A Tremendous Mistake- A New England Patriots TL

OriiGiins

Introduction

The New England Patriots seemed like an unstoppable dynasty during the early 2000s. Winning three Super Bowls and appearing in a fourth losing to the New York Giants in the 2007 season, finishing at 18-1. One game away from perfection. The team was ready for the next year.

Then Week One happened.

Superstar Quarterback Tom Brady was hit low by a Kansas City Chiefs’ defender, which would tore his ACL and MCL, and causing some bone damage in the knee. He was out for the season immediately, and the team’s future was in a cloud of doubt.


Notes:
Right, looks like I’m back. You could probably guess what this TL will be from the introduction. Brady’s knee injury is alot more serve and the Patriots make an awful mistake. It should be noted, instead of a normal Sports TL where one team gets Wanked. The decision will set off a series of misfortunate events where they go into dark times. So strap in and get ready for the ride of destroying the New England Patriots.
P.S. Sorry Patriots fans.
 

Nivek

I think even that mistake the pats would be good, not as insane as otl but still dominated such pathetical weak division...of course playoff are another story.
 

OriiGiins

2008-2009 NFL Season
Despite the horror and shock of Tom Brady going down the very first game of the season, back up Matt Cassel did more than enough in the starter position. Winning the first 3 games of the season, including two wins over the New York Jets who had future Hall of Famer Brett Farve and the new look Miami Dolphins. They went into the bye week sitting at 3-0, as people began to joke about how the Patriots will rule the AFC East until the end of time.

However, coming off the Bye Week the team suffered back to back losses to the San Francisco 49ers on a heartbreaking last second field goal and the San Diego Chargers knocked them to 3-2. Matt Cassel looked questionable during those two games, throwing 0 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Head Coach Bill Belichick was quoted saying “Perhaps it’s time to look at the depth chart.” This seem to knock something into Cassel, as the Patriots would win four of the next 5 games, and they’d sit at 7-3, sitting comfortably in first as they have gotten use to over the years.

However, Matt Cassel would again struggle against rivals Miami Dolphins, the juggernaut defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers and even the 2-10 Seattle Seahawks. Losing the games 45-42, 30-10, 27-21 (O.T) would drop them to 7-6, and they were right back in the race against the Miami Dolphins who also sat at 7-6, however the Patriots had the tiebreaker. The next few games saw both teams win their games, and it all came down to Week 17 where both teams sat at 9-6. All the Patriots had to do was win and they’d stay in the playoffs.

Week 17 saw an interesting scenario, The New England Patriots played at 1PM while the Miami Dolphins played at 4:15PM. It looked like trouble early for the Patriots as they trailed at halftime to the Buffalo Bills 7-0, the icebreaker being a pick six on Matt Cassel. However, the Patriots would pitch a shutout in the second half and win their game 16-7, finishing the season at 10-6. Even with being denied a chance to the playoffs, the Dolphins still lost their game vs. the Jets 31-20 thanks to Brett Favre's 4 Touchdowns, to send them to 9-7.

2008-2009 NFL Playoffs

The New England Patriots would host the Baltimore Ravens, lead by their famously fierce defense to get them the sixth seed. Rookie Quarterback Joe Flacco did his part to get the team into the playoffs and the showdown was on. The Patriots were a heavy favorite, at a surprisingly 8 point line. The Ravens loved the underdog role and the Patriots offense, especially Matt Cassel, had to pay for it. The first quarter alone saw the Ravens defense get two scores, a pick six and a fumble six from Matt Cassel as the away team would lead 17-0. The second quarter saw the Patriots claw somewhat back, to make the halftime score 20-10.

The third Quarter saw the gap widen even more. The Patriots defense would let up two straight touchdown passes from Joe Flacco to make the score an embarrassing 34-10 hole for the Patriots. The Patriots would struggle on offense, as they were stifled with 4 straight 3 and outs. The Ravens would add onto the lead with another field goal to spread the lead to 37-10. The Fourth Quarter the Patriots would put some points on the board, with three straight field goals to make it 37-19. That would end up being the final score, and the Patriots had to face a line of questions, dealing with Tom Brady’s knee, Matt Cassel’s uncertainty, and after an embarrassing home playoff loss against the Ravens, perhaps even their defense.

The end of the season saw the Arizona Cardinals upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first ever Super Bowl that would go to O.T, as the Cardinals connected on a Warner to Fitzgerald pass to on the first drive of the extra period to give them their first ever Lombardi trophy.


