoe for New England and Kordell Stewart for Pittsburgh) and 2001, with the Steelers beating the Patriots in 1997. Now, with Ben Roethlisberger as their quarterback, the Black & Gold were ready to take the defending Champions down.

Adam Vinatieri kicked a field goal to give the Pats an early lead, but a season-ending injury to Ty Law was a green light for Roethlisberger, as he exploited the new weakness for 2 touchdown passes. Deshea Townsend intercepted Brady and returned it for a touchdown, giving the Steelers a 21-3 lead before the 1st quarter ran out.

The Steelers then pounded the Pats with the running game, with Duce Staley gaining 125 yards and Jerome Bettis 65 plus a 3rd-quarter touchdown. The Steelers won, 34-20, and looked ready to take over as the leading team in the AFC.

It didn't happen: The Steelers hosted the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, and got lit up, 41-27. The Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX, beating the Philadelphia Eagles. The Steelers won 3 of the next 5 AFC Championships, but, each time, the Patriots got knocked out before the Steelers had to face them. The Patriots beat the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game again in the 2016 season.

Did the Patriots cheat in their streak? Did they cheat in Super Bowl XXXIX? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

*

October 31, 2004 was a Sunday. The baseball season ended 4 days earlier, with the Boston Red Sox ending their 86-year World Series drought by completing a 4-game sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals. The NBA season started 2 days later. And the NHL team owners had locked the players out, eventually leading to the cancellation of the entire season.

These other NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Minnesota Vikings, 34-13 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Baltimore Ravens, 15-10 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 28-14 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tennessee Titans beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-20 at The Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-6 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions, 31-21 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Arizona Cardinals, 38-14 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Chicago Bears beat the San Francisco 49ers, 23-13 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Indianapolis Colts, 45-35 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Denver Broncos, 41-28 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Field at Mile High) in Denver.

* The San Diego Chargers beat their arch-rivals, the Oakland Raiders, 42-14 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers, 23-17 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* The next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins, 41-14 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* And the Cleveland Browns, the New Orleans Saints, the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a bye week.

September 10, 2007: Spygate: The New England Patriots' 1st Time Caught Cheating

September 10, 2007: For the 1st time, the New England Patriots, their head coach Bill Belichick, and their quarterback Tom Brady get busted for cheating. It becomes known as "Spygate."

The day before, the Patriots had beaten the the New York Jets, 38-14 at Giants Stadium, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in the New York suburb of East Rutherford, New Jersey. During the game, the Patriots videotaped members of the Jets' coaching staff.

Videotaping opposing coaches is not illegal in the NFL, per se. However, there are designated areas allowed by the league to do such taping. Because the Patriots were instead videotaping the Jets' coaches from their own sideline during the game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deemed it to be in violation of league rules, stating that the act represented a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid long-standing rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field.

After an investigation, the NFL fined Patriots head coach Bill Belichick $500,000 (the maximum allowed by the league, and the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league's history) for his role in the incident; fined the Patriots as a team $250,000; and docked the team their original 1st-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft, which would have been the 31st pick of the draft.

The investigation revealed that Belichick had been engaged in the practice since he became head coach of the Patriots in 2000. Goodell said Belichick told him he believed he was operating within the rules, as long as the tape was not used during the same game.

In other words, unlike the the baseball team with whom he shared a metropolitan area, the Boston Red Sox, when Belichick was caught cheating, he basically admitted it, but said it was okay. The man has guts, I'll give him that.

A few months later, the Boston Herald printed a story that the Patriots had taped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI, which resulted in the Pats' 1st Super Bowl win. This, Belichick denied, and the Herald ended up printing a retraction.

Who's kidding who? There would later be a Spygate II, and a Deflategate, which was apparently led by quarterback Tom Brady, without Belichick's knowledge. But even if Belichick didn't know about it, which is laughable, he had created a culture of cheating that led his players to believe that anything was legal, as long as you didn't get caught.

The Patriots, like the Red Sox, had forfeited the presumption of innocence. And, since Brady subsequently won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for which cheating has not yet been substantively alleged, and the Patriots have struggled a bit since Brady left, and Belichick hadn't done too well as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns before coming to Foxborough in 2000, it could be argued that we saw "the real Belichick" in Cleveland.

So who's the real King of the Cheaters? Belichick? Brady? Patriots team owner Robert Kraft? We may never know.

What we do know is that, with a culture of cheating embedded, not one single game won by the New England Patriots since Belichick became head coach -- including all 6 Super Bowl wins -- can be taken seriously.

Now, you can argue that the Patriots would have won those games anyway. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

*

September 10, 2007 was a Monday. This was also the day that, in support of troubled pop singer Britney Spears, Chris Crocker posted the "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" video. I have a separate entry for that event.

