On The Road To History

Pinch me.

Wait - No! If this is a dream I don't want to wake up.

Un-effing-believable.

Stop me if you've heard this one before but the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl.

Again.

Old, too slow, no playmakers and somehow Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots are going to their 9th Super Bowl in 18 years. Their 9th Super Bowl in 18 years! Clearly, I'm living in an alternative pigskin universe, one where what New England has done is actually possible, despite everything the NFL has done to stop them.

The Patriots are "old school" in a league where rosters turn over every three years. They're running the ball down everyone's throats in a year where everyone has gone pass wacky.  They're throwing short when everyone else is throwing deep. Can you name three players on their defense? Defense wins championships, right?

They're so cerebral as a team that they've routinely and wrongly described as a "finesse" team.

And yet I'm still smacked stupid by this latest chapter in the greatest pigskin story ever told.

There's nobody who isn't lying that will tell you this was a foregone conclusion.

Maybe nobody but Tom Brady could go 13 for 19 on 3rd Down in a conference championship game or convert three 3rd and 10s to win it in overtime. Okay, nobody but Tom Brady could do that!

Look, I'm sure the NFL will change the overtime rule - at least for the playoffs - so both teams get to touch the ball but the Chiefs - at home - had three chances to force a punt and win on a field goal and they could not stop Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, and Rob Gronkowski.

Still, I'm amazed. Athletes are lucky to have one moment like this in a career, followed by a series of "not this time" moments. The Patriots were supposed to be done. The Tom Brady we used to know was missing; his crumpled body would soon be discovered by a local fisherman on the rocks below Kellerman Cliff. Gronkowski was broken and done. Five road losses to non-playoff teams. The defense was all smoke, mirrors, Trey Flowers and Stephon Gilmore.

It was a nice run but it was over.

Nice run?

Are you kidding me?

Patriots fans now have to create a straw man to argue for Brady as the greatest of all time. Maybe we miss arguing with Peyton Manning's fans. Maybe the Aaron Rodgers is Better Than Brady thing never quite got off the ground. Pigskin Pundits and Bobbleheads may be predicting/wishing/hoping Brady will finally realize it's impossible to play football into your 40s but everybody sees TB12 now. Brady is the GOAT. Here and now. And still…

That drive in overtime. Wow. Just wow. He is astounding and expected all in the same moment.

The next two weeks will be exquisite torture, waiting for the Super Bowl kickoff. I have no idea how this will end but I will not take any of it for granted.

9 of 18.

4 out of 5

3 in a row.