NFL New England Patriots Wiki

2022.12.14 00:23

The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League as a member club of the league's American Football Conference East division. The Patriots play home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is southwest of downtown Boston. The franchise is owned by Robert Kraft, who purchased the team in 1994. As of 2022, the Patriots are the ninth most valuable sports team in the world and have sold out every home game since 1994. The Brady–Belichick era, regarded as one of the greatest sports dynasties, would see the Patriots claim nearly every major Super Bowl record. Other NFL records held by the franchise include the most playoff wins, the most wins in a 10-year period, the longest winning streak of regular season and playoff games, the most consecutive winning seasons, the most consecutive conference championship appearances, the most consecutive division titles, the only undefeated 16-game regular season, and the highest postseason winning percentage.

Brief summary

On November 16, 1959, Boston business executive Billy Sullivan was awarded the eighth and final franchise of the developing American Football League. The following winter, locals were allowed to submit ideas for the Boston football team's official name. The most popular choice – and the one that Sullivan selected – was the "Boston Patriots", with "Patriots" referring to the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution and in July 1776 declared the United States of America an independent nation, which heavily involved the then-colony of Massachusetts. Immediately thereafter, artist Phil Bissell of The Boston Globe developed the "Pat Patriot" logo.

The Patriots never had a regular home stadium in the AFL. Nickerson Field, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park, and Boston College's Alumni Stadium all served as home fields during their time in the American Football League. The 1963 season saw the franchise's first playoff win over Buffalo to clinch the division. They subsequently lost the AFL championship game to the San Diego Chargers 51–10. They did not appear again in an AFL or NFL post-season game for another 13 years.

When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Patriots were placed in the American Football Conference East division, where they still play today. The name was rejected by the NFL and on March 22, 1971, the team officially announced they would change its geographic name to New England. Orthwein intended to move the team to his native St. Louis, but instead sold the team in 1994 for $175million to Boston paper magnate Robert Kraft, who had bought the Patriots' then-home, Foxboro Stadium, out of bankruptcy in 1988.

Continuing on as head coach under Kraft's ownership, Parcells would bring the Patriots to two playoff appearances, including Super Bowl XXXI, which they lost to the Green Bay Packers by a score of 35–21. Pete Carroll, Parcells's successor, would also take the team to the playoffs twice in 1997 and 1998 before being dismissed as head coach after the 1999 season. After advancing to Super Bowl XLII, the team's fourth Super Bowl in seven years, the Patriots were upset by the Giants to end their bid for a 19–0 season. With the loss, the Patriots ended the year at 18–1, becoming only one of three teams to go 18–1 along with the 1984 San Francisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears. However, both the Bears and 49ers lost their only game during the regular season, and both would win their respective Super Bowl.

The Patriots returned to the Super Bowl in 2011 but lost again to the Giants, 21–17. In 2014, the Patriots reached a record-tying eighth Super Bowl, where they defeated the defending champion Seattle Seahawks by a score of 28–24 to win Super Bowl XLIX for their fourth title. After Seattle had driven the ball to New England's 1-yard line with under a minute to go, New England rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler made a critical interception on Seattle's final offensive play that helped to seal the victory. New England became the first team to reach nine Super Bowls in the 2016–17 playoffs and faced the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Losing 28–3 midway through the third quarter, the Patriots scored 25 unanswered points to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation. In the first overtime in Super Bowl history, the Patriots won the coin toss and scored a touchdown to claim their fifth Super Bowl victory. The Patriots extended their record to ten Super Bowl appearances in the 2017–18 playoffs but lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. The Patriots returned to the championship game for a third consecutive season in Super Bowl LIII, where they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13–3 to win their sixth Super Bowl, tying them with the Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl victories in NFL history.

