Since the last football game of the regular season, the media has been running with a David (whichever team the Patriots are playing) versus Goliath (the Patriots) motif. Each week, Goliath has prevailed. The Patriots are now the first team to ever go 18 and 0, and they are one win away from a perfect, undefeated season — something that has only happened once before (back when you could only win 17 games in an entire season) in the National Football League. Of course, this Patriots team also broke a slew of records along the way: most points scored by a team in a single season, most touchdown passes thrown by a quarterback (Tom Brady), most touchdown receptions by a single receiver (Randy Moss), and most consecutive regular season wins (dating back to the 2006 season). This is the greatest team to ever play the game. That’s not opinion, that’s the numbers.
No other team has won this many games in a row, or put up this many points. And here’s the hardest fact to accept: if the Patriots lose the Super Bowl, all of these accomplishments just become a footnote in NFL history. If they win, then the ’07 Patriots will be talked about for decades to come (just as the ’72 Miami Dolphins have been talked about for 35 years — something that will change if the Patriots win in two weeks). No matter what happens in the Super Bowl, the Patriots are destined to become an adjective.
For you non-writing types, here’s a reminder: an adjective is a word that modifies a noun. It can enhance, qualify, specify, or diminish the noun. For example: That is a fat man. In this example, “fat†is the adjective used to describe the man.
If the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl, their name will become an adjective synonymous with greatness, dominance, and perfection. As in: In Patriots-like fashion, Bertha Teidlebaum’s baking outshined all the others in the church bake-off. Or: The Red Sox looked Patriots-esque in last night’s game when they beat the New York Yankees 18 to 2. Shoot, even a modified version of the team name may take on a whole new meaning. Imagine the coach of the Indianapolis Colts trying to get his team fired up for the first game of next season by saying, “Now let’s get out there and be Patriotic!†(Suitable to, or characteristic of, the Patriots.) Every overly-dominant football team over the next decade or so will be described with the word “Patriots†in some way.
Then there’s the flip-side. It’s almost too horrible to think about, but the reality is this: if the Patriots lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, “Patriots†will come to describe something that is hands-down better than all of its competitors, but comes undone the one time it really counts. A horrible adjective indeed. Imagine a stockbroker saying something like, “I put in the order for 10,000 shares of GE just an hour before the stock price tripled on some great market news. But I totally pulled a Patriots and forgot to confirm the order so it never went through.†Any football team that blows a big lead will do so in Patriots-like fashion; Patriotism will come to mean something terrible; and any number one seed in any future playoff game will have to sit through pre-game speeches from coaches who warn them not to be Patriotic. Get it done.
The Patriots are the better team. All the numbers prove it. But any sport fan knows that on any given game day, things can go wrong. The Patriots won’t make the mistake of under preparing for this game, they’re too well coached and disciplined for that. But on any given Sunday things can and do go wrong. Even David slew Goliath once.
The Patriots are bound for immortality on February third. That’s already determined. Whether it’s fame or infamy now rests in their own extremely capable hands.
Go Goliath! And for God’s sakes watch out for rocks.