Man in the Arena (2021) s01e03 Episode Script

1
We're just playing
Patriot football, that's all.
- One play at a time, guys.
- Just do your job!
When you think about
one play at a time, one game at a time,
and all that bullshit,
it's really the reality
because we're not promised
anything beyond one play.
We're not promised anything
beyond one game or one day.
You don't know when
the opportunities are gonna be,
so you've gotta take advantage
when you get them.
You know, we were competing our ass off.
We had our group on offense.
They had their group on defense.
You could go over there and know
that the work had been put in.
You knew that nobody
was selling each other short.
So even if you lost,
you were okay with it,
'cause you recognize it, and we did it.
Those guys set everything aside for what
was the best interest of the team,
and they were going to work
and prepare and study and learn
and teach each other
about what culture was,
about what teamwork was,
and selflessness was all about.
You weren't held accountable
by the coach.
You weren't held accountable
by the fans.
You were held accountable by the guy
that was sitting next to you every day.
We were the perfect storm.
♪♪
The New England Patriots claim
their second Super Bowl championship
in three years.
We have talked about it.
In this era of free agency
and player movement,
that's as close to a dynasty
as you're ever going to find.
You know, I moved into
the city at that point,
so I was right in the middle of Boston,
so I was around all the games.
I would go to the Red Sox games.
I would go to Celtics games.
I was out and about in the city.
It was a really unique time in my life
where I had the means to kind of do
the things I wanted to travel,
see different places.
The off seasons were all mine.
I could do whatever I wanted,
go wherever I wanted.
You know, I'm at the same age
as all the guys, you know?
These were all my peers.
We were all kind of hitting our stride.
No one was really married.
No one was really having kids.
Nobody added those aspects
to their life yet,
but I wasn't really
taking good care of myself at that time.
I think my lifestyle started getting
caught up with me.
The diet wasn't great, the travel,
the rest, the recovery.
All those things I took for granted.
That was a turning point for me
'cause I had a love of the game.
The mental part I loved.
The emotional part I loved.
Now the physical part
I was trying to get better at,
and then Willie McGinest finally
pulled me aside and was like,
“Bro, like we gotta
do something different."
'Cause he recognized, "Okay, Tom is now
one of the leaders of the team."
- That's it! That's awesome!
- Gotta keep going.
Yeah, bro!
"How do we get this guy to play great
and be sustainable?"
And, you know, he had his ways,
and I embraced those.
My guy, yes.
Not bad for a couple of
California kids, huh?
- Not bad, baby.
- Fuck yeah, baby!
And I remember when
you weren't "Tom Brady," bro.
I mean, I know you. I know you
when you were regular,
and I was picking you off
in scout team practice.
Hike!
I mean, it took a while.
I mean, it isn't like 2001,
you look at him, and it's like bam.
I mean, wow.
I mean, we all sorta grew together,
developed together.
I think Bill Belichick as a head coach,
certain players like myself
and Lawyer Milloy
and Willie all growing,
bringing in guys like Phifer and Vrabel,
the combination of veterans
and young players.
It all sort of came together
at the same time.
We shocked the world!
I feel like Rocky right now.
Wins Super Bowl XXXVIII.
2003 turned your head a little.
It was like we're on to something here
and this guy is gonna be pretty good.
I mean, the '03 Super Bowl and him just
taking over and being a quarterback,
you're just, "Whoa!"
The biggest game, the biggest stage,
and he's making it happen.
That's the growth that
a lot of us players saw.
Super Bowl champions always fall apart
the next year. Even they did.
Not Belichick.
They did the year after.
They won the championship,
and then the year after they came back
and didn't even make the playoffs.
The expectations were totally
different for the 2004 season.
We had won 15 straight games,
so it wasn't like
this was a fluke anymore.
This was now we were one
of the premier teams in the NFL.
To get two in three years, I mean,
it motivates us to get the pinky filled.
Get another one.
I remember talking to Roman Phifer,
a great linebacker of ours,
one of my favorite teammates of all time,
and Phif says to me,
"Hey, Bru, if we win again,
I mean, it'll be back-to-back.
It'll be three out of four.
We'll be a dynasty.
You're almost like establishing
who you are historically.
You know, it's really different,
and it puts on
a different set of pressure.
There's no year I would say
that's a continuation of another year,
but in some ways 2004 and 2003
were very similar.
We were still, in my view,
the best team and the team to beat
because the nucleus was all there.
There was nobody that really left.
It was still Bru. It was still Rodney.
It was still Vrabel.
It was still Willie. It was me.
It was all the guys.
You know, we all knew
that there was gonna be
the same Tom that was there in 2001.
I think he went through
a couple different haircuts.
I mean, probably a little
dorky at the time like we all were.
