There was a time – decades of time to be precise – when the New England Patriots were no more than an NFL afterthought. No team feared them and most looked forward to a Sunday date with the team affectionately known at the time as the Patsies. Joining the AFL as the Boston Patriots in 1960, the team made the playoffs once in 1963. In 1971, after merging with the NFL, the team was renamed the New England Patriots after relocating from Boston to Foxborough, Mass. and in 1976, the Patriots finally made the playoffs as a wildcard team.
It was their first winning season, going 10-4, since 1966.
Two years later, the Patriots would win their first AFC East title, but it wouldn’t be until 1985, when they rolled all the way to their first Super Bowl appearance, that the Patriots would win their first NFL playoff game.
Following their 46-10 loss to the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX, the New England Patriots would wait another 11 years to again taste the sensation of playoff victory and they’d once again roll all the way to the big game before falling to the Green Bay Packers.
Finally in 2001, the Patriots went all the way and defeated the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI and the floodgates to success were open. New England would win the Super Bowl three times in four years.
The New England Patriots are the only team in NFL history to roll through a 16-game regular season without suffering a single defeat.
That was in 2007, but their perfect season was spoiled when they lost the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. the Patriots joined the 1984 San Francisco Giants and 1985 Chicago Bears as the only teams to go 18-1 in NFL, though unlike the Patriots, those two teams both managed to win the Super Bowl.
Love them or hate them, the Patriots are the benchmark for success in today’s NFL. Let’s not forget about their latest Super Bowl victory in 2017, the greates comeback in a final ever.
Who Does New England Patriots Play Next
Find out the betting lines for the next Patriots game. Make sure to see whether the Dolphins are playing at home or on the road and whether or not its against a division opponent.
New England Patriots Game Schedule
This is where you will find the New England Patriots game schedule and the start of the 2016 NFL season could prove a challenging one for the Patriots.
Quarterback Tom Brady may well be serving a four-game NFL suspension for his part in the club’s 2014 so-called deflategate scandal. If so, this might be an opportune time to wager against the Patriots, certainly in their opener on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. Not that betting against the Patriots is a wild a suggestion as it might seem
Last season the Patriots were 8-7-3 against the spread.
New England Patriots Standings Today
The New England Patriots standings are here, although if you pay any attention at all to the NFL, you will know where to locate them – atop the AFC East.
It’s where they’ve finished for the past seven seasons and in 13 of the 15 seasons. The Patriots haven’t finished worst than second in the AFC East since 2000 and haven’t won fewer than nine games in a season over that time period.
Of New England’s 22 playoff apperances, 21 have come since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. They’ve appeared in 11 AFC Championship Games, winning eight of them. The Patriots share the NFL record for most Super Bowl appearances with the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers at eight apiece.
How To Make Money Betting On New England Patriots
As long as Tom Brady remains under center and Bill Belichick remains at the helm, it will be difficult for anyone to bet against the Patriots as the best futures bet. Brady is New England's all-time passing leader and that will probably never change.
With this dynamic duo bgean working in tandem since 2000 the Patriots have won 14 AFC East titles, assembling the longest winning streak in NFL history (21 games) and posting a record 126 wins in a decade between 2003-12.
They have also made the most Super Bowl appearances by a coach-QB tandem of seven, the first and most recent one separated by an astonishing 15 years.