Notes:
Right, quick update why not. I was considering having Cassel be alot worse OTL to give them a terrible season, but decided what’s more embarrassing than having everyone know your backup to Brady being terrible? A team passing expectations only to have a terrible home playoff loss. It also helps the narrative I have for the upcoming offseason involving who will become Brady’s successor, since spoilers Cassel won’t be. Also, changed the Super Bowl since I've always had a sweet spot for Warner in my heart if you haven't noticed in my previous TLs, so figured give him the second ring he deserved OTL here as usual.
 

Nivek

OriiGiins said:
The end of the season saw the Arizona Cardinals upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first ever Super Bowl that would go to O.T, as the Cardinals connected on a Warner to Fitzgerald pass to on the first drive of the extra period to give them their first ever Lombardi trophy.
Click to expand...
Nice.

Ummm So Cassel will not be Brady heir, ummm....still they got a playoff spot... .

Nice chpater buddy, was nice and showed how strange was that 2008 season
 

OriiGiins

2009 Offseason/Draft

The main concern of the Patriots offseason was how stable would Tom Brady’s knee be. He wouldn’t be ready for Week One of the following season, everyone knew that with how bad the damage was, but if he could even get back onto the field. The team doctor’s were confident that he will be back better than ever when it would be fully healed, but Head Coach wanted outside unbiased opinions. The team would have Brady visit a series of doctors, all who were split on how serious the injury would affect him. Three would agree with the team’s doctors saying that he would be his old self in no time, while four others had major concerns with how well he could run, let alone play football. The team had to make a decision.

Head Coach Bill Belichick would have the final say according to owner Robert Kraft behind close doors, and after long hours of debating it with everyone possible, even his wife according to rumors, he decided to put Tom Brady on the trade block. To avoid a media storm, and even to make sure Brady himself wouldn’t find out, he would talk to other General Managers in a secret way.

Just days before the 2009 NFL Draft, a earth shattering deal would be announced.

BREAKING NEWS: TOM BRADY HAS BEEN TRADED TO THE DETROIT LIONS FOR THE FIRST OVERALL PICK IN THE 2009 DRAFT.

Fearing the injury wouldn’t allow Brady to come back to his full potential, the New England Patriots would trade him for the first overall draft pick to an eager Detroit Lions. The Lions would get the Patriots 25th overall pick as well. It would get comparisons to the Wayne Gretzky trade to the Los Angeles Kings.


“With the First Overall Pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select...Matthew Stafford, Quarterback from University of Georgia.”

“With the Twenty-Fifth Overall Pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions select...Clay Matthews, Linebacker from University of Southern California.”

“The Kansas City Chiefs have traded the Thirty-Fourth Overall Pick to the New England Patriots in exchange for Quarterback Matt Cassel. With the new Thirty-Fourth Overall Pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select...James Laurinaitis, Linebacker from Ohio State University.”

The 2009 Draft would see the future of the New England Patriots rest on the shoulders of Matthew Stafford.

Notes:
So yeah, the Patriots trade Brady for the first overall pick. I was going to have them select Mark Sánchez, but decided against it to give them somewhat a chance at being moderately successful without Brady. So as always enjoy the update.
 

OriiGiins

2009-2010 NFL Season

Preseason, the future in the shape of Matthew Stafford looked decent. Throwing 4 touchdowns to only one interception many Patriots fans had hope for him being the replacement of Tom Brady. Week One saw the Patriots take on divisional Rivals the Buffalo Bills. Despite being down 17-6 at halftime, the Patriots would comeback and win the game thanks to Stafford’s 3 touchdowns in the second half as the Patriots would win the game 27-20. The future looked bright for the Patriots as fans and the media began to speculate if Stafford was the right choice all along. Through the first six weeks, the Patriots sat at 5-1, losing their only game to the New York Jets as Brett Favre outdueled Stafford to win the game 38-31.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers would upset the Patriots in London in a low scoring affair of 13-9, but even with that loss, the Patriots would go into their Bye Week at a 5-2 record, sitting comfortable in first place of the AFC East as they usually would be. However, Week 8 saw the return of former Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady. The Lions sat at a terrible record of 2-5 but Week 8 saw hope for the future of the franchise turned joke, as Brady would pass for 3 Touchdowns in his first game in over a year and half. Patriots fans began to sweat that their team may have made the wrong decision.

