There’s no disputing the fact that over the past two decades, no team in the NFL has seen more success and wins than the New England Patriots. Over this time, no franchise has appeared in the Super Bowl more, won the Super Bowl more, or dominated the league in the ways the Patriots have. The franchise currently plays in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, and since 2001, the Patriots have won the Division every single year outside of 2002, 2008 and 2020.
Here are six facts about the New England Patriots, one for each of their six Super Bowl victories over the years.
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- Clemson QB Harvey White was the first player to ever sign a contract with the Patriots. (source) It was on December 20, 1959 that Harvey White, who played quarterback in College for Clemson, became the first player in franchise history to sign a contract with the Patriots, who began as the Boston Patriots. Harvey White’s career in both professional football and with the Patriots left a lot to be desired, however, as he only played three games with the Patriots, throwing for a total of 44 yards and zero touchdown passes.
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- The franchise was known as the Boston Patriots until 1970 before rebranding as the New England Patriots. (source) The Patriots were originally the eighth team to be added to the AFL before the AFL merged with the NFL in the late 1960s. The franchise was originally known as the Boston Patriots, but the team’s owner at the time, Billy Sullivan, became angry that the city of Boston wouldn’t let him build a stadium downtown for home games, so he moved the franchise to Foxborough. With that, the team moved, rebranded, and have been known as the New England Patriots ever since.
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- No team in the NFL has appeared in more Super Bowl games than the New England Patriots. (source) Over their history, the New England Patriots have appeared in the Super Bowl on 11 different occasions, compiling a 6-5 record all-time. While the franchise is tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers with six Super Bowl victories, the Steelers have only appeared in the league’s biggest game eight times. The Patriots are also tied with the Denver Broncos for having the most Super Bowl losses (five) and the most Super Bowl wins by a coach-quarterback duo, as quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick won six Lombardi Trophies as a tandem.
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- Before rebranding as the New England Patriots, the franchise almost had a different name. (source) Before rebranding from the Boston Patriots to the New England Patriots, there was a new name on the table that was rejected due to the abbreviation. The plan was for the team name to become the Bay State Patriots, until people pointed that the abbreviation on that name would have been ‘the B.S. Patriots.’ With that, ownership decided to go with the ‘New England Patriots’ name.
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- The 2007 New England Patriots are the only team to finish the regular season with a 16-0 record. (source) In 2007, the New England Patriots, led by quarterback Tom Brady, wide receiver Randy Moss, and one of the most high-powered offenses the league has ever seen, the Patriots became the only team in NFL history to finish the regular season with an undefeated 16-0 record. While other teams like the 1972 Miami Dolphins had finished the regular season undefeated, this was prior to the National Football League shifting to a 16-game regular season schedule. Including the playoffs that season, the New England Patriots went into Super Bowl XLII 18-0 before losing to the New York Giants by a score of 17-14.
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- The Patriots first ever regular season win came over the New York Titans. (source) The New York Titans, known today as the New York Jets, have been a rival of the Patriots for more than fifty years now. The Patriots even scored their first ever regular season win over them back on September 17, 1960, in a 28-24 win where Boston Patriots quarterback Tom Greene threw for 140 yards, one touchdown pass and two interceptions.
Over the past two decades, there hasn’t been a single franchise in the National Football League more successful than the New England Patriots. Do you have any more fun facts about the Patriots that you can share? Let us know in the comments below.
Featured image photo credit: SAB0TEUR, 2012. Originally found on Wikimedia.org. Image was resized and cropped. Creative Commons 2.0.
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