The NFL held 2 Monday Night Football games. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-20 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati. And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 20-17 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Óliver Pérez outpitched Tim Hudson. David Wright hit a home run.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Scott Kazmir pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the shutout with no more hits. David Ortiz appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Ryan Howard doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Florida Marlins, 5-4 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat Milwaukee Brewers, 9-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Tony Armas Jr. pitched 6 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the 4-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Yes, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day; no, they didn't both win.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Bengie Molina hit 2 home runs for the Giants. Barry Bonds, in his last month as an active player, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5.

* And the New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds, the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled to play. 

May 11, 2015: Deflategate

May 11, 2015: The New England Patriots became the 1st major league sports team ever to break the power of its league's Commissioner.

The Pats had already flouted the law before, with "Sypgate." Surely, quarterback Tom Brady had benefited from the cheating of his head coach, Bill Belichick. But when "Deflategate" happened, it appeared to be only on Brady, not Belichick.

On January 18, 2015, the AFC Championship Game was played, at Patriots' home field, Gillette Stadium, in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. The game was no contest: The Pats won, 45-7. So any accusation of cheating seemed petty. (Of course, they went on to win Super Bowl XLIX, beating the Seattle Seahawks because coach Pete Carroll called a pass on 3rd & goal at the 1.)

But after the game, claims emerged that the Patriots had used under-inflated footballs, presumably to Brady's advantage. The results of the NFL's investigation, and possible sanctions against the Patriots, concluded on May 11, with Commissioner Roger Goodell suspending Brady for the 1st 4 games of the 2015 season, and the Patriots forfeiting their 1st and 4th round draft picks in the 2016 and 2017 NFL Drafts, respectively.

Four games, for cheating your way into the Super Bowl. That day, I wrote the following on Facebook:

Roger Goodell is a coward. Four games was the absolute minimum he could have given Tom Brady and still looked like he was doing his job.

In college football, we've seen teams stripped of conference and even national championships, and made ineligible for subsequent ones, for cheating to win them.

I expected milquetoast reactions toward cheating teams, coaches and players from Bud Selig (ex-MLB), David Stern (ex-NBA) and Gary Bettman (still making a mockery of the NHL). The NFL is supposed to be different. The NFL is a league where you get a big fine if you so much as wear your socks wrong. But cheat to win a championship, and you get FOUR GAMES? Where's Kenesaw Mountain Landis when you need him?

It's like I said the other day, when the Rangers got caught by the cameras, but not the officials, with too many men on the ice for a key goal: What's the point of having a rule if you're not going enforce it when you've got proof it's been broken? Especially when you consider who the Pats beat: Pete Carroll, who had a national championship taken away for cheating. Since when are a bunch of college presidents more dangerous to cross than the commissioner of the National Football League?

It got worse. On May 14, the players' union, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), filed an appeal on Brady's behalf. That's understandable: The union has to stand up for its players as best it can. On May 26, Patriots fans held a "Free Brady" rally at Gillette Stadium. This was also understandable: Fans do tend to stand up to their players when they believe their players have been wronged. But it was unacceptable: It meant that Pats fans were okay with cheating.

On June 23, Brady appealed his suspension before Goodell at the NFL office in New York. On July 28, Goodell announced that the 4-game suspension would stand. On July 29, the NFLPA announced that it had filed an injunction that would prevent the NFL from enforcing the suspension.

On September 3, just 7 days before the start of the Patriots' regular season, Judge Richard M. Berman overturned Brady's suspension, citing a lack of fair due process for him. The NFL announced that it would appeal the decision. Until it was decided, Brady could play. Brady played the entire 2015 regular season, and he got the Patriots into the AFC Championship Game, which they lost to the Denver Broncos.

On April 25, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated Brady's 4-game suspension, starting with the start of the 2016 regular season. With Jimmy Garoppolo as quarterback, the Pats won their 1st 3 games, before losing their 4th. Then Brady came back, and they finished 14-2, and won Super Bowl LI.

So the suspension ended up being meaningless: It was minor; it got delayed; the Patriots won a Super Bowl, anyway; and it all combined to make Goodell look like the weakest Commissioner in memory in any sport.

It also deepened the message sent by other sports: Cheating is okay if a New England team does it.

Now, you can argue that the Patriots would have won those games anyway. But think of it this way: We have more investigated-and-proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have investigated-and-proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

UPDATE: On February 16, 2024, it was announced that Garoppolo, by then with the Las Vegas Raiders, would miss the 1st 2 games of the next season, for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Brady's backup, caught cheating. Gee, what a surprise. And yet, Brady's suspension for stealing a Super Bowl berth, and thus also the Super Bowl win, was only twice as long as Garoppolo's suspension for PEDs. Where's the fairness? I stand by everything I wrote in 2015, and I stand by what I wrote in this update.