- Did you give him shit?
- Oh, always.
Nobody was off limits.
I think we'll try to keep a good feel for
when to make jokes and when not to.
You know, Vrabes, I think
the best thing that he did
was just bring in an unforgiving
personality about "this is who I am."
And, I mean, I think he's the one that
probably gave Tom
the most shit talking trash.
Tom's a big boy. Like, he can handle it.
Like, he'll talk plenty of shit back.
Don't worry.
Watch me play.
I'm the best player on this team!
Your quarterback is not quite as innocent
as we all believe.
That's part of the team-building process
is when you're evaluating players
to bring in or not.
You're looking, are they gonna fit into
what we believe in
and what the culture is?
Can they fit in with Rodney Harrison?
Can they fit in with Willie McGinest?
Can they fit in with Tom Brady?
'Cause Tom Brady has a certain
level of expectation.
Yeah, but they can't win.
And you could take some
chances on some people.
You know, you look at Corey Dillon,
was in Cincy,
was an incredible running back.
I'm looking for a new home.
I mean, if it was up to me, this is my
final game in Paul Brown Stadium,
and that's where I'm gonna leave it.
I'm not trying to be the bad apple.
I'm not trying to, you know,
be disgruntled.
When you don't know somebody
and you've never talked to him,
your only avenue to them
and their personality is,
you know, what you see maybe in the media.
If Corey Dillon can check
his attitude at the locker room door,
which I think Belichick will see to.
If Tom Brady stays healthy,
I could see 16-0.
- You're completely out of your mind.
- Check it out.
We recognized his talent,
but also his willingness to win
and put the team first even though
it didn't seem like that from the outside.
And we all embraced people
who could make our jobs easier.
And I think part of our culture was that
nobody was bigger than the team.
You know, when other teams see that,
I think that instills some fear in them.
Because they realize they don't have to
deal with one or two guys or five guys.
They gotta deal with 53 guys.
- Win on three.
- One, two, three. Win!
We felt like we had it figured out,
and we knew how to balance
one game at a time, blah blah blah,
along with we're the best that there is.
Being able to have those
two type of mentalities
and still know when to bring 'em out,
you know?
Okay, in front of the media,
this is what Belichick wants.
In the NFL in this day and age,
with the movement of players
and I think we've been able to keep
a core group of players here.
But then within ourselves
and the way we play on the field,
it's about domination.
I mean, nobody can beat us.
And then having that attitude:
It's a delicate little balance.
But the expectation was to win
every game because we knew we could.
Good evening, everyone.
It is game one of the 2004
National Football League season,
as we get set to open defense
of the Patriots' championship,
and see if they can start the long road
to Super Bowl XXXIX.
I'd say the Patriot Express was rolling.
You know, there really wasn't much,
in my view, that could stop us.
I mean, we were pretty confident.
I think that there's also this edge
that you're looking for
each and every week to
compete and to prepare.
I was still a young player.
I didn't have all the answers at that age.
You know, I was 27
when the season started.
A team that hasn't changed very much,
except for that one significant change.
Corey Dillon.
You know, we played
the Colts to start the year.
We beat them in the AFC championship game,
so they're going back to
the same place that they lost.
You know, that's a tough way
for them to start the year.
I'm sure they were dealing
with some mental scar tissue
from that previous year.
They're playing with
a Hall of Fame quarterback
and Hall of Fame,
you know, receivers and runners.
And, you know, they drafted well
and retained their players.
So it seemed like every year,
it was the same guys.
You knew their starting lineup.
We always felt like that movie
The Outsiders, you know.
They were like the Socials
and we were the Greasers.
You know, and it's like we were
the tough guys that, you know,
they just hosed us off
and put us out there
He's got it. The throw.
Fires into the end zone.
Intercepted! Picked off by the Patriots!
Tedy Bruschi at the six-yard-line!
Versus the number one
overall picks in the white jerseys.
And they play in the Dome and they got
the pretty offense and all of that stuff.
Handoff comes to Dillon,
to the right side.
He's across the 30, 35,
cuts left at the 40, 45.
He's to midfield, 45,
to the 40, to the 35.
Brady straight back to throw.
Looks, goes to the end zone. Open!
And then sort of squashing those guys,
it always felt good.
Here's the rush by Willie McGinest.
He sacks him back at the 30.
And the Super Bowl champs
will make it 16 wins in a row.
- Good football game.
- You, too.
It's just one game at a time, fellas.
Then we went on the road to Arizona.
Really hot game.
That's when Corey Dillon, like really
Holy shit.
This guy, we gave the ball to him
down after down.
It must have been 90 degrees.
He's got a hole.
Across the 20, across the 25.
He's got blood coming out of his nose,
and we just kept feeding him.
He was killing people.
