The New England Patriots are the new champions of the world. They accomplished this feat by building a team that knows how to be team of players. If, as it is thought, history repeats itself, the National Football League will consist of teams that know the team concept, right?Well, not exactly. After the Ravens won the Super Bowl last year, NFL teams went out and tried to build a killer defense to match the intense and incredibly stingy Baltimore defense.When the Rams won it all in ’99, franchises around the NFL tried to emulate them by doing their damnedest to piece together explosive offenses to build their teams around. Having a good offense and defense are wonderful, but the league really should take a lesson from this year’s champions.The Patriots didn’t have a great offense or a great defense. (Perhaps the strongest part of their team was their special teams.) What they did have, though, was heart.Looking at the Super Bowl on paper showed a Rams blowout. But on the field, the Patriots did the little things that they needed to do to win.During pre-game introductions the Patriots were introduced as a team, not individuals. This was not something special for the Super Bowl. It was the way that the Patriots opted to be introduced all season.Perhaps the greatest example of just how well the Patriots worked together was shown not in the Super Bowl, but in the AFC Championship game. Drew Bledsoe was injured early in the season, and the young second-year quarterback out of Michigan, Tom Brady, took his place and led the team to the Super Bowl. Bledsoe, however, filled in wonderfully during the AFC Championship when Brady was injured.And Bledsoe again gracefully stepped aside as Brady led the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Brady and his team did what the Patriots of five years ago could not do. They won the Super Bowl in New Orleans.As the NFL off-season begins, the majority of the league will see the Patriots as a one-year wonder, which honestly might just be true. A lot of things went right for the Pats this year that had little to do with their talent or teamwork.The overturned call in the Raiders game gave them the chance for the 45-yard field goal in the snow, and the kick, which never got more than 20 feet off the ground, found its way through the uprights.When Tom Brady was injured, Bledsoe stepped in and defeated the number-one seed in the AFC.Finally, the Rams did not use Marshall Faulk as much as they should have. But all of that is just water under the bridge, because the Patriots took advantage of every opportunity that they were given, and they played as one unit.This team may be just a one-year wonder, but that is only because of the way the sporting world is today. It is a shame that the money and greed will probably always stand in the way of true greatness in these modern times, because the current New England Patriots are truly one of the best teams of all time.
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