*

May 11, 2015 was a Monday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards, 106-101 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. And the Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 101-84 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

And these 10 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 11-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was CC Sabathia's 1st win of the season, after losing his 1st 5 decisions. He was supported by home runs from Alex Rodriguez, Chase Headley, Carlos Beltrán, Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Jon Lester was the winning pitcher. Jacob deGrom only lasted 5 innings.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-7 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). Pablo Sandoval was a bust signing for the BoSox, but he won this game with a home run leading off the top of the 11th inning.

February 6, 2005: Brady vs. McNabb

February 6, 2005: Super Bowl XXXIX is held at what was then named Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. (It's now Everbank Stadium.) The smallest metropolitan area ever to host a Super Bowl, J-ville was plagued with hotel, traffic and stadium issues, and is unlikely to ever host another.

The New England Patriots were going for their 3rd Super Bowl win in the last 4 seasons. In the 1st one, they were plucky underdogs that the whole nation could get behind. Now, people were starting to get sick of them. The fact that their neighbors, the Boston Red Sox, had won the World Series the preceding October 27, and their fans were acting sorer as winners than they ever were as losers, made it worse.

The Philadelphia Eagles were in their 4th straight NFC Championship Game, and had finally won it, to advance to their 1st Super Bowl in 24 years. Philadelphia vs. Boston had never been much of a rivalry in the outdoor sports of baseball and football, but was a major one in the indoor sports of basketball and hockey. Due to differences of league alignments, which have usually (but not always) been by geography, this would be the 1st NFL championship game, under any name, between teams from those metropolitan areas; and the 1st final in any sport since 1974, when the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

The 1st quarter ended scoreless. The Eagles struck first, early in the 2nd quarter, when Donovan McNabb threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to L.J. Smith. Late in the quarter, Tom Brady threw a 4-yard pass to David Givens, and the game was tied 7-7 as the halftime show was played by former Beatle Paul McCartney.

The teams traded touchdown passes again in the 3rd quarter, Brady 2 yards to Mike Vrabel, a linebacker lining up at tight end; and McNabb 10 yards to Brian Westbrook. It was 14-14 after 3 quarters. The Patriots took the lead in the 4th quarter, with a 2-yard touchdown run by Corey Dillon and a 22-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, 24-14.

The Eagles had been boosted by the return from injury of Terrell Owens, who had, as he usually did, run his mouth plenty before the game. McNabb's throws to Owens helped set up a 30-yard pass to Greg Lewis, bringing the Eagles to within 24-21 with 1:48 to go. The drive took 3 minutes and 52 seconds, and Eagles coach Andy Reid was later criticized for his poor clock management.

Three of McNabb's teammates -- Jon Ritchie, Lito Sheppard and Hank Fraley -- went on record saying that, during that series, McNabb was throwing up. The video evidence proves that he wasn't, and Westbrook said that McNabb was only coughing. Though some Eagles fans, using their racism to scapegoat McNabb, forgetting that Randall Cunningham had preceded him as a black quarterback for the Eagles, have said he "choked" under the pressure.

The Eagles failed to recover their ensuing onside kick attempt, and had to use up all their timeouts as the Patriots ran the ball. A punt left the Eagles with the ball at their own 4-yard line with 46 seconds left. They needed at least 55 yards to get into David Akers' field goal range.

On 1st down from his own end zone, McNabb was pressured into making a rushed pass to Westbrook at the line of scrimmage. Instead of dropping the pass to stop the clock, Westbrook made the mistake of catching the ball, and was immediately tackled for no gain by Phifer, keeping the clock running, and forcing the Eagles to run back to the line of scrimmage for their next play with no huddle.

On 2nd down, McNabb threw an incomplete pass intended for Owens. On 3rd down, McNabb threw a pass that deflected off of the outstretched fingertips of Smith, and into the arms of Rodney Harrison for an interception with 9 seconds left.

The Patriots had won. It was 3 Super Bowl wins in 4 years, matching the achievement of the 1993-96 Dallas Cowboys. Sports Illustrated named Brady their Sportsman of the Year for 2005

It would be 2 more years before head coach Bill Belichick and his Patriots were exposed as cheaters, and another 11 years after that before the Eagles got their revenge, finally winning a Super Bowl, by beating the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. It would be 2 more years before Reid, as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, won Super Bowl LIV.

UPDATE: In spite of the 2001-08 Eagles' failure to win a Super Bowl despite 5 trips to the NFC Championship Game and 1 to the Super Bowl itself, the following players from that era have been elected to their team Hall of Fame through the 2025 season: Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent, Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Jeremiah Trotter, David Akers, Tra Thomas, Jon Runyan, Hugh Douglas, Trent Cole; plus defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, ticket manager Leo Carlin, and broadcaster Merrill Reese. But head coach Andy Reid, thus far, has not been elected.

Dawkins, Vincent, McNabb, Westbrook, Trotter, Akers, Reese, and Veterans Stadium and former Lincoln Financial Field public address announcer Dan Baker have also been elected to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

From the years between the Super Bowl XXXIX loss and the long-awaited win in Super Bowl LII, the Eagles have elected LeSean McCoy and Malcolm Jenkins -- and Reese. Not enough time has passed for anyone to be honored from Super Bowls LII and LIX -- except, of course, Reese.