When you have
a tough running back like that
and they establish that type of tone,
we play off of it, we feed off of it.
Bledsoe, play action. He's gonna be hit.
Sacked. Fumble. Ball is loose.
Richard Seymour goes the distance.
So the New England Patriots have tied
the National Football League record:
18 wins in a row.
Now, when you're a competitor,
you don't want to do it by yourself.
You can't. It's impossible,
especially in football.
You're embracing players that come in,
that bring their energy
and enthusiasm to the team,
because it's just gonna make you better.
And the crowd begins to
give this team a round of applause
for doing something that no other team in
the National Football League
has ever done before:
win 19 games in a row.
Because you need to be
accountable to them, too.
They're laying it on the line for you.
You want to be able
to do the same for them.
20 in a row for the Patriots.
Running out of fingers and toes.
The Patriots and Jets both come in at 5-0.
Somebody gonna go home with a loss.
Somebody. It ain't gonna be us.
It is a first down for the Patriots.
Brady, handoff to Corey Dillon.
Coming right up the middle,
across the 25, across the 30.
He's across the 35, 40, 45.
He's to midfield,
cuts it back to the right.
Brought down from behind
at the Jet 40-yard line.
Corey Dillon breaks a big one.
And the crowd at Foxborough giving
the Patriots a tremendous ovation,
as they make the New York Jets
their 21st consecutive victim.
That's 21 in a row, all right?
That's 21 in a row wins.
I mean, through regular season,
playoffs, last year,
and then going into this year.
A new National Football League record.
We're doing things that just
hadn't been done before,
and that's the whole mentality shift.
And we know we're good,
and we want to keep it going.
The momentum is building
at each of those games,
and then we played
at Pittsburgh on Halloween,
which was the seventh game of the year.
It's time to go today. Let's go!
And we got crushed.
Second and goal to go
at the Patriot four.
Back to throw, Roethlisberger fires left.
And it is caught. Touchdown.
It's like a Halloween Day
massacre of our team.
You know, defensively,
we couldn't stop the run.
Handoff to Jerome Bettis.
Into the secondary at the 30,
at the 25, at the 20, inside the 10.
Ben was very efficient.
We never tried to run the football.
We were down early,
you know, never really made it
much of a contest.
Get on our level! Never, ever!
Ever, ever, ever, ever!
Get on our level!
They can't get on our level!
You know, they get Big Ben.
Nobody knew how exceptional
a player he was at the time.
I mean, that guy's a stud.
Roethlisberger fires long,
deep, and caught.
Touchdown! Plaxico Burress.
47-yard touchdown pass.
What a cannon for an arm that kid's got.
It goes back to everything that
then Coach Belichick says
about you can be beat
if you don't play well.
And so it's sort of a re-entry
of that message,
almost like sometimes it's good
to have a reset button during the season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
break the Patriots' NFL record
21-game winning streak.
Fuck, man, we got hammered.
I mean, how did that happen?
You don't know what
kind of culture you have until,
you know, things aren't going well.
And when you're winning 21 games in a row,
the culture looks pretty good.
And when you have some failure
or you don't do some things
that you're supposed to do,
then you'll define
what your culture looks like
and how strong it is.
The Patriots fall to 6-1.
The first game they've lost in 399 days.
And at that point everyone thought this
is the blueprint, you know.
This is the way to beat the Patriots.
They physically dominated
the New England Patriots.
The run game pushed
the New England Patriots defense around.
Ben Roethlisberger actually
looked like Tom Brady has in the past.
I don't think we're demoralized.
I think we're looking at it
like for what it is.
It's a loss, and it's one game.
We have no excuses.
We got our butt kicked.
We not gonna blame it on the refs.
We're not gonna blame it on nothing.
And so now conveniently,
Pittsburgh hosting
Philadelphia next week,
The last of the undefeated.
Oh, hello.
They out-coached us, they out-played us.
They did a lot of things right,
and they certainly deserved to win,
and they won convincingly.
I think in the end, Coach Belichick loved
the fact that that happened.
You know, after 21 games,
I think he was ready
for the bubble to burst.
And it's hard to always come in there
every Monday after a win,
and, you know, get pissed off at the team.
But after that game in Pittsburgh,
it gave him all the reasons
he needed to come in
and get pissed off at the team.
Okay, mentally play it like
you're playing a game. All right?
You don't at the officials.
You don't at each other.
You get the call.
You communicate with your teammates
and you try to get
the play run effectively.
He gave it to us pretty good,
almost using it as an opportunity.
Fourth down.
An opportunity to reassess things
and tell us what we were
doing wrong and all of that.
Coach Belichick has a way of,
you know, needling,
and he's gonna say,
you know, look, you know,
fucking 3 of 11 on 3rd down,
and they're fucking 9 of 14.
