PUMPED: The Patriots Are Four-Time Super Bowl Champs
()
About this ebook
This ultimate comeback story is recounted in PUMPED, produced by the Boston Globe, which has chronicled the team’s fortunes for New England sports fans since the team’s inception, and never more thoroughly than in 2014. The 2014 Patriots rallied from a humiliating loss in Week 4—which pundits gleefully pointed to as the first sign of their decline—to reel off seven straight victories and establish themselves once again as the AFC’s top team and the league’s model of consistency. This 128-page book also offers perspective on the Patriots’ seven previous visits to football’s ultimate spectacle. As PUMPED painstakingly describes it, their road to Title No. 4 was marked by controversy and seeming chaos, but the Patriots cut through the distractions to do their job, again, better than anyone else.
Read more from The Boston Globe
For Boston: From Worst to First, the Improbable Dream Season of the 2013 Red Sox Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rivals: The New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox---An Inside History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5UNDENIABLE: The New England Patriots' Road to a Fourth Super Bowl Title Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Livin' the Dream: A Celebration of the World Champion 2013 Boston Red Sox Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBig Papi: The Legend and Legacy of David Ortiz Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever Gets Old: Tom Brady's Patriots Are Six-Time Super Bowl Champs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoger That!: With Fifth Super Bowl Win, Brady and Belichick's Patriots Show Who's Boss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTom Brady: GOAT Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to PUMPED
Related ebooks
Roger That!: With Fifth Super Bowl Win, Brady and Belichick's Patriots Show Who's Boss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Lions Were Kings: The Detroit Lions and the Fabulous Fifties Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf These Walls Could Talk: New England Patriots: Stories from the New England Patriots Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJalen Hurts: Rare Bird Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey Call Me Oil Can: Baseball, Drugs, and Life on the Edge Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Cut: A NFL Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Detroit Tigers Gone Wild: Mischief, Crimes and Hard Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf These Walls Could Talk: St. Louis Cardinals: Stories from the St. Louis Cardinals Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBehind the Plate: A Catcher's View of the Braves Dynasty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJustice: A Novel of the NYPD Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bryce Harper Story: Rise of a Young Slugger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Class Passage: Another Jack Sterling Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRain unto Death: Rex Muse, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe People's Team: An Illustrated History of the Green Bay Packers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou're the Umpire: Mind-Boggling Questions to Test Your Baseball Knowledge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings2015 Minor League Baseball Analyst Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBorn to Box: The Extraordinary Story of Nipper Pat Daly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'll Tell You When You're Good!: America's 12Th Man Quarterback Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQB: My Life Behind the Spiral Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Searcher 9: Fort Hays Bustout Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaseball Prospectus 2013 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSergeant O’Leary and the L.A.P.D Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSniper: Black Ops, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf You Are Going to Lead... Don't Spit! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMickey Mantle’s Last Home Run Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCenter Field on Fire: An Umpire's Life with Pine tar Bats, Spitballs, and Corked Personalities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 20th Century Phillies by the Numbers: You Can't Tell the Players Without a Scorecard Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Football For You
College Football Schemes and Techniques: Offensive Field Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCollege Football Schemes and Techniques Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Win the Line, Win the Edge: A Blueprint for Coaching Football’s Offensive Line Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFantasy Football For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swing Your Sword: Leading the Charge in Football and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"America's Team" History of the Dallas Cowboys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Science of Football: The Math, Technology, and Data Behind America's Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Talking to GOATs: The Moments You Remember and the Stories You Never Heard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Football For Dummies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51001 Basketball Trivia Questions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go Deeper: Quarterback: The Toughest Job in Pro Sports Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ChatGPT for Coaches Develop Your Self-Coaching Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Make the Call: Game-Day Wisdom for Life's Defining Moments Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantasy Football for Smart People: A Guide to Winning at Daily Fantasy Sports Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Swagger: Super Bowls, Brass Balls, and Footballs—A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore the Whistle: Football Coaching 101 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fix Is Still In: Corruption and Conspiracies the Pro Sports Leagues Don't Want You To Know About Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friday Night Lies: The Bishop Sycamore Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus Calling Magazine Issue 13: Carlos and Alexa PenaVega Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for PUMPED
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
PUMPED - The Boston Globe
Contents
Introduction
The Patriots parlayed a 12-4 regular season into their record-tying eighth Super Bowl and fourth victory.
Superbowl XLIX
Tom Brady threw for four TDs on a record 37 completions, and the defense preserved the advantage as the Patriots earned their fourth NFL title.
AFC Championship
The Colts offered little resistance as the Patriots extended their dominance of Andrew Luck & Co. with a 38-point victory.
