New England Patriots 2009 Playoffs
The history of the New England Patriots is one marred by futility until the mid-‘90s, but loaded with great seasons and great quarterbacks after. The turn around for the team best known for an embarrassing loss to the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX in 1985 began with Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe made Patriots playoff tickets season after season a reality. Bill Parcells built the team around the strong arm of the quarterback. The result was an 11-5 season in 1996 that ended in Super Bowl loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Bledsoe would try to return to the big game under Pete Carroll, but would have to wait until Bill Belichick was hired in 2000 to see the long struggle to win redemption for the franchise history. Playoff tickets saw a transition from Bledsoe to Tom Brady that season. Brady took over the team and won 11 games during the regular season. In the playoffs he was brilliant and overcame heavy snow in the first round to lead the team through the postseason. The Patriots would win their first Super Bowl in 2001, the last season at Foxboro Stadium, and two more in 2003 and 2004 after they moved to their new home at Gillette Stadium.
New England Patriots Background
Last season the Patriots dominated the regular season schedule, going 16-0. The went to the Super Bowl as the favorite and expecting to become the second team since the ’73 Dolphins to end the year with the Lombardi Trophy and a perfect season. Their hopes were dashed by the upset New York Giants. Everyone came in to the 2008 season expecting a renewed sense of purpose and Patriots playoff tickets that would end in another trip to the Super Bowl.
Week 1 saw fans with shattered dreams as Tom Brady left the game and the season after pressure from the Kansas City Chiefs injured his left knee. Now the team is in the hands of Matt Cassell. Starting Cassell does not mean playoff tickets are impossible this season for the Patriots. He still has running back Laurence Maroney to hand off to and receivers Randy Moss and Wes Welker to exploit the secondary of every team in the NFL. If the defense holds and Cassell can do a decent job the talent around him could make a trip to the postseason come true.