Head Coach Bill Belichick was asked about his performance, but would be quoted saying that he only focuses on the upcoming team. The game after the Bye Week saw another Patriots win over the Miami Dolphins, then an upset over the Indianapolis Colts to give them their first loss of the season, pushing the Patriots up to a 8-2 record. Even with the more than amazing return of Tom Brady for the Lions, the Patriots had nothing to worry about.

Then Week 11 happened. The rematch with the New York Jets saw Stafford go down hard in the first quarter after a sack, and it would end up dislocating his right shoulder, which would put him on the IR for the rest of his rookie year. Undrafted Rookie Brian Hoyer would enter the game, and would make the score respectable, but the Jets would sweep the Patriots with a score of 27-17. Hoyer seemed ok in his first ever field time, however he would struggle the rest of the year.

Sitting at 8-3 after Stafford’s injury, Belichick would name Hoyer the starter for the rest of the season. The New York Jets would be pushing for first in the AFC East, as they would sit at 7-4 with the obvious tiebreaker over the Patriots. The rest of the games weren’t good for New England. Only winning one out of the remaining six games, they’d fall to 9-7 and would miss out of the final wild card spot to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

2009-2010 NFL Playoffs

The AFC saw the New York Jets win the conference for the first time in a very long time, as Brett Favre seemed as if he was making one last run before his imminent retirement. Defeating the defending AFC Champions the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round with a score of 24-19. Defeating the Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional Round in a shootout between Favre and Peyton Manning with a score of 35-30. The Baltimore Ravens would make their second straight AFC Championship game only to fall to the Jets 28-16.

The NFC saw the New Orleans Saints clinch the first seed and would defeat sixth seed Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round with a score of 23-20 in O.T. thanks to a clinching pick by Tracey Porter on Tom Brady, to give the Saints perfect field goal range. The NFC Championship game saw the New Orleans Saints defeat the Dallas Cowboys avenging the team that ended their undefeated hopes by blowing them out 38-13.

Super Bowl 44 saw the New Orleans Saints copy the Arizona Cardinals in winning their first ever Lombardi Trophy, defeating the New York Jets 31-17, thanks to a clinching Pick Six by Tracey Porter on Brett Favre.

Notes:
The obvious change is Brett Favre staying with the New York Jets. I decided to do this to make the Jets a formidable team in the AFC East, as well as change things up on both the AFC and NFC side of things. The Colts struggled defeating the Mark Sánchez led Jets, so I think Favre could’ve beaten them. Anyway, enjoy the update as usual.
 

Nivek

A shame stafford got injured he looked so dangerous with the pats, the best team as their 2014 lions.

Brady is making a case ITTL , rallying hopeless lions back to playoffs short a 0-16 season and just a bad pick the superbowl...how he survived the Bounty hunters is another
 

OriiGiins

2010-2011 NFL Season

After the disappointment of the previous season non playoff appearance, New England was anxious for the 2010 Season. Matt Stafford was healthy for Week One, as his injury seemed like a routine injury. The offseason was quiet for the team, no big names in free agency and a run of the mill draft saw the team have the same old expectations that they were use to for a numerous number of years.

The first four weeks went more than well for the Patriots. Going 3-1, their only loss to the New York Jets were new starter Mark Sánchez would throw for 3 touchdowns as Brett Favre retired after their heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl. They’d bounce back by defeating fellow AFC East rivals the Bills and Dolphins to go into the Bye Week 3-1, on top of the division.

Coming back from the week off, they’d lose back to back games to the Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers, both in O.T with a score of 27-24 on Game Winning Field Goals. Falling back to 3-2, their comfortable lead on the division would begin to slip away. However, three straight wins over the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers would put them back into a comfortable first place with a 6-2 lead. Stafford looked good in his sophomore year, avoiding the famous ‘sophomore slump’ having 19 total touchdowns and only 8 interceptions.

A shootout loss to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts with a score of 38-30, would bring them into the Thanksgiving matchup with the Detroit Lions. It would be Tom Brady’s first game vs. his former team. The Lions would sit at 7-4, pushing for the lead/playoff spot in a competitive NFC North. Millions of fans tuned in to see if he’d get his first step of revenge, or if Bill Belichick had his master plan set all along. The latter would happen, when the Patriots would score the go ahead touchdown with a 5 yard scamper from Stafford with 12 seconds remaining to win the game 24-20.