I mean, what the
Lost 10. Second and 20.
Couldn't score in the red area.
Couldn't do shit in short yardage.
You know, give up
a fucking touchdown before halftime.
I mean, that's fucking bullshit.
Dante, call a false start on that
for picking up the ball.
Although he did it when we won anyway,
so it really was no different.
I used to call it suppressing success.
We could play our best game
and we can win by 21
and the defense can hold them to maybe,
you know, three, ten points.
But that's the beauty of football.
You can pick five plays
that didn't go well,
and the coach can either decide
to move on we won the game
Or he can coach hard
and pick those five plays
and make you see that still
you have work to do.
Look, I can't put you in a game
if you don't know consistently what to do.
- And he's right.
- Can't do it.
And that's the competitor in him.
You can't play that way, all right?
The one thing about hard coaching,
it's only as good
as the ability of
the players to receive it.
And we had built a locker room
and a culture of people
that were willing to receive it.
I respect it. Even during the moment,
I could realize why he was doing it.
I'm telling you,
it's a hard life to live that way.
You better have thick skin.
You better have mental toughness,
and you really have to look at why,
seeing it another way, why he's doing it.
And if you do it that way,
I mean, you can accept it easier.
All right, we got a lot of
work done here today.
A lot of situations.
I don't think Bill
was ever gonna needle us any more
than we needled each other.
You know what I mean?
I think that we would go at
each other with two-by-fours,
and, you know, competing and talking.
Belichick loved the competition,
and I think he really loved seeing guys
compete against one another.
He loved the fact that we'd go out there
and try to beat each other up.
He loved the fact that
there would be fights.
He loved the fact that there would be
guys talking shit to one another.
So I think he created that environment
because he just wanted to see competition.
And that's a huge competition
when you're in there
and there's me and there's Rodney,
there's Willie,
there's Vrabel, there's Phifer.
Ty Warren, Willie McGinest,
Bru or Vrabel or Vince Wilfork.
Guys on offense like Troy Brown.
We'd always say
"You'll never get an edge on me.
I'm gonna outwork you."
All those guys, that's what we were.
We were the edgers.
We had such a trust and an understanding
of who each other was that
you could talk a lot of shit
and you could be, you know,
as ruthless as you wanted to be.
You weren't held accountable by the coach.
You weren't held accountable by the fans.
You were held accountable by the guy
that was sitting next to you every day.
It wasn't about the more you can do.
It was who could do the most.
You think you're coming to the weight room
at 6:30 in the morning?
I've already got a half hour on you.
I've been here since 6:00.
Not getting it in, huh?
I'm getting the edge on you.
Just verbally letting people know
out in the open.
This is what I did. What do you do?
You know, you think you got
an hour of treatment?
I got two hours of treatment.
Or when somebody leaves the building.
Are you leaving already?
Oh, you know, you only watched
an hour of film today? I watched three.
Still not doing the extra, huh?
I'm getting the edge on you today.
- They look like a machine.
- Oh, they are
It takes guts to do that.
It takes relationships.
It takes courage, too.
That effort, that joy, that enthusiasm
that we had, that carried us.
It's another professional football player.
I mean, this is a grown man,
but I'm gonna call you out.
That proved a point. It's, like,
yeah, this might sound cute,
but I'm being really serious right now.
Whenever you came back with something,
it got louder and louder,
and Tom realized this.
When he had a response,
it was response, response.
And then it was just like you tried to
come back, come back, come back,
but nobody would let you come back.
Tom learned that.
So then he waited out on the field,
and if he threw a touchdown
on us or something like that,
then he let us have it.
♪♪
The easy part is to say,
"Oh, the Patriots oh, you know, whatever.
They bend the rules and all that.
That's not what the secret was.
We ignored the noise
and we were the edgers
and we're gonna prove to everyone
that we did have the edge.
We out-worked you and we out-competed you.
And then when the chance came,
we out-willed you.
♪♪
The last week
were the San Francisco 49ers,
and our playoff seeding was set,
we had the two seed, all right?
It was set. There was no changing it.
There was debate about
do you rest the guys?
Do you play the guys?
You'll have a bye week after that.
We had learned early on that our job
was to be ready to play
for as long as the game went.
And we had took that
mentality in preseason.
We took it in the regular season.
Bill, Romeo Crennel,
they told us you're gonna play
because that's what we're
supposed to do, you know?
And that just solidified for me still
our mentality about
"You got a game.
No matter what kind of game it is,
go out there and win it and play hard."
Second and goal to go,
Patriots at
the San Francisco two-yard line.
Pass to the left. Touchdown, Brady.
And that's the same that just goes to
the mentality of you win, you lose.
