I've seen pretty much every piece of content about the double-dynasty that the Pats and NFL Films have to offer. Screw 10,000 hours, I'm closer to 100,000. Malcolm Gladwell ain't got shit on me! I've done my job (fallen asleep to youtube playlists) and can recite the dialogue in the 2001 Patriots America's Game verbatim (Lawyer Milloy's line on all the problems he was dealing with in '01 is unintentionally hilarious). For some reason, the 2014 Pats America's Game isn't on YouTube, but every other Super Bowl team's is.
Ideally, I was gonna wait until all ten episodes of AppleTV+'s The Dynasty: New England Patriots were out before I watched them, but Friday night, I gave in and binged all four available episodes. If you haven't seen it, two new episodes drop on Fridays until March 15th. The descriptions of those episodes are up on AppleTV+, so you can see the pacing and its many flaws.
That's my biggest issue with this project so far. I've loved the player interviews and candor we usually don't see from people associated with the Patriots, but who the heck decided it was a good idea to spend like 2.85 episodes on the 2001 season, then fast forward to 2007 and Spygate?? Scott Pioli basically tries to explain Spygate as a result of the pressure of winning, and we get a Vine's worth of '03 & '04 coverage. Sick!
Any Patriots fan/person who appreciates NFL history knows that few key moments happened between 2002 and '07.
Did the Brady-Manning rivalry never happen? How are you gonna gloss over two 14-2 Super Bowl seasons? Before two-ish weeks ago, the 2003-04 Pats were the most recent team to go back-to-back. It's like if you did a docu-series on The Beatles, spent three episodes on the Ed Sullivan Show, then episode four picks up at the Let It Be sessions. Yo AppleTV+, You know your little show is called "THE DYNASTY," right? I'd say 1/3 (2/6 if you don't reduce) of the Pats' Super Bowl wins are essential parts of that story.
Sure, Apple is trying to cast a wide net, blah, blah, blah. I know they want non-Patriot fans to watch too. I get why they didn't find 20 seconds to mention Rhode Islander Mike Cloud scoring five touchdowns for the '03 Pats, but it's fucking irresponsible to attempt to tell the story of the double-dynasty without mentioning Tom Jackson's "they hate their coach" rant after Bill cut Lawyer Milloy, the 21-game win streak, Willie's goal-line tackle in Indy, Bruschi's snowstorm TD, Ty Law picking off THREE Peyton Manning passes in the AFC Championship Game (and the Colts bitching to the league to get the rules changed), the back-and-forth classic that was Super Bowl 38, trading for Corey Dillon, Mike Vrabel being a touchdown machine, Vanderjagt shanking the game-tying field goal in the '04 opener, Troy Brown playing corner, holding the 2004 Colts offense to a fucking field goal in the playoffs after they cried to the league and got the rules changed, beating Pittsburgh IN Pittsburgh for the AFC title (again) after all the "they can't get on our level" B.S. Joey Porter was spewing after Pitt ended the 21-game win streak, Belichick's speech where he tells the team the Eagles parade route, or Fredex (Freddie Mitchell) talking shit about how he couldn't name the Patriots DBs before Super Bowl XXXIX. Karma got the last laugh since that was the last game of that bum's career (btw, 1 catch for 11 yards). How can you spend so much time on the Snow Bowl/Tuck Rule Game and not mention the 1976 Divisional Round??? I was -15 years old when it happened, and I know all about how the Sugar Bear Hamilton roughing call cost the Pats. Did he touch Ken Stabler's helmet? Yeah, but it was 1976 when manslaughter was allowed. On 3rd and 18, it bailed the Raiders out and saved their season. John Madden doesn't win his lone Super Bowl without that call. The '70s Raiders are viewed entirely differently in history without that call. The Tuck Rule was simply the Pats' payback en route to their first Lombardi. If you're gonna spend like 30 minutes on Bill Parcells, you should've at least mentioned the parallels between the 1976 and 2001 Patriot-Raider playoff games. Despite the tone of my blog, I have enjoyed the docuseries so far; it's awesome to hear Ernie Adams. I'm just wicked disappointed with its execution to this point. If you're gonna make a 10-episode docuseries about the double-dynasty....maybe mix in the fucking Super Bowls instead of the first of two incredibly overblown -gates? P.S. What the FUCK is going on with these run times?
Thirty-three minutes??! Are you kidding me? I liked the long Ted Lasso's, but you mean to tell me you'll make a 60-minute episode about Coach Beard, but we can't get a fucking hour ep about the most remarkable run in the history of North American professional sports? That is so damn rude. What's the point of making this if you're not gonna make it right? I'm sick of people/fascists rewriting history. I could've done a better job. It's not complicated. Here's a brief outline of how it should've gone that took me about five minutes.
Episode 1: 2001...briefly hit on the disappointment of 2002...starting 3-0, then falling to 3-4 and missing the playoffs. I'm talking 10% of the episode max, so it's mostly about 01 and other backstories like Kraft buying the team, Bledsoe, etc. Episode 2: 2003, 2004: 21-game win streak; back-to-back champs. Pats go from underdogs to dynasty (hated). Episode 3: 05-06: changing of the guard in the NFL. Bruschi's stroke. First playoff loss, choking away the 2006 AFCCG, and how that lead to bringing in Moss and Welker. Episode 4: 2007 Episode 5: Brady's injury in 08, first home playoff loss in 09, 2010 draft sets the Pats up for the next decade. Pats make it back to the Super Bowl, but Gronk's injury costs them. Episode 6: Aaron Hernandez saga & the Butt-fumble. Episode 7: 2014 & deflate-gate. Episode 8: 2016 & deflate-gate. Episode 9: Malcolm Butler benching, Pats bounce back in 2018 and win last Super Bowl...the dynasty starts to crumble. Episode 10: The downfall of the double-dynasty. Brady leaves for Tampa (gross).
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