KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Pitted against a system designed to prevent dynasties, the New England Patriots have cracked the code.
Emerging from the one of the wildest fourth quarters in NFL history with a 37-31 overtime win against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, the Patriots reached their third consecutive Super Bowl. They are the first team to achieve that feat since the league introduced its parity-killing salary cap in 1994. If not for a missing extra point in 2015’s AFC Championship game at Denver, New England might well have made five straight Super Bowls. As it stands, four out of five is an extraordinary claim in this NFL.
“It says a lot,” Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater, who will now appear in his sixth Super Bowl, said after the game. “I think this league has more parity in it than any professional sports league in my opinion in North America. I think it says a lot about our structure, our program, the things that we value. The things that you cannot measure all the time.”
While Tom Brady and Bill Belichick deservedly garner the lion’s share of praise for New England’s 18-year run of dominance, no single team could contend for a title without an exceptional, well-rounded roster. That was evident on Sunday as the depth of New England’s roster paid off from Brady passing for 348 yards to rookie defensive back Keion Crossen stepping in to double team the Chiefs’ speedy receiver Tyreek Hill.
“We got contributions from all three units and so many players,” Belichick said. “It would be hard to single out anybody.”
Manicuring a roster proves a difficult chore in the NFL as teams struggle with questions of which young talent should earn a lucrative second contract and whom should be cut. Those choices are what make it difficult for a team like the Falcons, which played Super Bowl LI two years ago, but didn’t make the playoffs in 2018 despite retaining many of its stars.
The Patriots built the foundations of this three-year run by trading star defenders Chandler Jones after the 2015 season and Jamie Collins during the 2016 season. The teams who traded for and gave large contracts to those players have not made the playoffs since they were acquired. After reaching consecutive Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014, the Seahawks attempted to pay all of their young talent. They haven’t returned since.
In Super Bowl LIII, the Patriots will face a Los Angeles Rams team that has thrown an extraordinary sum of money at young talent. The exorbitant paydays due to defensive linemen Aaron Donald, running back Todd Gurley and wide receiver Brandin Cooks next season likely make the Rams’ stable of talent unsustainable for too much longer. It’s hard to imagine they’ll retain defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, who will be a free agent after this season. Especially with quarterback Jared Goff seeking his second contract in 2021.
It’s clear the Rams rode a win-now budgeting strategy to the Super Bowl, which is an understandable ploy for a management team looking to acquire job security. Belichick, on the other hand, has more job security than anyone in the league. With that, he has the freedom to locate market inefficiencies like tackle Trent Brown’s $2 million contract, without having to land or keep big stars. It also helps that Brady continues to play at a high level while carrying the 11th highest cap hit in the league.
As a result, the Patriots don’t have a win-now strategy so much as a win-always strategy.
(Dave Brown is a freelance correspondent who covers the Patriots for the Monitor. Follow him on Twitter @ThatDaveBrown.)