There's always something to fix,
there's always something to do.
There's a chance to get better.
It doesn't matter if it's playoffs
It doesn't matter if it's the preseason.
There's only one way.
For the second year in a row,
the defending Super Bowl
champions go 14-2.
Now, we're in the playoffs.
Whoever we play next,
whoever we play next,
whoever it is is pretty good.
We'll need to be at our best, okay?
We're just playing Patriot football.
That's all we do.
And then, you know,
we get a chance to play the Colts.
And again, that wasn't
a great matchup for them.
The Socials came back to town, yeah.
♪♪
And you just feel powerful
going into Gillette Stadium
and just having the fans
and having the weather,
and you just know that
it's not happening, man.
The snow is coming down,
the wind is blowing from the northeast,
and we're set to begin one of
the most anticipated playoff games
in a long, long time.
When they play us,
I can't imagine that they're that excited.
It's game time.
Game time. It's game time.
Let's go! Yeah.
Let's go out here and beat 'em down.
- Dominate on three. One, two, three.
- Dominate!
At the end of the day,
you gotta show up, you gotta play.
You know, again,
there's a lot of familiarity.
It was more of an uphill battle,
I think, for Peyton
because he was playing
a really great defense.
We were the tough guys
that were gonna beat you down
because you're in our house
and you don't like the weather.
And a fumble on the play,
recovered by Tedy Bruschi.
We were challenging them
differently in each game,
whereas they were probably
trying to run the same type of plays
and have the same formula.
The Patriots have the football!
Bruschi ripped it out of his hands.
I mean, we were pretty fired up.
You know those games where
you just look on guys' face
and they just know they're beat.
And it's just so cool when
it's the first quarter.
I think this is what
they were looking for.
They ain't got it. They ain't got it.
We squashed the guys in
the white jerseys again.
It was just fun.
Brady back to throw.
Looks, looks. Now he's gonna run with it.
Throws to the left. Touchdown!
Touchdown to David Givens.
Great play by Tom Brady.
And they're dancing here in Foxborough.
How are the New England Patriots
gonna stop the high-powered Colts?
That's how.
It's over. It's over, and the Patriots
are going to Pittsburgh
for the AFC Championship next week.
We don't talk, we play.
You come to Foxborough,
it's gonna be snowing.
It's gonna be cold. Come on in here.
You wanna say all you want?
You want to change the rules? Change 'em.
We still play and we win.
That's what we do.
Talk to me about a playoff victory.
Oh, yeah!
It was 11 degrees.
There ended up being
a snowstorm in Pittsburgh,
so we had to fly there on Friday.
We booked a hotel late
right after we won against Indy,
and a lot of hotels were unavailable,
so we had this shithole hotel
that we stayed in.
And, you know, guys were,
like, quarantined to their rooms
because we had a lot of guys
that were sick.
I actually had the flu pretty bad
the night before the game,
and I was like in slow motion,
so I wasn't sure how I was gonna play.
Through all the whole
"We think we're this,
we think we're that,"
it's like you come into the Steelers
and then you know these guys are good,
and this is gonna be hard.
This is the AFC Championship Game tonight
Game tonight between the defending
Super Bowl champion New England Patriots
and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
They met on this field back on Halloween,
when Pittsburgh ended the Patriots'
NFL record 21-game win streak.
60 minutes. Win on three. One, two, three.
Win!
It's a very intimidating place to play
because not only do they have
a great defense, it's all 65,000, 70,000
of the yellow towels screaming, yelling
and not to mention,
they were 16-1 at that point.
I mean, what they did to us on Halloween,
you just don't forget that.
They really handled us.
That mental struggle of realizing
these are the guys that ended it,
and so you had to go in
and almost restart it
to get to where you wanted to be.
And so this was gonna be
the toughest challenge.
They had a very unique style of play
that was Dick LeBeau's
defense and Blitzburgh.
We're going on the road at night.
It was cold.
Everybody had the flu.
Brady back to throw. Looks.
Being hit and dropped.
Realizing offensively as tough as we were,
we still had, you know,
that quarterback in Tom Brady
and the element of, you know,
quickness and speed.
♪♪
Then we hit one
down the middle to Deion early.
Time, time, time. Shoots it long and deep.
Deion Branch, and he's got it!
And he's gone! Touchdown!
Tom Brady launches
It was one of the great throws
I've ever made,
you know, in those conditions,
'cause it was freezing out.
60 minutes of that.
They were hanging their hat
on the run game.
Already tried to pound
Jerome in there early.
It ain't over yet, baby.
Gives to Bettis. To the left.
Stopped. Stacked up.
Stopped short of the first down.
And the ball's loose.
The ball's on the ground,
and the Patriots have it.
