Category: Sports

After an awful week of fear for the life of Buffalo DB Damar Hamlin after he suffered an on-field heart attack on national TV, Week 18 thankfully ended with the happy news that he is steadily improving, as evidenced by his tweeting all throughout his team’s win over the Patriots on Sunday. Which leaves a chance to look at some of the interesting stories of what I thought was one of the more mundane, dramaless regular seasons in recent memory.

Exhibit A was the Patriots’ somehow missing the playoffs by just one game after losing games in the following fashions: (1) After coming back from down 22-0 they lost to the Bengals 22-18 because they fumbled inside their own five-yard line in the final minute of the game. They needed a TD instead of the easy FG they would have taken after not scoring on any of their three PAT attempts by failing on the two-point try they had to do because Nick Folk missed two extra point kicks. (2) They were thoroughly embarrassed 31-14 on Monday Night Football by the Bears, who finished with the worst record in the NFL. (3) They suffered the most humiliating NFL loss since the 2012 butt fumble game by handing the Raiders a win on the final play in the final seconds in the game that will be forever known as the Las Vegas Lateral game. (4) They lost by 12 in a must-win final-week game in Buffalo after giving up not one but two kick returns for TDs.

The only thing missing from their debacle of a season was Bill Belichick nearly getting electrocuted by a mic at a press briefing like Clive Rush almost was when introduced as new HC of the NEP’s in 1969.

From my pre-season preview here’s what I got right: (1) Matt Patricia would be a disaster as OC. (2) Kyle Dugger would be the man in the secondary. And what I got wrong: They’d badly miss JC Jackson in the secondary. They didn’t.

Biggest NFL Surprise: Jacksonville coming back from four games behind Tennessee, to win their last six to win the AFC South, including their winner-take-all Week 18 showdown with the Titans.

Biggest Disappointment: What a difference a year makes, where the 5-12 Rams had one of the worst hangovers on record after winning the Super Bowl.

Boy, finishing first in the NFC South after forcing out Bruce Arians as coach of the Bucs (to get Tom Brady to un-retire) for one-time Jets failure Todd Bowles really worked out great. Of course they did it by being the sub .500 division winner ever to be un .500 at 8-9 after looking in complete disarray all year.

And if the 7-10 Titans, who were 7-3 on Nov. 17 before losing their last seven games, had beaten Jacksonville last Saturday night it would have been two. I think it was emblematic of a lot of bad football played in 2022, which I attribute to fatigue and added injuries from the 17-game schedule.

The vastly improved play of Trevor Lawrence in Year 2, by the way, puts him in the lead among the vaunted QB 2021 draft class, where (as predicted by me on draft night) Brett Wilson appears headed for bust-ville with SF’s Trey Lance not far off. Justin Fields improved some, at least as a runner, but the Bears still finished with the worst record in the league. So despite his awful season, Mac Jones pulls up in second place.

Incidentally, I only said Wilson would bust because the Jets took him and history said they’d screw it up. Like with their last big QB hope, Sam Darnold, who, oh by the way, was better in Carolina than Wilson was in NYC, after being dumped for Wilson. Speaking of projecting the future for QBs, while there’s a long way to go for most of them, in Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Pat Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert and depending on injuries Lamar Jackson there are no fewer than seven QBs who look like Hall of Fame material if they stay on the same trajectory.

Once again Green Bay did not live up to its pre-season Super Bowl contender billing. Something done annually more on the reputation of their star QB than substance. At 8-9 they missed the playoffs again as their string of SB wannabe failures hit 12 years and counting.

Back to the Rams. Their troubles may continue if the chatter is correct that Sean McVay is really thinking of stepping away from coaching. And if he does, it’a significant historical NFL story, as while there’s still eons to go, by already having 60 wins by age 36, he could get the all-time record by the time he reaches 60 if he averaged the same 11 wins per Coach B has in 22 years with the Pats. For context, his 60 wins are 60 more than Coach B had at 36.

BTW, Belichick finished the year with 329 wins, 18 behind Don Shula’s record 347.

Another rumor going around has free agent Tom Brady reuniting with Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas. It’s partially being driven by owner Mark Davis wanting star power because he doesn’t like Vegas being a tourist destination for opposing fans who fill his stadium with nearly as many out-of-towners as Raiders fans.

They’d better hurry with that one as after making the 2021 playoff their 6-11 finish has Josh in peril entering Year 2, just as he was during his first HC try in Denver when he got fired mid-way through his second season.

Finally, with Lamar Jackson missing every game after Thanksgiving for the second year in a row, the old adage seems truer than ever that while running quarterbacks add an extra dimension to the offense, it’s usually not worth it because if they run a lot sooner or later they’re gonna get killed.

I’ll have a fuller autopsy of the Patriots’ season in a few weeks.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Our 15th annual predictions for the year ahead.