Following a disappointing 2019 season, in which the team lost in the first round of the playoffs, and in which the long-time Brady–Belichick partnership was strained due to Brady wanting to have more input in organizational decisions, Brady left for free agency and was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To replace him, the Patriots signed veteran quarterback Cam Newton, but after an even more disappointing 2020 season, which saw the team miss the playoffs with their first losing record in two decades, the team drafted Mac Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, and released Newton after naming Jones the starting quarterback just prior to the team's first game of the 2021 season. Jones led the team to their first playoff berth without Brady since 1998, but they would lose 47–17 to the division rival Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round.

Logos and uniforms

Logos

The Patriots original helmet logo was a simple tricorne hat, used only for the 1960 season. From 1961 to 1992, the Patriots used a logo of a Revolutionary War minuteman hiking a football. The Patriots wordmark logo during this time consisted of a western-style font. The minuteman logo became known as the "Pat Patriot" logo, which later became the name of the team's mascot.

In 1993, a new logo was unveiled involving the gray face of a minuteman wearing a red, white and royal blue hat that begins as a tricorne and transitions into a flowing banner-like design. It became popularly known as the "Flying Elvis" due to many observing its resemblance to the profile of a young Elvis Presley. A new script logo was introduced as well in tandem with the "Flying Elvis", utilizing a cursive font.

In 2000, the blue color used on the tricorne of the "Flying Elvis" as well as the outline of the cursive wordmark was switched from royal blue to nautical blue to concide with the uniform change in the new millennium.

Uniforms

1960–1992

The Patriots' primary uniforms remained largely unchanged from the franchises' inaugural season until 1993. The Patriots originally wore red jerseys with white block numbering at home, and white jerseys with red block numbering on the road. Both uniforms used white pants and white helmets, first with the hat logo over the player's number, then with the "Pat Patriot" logo starting in 1961. A blue stripe was added to the two red helmet stripes in 1964.

In 1995, the Patriots switched the block numbers to a more modern rounded number font with a dropshadow.

Though the Patriots had generally worn silver pants with the blue jerseys, and navy pants with the white jerseys, they did wear an all-blue set during the 2002 season. On two consecutive home games that season, the Patriots wore blue tops with their road blue pants and white socks; they lost both games. The team would not wear an all-blue set again until the introduction of the Color Rush uniforms in 2016.

The Patriots brought back the silver pants to pair with the current uniforms in a 2022 Week 7 home game on Monday Night Football against the Chicago Bears. Unlike the previous silver pants the team wore from 2000 to 2019, this design featured thicker red stripes, matching the same width as the middle blue stripe.

Alternate uniforms

In 1994, the Patriots wore the "Pat Patriot" helmets and plain white striped pants from two seasons prior as alternates as part of the NFL's 75th-anniversary celebration. In 2002, NFL teams were allowed to add a permanent third jersey to be worn in a maximum of two games. The Patriots reintroduced a red jersey as their alternate, complemented with the old-style "Pat Patriot" helmet. However, after the NFL reinstated the use of alternate helmets in 2022, the Patriots brought back the throwback red uniforms.

In 2016, the Patriots took part in the NFL's Color Rush program, wearing monochrome navy uniforms on September 22 against the Houston Texans. The uniform tops were patterned after the 1980s Pat Patriot-era uniforms, while the pants featured thick white stripes with red accents. They have worn them a total of four times since 2016. In 2017, an all-white Color Rush uniform was introduced and used for the Patriots' Thursday night road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Facilities

Stadium and headquarters

Since 2002, the Patriots' home stadium has been Gillette Stadium, a $350million facility privately financed by Robert Kraft, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It houses the team's practice facilities, the team's administrative offices, as well as its owning entity's, The Kraft Group, along with the Kraft-owned Major League Soccer team, the New England Revolution. The field, which was originally natural grass, was replaced with a FieldTurf surface during the 2006 season. Despite not being around for more than 20 years, Gillette Stadium is home to the second most postseason games ever, Candlestick Park being first with 27 total. The Patriots have a 20–4 playoff record in this stadium as of the conclusion of the 2019 NFL season, the AFC playoffs consistently had the Patriots playing from home in…

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