After the much anticipated with their former Quarterback, the Patriots sat at 7-3. Trying to push for a Bye Week in the playoffs, they’d get revenge on the Jets but would fall to the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, as they’d go into the final two weeks with a 8-5 record, as the Jets were close behind for the first spot. The Patriots would sweep both the Bills and Dolphins to finish 11-5, owning the tiebreaker over the Jets as both teams finished with a 11-5 record.

2010-2011 NFL Playoffs

The New England Patriots would host the sixth seeded New York Jets in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Fans trying to forget what happened their last home playoff game, and only what happened in the regular season. The first Quarter started off perfectly for the Patriots. Stafford connected on the first 2 drives to Tight End Rob Gronkowski to give them a quick 14-0 lead, but the Jets would clawback to make the First Quarter end with a 14-6 score.

The second Quarter was a dull punt fest, as the Jets would put the only score in the quarter on the board with another field goal to make the halftime score a 14-9 lead for the Patriots. The Third Quarter saw the Jets open the half up with a score to give them their first lead of the game at 16-14. The Patriots would respond with a field goal to retake the lead, before adding another to go into the final quarter with a 20-16 lead. The Patriots would get a Pick Six on Mark Sánchez as it seemed like the game would be wrapped up with their 27-16 lead. However, the Jets wouldn’t go down without a fight. Responding after the turnover to make the lead 27-23, with 8 minutes to go. The Patriots wore down as much time as possible until Stafford would make a terrible throw into the endzone, to be intercepted and give the Jets the ball back with 4 minutes left. The Jets would march the 80 yards and would get the Go Ahead score with 34 seconds left to win the game 30-27, and to upset the New England Patriots to give them another upsetting playoff lost.

Super Bowl 45 saw the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers with a score of 31-25, as Aaron Rodgers seem to finally breakout of the shadow of Brett Favre taking home the MVP honors for the game.

Notes:
Season ends the same way OTL with an upset to the Sánchez lead Jets. The Super Bowl I was considering having the Colts defeat the Packers, but they were mediocre that year and nobody probably would’ve stopped Rodgers that run. Also offseason updates will be included when something groundbreaking happens, but for the most part many things will go OTL so don't expect many changes in the offseason. So enjoy as usual.
 

DTF955Baseballfan

Thanks for giving the Packers the win, it was a special season. I don't even mind Brett Favre getting into another Super Bowl, the Jets are a neutral team to me. Of course, it means in this timeline we don't get my best friends then 7 year old nephew singing "oh Brett Favre why do you betray us" but he has my late friend's hilarious and spontaneous sense of humor and I can imagine him coming up with something just as silly during that Jets Super Bowl. In fact, I'm imagining him and my friend Rick now making all these jokes about how Favre will play in anything Green and taking it to absurd lengths. After all, the Jets uniforms are green.
 

AltSptHst

I don't think the Lions make the playoffs in 09. Tom Brady isn't gonna save them. If this would have happened, this would have been the beginning of the end of Brady's career. Detroit probably doesn't run the same system as NE did, and Brady probably gets hurt again, ending his career prematurely. That would have put his HOF candidacy in serious doubt. Voters probably look at him as a product of Belichick and Spygate (and rightly so).
 

DTF955Baseballfan

Ken Stabler is in the Hall of Fame. Bob Griese is in. Tom Brady would get in.

He wouldn't be first ballot, but remember he would have Calvin Johnson. That dude made all the QBs that Detroit had look a lot better than they were. (Well, Stafford's pretty good, but the others...)

People would then look and see, "Hey, he did all that without a superior receiver till Randy Moss came along.

So, he'd play enough with Detroit to get into the Hall. He would improve that 0-16 team quite a bit, even if they didn't make the playoffs, and that would count for a lot in voters' minds, too.

I think he'd be compared with Griese by some of the naysayers, but he'd have enough fame on a club that won 3 Super Bowls and had a16-0 season that he would get in.
 

OriiGiins

2011-2012 NFL Season

The 2011 season would start with the Patriots being upsetted by the Miami Dolphins on the road, losing on a last second field goal that would win the game with a score of 27-24 for the Dolphins. The team would shake the loss off by winning the next four games, defeating the San Diego Chargers 28-20, the Buffalo Bills 34-31, the Oakland Raiders 27-13 and the New York Jets 31-19. The week before the Bye Week saw the team lose to the Dallas Cowboys 34-21 as Matthew Stafford would throw a clinching 84 yard pick six in the last minutes of the game.