They were trying to be
the old Pittsburgh Steelers,
the tough guys and all of that stuff,
so it was almost like
who's the better tough guy?
It's intercepted! Picked off
and heading down the left sideline.
Vrabel, he's running down the field.
He's trying to block Roethlisberger.
He's just trying to get in his way.
And he drops his knees
right on top of Ben,
which was very much
the kind of player that Mike was.
Gave him a little block.
Kind of fell down on him a little bit.
You know, it was just basically
just to get into highlight.
I don't think I did anything on the play.
It was all Rodney.
I mean, I remember Deion,
and they just couldn't deal with him.
Waving at people on the way
into the end zone.
We had a lot of ways
we could play offensively
now that Tom was really taking off
as a quarterback.
The Patriots
are going back to the Super Bowl
for the second year in a row.
- Oh, my God!
- Yeah, baby, we're going back.
Your towel?
Where your towel?
I mean, if I would say there was
a perfect game of football
played at the highest level,
I'd say that would be the game.
If we could replicate that,
we would never lose a game.
Tom Brady is now 8-0 in the playoffs.
How do we feel about being AFC champs?
Oh, yeah!
You know, this really,
I think, validated, you know,
that that we deserved to be there.
I remember after that game
and being emotionally overwhelmed
that we did that.
Well, you know, Tedy's always emotional.
I remember interactions
with Willie and Tom, just like,
I was like, I had tears in my eyes
just that we won that game.
You know,
for as difficult as it was to lose to them
31-whatever on Halloween,
it was the most satisfying win,
non-Super Bowl,
that I had in 19 years
of playing football.
Non-Super Bowl wins. I mean,
that had to be at the top of my list, too.
You have two weeks,
so you have a little bit of time,
and I think it's easier if the other team
even gives you excuses
to have motivation against them.
Name the Patriots starting cornerbacks.
Wow. Can I say the numbers?
You don't know their names, Freddie?
He didn't know their names
or something like that,
and that was, okay, here we go.
And that's like a message right there
that it's time to move on
and now we got one more team to beat.
And that helped us out a lot.
I think there's a lot to be
concerned about with those guys.
They got the three Pro Bowlers
in the secondary alone.
Brian Dawkins is, you know,
one of the best safeties in the league.
Michael Lewis is one of the best strong
safeties we've faced all year.
Jeremiah Trotter, and Mike
Linebackers,
and he could stop that run
single-handedly.
You know, the other guys
Dhani and Simoneau,
they're very explosive on defense,
and usually you don't hear that.
But the way they rush the passer
and intercept the ball
Jevon Kearse and Hugh Douglas.
Burgess, Darwin Walker's a great player.
They got playmakers at every position.
Let me just read you a little something
here.
I thought this was kind of interesting.
At first I thought it was I couldn't
believe it, but it's actually true.
They're talking about the Philadelphia
parade after the game, all right?
It's 11:00 in case
any of you wanna attend that.
It's gonna go from Broad Street
up to the Washington Avenue,
past City Hall, then down to
Benjamin Franklin Parkway,
and will end up at the Art Museum.
Some people get a little ahead, you know,
and they start to put
some of that stuff out,
unbeknownst to maybe even the team.
But Bill, any time that he could
grab something,
he was gonna tell the team.
"This is how easy they think
this game's gonna be."
You know, do you think we should even
show up and play?
Or just let them do their parade?
You know, we've been to some,
but let's just take things slow,
day by day, game by game,
and we can dod it again.
But you guys been drinking
that Kool-Aid for a long time.
Game by game, don't look ahead.
How do you never look ahead?
Yeah, we're the Kool-Aid makers in there,
you know.
And that's where the opportunity lies.
People want to believe that there is
going to be another opportunity
so they don't have to do the hard work.
Because if you think that you're gonna
get all these shots,
you'll pace yourself.
And why do you pace yourself?
'Cause you don't have the ability to push
to your maximum effort.
And that's hard for a lot of people
because we pushed.
And if you don't have strong character,
you won't make it because you're around
a lot of other high achievers
and you'll get weeded out.
And then you'll recognize in yourself
that you're not capable.
Then you'll lose confidence.
So you want to go to a place
that's easier for you,
that's more comfortable for you.
That's what we were programmed basically.
I said programmed
Yeah, programmed to do.
I mean, just compartmentalize
a victory, put it away,
suppress success, and move on
'cause you got one more.
We all knew that back-to-back
was something
that was really, really attainable.
Something that we, you know, I think
probably focused on and thought about.
We certainly don't get caught up
in considering ourselves a dynasty.
We probably downplayed it publicly,
but it was like, man, if we could do this,
you know, we could really
validate these last two seasons
and kind of what we've done.
In the end, after this game,
the team was not gonna be
the same anymore.