Divisional Round
The Pats used some sleight of hand to rally from 14-0 and 28-14 deficits and edge their playoff nemesis, the Ravens.
The Season
New England looked ordinary in starting the season 2-2, but won 10 of its next 11 games to secure the No. 1 AFC seed.
Facts and Figures
New England reached its unprecedented sixth Super Bowl in 14 seasons and won its fourth, cementing its status as a salary-cap dynasty.
Team Roster
Introduction
By John Powers / Globe Staff
The air had gone out of the season before the leaves turned, when the Patriots were flattened 41-14 at Kansas City. Can they turn it around?
Tedy Bruschi, who had won three rings wearing red, white and blue, mused during his ESPN weekly chat. I think it’s going to be hard. Very hard.
›› Of all New England’s championships, this was the most arduous to achieve, yet one of the most fulfilling. The team trailed in 11 of its 16 regular-season games and twice had to come from two touchdowns behind to beat Baltimore in their divisional duel. Its coach and quarterback were accused of deception and deflation. Yet the Patriots found redemption in the same Arizona desert where perfection went pffffft! seven years ago. ›› We’re bringing this thing back to Foxborough,
crowed receiver Julian Edelman, who caught the winning touchdown, then cradled the Lombardi Trophy as New England won, lost and then won its fourth Super Bowl crown in the final two minutes, taking down defending champion Seattle 28-24 with the populace of 44 states rooting against the Brady Bunch. It feels unbelievable.
›› After the Patriots lost their last two title shots to the Giants, Bill Belichick finally equaled Chuck Noll for most Super Bowl victories by a head coach, and Tom Brady drew even with boyhood idol Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most by a quarterback. But nobody figured that the play of the season would be made by an undrafted rookie in the final moments. I just had a vision I was going to make a big play and it came through,
said Malcolm Butler, who picked off a pass that nobody but he thought that the Seahawks would throw from the 1-yard line. ›› It was the most unlikely climax in Super Bowl history and it capped a most extraordinary season. The Patriots made it back to the championship game with a mix-and-match offensive line, revolving running backs, a rebuilt secondary and a few unknowns who had the Foxborough faithful scratching their heads. Tim Wright? Brian Tyms? Jonas Gray? Butler? Yet they found a way to win a sixth straight AFC East title, then grounded the Ravens and corralled the Colts. I only have one thing to say: We’re on to Seattle,
Belichick declared after his club had advanced to the championship bout for a record sixth time in 14 years.
Patriot players, including Tom Brady (12) and Nate Ebner (43), charge onto the field before the big game.
Nobody was predicting that in September when the Chiefs, who didn’t even make the playoffs, manhandled New England on Monday Night Football. But New England survived that prime-time pounding by resorting to instant amnesia. We’re on to Cincinnati,
Belichick kept insisting.
The subsequent 43-17 decision over the unbeaten Bengals proved an ideal restorative. After that the Patriots lost only twice – at Green Bay and in the regular-season finale with Buffalo, which they treated as an exhibition outing.
Not that it was easy. New England twice needed to block field goals to hold off the Jets. And getting past Baltimore, which had twice snatched away Super Bowl tickets, required a bit of legal trickery. Edelman, the receiver who hadn’t thrown a pass since he was a Kent State quarterback, hooked up with Danny Amendola on a 51-yard touchdown strike off a lateral from Brady. And New England’s shell-game switching of eligible and ineligible receivers had the Ravens defenders befuddled. Maybe those guys gotta study the rule book and figure it out,
mused Brady after rival coach John Harbaugh complained to officials.
The Patriots didn’t need any chicanery in their 45-7 runaway over Indianapolis. They could have played with soap for balls and beat us,
tweeted Colts tight end Dwayne Allen. But when all but one of New England’s game balls was reported to be at least a pound light at halftime, Deflategate
became a national obsession, with everyone from Hall of Fame quarterbacks to MIT physicists weighing in.
The Patriots, who have traditionally thrived on Us Against the World motivation, were determined to settle all arguments at the Super Bowl. It wasn’t the way we drew it up,
conceded Brady, who threw four touchdown passes en route to his third MVP trophy. We never doubted each other.
Superbowl XLIX
By Christopher L. Gasper / Globe Staff
Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo, Calif., looking up to San Francisco 49ers great Joe Montana. After Super Bowl XLIX, Brady can now look him square in the eye and ask him to compare ring collections.
It’s all even because Brady conducted the largest fourth-quarter comeback in Super Bowl history, rallying his team from a 10-point deficit to a pulsating 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium. ›› The 70,288 in attendance and billions more watching on television bore witness to Brady taking a jack