Day 1 · 16-0 · Lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants, 17-14
Five starters took the field for this offense: quarterback, running back, two receivers, and a tight end. How many can you name before the hints kick in?
You remember when perfection felt inevitable. The Patriots had already won three Super Bowls under Bill Belichick, but 2007 felt different from the dynasty's earlier championship teams. Randy Moss arrived in New England with something to prove. Spygate turned the Patriots into the league's biggest villain after Week 1. Every opponent wanted to humble them, and New England responded by spending the season humiliating almost everyone in its path.
Everything started with Tom Brady. Brady had always been the quarterback you trusted to win close games. Now he was putting them away before the fourth quarter began. Moss made every deep ball feel like a touchdown before it came down, Wes Welker seemed permanently open underneath, and Kevin Faulk remained Brady's answer whenever New England needed a third down. Bill Belichick kept attacking regardless of the score, while Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison, and Asante Samuel gave the defense the same edge that had defined the dynasty from the beginning.
New England finished 16-0, becoming the first team to complete an undefeated 16-game regular season. Brady threw a then-record 50 touchdown passes and won MVP. Moss caught a record 23 touchdowns. The Patriots scored 589 points and won their first eight games by at least 17. But the closer they came to perfection, the more fragile it felt. They erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit against the undefeated Colts. They survived Baltimore after a Ravens timeout erased what appeared to be a season-ending fourth-down stop. Then they came back from 12 points down against the Giants, with Brady finding Moss for the touchdown that broke both records and made 16-0 real.
The playoffs felt less like a championship run than the protection of something everyone was waiting to see break. Jacksonville made New England work before Brady completed 26 of 28 passes and the Patriots pulled away. San Diego intercepted him three times in the AFC Championship Game, but the defense carried New England through the cold and sent it to Arizona at 18-0. One win remained. Not simply another championship. Nineteen-and-zero. The perfect season that would settle every argument about the greatest team ever assembled.
Then the Giants made them look mortal. New York's pass rush kept reaching Brady before Moss could get downfield, turning the highest-scoring offense in league history into a team fighting for every yard. Brady eventually found Moss for the touchdown that gave New England a 14-10 lead with 2:42 remaining. Asante Samuel nearly ended it. Eli Manning escaped what looked like a certain sack. David Tyree pinned the ball against his helmet. Plaxico Burress slipped behind the defense for the winning touchdown. The Patriots had won 18 straight games, broken nearly every record that mattered, and lost the only game that could define the season.
That's how people remember the 2007 Patriots. They remember Brady finally having Randy Moss. They remember deep touchdowns, fourth-quarter passing, accusations of running up the score, and opponents celebrating ordinary first downs against them. They remember the close calls in Baltimore, the record-breaking night against the Giants, and an entire season spent waiting to see whether anyone could stop them. Most of all, they remember the closest football has ever come to perfection—and the one loss that swallowed everything else.
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