You know eventually things
are gonna change, yes,
but let's get this out of the way first.
Three out of four and you're a dynasty.
That energy that we had
I don't think is sustainable.
In some ways, we couldn't hold it
together for that much longer.
And you're just focused on the mission.
You've been here before,
you know what to do,
and you know how to finish.
I mean, it was like, man,
this team has been really, really close.
Every year, it was the Eagles,
the Eagles. They were there.
Here we go. Now let's have some fun.
Double right 22 scat on one.
You know, Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb.
He's hard to bring down.
They got a bunch of weapons.
They got a scatback.
You know, their defense blitzed.
Brady takes the snap.
He's been hit. He's sacked!
I thought we had a great advantage
over the Eagles
because we had a great team.
Throw it down.
I mean, I think we felt like that until
T.O. walked out there with a broken ankle.
He was the go-to guy for
most of the season for Donovan McNabb,
and it's a miracle, I think,
that he's back and healthy.
T.O. was obviously someone that we didn't
know was gonna be there.
What's the question on how much
How the leg was?
In that game, our secondary
was a little beat up,
so we're pretty vulnerable.
We had Randall Gay
going up against Terrell Owens.
That wasn't a great matchup.
He couldn't be covered and would
stiff-arm everybody that we had.
We were, like, "Okay."
This one's gonna probably be a little
closer than what we thought.
Let me beat 21 up. Anybody one on one.
Let me get 'em. It don't matter.
♪♪
Man, I'm on half a leg and they can't
stop me. I got God!
Blitz. Run fake from McNabb.
Over the middle. Touchdown!
It ended up being
a very difficult Super Bowl.
It was gonna take
great football for us to win.
McNabb is back to throw. The blitz!
And they sack him back
at the 35 yard line.
We got a couple good hits on
McNabb early to really challenge him.
It was Tedy Bruschi who sacked McNabb.
It is toward the end zone,
and this one is picked
I think the quarterback's job
is to not lose the game.
Because you touch the ball so much,
if there's opportunities to win the game,
you gotta go take advantage of that.
Same book, quick defense.
♪♪
Brady calling signals, back to throw
looks, looks, looks,
fires to the right
Touchdown! Touchdown!
In that particular game,
it was very efficient.
We ran the ball.
It was always a close game,
so it never got out of whack
and we never were down too much.
You know, it was always a one-score game,
so you could really stick to your offense.
There's a lot of things coaches will show
during the week or during the year,
like, this is cool to keep guys engaged.
And then you're like,
"Man, it's not like
you're gonna call that."
Mike Vrabel
on the end of the line, left side.
One time in practice I was open,
and I was, like, waving my arms,
like, "Tom, Tom, Tommy!"
And he threw the ball somewhere else.
Went back in the huddle, and he said,
"Mikey, I'm the quarterback.
"I know who's open on every single play.
If you ever wave your arms
and yell my name again,
I'll never throw you the football."
Double set back. Back to throw, Brady.
Fires end zone. Caught!
Touchdown. Touchdown, Vrabel.
Mike Vrabel. All right.
I think that edger mentality
was a great motivating factor
in a lot of guys' careers.
Those are the guys you want to play with
because they bring the best out of you.
There's a lot of ways to do your job.
We all have a different skill set,
physical ability, mental ability,
and I think the key in what we all did
was we all found success
in much different ways.
McGinest to the left side,
to Corey Dillon, and he's in!
Touchdown! Corey Dillon!
We left it on the field for each
other, and we left it on the field
because we gave everything
that we had every day.
You know, we were committed
to one another in ways
that are very, very
difficult to find in sports.
We gotta get it back one more time
right now. All right?
♪♪
The clock playing a big, big
part of this game, now shows 5:26.
There were some
strange series in that game
where we were wondering what was going on.
Donovan McNabb. Good player,
but at times I was thinking to myself,
what are they doing back there?
I think we were up by 10.
I'm literally in front of that huddle,
and I'm thinking,
"Guys, I think they should be hurrying up
here, but they're not.
So when they come out, let's just play,
and I call a defense, boom, and we go.
Time's a-wasting. Under four minutes left.
I think they're being
a little too casual with the time,
a little too cavalier.
We didn't know why they weren't rushing
to the line of scrimmage and so forth.
So it's a race against the clock.
They ended up scoring on
a touchdown pass to Greg Lewis.
They hit a post on them,
made a good throw to get within three.
And Philadelphia's not finished yet.
Patriots take over.
They lead by three
with a minute 47 remaining.
If the Eagles can pull this thing off,
it would be one of the greatest finishes.
We ran three plays
and end up having to punt.
Pooch punts it, high in the air.
Patriots circling under it.