*

February 6, 2005 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NHL season was canceled over the team owners' greed. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 106-104 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 103-102 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Toronto Raptors, 122-113 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* And the Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 103-100 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

February 3, 2002: The New England Patriots' Underdog Win

February 3, 2002: Super Bowl XXXVI is played at the Superdome in New Orleans. Remember when the New England Patriots were considered plucky underdogs, and their opponents were arrogant swellheads? Never again.

The Patriots were founded as the Boston Patriots in 1960, with the American Football League. In 1963, they won the AFL Eastern Division title, but got clobbered by the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship Game. They bounced around from stadium to stadium, playing at Boston University's Nickerson Field, Boston College's Alumni Stadium, Harvard Stadium and Fenway Park.

In 1971, their 2nd season after the NFL merged with the AFL, they moved to suburban Foxborough, Massachusetts, a little closer to downtown Providence, Rhode Island than to downtown Boston. To tap into a regional identity -- something the Red Sox, the Celtics and the Bruins never found it necessary to do -- they changed their name to the New England Patriots.

In 1976, after 9 seasons seasons finishing .500 or less, they went 11-3, and won the AFC's Wild Card Playoff berth. But they lost the Divisional Playoff to the Oakland Raiders, in controversial fashion. In 1978, they won the AFC East, but lost the Divisional Playoff to the Houston Oilers. In 1982, they made the Playoffs, but lost to the Miami Dolphins in the 1st Round.

In the 1985 season, they did something no other NFL team had done: They won 3 Playoff games on the road to advance to the Super Bowl. (Only 1 team has done it since: The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers.) They beat the New York Jets at the Meadowlands, the now-moved Raiders at the Los Angeles Coliseum, and the Dolphins at the Orange Bowl. But they got slaughtered by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX.

 

After a Division title and a Divisional Playoff loss to the Denver Broncos in the 1986 season, the Pats collapsed, falling into mediocrity on the field and disgrace off it. New ownership hired Bill Parcells to rebuild the team. He got them into the Playoffs in 1994, losing to the Cleveland Browns. In 1996, he got them to an AFC East title, and into Super Bowl XXXI, where they lost to the Green Bay Packers. This was followed by another Division title in 1997, and another Playoff berth in 1998.

In 2000, Bill Belichick was named head coach. He had been Parcells' defensive coordinator with the Patriots, and with both New York teams, the Giants and the Jets. But as a head coach, he had already failed with the Browns. But in just his 2nd season at the helm, he got them to 11-5 and the AFC East title.

The key game was the 2nd of the year. Mo Lewis of the Jets injured quarterback Drew Bledsoe on a tackle. In came Tom Brady, drafted in the 6th round, and not hyped much. After a 5-5 start, the Pats won their last 6 regular season games.

The Divisional Playoff was the last game played at Foxboro Stadium, as what became Gillette Stadium was being built next-door. In a blizzard, the "Tuck Rule" helped the Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders, 16-13, on an overtime field goal by Adam Vinatieri. The following week, they won away to the Pittsburgh Steelers, earning them a berth in Super Bowl XXXVI.

They would play the St. Louis Rams, whose passing attack, led by Kurt Warner, was known as "The Greatest Show On Turf." They had won the Super Bowl just 2 years earlier. They were 14-2, their only losses being by 3 at home to the New Orleans Saints, and by 7 at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They had beaten the Packers in the Divisional Round and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.

They were talking big. They were talking dynasty. They were favored by 14 points, and they were talking like a team that deserved to be.

Boston had won 6 World Series, although none since 1918; 5 Stanley Cups, although none since 1972; and a record 16 NBA Championships, although none since 1986. The city had never won one in football. This was their chance to do so. Since the Celtics' 1986 title, Boston teams had gone 0-7 in finals, including the Patriots' loss in Super Bowl XXXI. New England needed a win.

The Rams' offensive starters were introduced first. Then the Patriots were introduced, collectively rather than individually. Trying to show that they were a team, rather than a collection of stars. Little did we know that one of them would become the biggest football star of their generation.

The Rams scored first, a 50-yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins. But in the 2nd quarter, the Patriots were really pressuring Kurt Warner. And after a 3rd-down incompletion, I saw a look in Warner's eyes. I'd previously seen that look in the eyes of Dan Marino, Tony Eason, John Elway, Jim Kelly, Neil O'Donnell and Kerry Collins. It was the look of a quarterback who knew he was going to lose the Super Bowl. And the Rams were still winning at this point. They were forced to try another long field goal attempt by Wilkins, this time from 52 yards out. It was long enough, but wide left.

On their next drive, Warner was intercepted by Ty Law, who took it in 47 yards to give the Pats a 7-3 lead. A Warner pass to Ricky Proehl was turned into a fumble by Antwan Harris, and Terrell Buckley recovered it. Brady took over, and in the last minute of the half, threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to David Patten. It was 14-3 New England.

