A hypothetical for Patriots fans

[Crickett]

Questions like this are usually reserved for the offseason, but I've been mulling this over for a while and I wanted to ask Patriots fans what you thought of this. 

 

With everything else remaining equal, what if (both)

A. It had been a fumble and was ruled as such (meaning no Superbowl victory in 2001)

B. The Patriots had gone 19-0 (meaning they had completed the perfect season)

 

 

How do you think that would have affected the legacy of Tom Brady?   Better legacy than what he currently has, worse legacy than he currently has or the same?

[everlong]

7 hours ago, tonyto36 said:

Easily better.

Brady was a complimentary piece in that 2001 run.  In 2007 he was the league MVP, breaking every record, and 19-0 is all-time.

Instead 2007 is practically a smear on his resume that Patriots fans have to try to ignore except when looking at regular season stats.

This pretty much. Brady didn't become a star until the 2003 season. If losing the Tuck Rule game means we go 19-0 in 2007, I'd do that trade off 100/100.

[Soko]

Yeah, this is an easy call. Gimme 19-0.

[lancerman]

We are talking about a player who is highly regarded as the best QB of all time by most analysts, regardless. So we are trading the storybook of 2001 for the perfect season (which would have been a bigger team thing. We are still losing to the Giants in 2011 so at best we still wind up winning 3 and then losing 1 until 2014. Also it's not like people blame Brady for 2007. It's largely regarded as a miracle type situation with the helmet catch. 

I keep our own Cinderella story. Do you know how much more meaning 2014 and 2016 had because of all the parallels to the crazy catches in the Super Bowl that started with 07? 

I don't think it does enough for his legacy to remove what makes him one of the greatest stories in NFL history. He still winds up where he is now, you are just trading accolades. 

Also I know this is make believe, but there's a zero percent chance things play out the same if you lose the tuck rule game.

 

Thread is a classic example of you don't know what you have until it's gone. The 2007 season is the one that got away. 2001 was one of the most important and defining moments in NFL history. 2007 only is because we lost, and we still kept winning after.