When you consider the amount of success the New England Patriots have had since winning their first Super Bowl in February of 2002, most of the constant criticism thrown their way over the years has been out of pure jealousy.
The Patriots’ dominance will one day be a thing of the past, sure. And for their aforementioned critics, that day can’t come soon enough. But for as long as they’ve wanted to stomp on Tom Brady’s grave or hit send on Bill Belichick’s obituary, those critics have almost always been proven wrong about when the Patriots’ dynasty will officially come to an end.
But this past Sunday in Miami, they might’ve finally found the hook to hang their hat on, as they await what will eventually be the most celebrated demise in the history of the National Football League.
“The Miami Miracle,” they’re calling it. Seven seconds left. The Dolphins had the ball at their own 31-yard line. Down five. AFC East Champion hats and t-shirts were being pulled out of boxes on New England’s sideline. The celebration for the Patriots’ 10th-straight division title was about to begin.
Then, a Ryan Tannehill pass to midfield and two laterals and a stumbling Rob Gronkowski later, Kenyan Drake ran into the end zone for a game-winning touchdown.
Speechless, as they once said on “Seinfeld,” I was without speech.
If you’re the Patriots, all you can really do is move on to the next game, which is this Sunday in Pittsburgh.
If you’re someone who loved everything about the final seven seconds in Miami last Sunday, then you’re probably never going to forget that crazy finish.
To clarify, I do believe the Patriots will win their upcoming final three games of the season, finishing with a 12-4 record as the No. 2 seed, and advance to their eighth-straight AFC Championship Game. But the reason those critics have every right to hold that “Miami Miracle” so near and dear to their hearts, is because it could be the thing that costs the Patriots a trip to the Super Bowl.
If the 11-3 Kansas City Chiefs loss on Thursday night is followed up by two wins and the Patriots win out, then that loss in Miami will be the loss that prevents the now 9-4 Patriots from jumping up to the No. 1 seed.
New England owns the all-important head-to-head tiebreaker over Kansas City, but now, the Patriots need to win out and hope for the Chiefs one more in order to get to that tiebreaker. And the chances of that happening are not very good.
Ideally, you don’t want to go on the road for the Conference Championship, especially if that destination is Kansas City — where the Chiefs are 6-0 this year. And if it’s the lack of home-field advantage that ultimately costs the Patriots an AFC title, then that last-second stunner in Miami will be even more heartbreaking to the Patriots, and that much more embraced by the critics. The same critics who I told you last week were ignoring Aaron Rodgers’ losing season in Green Bay because they’re too busy rooting against Brady.
One day, those people will finally have something to celebrate. For there will come a time when Brady just doesn’t have it anymore.
He might not “fall off a cliff” as some suggest, but a gradual decline is what mortality eventually brings, even to the greatest quarterback who’s ever lived. Maybe that’ll be next year when he’s 42. Or maybe the year after that, or the year after that. Either way, I think we can all agree, the window isn’t getting any bigger.
And if the Patriots never get back to the Super Bowl under the Brady and Belichick era, then the critics will finally have been right about something.
They’ll have the Miami Miracle, the moment when the Patriots’ window of dominance began to close.