After an emotional halftime show by U2, the 3rd quarter was comparatively dull. But Otis Smith intercepted Warner to set up a 37-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

This was before social media: We had Internet chat rooms and message boards, but no Facebook or Twitter. Still, there seemed to be a feeling around the country that, the longer the Patriots held the lead over the heavily favored Rams, the more surprised people got. Not me: I was getting less and less surprised. The Patriots had dominated the game. Even while they were down 3-0, they looked like the better team.

Then came the kind of comeback that would, over the next 20 years, come to be expected from the Patriots and (and, later, or) Brady. The kind that, if it was the Patriots (and/or Brady), would make you wonder if they were cheating again. At this point, we had no reason to suspect the Patriots (and/or Brady) of cheating. In hindsight, maybe they were, but it stopped working.

The Rams got to the Patriots' 3-yard line. On 4th & goal, needing 2 touchdowns in the last 10 minutes, they decided to go for it. Warner couldn't find anyone open, and was hit by Roman Phifer, and fumbled. Tebucky Jones picked it up, and took it back 97 yards for a touchdown. But the main reason no one was open was that Willie McGinest had committed a holding penalty on Marshall Faulk, preventing him from becoming an eligible receiver. The Rams got a new set of downs, and Warner scored on a quarterback sneak. The Rams were within 17-10 with 9:31.

With 1:51 left, the Rams had one more drive, starting on their own 45. Warner threw 18 yards to Az-Zahir Hakim, 11 to Yo Murphy, and 26 yards to Proehl for a touchdown. With 1:30 left in regulation, it was 17-17.

The question now was, How would the less experienced Patriots respond to blowing a 2-touchdown 4th quarter lead, with no timeouts left? The answer turned out to be, "Very well." Brady got the Patriots a little closer, a little closer, and a little closer. The key play was a 23-yard pass to Troy Brown. With 7 seconds left, they were in position for Vinatieri to kick a 48-yard field goal.

Three weeks earlier, in the cold, snow and wind of Foxboro Stadium, Vinatieri had made a game-winning field goal in overtime. This time, he was inside the Superdome, with no weather at all. If he failed, it was overtime. If he succeeded, he was a New England hero forever.

The kick was perfect. Final score: New England 20, St. Louis 17. The Patriots were World Champions for the 1st time. And, except in the St. Louis area, hardly anybody begrudged them this. They were the plucky underdogs that everybody could like.

Just like the University of Miami football team was in the 1984 Orange Bowl. Just like the Duke basketball team was in the 1991 Final Four. Just like the Atlanta Braves were in the 1991 baseball postseason. Just like Manchester United were in the 1992-93 Premier League season. Just like the Yankees were in the 1996 baseball postseason. Just like the Boston Red Sox were in the 2004 baseball postseason. Just like the Houston Astros were in the 2017 baseball postseason. Just like the Kansas City Chiefs were in Super Bowl LIV. Things change.

Brady was named the game's Most Valuable Player. As had been custom since Super Bowl XXI, the Super Bowl MVP was invited to do an "I'm going to Disney World!" commercial and participate in a parade at Walt Disney World. First, Brady had to get Belichick's permission to miss the team flight back home, and instead fly from New Orleans to Orlando.

Belichick looked at Brady as if he'd just heard the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. As if he was going to tell Brady, "No, practice is tomorrow in Foxborough, at 9 AM." Finally, he said, "Of course, you can go. How many times do you win the Super Bowl?"

If they only knew.

When the Patriots got back to Boston, there was a celebration at City Hall. And Larry Izzo, a backup linebacker who didn't have much more to do with the win than Mayor Tom Menino did, picked up the Vince Lombardi Trophy, held it up, and started a chant, which the crowd picked up: "Yankees suck! Yankees suck! Yankees suck!"

The Patriots did not beat the Yankees -- or any other New York team.

Seeing this, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote, "I guarantee you: If the Giants win the Super Bowl, nobody is going to be saying, 'Boston sucks!'"

Six years later, after 2 more Patriot Super Bowl wins, and an epic Red Sox Playoff win over the Yankees, when the New York Giants took on an 18-0 Patriots team in Super Bowl XLII, and won, Shaughnessy was proven wrong.

Years later, after "Deflategate," there was an accusation that the Patriots had illegally taped the Rams in this game, published in the Boston Herald, suggesting that the Patriots had been cheating from the beginning of their dynasty. The Herald got sued, and later issued a retraction.

But think of it this way: We have more investigated-and-proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have investigated-and-proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 20th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

UPDATE: The Patriots have a team Hall of Fame. From their 2000s dynasty: Quarterback Tom Brady, running back Kevin Faulk, receiver Troy Brown, tackle Matt Light, defensive end Richard Seymour, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork; linebackers Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest and Mike Vrabel; cornerback Ty Law, safety Rodney Harrison; assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia, cheerleading director Tracy Sormanti; and broadcasters Cappelletti and Santos.

