- The New England Patriots' historic 2003 season is reviewed. 2003 began with a 4-0 preseason slate of games during which the Patriots got good looks at numerous new members alongside their established veterans. But entering the opening game against Drew Bledsoe's Buffalo Bills, safety Lawyer Milloy was suddenly cut by the Patriots, to the consternation of the team and the fans, and when the Bills picked Milloy up, the result was a miserable 31-0 shutout win by Buffalo. But the Patriots responded the nesxt week in Philidelphia with a rousing 31-10 victory, during which tackle Roosevelt Colvin was injured and had to sit out the season. More injuries knocked out several starters in a close win over the New York Jets, and after a demoralizing 20-17 loss in Washington, injuries had eaten into the Pats' starting line. But beginning with Week Five, the Patriots hunkered down and began getting game-winning play from darkhorse starters and their corps of rookies. The Patriots defeated the heavily-favored Tennessee Titans in Week Five and from there on the Patriots' season never looked back, with wins against the Giants, a spectacular OT win in Miami (the team's first in Miami during the hot months of September and October ever) a FG win over Cleveland, and a spectacular TD win in Denver. With a shutout win over the Cowboys, an OT win in Houston, and a spectacular goalline stand at Indy, the Patriots ended the competitive phase of their season as division champs. They ran out December with three shutout wins highlighted by perfect revenge over Buffalo. Then came the playoffs and the run to Superbowl XXXVIII.—Anonymous
- The 2003 season of the New England Patriots proved to be a season of unexpected twists and unprecedented success. Much was expected of the Patriots after a lackluster 9-7 2002 season as the team went to work to sign quality free agents to fill in holes in their competitive structure, and as the preseason proceeded it seemed certain that free agents such as linebacker Roosevelt Colvin and safeties Tyrone Poole and Rodney Harrison would work well with established veterans such as safety Lawyer Milloy, linebackers Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, and Willie McGinest, and defensive back Richard Seymour. This all went with star quarterback Tom Brady and a crop of promising rookies in cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Eugene Wilson.
The preseason saw a 4-0 sweep by the Patriots over the NY Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, and Chicago Bears, but following the Bears game victory safety Lawyer Milloy was cut from the team, a shocking development that demoralized the team and led to a disasterous performance in the season opening game in Buffalo, as the Bills signed Milloy and he helped lead them to a 31-0 shutout of the Patriots.
Coach Bill Belichick was pilloried in the media for his decision, but his locker room soon gelled behind Rodney Harrison and Tom Brady, and in the second game of the year, in Philadelphia, the Patriots rolled to a 31-10 victory. The winning continued in a 23-16 triumph over the NY Jets, but a 20-17 loss in Washington was illustrated by an epidemic of serious and season-ending injuries.
But in Week Five against the Tennessee Titans the Patriots toughened up and took on one of the league's most physical teams, battling in a back-and-forth contest and sealing a stunning win with a late interception touchdown off the Titans' Steve McNair by hobbled Ty Law, for a 38-30 final score.
From here the Patriots kept rolling, beating the NY Giants 17-6 in a rain-induced mud bowl, then defeating the Miami Dolphins; the Patriots protested the coin flip to start overtime, then survived a missed field goal kick by the Dolphins before nailing an interception off Jay Fiedler of Miami and then ending the whole affair off a 90-yard Tom Brady touchdown to Troy Brown in overtime. A grinding 9-3 win over the Cleveland Browns preceded a dramatic comeback win over the hated Denver Broncos, 30-26.
The victories continued, as the Patriots shut out the Dallas Cowboys of former Patriots coach Bill Parcells, 12-0. A surprisingly stout Houston Texans team took a 20-13 lead in the fourth quarter in New England's first trip to Houston since a gory 31-6 rout by the Oilers in 1988, but the Patriots tied the score in the final minute, then sweated out a very grinding overtime period before the winning field goal was kicked.
But this was just a harbinger, as the Patriots traveled to Indianapolis for the first time in two years and faced the high-scoring Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots smothered Peyton Manning's offense and roared to a 31-10 third quarter score, but interceptions by the Colts helped lead to 21 points and a laugher thus became a heart-stopping epic decided on a goalline stand by the Patriots in the final seconds for a 38-34 triumph that left everyone involved shaken.
This, though, effectively ended the competitive phase of the Patriots' season. The Patriots pitched shutouts in two of their final four games, blanking the Dolphins before beating down the Jacksonville Jaguars and the NY Jets before facing the rematch of Week One, the Buffalo Bills; the game was no contest despite a scary hit on Tom Brady's leg by Lawyer Milloy in the second. The Patriots nailed four touchdowns in the first half and held on for a poetic 31-0 shutout win.
The playoffs became a rematch of two of the regular season's greatest games. First the Tennessee Titans battled the Patriots in zero-degree cold but came up short in a 17-14 grinder. The next week the Indianapolis Colts came to a snowy Foxboro and were bullied on all sides en route to a 24-14 AFC Championship triumph.
But the biggest test became the Superbowl against the upstart Carolina Panthers. What was expected to be a grinder dominated by defense erupted in the final minutes of the first half into an epic shootout, and after a scoreless third quarter the shootout reached armageddon proportions as a 21-10 Patriots lead was wiped out by two Panthers touchdowns for a 22-21 gap. The Patriots scored again but the Panthers answered and the game was thus tied at 29 with 68 seconds remaining and the Patriots needing to answer one final challenge in a season where they'd met them all.
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