Josh Miller. I mean,
nobody ever talks about the punter,
but, man, that guy made a kick
that pinned them down
inside the 10-yard line
or whatever it was,
and it was like, almost sealed the game.
Just coming down at the four-yard line.
Nice job, Josh Miller. Great height.
At that point, they had really no
opportunity to do much.
Had they recognized
the situation differently
or they felt more confident
in a different style of approach,
they would have done that.
17 seconds away from back-to-back
World Championships for the Patriots.
I had Westbrook in man coverage,
and I just rushed.
I just rushed.
I knew what they had to do.
I knew they were backed up.
♪♪
Down the middle of the field,
and that's picked off by Harrison.
And that is it. The Patriots are gonna be
Super Bowl champions again.
I believe that our situational football
has always helped us over the years,
and we've taught it and coached it
and then executed it.
And we have a lot of smart players that
recognize the situations that we're in,
and then try to play to 'em.
Back-to-back. Three out of four.
There's a whole lotta huggin' goin' on.
Romeo Crennel,
Charlie Weis, and Bill Belichick.
We had left it all out there
for each other.
We left it out there for our families.
There was a lot of people that cared
about one another
that were seeing each other grow
and experience great success.
You know, Rodney Harrison was probably
the best player on the field.
Ends up sealing the victory for,
you know, really a dynasty.
You know, three Super Bowls in four years.
And it's the first time ever
that I went to the Gatorade bucket,
and I said, "I'm gonna get
this asshole good."
Belichick, you know.
I refer to him that fondly, of course.
I love that asshole, okay?
But I went and got that bucket
and I pick that thing up
and right as I got it right up here,
I saw him with his dad,
and I was like,
"Oh, man. I don't want to
ruin this moment."
So I held it just for half a second more,
then I gave it to him anyway,
and it felt good.
'Cause, I mean, those Gatorade showers,
you know, they're a sign of
a championship and a big win,
but also, it's the players saying we told
you we could do it.
Psssh. Take that.
I was I was tired.
I was tired.
I think everything comes at a cost,
and when I think about
that moment in my life,
I wish I could say it was like
exultation, total happiness.
But I think I was becoming
a bit overwhelmed
by all the different expectations.
Part of my leadership ability
is I care a lot,
and when I care a lot,
I want to do a lot for other people.
But it took a toll on me.
I needed to regroup.
I needed to figure out how
I could make it work going forward.
After the 2003 Super Bowl,
I was totally excited, and after 2004,
I was like, "When is this gonna end?"
You know, it's just like,
it's a continuation.
You know, which again,
is I would say, not the attitude
I would have expected,
but I think it was human nature for me
to really feel.
We're all better off for having
spent time in New England,
you know, with each other.
I think that that's evident from
everybody's kind of career.
Whether they stayed in
New England and played
or finished their career there
and then have gone on to other things,
I think we're all we're all better off
for having spent time,
you know, in New England.
Looking back on it now,
in terms of years out and seeing it,
I mean, that type of mentality is just
It's just so hard to maintain,
and if you have the guys that did it
and do it like we did,
I mean, you not only end up
winning championships,
but that's special to where,
I mean, you do things
that are still talked about.
I mean, it all went to that mentality,
that edgers mentality about,
you know, holding each other
accountable every single day
no matter what it was.
And I think about how tiring it was
and how tough it was,
but, uh, it was worth it.
Now I had to shift and evolve
and grow in a different way
to be satisfied with what I've achieved.
Not be motivated by anything exterior
but to be motivated by my love
for the sport
to continue on to be the best I could be.
This is not that easy. You do know that.
Oh, believe me, I do know that.
What a game. What a game.
What a tough opponent.
This is the ultimate feeling of being
satisfied right here.
When you look back on your career
and you know that you had
nothing else to give.
Or when you look back on a season
or three or four years,
and there's nothing more
you could have done.
I guess that's what
that edger mentality did.
It gave me that feeling
that I have right now,
that I can just sit here and just talk to
you totally just content
about that period in time
because I truly believe,
I truly believe
there's nothing more we could have done.
We just kinda did our thing.
We're all pretty similar.
We have different backgrounds
and different upbringings,
but I think we all believed in
the same type of stuff,
and, you know, quickly understood
and valued the power of a team.
I think that 2004 was the culmination
of a great four-year run of football,
of success, of realizing our potential.
Charlie Weis had taken the Notre Dame job.
Romeo Crennel was going to take
the Cleveland Brown job.
There was gonna be free agents
that had to leave.
We had a moment in time,
and I think we should appreciate it,
realizing that moment in time
wasn't gonna last forever.
And we didn't know that was the end,
but when I look back,
from the time we won the Super Bowl
to the end of the '05 season,
that was the final chapter
in that part of our team's history.
And then it had to be rebuilt.
♪♪