Bill Belichick, who coached the Patriots to all 6 Super Bowl wins, is not yet in this Hall of Fame. Vrabel returned to coach the Patriots to the 2025 AFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl LX.

*

February 3, 2002 was a Sunday. The Super Bowl was the only football game played that day. Baseball was out of season. And the NHL held its All-Star Game the day before, at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. A North America team (4 Americans and 17 Canadians) captained by Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche lost to a "World" team (all 21 were Europeans, captained by Mats Sundin of Sweden), 8-5.

The NBA went against their usual policy of caving in to the long hours of Super Bowl programming, and only scheduling 1 or 2 games, usually involving a rivalry, and instead scheduled 9 games:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Miami Heat, 94-83 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 104-91 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-89 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Orlando Magic, 105-98 at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 97-79 at the Great American Pyramid in Memphis.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 101-94 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-107 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 98-97 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named The Arena in Oakland).

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls, 101-96 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

February 1, 2015: Pete Carroll Calls a Pass

February 1, 2015: Super Bowl XLIX is played at University of Phoenix Stadium -- now named State Farm Stadium -- in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Over 114 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch it, making it the most-watched television program in American history.

The defending Champion Seattle Seahawks had a 10-point lead with 8 minutes left in regulation, and blew it. The New England Patriots took a 28-24 lead with 2:02 left. Quarterback Russell Wilson drove the Hawks to the Patriot 1-yard line with 26 seconds to go.

With the ball there, the call seemed obvious: A running play. Possibly Wilson on a quarterback sneak, like Bart Starr to win the 1967 NFL Championship Game, the Ice Bowl, for the Green Bay Packers. Or a handoff to Marshawn Lynch, the running back known as "Beast Mode," a 5-time Pro Bowler, who had already scored a touchdown in the game, and had gotten the ball 4 yards to the 1-yard line on the previous play.

Instead, Seahawk head coach Pete Carroll called for a pass, from Wilson to Ricardo Lockette. Patriot cornerback Malcolm Butler correctly figured out that Lockette was the target, and intercepted the pass. The Patriots won the game.

It's hard to imagine now, with Ohio State University having had Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and winning National Championships with a great passing game, but there was a time, in the 1960s and '70s, when their head coach was Woody Hayes. Famous for a running game described as "Three yards and a cloud of dust," he was known for hating the forward pass enough to say, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad." Meaning an incomplete pass and an interception.

Malcolm Butler clinched victory for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX with the most famous interception in football history.

Cris Collinsworth, a 3-time Pro Bowler who had played in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII for the Cincinnati Bengals, was broadcasting the game for NBC, and spoke for so many people watching:

I'm sorry, but I can't believe the call... You've got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. You've got a guy that has been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can't believe the call...

If I lose the Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get it in from the 1-yard line, so be it. So be it! But there is no way.

He was absolutely right: You tell the other team, "Here he comes. Try to stop him." If they can't, that's expected, and you win. If they can, then they've earned their victory. To use an analogy from another sport, they've hit your best pitch.

Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, analyzing the game for CBS, called it "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Peter King, the main football writer for Sports Illustrated, and a winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Dick McCann Award for writers, used the exact same words: "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, went even further, calling it "the worst play call in the history of football."

So that's, effectively, 3 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 3 guys who really know football -- one on offense, one on defense, and one watching from above -- saying it was a bad call, essentially blaming Pete Carroll for throwing away back-to-back wins in the Super Bowl, a rare achievement, and possibly Carroll's own eventual election to the Hall -- and maybe also Wilson's.

Is there any way to defend the call? Not really. Is there any way to say that Carroll shouldn't be blamed for the loss? Yes. Can any such way be taken seriously? Well, Wilson could have said, "This is a bad call. I'm calling a different play in the huddle." He could have shown the leadership that a great quarterback would show. He didn't.

We can also give Butler credit for pulling off the key play. Then there's the Seahawks' offense. Their 20 1st downs wasn't that bad, compared to the Pats' 25. But they were only 3-for-10 on 3rd down, compared to the Pats' 8-for-14. They also committed more penalties, 7-5, for twice as many yards, 70-36. And had less time of possession, 26:14 to 33:46.

It took them 20 minutes and 13 seconds to get their 1st score. Their last score came with 19 minutes and 54 seconds to go. They blew a 10-point lead, and they blew it with 8 minutes to go. Blowing a 10-point lead tied what was then a Super Bowl record. It would be eclipsed 2 years later by the Atlanta Falcons -- also against the Patriots. Hmmmm...

