The team everyone loves to hate, Patriots in fact offer much to emulate
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady celebrated his team鈥檚 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Feb. 3.
Mike Segar/Reuters
This is a gloat-free zone. I promise.
Super Bowl LIII was a tad anticlimactic (boring, even) after all the hype 鈥� and for most of the nation, a huge disappointment. Jared Goff, the Los Angeles Rams鈥� young quarterback, and Sean McVay, the youngest head coach in the National Football League, were no match for the seasoned savants of New England, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
At 13-3, the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history, at least it wasn鈥檛 a blowout. But there鈥檚 no denying the other records: Now with six Super Bowl rings, Patriots quarterback Brady needs both hands to display them all. And Coach Belichick, who already held the record for most Super Bowl victories as a head coach before Sunday, is now tied at six with George Halas and Curly Lambeau for , including those before the advent of the Super Bowl.
Why We Wrote This
From their famous work ethic to their steely mental discipline to their success working together as a team, the NFL champs have given a model for how to succeed.
Again, I鈥檓 not gloating, just setting the stage. Here鈥檚 the real point: Don鈥檛 hate; emulate. Don鈥檛 waste all that time and mental energy wishing curses upon the Patriots. Study their work ethic, their ability to bounce back after a bad play or a loss, their success working as a team.
Or to quote Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman, appearing on CNN Monday morning after staying up all night, 鈥淲hy you gotta hate? Collaborate.鈥�
Team owner Robert Kraft is another key ingredient. He loves his players and coaches and lets everyone do their job. He also sees parallels between his success with the Patriots and with his other ventures.
鈥淓ven when you鈥檙e running a business, keeping continuity and having people keep their egos under control鈥� is key, Mr. Kraft told CNBC last week. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost two decades we鈥檝e been able to keep this thing running together.鈥�
The Patriots drafted Brady and hired Belichick in 2000, and in just their second season together, they brought home the Vince Lombardi Trophy 鈥� the first NFL championship for a long-benighted team in a city spoiled by sports success. Suddenly, they were worth watching. I will never forget going to my one and only Patriots game, pre-Brady/Belichick, sitting in the stands in Foxborough in miserable sleet and watching them lose and thinking, 鈥淣ever again.鈥� Now, assuming Brady comes back next season as promised, I鈥檇 fly up from DC in a nanosecond.
Kraft also points out that Brady isn鈥檛 the highest-paid player in the league 鈥� far from it. Forbes ranks him at .
鈥淭he most important thing to him is to win and not to make money,鈥� said Kraft, who is limited by the league鈥檚 salary cap in what he can pay his players. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like, whatever we don鈥檛 pay him, we put in our pocket. We use it to make the rest of the team better.鈥�
Not that Brady is hurting for cash. In the 2018 season, he stood to earn $29 million, including salary, bonuses, and endorsements.
But there鈥檚 a more important life lesson in the Brady story: Work as hard as you can from Day One, and when given the chance to show your stuff, be ready. In 2000, he was drafted in the sixth round, 199th overall, and . In the 2001 season, after an injury to the Pats鈥� starting quarterback, Brady got the ball and never looked back.
Now Brady is famous for his conditioning, his diet, and his competitive spirit, undiminished at the advanced age of 41. For both Brady and Belichick, the clich茅 that 鈥渁ge is just a number鈥� truly does apply. Both have set records for being the oldest to win the Super Bowl in their respective positions, but instead of hating them for defying common beliefs about age, let鈥檚 do this: Forget for a moment how obnoxious Patriots fans can be and how boring it鈥檚 become to see the Patriots in the Super Bowl year in and year out (almost), and try to tap into what makes them so great.
In fact, Super Bowl LIII really should have been the Geezer Bowl: Brady versus the great Drew Brees (age 40) of New Orleans, if not for a missed penalty call in the Saints鈥� conference championship. Sunday鈥檚 game would have been a remarkable matchup by two men proving that time is an illusion.
I suspect another ingredient that fuels the 鈥渉aters鈥� is President Trump. Kraft donated $1 million to his inauguration and has dined with the president at Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Trump loves to, a beautiful irony for a region that is hardly Trump country.
Then there鈥檚 the whole cheating thing. I won鈥檛 relitigate or or that playoff game against the Oakland Raiders in 2001, when a controversial call in their conference championship game helped the Pats to their first Super Bowl win. No team could have come this far by cheating its way to the top.
Brady knows there鈥檚 nothing he can do about the haters. So when last week how he deals with them, his answer was simple: 鈥淲e love them back.鈥