Even with the two losses, the Patriots would go into the week off with a 4-2 record, easily the best in the AFC East and would even have them in first place in the entire AFC. However, losing back to back games coming off the Bye Week to the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-20 and the New York Giants 26-17, would put them at 4-4 a sudden alarm for the team and fans. However, defeating the Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles all in blowout fashion would put them back up at 7-4 and would relieve any scares for the team and fans.

The team would survive two scares from the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts and Washington Redskins winning both games at 34-27, then blowing out the Denver Broncos 42-20 on the road to put them up at 10-4, with two games remaining against divisional opponents as they were in a tight race with the Baltimore Ravens to get the first seed in the AFC. Surviving the Dolphins from another upset, this time winning on their own last second field goal to win the game 27-24. The last game of the year saw the Patriots dominated the first half to get a 27-6 halftime score to rest their starters for the playoffs. Winning the game 37-20, they’d finish at 12-4, second seed behind the Baltimore Ravens.

2011-2012 NFL Playoffs

The Houston Texans would defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card Round to setup a showdown with the Patriots in the Divisional Round. Even with the Texans having the best defense in the AFC as well as rookie T.J Yates having to play in the spot of Matt Schaub, the Patriots were 9 point favorites in the game.

The First Quarter showed why the Patriots should be the heavy favorites, as first play of the game, Yates would throw a pick six to James Laurinaitis. The Texans would then go 3 and out on their next drive, and the Patriots would make them pay with a 23 yard pass to Wes Welker. Within roughly 3 minutes, the Patriots were already up 14-0. However, fans remembered what happened last year to the New York Jets. The Texans would add a field goal to put the score at 14-3 to end the first Quarter. The second Quarter saw the Texans crawl back as they add another field goal then get a touchdown on a 7 yard pass to Andre Johnson. The halftime score saw the Patriots barely hold onto a 14-13 lead. Luckily, the third Quarter saw the Patriots take back their dominance, scoring 3 touchdowns, two passes to Rob Gronkowski and a fumble return on defense. They’d go into the final quarter with a 35-13 lead. The Texans would make the score a little more respectable but the Patriots would still win the game 38-28, winning their first playoff game in the Stafford era.

The AFC Championship saw the Patriots travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens, where the Ravens would be slim favorites at a 2 and half spread.

The first quarter saw both team’s offenses more than stall out, as Flacco and Stafford would both turn the ball over twice, and the quarter quickly turned into a dull punt fest, as the game would be going into the second quarter with a dull 0-0 game. With 6 minutes to go in the first half, the Patriots would finally break the tie as Stafford would take the ball in on a Quarterback Sneak, before the Ravens would get a quick field goal in before halftime, having the score be 7-3 after two quarters. The Ravens would take their first lead of the game on the opening drive in the third quarter, going up 10-7, but the Patriots would respond with their own field goal. The score being 10-10 going into the final Quarter. A field goal, a Stafford turnover, then another field goal would see the Ravens take a 16-10. However, the Patriots would respond with a 42 yard touchdown to Wes Welker. With 2 minutes left however, the Ravens would get the ball back with at their own 20, with a chance to win the game. The Ravens would march down the field with almost ease, to get to the Patriots 10 yard line. The Patriots wouldn’t let up a touchdown, and with 12 seconds left their hopes of making the Super Bowl rested on Kicker Billy Cundiff making a 27 yard kick. The first kick would actually miss to the shock of the home fans, but the Patriots used their last timeout in an attempt to ice him. It would come back to bite them. The second kick would go right down the middle, and the Ravens would win the game 19-17.

Super Bowl 46 would see the New York Giants win their second Super Bowl in 5 years, winning the game 23-20, as the AFC Championship hero Billy Cundiff would miss a tying 32 yard field goal with 30 seconds left.

Notes:
Not much to say with this one another than Cundiff still strikes again. So as usual enjoy.
 

DTF955Baseballfan

Let's hope this destroys for all time the icing of the kicker. It takes extra time whent he league would like its games shorter if possible, and it hardly ever works. (It's sort of like the fake throw to third aand throw to first to try to pick off a runner in baseball - oh, it might fool a high school kid, but really, these are pros.)

I like that Stafford got a potential game-winning drive. He is a good QB, just not a great one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top