Did they cheat in this game? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 8th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

UPDATE: Lynch retired after the 2019 season. He became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2025. Carroll and the Seahawks parted ways after the 2023 season. He is eligible for the Hall of Fame, but is not in. During the 2024-25 Playoffs, he was named head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

In Seattle, he outlasted Wilson, whom he traded to the Denver Broncos in 2022. It was a disaster, and he was released after 2 years. For the 2024 season, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was 7-2 in postseason games before Carroll called that pass, but has been 1-6 afterward.

On February 12, 2023, Super Bowl LVII broke this game's record for highest U.S. television audience: 115.1 million watched on Fox. The next year, on February 11, 2024, Super Bowl LVIII broke the record: 123.7 million watched on CBS. Both times, it was almost certainly due to the fact that millions of women and teenage girls, who wouldn't ordinarily have wanted to watch, wanted to see clips of singer Taylor Swift in the luxury boxes, cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, tight end for the victorious Kansas City Chiefs.

The Patriots have a team Hall of Fame. From their 2010s dynasty: Quarterback Tom Brady, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, receiver Julian Edelman, assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia, and cheerleading director Tracy Sormanti.

Bill Belichick, who coached the Patriots to all 6 Super Bowl wins, is not yet in this Hall of Fame. Nor is tight end Rob Gronkowski.

*

February 1, 2015 was a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games played in the NBA. The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-80 at Madison Square Garden. And the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics, 83-75 at the TD Garden in Boston.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Arizona Coyotes beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Bell Center in Montreal.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0 at the Consol Energy Center (now the PPG Paints Arena) in Pittsburgh.

* And the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Birmingham team Aston Villa, 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

January 19, 2002: The Tuck Rule Game

January 19, 2002: The New England Patriots play their last game at their old Foxboro Stadium, in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. It is also the game that establishes a dynasty that, 20 years later, is, more or less, still running.

With what would be named Gillette Stadium rising next-door, the Patriots hosted the Oakland Raiders in an AFC Divisional Playoff. These teams were both charter franchises in the American Football League, and there were priors:

* December 18, 1976: The Patriots thought they were headed for the Super Bowl, but a last-minute roughing the passer penalty by referee Ben Dreith against Ray Hamilton gave the Raiders new life. They capitalized, and went on to win the Super Bowl.

* August 12, 1978: Raider safety Jack Tatum clobbered Patriot receiver Darryl Stingley, paralyzing him from the neck down. In an exhibition game.

* January 5, 1986: The teams met in the postseason for the 1st time since the Ben Dreith Game. The Patriots won. Afterward, Patrick Sullivan, son of Patriots owner Billy, got into a shouting match with Raider linebacker Matt Millen, who was angry at Sullivan heckling defensive end Howie Long. Millen threw the first punch, but Sullivan held his own. He told a reporter after the game, "We're just getting back for Jack Tatum, and all the crap that their football team has put on our football team over the years."

With 16 years come and gone, and the Patriots having changed ownership twice in the interim, those moments shouldn't have mattered. And maybe they didn't to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady; or to their respective counterparts on the Raiders: Al Davis, Jon Gruden and Rich Gannon. But then, Al Davis was always going to be Al Davis, so who knew?

The Patriots were 11-5, and Champions of the AFC Eastern Division. The Raiders were 10-6, and had won the AFC Western Division. The Patriots had a 1st Round bye, while the Raiders had beaten the New York Jets. Neither team had an appreciable edge on experience. Cliché Alert: Home-field advantage is usually said to be worth 3 points, and the Las Vegas oddsmakers had made the Patriots 3-point favorites.

The game started at 8:05 PM Eastern Time, and it was 25 degrees with snow falling. Understandable weather for New England in January, unusual for Oakland anytime. (The Oakland Coliseum has been considered a cold place to play, but they've never had snow during a game, either baseball or football.) Also understandable, given the weather, there was no scoring in the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter, Gannon threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to James Jett, and the Raiders led 7-0 at the half. So, if the weather was affecting them, it wasn't much.

Adam Vinatieri got the Pats on the board with a 23-yard field goal. But Sebastian Janikowski kicked 2 for the Raiders, from 38 and 45 yards out. After 3 quarters, the Raiders led, 13-3. They still held that lead with 8 minutes left in regulation. The Raiders hadn't been to the Super Bowl in 18 years, but it looked like they were going.

With 7:52 left, Brady scored on a 6-yard run, to make it 13-10. With 2:19 left, the Raiders had to punt. The Patriots got the ball back on their own 46-yard line. Brady threw to Kevin Faulk for 7 yards. Then he ran for 5 yards and a 1st down. With 1:50 on the clock, and the ball on the Raider 42, the Raiders needed at least 10 more yards for a game-tying field goal. Then came the play that changed the history of the National Football League.

Brady dropped back to pass, but didn't see any open receivers. He pumped the ball, but the ball did not leave his hand. Then he was hit on his right by Charles Woodson, a fellow University of Michigan graduate. And at this point, the ball did leave Brady's hand, and fell to the ground. Raider linebacker Greg Biekert recovered. Raider ball.

