Great day at camp yesterday and the excitement for the 2017 season was palpable. No visit to Gillette today for me, but I’ll have the old “Tweets of Note” later this morning to keep us all in the loop of what went down. I am planning on a fan visit tomorrow and the Sunday I’ll be attending practice as a credentialed member of the media (gulp).
I had to take this morning wake up call to briefly comment on all the 19-0 talk that has been the latest fad in Patriots media coverage because if there’s one thing 2007 taught us, losses are often necessary and can be a good thing.
The 2007 team really should’ve lost at least two games — one to the Ravens and one to the Eagles. They were far from their dominant selves for most of those contests, only putting together enough plays and benefitting off a Ravens meltdown, to miraculously pull off both.
In hindsight a loss in one or both of those games would’ve taken off enormous pressure. By the time the Pats got to Super Bowl 42 they were limping. Their practices in Arizona were terrible and they were a shell of the dominant team that we saw in September and October.
Though I will point out they came pretty damn close to still pulling the win off, if not for the…, well you know what happened.
Football is an unpredictable game. Obviously injuries could arise, but even still, the Pats almost always have a shitty game at some point in the season, when a team that won’t even makes the playoffs gives them all they can handle and more.
In recent years we’ve seen losses to sub-par Cardinals, Bills and Dolphins teams, along with plenty that have been closer than anyone would’ve predicted on paper before the season. Remember the 2013 miracle against the Browns?
The longer teams go undefeated the more pressure that builds upon them. And without a humbling loss, one that maybe exposes weaknesses or at the very least re-focuses the team, it only becomes more and more of a distraction.
A loss to the Ravens or Eagles would’ve been the best thing that could’ve happened to the 2007 Pats. Without the 19-0 pressure, with a humbling game that forces them to realize they’re not unbeatable, it might’ve been enough to get them over the Eli Manning hump. We’ll never know.
But what I do know now is I don’t really give a shit about 16-0 or 19-0, and all this talk of a potential undefeated season only sets the stage for self-fueled criticism by the punditry when they do lose a game to a team that by definition they should’ve beaten.
We lived 16-0 and it was a thrill. That’s why I never really hated the 16-0 banner as much as some. That was historic. And it taught me to appreciate a regular season even if the end is the worst possible gut punch for an NFL season. But I don’t need to live 16-0 again.
Losses can be a good thing if your goal is winning the last game in February. The season is a journey. A campaign of attrition and ups and downs. Enjoying the journey and allowing the team the leeway for those ups and downs is critical toward building a resilient team that isn’t over confident and still plays like they have something to prove.
The 2017 Pats will have their own journey, but never losing a game isn’t something I’m going to expect or hold them to.
