Look who’s back!
Seven years after they lifted a sixth Lombardi Trophy, the New England Patriots have come roaring back to relevance to make Super Bowl 60, and the rest of the NFL is nervous.
For two decades Tom Brady and Bill Belichick mercilessly terrorised the league year after year, winning those six Super Bowl titles from nine appearances in an era of unrivalled dominance.
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Finally relief came, as Brady departed, Belichick followed and the dynasty crumbled into obscurity as four-win also-rans with seemingly no way back.
But then, a meteoric return to the top this season, powered by head coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye, has plenty of NFL fans backing the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara on Sunday, doing so out of pure fear at the thought of the league’s ‘evil empire’ rising again.
The fall and rise of the Patriots empire
In a league built to promote parity, the Patriots continually found ways to win – missing the play-offs just twice during Brady and Belichick’s 19 seasons together, and one of those the legendary quarterback missed through injury.
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There were 18 divisional titles, 13 Conference Championship appearances leading to nine Super Bowls and Lombardis – a definition of dominance that still has NFL fans suffering with PTSD (Patriots Traumatic Stress Disorder).
Belichick masterminded a top-10 defence 16 times and Brady led a top-eight offence for 14 straight years, including one of the best in history in 2007 that came up a Super Bowl short of a 19-0 perfect season.
A snarling, hooded Belichick was all business all the time and slipped into the villain role with ease, so some NFL fans rejoiced when Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs came to the rescue, playing the role of Luke Skywalker and the rebel alliance to help defeat the evil Patriot empire.
And that looked like it would be that as Belichick struggled without Brady. A rare first-round pick spent on Mac Jones in 2021 proved a false dawn as the Pats made the play-offs but were thrashed by Josh Allen’s Buffalo.
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A 4-13 season saw the end of Belichick’s tenure, and former Pats linebacker Jerod Mayo could only produce the same 4-13 finish that ended his stint after just one season.
Three straight years without the play-offs was the team’s longest run since the early 1990s, and in the final two they were not even close – ranking near the bottom of the league in almost every metric.
Owner Robert Kraft turned to another former Patriots linebacker, but one with vital head coaching experience in Mike Vrabel, and he has led a record 10-win turnaround that has the Patriots back on their perch.
And the rest of the NFL fearing that the empire could be about to strike back.
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How did the Patriots turn things around so quickly?
Kraft deserves credit for acting quickly and switching head coaches as Vrabel looked the perfect fit.
Steeped in the ‘Patriot way’ of doing things, the three-time Super Bowl winner knows how to get he job done but, unlike Mayo, he had the crucial experience of leading the Tennessee Titans to the AFC Championship game during his spell in Nashville.
Vrabel was the most wanted head coach of the cycle last year and Maye has shown flashes during his rookie year that he had franchise quarterback potential. The two have proven to be a match made in heaven.
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A head coach who built on fierce defence, and a second-year quarterback with a knack for producing the right plays at the right time – that’s just one of the similarities with the 2001 Patriots, the first Super Bowl win of the Brady-Belichick era.
The combination was promising enough for Kraft to sanction the biggest outlay in the league in free agency, with $364m splashed out on new talent – and crucially most of them have been hits.
Coupled with some seriously good drafting, the new head coach and improving sophomore quarterback have landed in a perfect storm in a total Patriots reboot – with just 16 players left in the squad from a couple of years ago.
They had the second-most snaps played by rookies this season and a total of 416 regular season games by players in their first year in Foxborough – a record for a team reaching a Super Bowl.
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Perhaps Vrabel being new as well has helped so many new faces all knit together, but however it worked it’s certainly been a recipe for success as they’ve all delivered.
The team’s leading receiver Stefon Diggs, top tackler and defensive play-caller Robert Spillane, top sack leader Harold Landry and defensive giant Milton Williams all arrived in free agency last summer.
Their regular season rushing leader TreVeyon Henderson came out of the 2025 NFL Draft and the Patriots will be the first team ever to start two rookies on the offensive line in Will Campbell and Marcus Bryant.
It’s been as clinical in the Patriots front office as it has on the field, and it has New England one game away from a record seventh Super Bowl title.
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Comparisons with Brady & Belichick era
For those who had their Super Bowl dreams dashed by the Patriots in the past, there are some uneasy similarities with how Vrabel and Maye have emulated the Brady and Belichick axis.
At just 23, Maye could become the youngest quarterback to win the Super Bowl so he’s younger than Brady was, but both have made the big game in their second season.
Maye is just the third quarterback to make the Super Bowl after generating under 17 points on offence in multiple play-off games – Brady’s 2001 Pats offence failed to put 17 on the board in all three games.
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Weather played a part in all three play-off games but Vrabel’s defence was still excellent and coming through such tight encounters like that in the post-season is exactly how Brady and Belichick made their names.
In fact, New England’s win over Denver was just the fourth time since 2001 that a quarterback generated 14 points or fewer on offence and still won a Championship game or Super Bowl – Brady was part of the other three.
Maye spreads the ball out like Brady used to, with nine players this season having at least 200 receiving yards, and often pops up with the crucial play at the crucial time, albeit more with his legs than his arm.
Of Maye’s 16 runs in the play-offs, 12 have gone for a touchdown or first down – Brady had the same kind of magic in his arm to lead his team’s to glory.
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So a tough, defensive coach, a talented, focused quarterback happy to win any way possible, some key drafting and expert free agent pick-ups have resulted in a team able to blow teams away or grind out tough play-off wins home and away.
That sure sounds familiar, and it will be a familiar sight in Santa Clara as the Patriots will have appeared in 20% of all Super Bowls come Sunday – and the concern for the rest of the NFL is that this could be just the start.
