We'd have to win at least one more in the next couple of years to even come close to claiming that mantle.
Brady doesn't buy it either:
The media and the general public can do what they want in that regard, but Brady isn't going to give that kind of talk any credence by joining in the discussion.
``That's much too much to compare myself with people like them,'' Brady said after completing 23-of-33 passes for 236 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 110.2 quarterback rating to lead the Pats to a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX.
``When I look at them, I see how much they accomplished and how good they were over long periods of time,'' Brady added. ``Those other guys are unbelievable. They're in the Hall of Fame. I'd love to be able to play like them. That would be an incredible thing if I could do it. But I've got a long way to go and a lot of growing to do.''
``When I look at myself, I see all the ways I can get better,'' Brady said last night. ``I've only been in the league for five years. I've only been starting for four years. When I look at my game, I see all the things I'm not very good at, so many things that I have to improve on.
``That's why I would never put myself on a pedestal. I just don't think I should be compared with guys like Montana and Young and Marino at this stage of my career. They've done a lot more than I have. All I can tell you is that we have a great group of guys on this team. That's why we've been able to do some great things. I'm just a quarterback here and I'm proud of that. I love leading the offense. I love breaking the huddle and being a captain here.''
http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=67270As for next year...well...
Getting to the Super Bowl is tough. Getting back is often even tougher. A million banana peels are just waiting there to be stepped on, and the Patriots organization knows this as well as anyone.
In 1986, the Patriots got flattened by the Bears on Super Bowl Sunday and got finished off by a drug scandal a day later. A decade later, they lost the Super Bowl again, falling to Green Bay, but this time they didn’t have to wait a day for the crushing late hit: Bill Parcells, who had spent part of Super Bowl week arranging his next job, went straight from the Superdome to the New York Jets.
Well, there is good news and better news for New England fans: The Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years, beating Philadelphia 24-21 in Alltel Stadium, and head coach Bill Belichick once again flew home with his team. Imagine that. The players surely had fun after the game and into the following day, just as they did last year and in 2001, but as far as we know, they won’t be making their next televised appearance on an episode of “Cops.”
There was no melancholy to this trip for the Patriots, no sense that they won’t scale this mountain again. On the contrary, it feels like a team that is built for bigger and better things, and everyone in the organization knows it. No one on this team will be booking any Caribbean cruises for Super Bowl week 2006. They will never say it publicly, but they plan to be in Detroit in the first week of next February.
We have spent six months raving about all the wonderful things this team has going for it, so maybe it’s time to mention what is missing here. There are almost none of the problems that typically undermine the Super Bowl champions — problems that are often inherent in the system that the NFL has set up. Paul Tagliabue wants his teams to take turns at the top. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: The Patriots didn’t just beat their opponents. They beat the system. They beat the NFL at its own game.
And now the Patriots are not only a modern-day dynasty, they are the rarest kind: a dynasty with no signs of crumbling. You know what happened the last time an NFL team won three of four Super Bowls? Well, the man most responsible for the reign, Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, left after the second title. He just couldn’t get along with owner Jerry Jones, who just couldn’t stay out of the way. That’s the way it usually goes.
As for the Dallas players, they weren’t content to just take the obligatory trip to the White House. They decided instead to buy their own white house — kind of a den of iniquity near their practice facility. It made their playtime more, well, convenient, and it helped speed the demise of the last so-called dynasty. Some of the old Cowboys have talked about their great run of the early ’90s, but not Nate Newton or Sherman Williams. They’re both still doing time for drug-related crimes.
The Patriots said goodbye to their two brilliant coordinators, but they did it the right way: with a handshake and the best of wishes. They will lose some players to retirement and to free agency, but most of them are likely to leave in the same way, no guns blazing, no ingratitude or ill will on their way out the door. It is wrong to say there were no stars on this team, but absolutely right to say there was no Pedro Martinez.
As far as we know, none of the players who danced and hugged and cried and laughed together after the Super Bowl felt disrespected because Tom Brady or Tedy Bruschi got too much credit. They shared the stage happily, and it sure appeared as if they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
While the Patriots may have awoken to hangovers Monday morning, can you imagine how the rest of the NFL felt? To watch New England dominate the last two years — 34-4 is just not supposed to happen in the NFL — is bad enough, but in their hearts, they know this: The Patriots are prepared to do it again. All the key pieces are in place: The head coach, the quarterback and the owner, who just happen to be the best at what they do, are all back next year and probably the year after that, too.
http://patriots.bostonherald.com/superbowlXXXIX/view.bg?articleid=67384
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