Except referee Walt Coleman wasn't sure if it was a fumble or an incomplete pass. So he ruled it a fumble. A a call of "Fumble" would trigger an automatic instant replay review; while a call of "Incomplete pass" could not be reviewed. Whether that's fair or not, that was the rule of the time.

In 1999, the NFL instituted Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2: "When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble."

If he was still moving the ball inward, to "tuck" the ball into his body when he lost possession, then this "Tuck Rule" would make the play in question an incomplete pass.

Beyond any question, Brady's arm had moved forward. Beyond any question, that movement stopped. If there was an attempt to pass, it had concluded. He then lost the ball.

In order to overturn a ruling, the replay must show that the ruling on the field was obviously wrong. The replay showed that the ruling on the field, a fumble, was absolutely correct. Therefore, the call should have stood, and the Raiders should have been given a 1st & 10, with good field position.

Instead, the ruling on the field was overturned: Incomplete pass. The Patriots kept the ball: 2nd & 10, on the Raider 42, with 1:47 to go.

Brady threw to David Patten for 13 yards and a 1st down. He threw passes intended for Troy Brown and Jermaine Williams, both falling incomplete. He ran up the middle for 1 yard. Belichick sent Adam Vinatieri in to kick a field goal. From 45 yards out. On natural grass. On frozen natural grass. In a snowstorm. With a little bit of wind. But the kick was good, and the game went to overtime.

The Patriots won the toss, and got the ball to start the overtime. They converted a 4th & 4 play, rather than attempt a game-winning 48-yard field goal into the wind. They got close enough for Vinatieri to try a 23-yard field goal with 6:35 left in the 1st overtime. It was good, and the Patriots had won, 16-13.

Under today's overtime rules, the team getting the ball first only kicking a field goal would not have ended the game. The Raiders would still have gotten the ball, with the chance to tie with a field goal or win with a touchdown. (This rule is designed to avoid long field goals giving a team a cheap overtime win, just because they won the coin toss. Had today's rules been in place then, and the Patriots scored a touchdown, the game would have been over immediately, and the Raiders would not have gotten a chance.)

The Patriots then beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, and upset the St. Louis Rams to win Super Bowl XXXVI at the Superdome in New Orleans. It was the 1st of 9 Super Bowls that coach Belichick and quarterback Brady got to together, winning 6 of them.

Before this game, the Patriots had played 32 seasons, made the Playoffs 11 times, won 6 Division titles, reached 2 AFC Championship Games, and won both of them, but hadn't won a Super Bowl.

In the 22 seasons since, they've made the Playoffs 18 times, won 17 Division titles, reached 13 AFC Championship Games, won 9 of them, and won 6 Super Bowls.

Raiders owner Al Davis was enraged, to the point that he fired coach Gruden for not protesting the call enough. He replaced Gruden with Bill Callahan, and he led the Raiders to the AFC title the next season, reaching Super Bowl XXXVII, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- who had hired Gruden as their head coach. The Raiders haven't been back to the Super Bowl since then, and neither Davis' death and replacement as operating owner by his son Mark in 2011 nor their move to Las Vegas in 2020 has affected this.

In 2013, the Tuck Rule was abolished, by a vote of 29-1. The Patriots abstained from the vote, as did the team then known as the Washington Redskins. The only team to vote to keep it was, with a small amount of irony, the next team the Raiders beat after the game in question, the Steelers.

One more thing: Given the shady incidents in their history, and not just against the Patriots -- the 1978 "Holy Roller" play against the San Diego Chargers comes to mind -- the Raiders and their fans were on shaky ground saying that the Patriots had won unfairly. Right message? Maybe. But wrong messengers.

Still... There has never been a serious accusation of an NFL referee being paid to throw a game from one team to another. Doing it through incompetence, yes; through corruption, no. But if it turned out that the officials made the incorrect call on the replay because the Patriots paid them to, would anybody be surprised? 

Think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 15th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

*

January 19, 2002 was a Saturday. In the other NFL Playoff game that day, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears, 33-19. It was the last game at the old Soldier Field in Chicago, before it was demolished and replaced with the new stadium known as The Eyesore On Lake Shore.

There were 13 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 97-89 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Houston Rockets, 99-90 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Charlotte Hornets, 91-89 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 116-107 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-88 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 119-103 at the Great American Pyramid in Memphis.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz, 106-103 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 98-81 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 94-91 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls, 77-69 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Golden State Warriors, 105-102 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-93 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Denver Nuggets, 104-77 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

And there were 13 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes played to a tie, 3-3 at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. (The New York Rangers were not scheduled.)

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 5-1 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Florida Panthers, 6-1 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-1 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Savvis Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis. Keith Tkachuk scored the winner with 1:31 left in overtime.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 2-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 1-0 at the Skyreach Centre (as the Northlands Coliseum was temporarily known) in Edmonton.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-1 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Compaq Center (now the SAP Center) in San Jose.