January: A day after their disappointing season ends, Patriot Nation files a restraining order to prevent Matt Patricia from being within 200 yards of the Patriots offense or Mac Jones in 2023. Coach B hears the begging from all corners of New England and announces Patricia has been “re-assigned” to a front office role. Heavyweight boxing is heard from for the first time in decades when, during an appearance on the Hitman Hearns podcast to commemorate the 50th anniversary of George Foreman winning the Heavyweight crown in 1973, the two-time champ asks what ever happened to Heavyweight boxing. And no one knows the answer.

February: After digging themselves out from the 13th western New York blizzard in 30 days, Buffalo wins the Super Bowl over surprise NFC entry New York Giants. With the Bills a 16-point favorite, the G-Men consider bringing Tom Coughlin out of retirement to engineer another massive SB upset, but decide against it. They then lose by 17 to make the folks giving the points happy dudes. In a bid to break Michael Jordan’s record for most retirements by a GOAT, Tom Brady retires again.

March: John Henry acts like an owner and talks to the media for the first time in two years early in spring training. But he soon retreats to the bunker after being bombarded with questions about his team’s epically low 2023 expectations.

April: When the “I’m sorry, I’ll do it your way” bid fails to get Yoko back, Brady unretires again and is traded to the hometown 49ers. The Sox go into 2023 with an average age of 43 for its starting rotation. The good news is, it beats the Vegas over-under of 45 after ancient Rich Hill somehow gets another team to give him a contract leaving him to flee faster than a guy finding an open lifeboat seat as the Titanic was on the way down.

May:After 47 trade-down and trade-up moves in Rounds 1 and 2, Bill Belichick selects punter Ray Guy IV with his top pick. Tampa Bay uses an all-time record 32 pitchers in a rain-shortened six-inning dumpster fire game at Fenway that takes 6 hours and 31 minutes to play.

June: In a first ever for the gentle sport of golf, a massive on-course brawl breaks out between LIV players and old-guard PGAers to mar Day 1 of the U.S. Open. After going down early in the marquee “animal” match-up between a Tiger and a Shark, Time magazine’s “Sports Weasel of the Year” Greg Norman squeezes his way out of the bottom of the scrum to start throwing sucker punches from behind like he’s Mickey Rivers in 1976’s famed dust-up between the Sox and the Yanks. The Celtics return to the NBA Finals, but this time they win in a sweep of Golden State when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown live up to the billing. In the NBA draft, 7’4” Frenchman Victor (the victor) Wembanyama falls one letter short of Michael Olowokandi’s all-time record for having the most letters in the full name of a first overall pick.

July: Not that anyone but puckheads notices, but the Bruins join the Celtics as world champs when the ice hockey season concludes in the calendar year’s hottest month. Raffy Devers is sent packing at the trading deadline to complete the destruction of the Red Sox franchise for a raft of young players ballyhooed by the Sox brass but described by most baseball insiders as “worse than the box of rocks Chaim got for Mookie Betts.” At the presser announcing the move, Boston’s sports answer to George Santos says Devers will be his top priority to re-sign in the off-season.

August: Patricia is detained by security at Pats pre-season camp when he breaches the 200-yard boundary he’s required to maintain. He then quits in protest after learning the restraining order was actually taken out by owner Bob Kraft.

September: Patricia quickly finds work as offensive coordinator at Memorial High and vows he’ll resurrect the dormant-for-decades Crusaders offense. Mayor Joyce Craig immediately tries to overturn the move by telling (shouting at, actually) the school board in front of an overflow open SB session crowd, “Didn’t you people watch the Patriots offense last year?” For her strongly worded commendation, Craig gets an immediate 15-point bump in the polls ahead of her mayoral campaign.

October: Betts and the newly acquired Devers hit six homers off Nathan Eovaldi in Game 7 as the Dodgers top Texas to win the World Series.

November: Xander Bogaerts wins the National League MVP Award in a unanimous vote.

Despite scoring only 21 points on offense all season, Memorial somehow wins the Division 1 Football crown for the first time since Dave Croasdale was a pup. After years of hibernation, UCLA comes out of nowhere to finish in the Top 4 ranked teams in college football to set up an all-Manchester opening-round match-up (in January) between Chip Kelly’s Bruins and fellow Central alum (and Chipper’s old QB at the U) Ryan Day and Ohio State. The Manchester PD begins planning for handling lines at Billy’s Sports Bar, expected to snake past the back entrance to Elliot Hospital.

December: Devers signs with the Yankees in free agency. Mac Jones throws his 40th TD pass to help the Pats clinch a playoff spot, but resists the temptation to flip off the now adoring crowd that was calling for his head just 60 days earlier. After accepting MLB’s new Harry Frazee Team Wrecker award at a lavish gathering at New York’s No No Nanette Theater for discarding Betts, Bogaerts and Devers with astonishing speed, John Henry announces on what’s left of Twitter that he has sold the team to Elon Musk. He’s then installed by Vegas odds-makers and DraftKings as the odds-on favorite to win MLB’s Be Careful What You Wish For award in 2023.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

We’ll end the blah sports year of 2022 with a look at its biggest stories.

World’s Cup Runneth Over: Aside from seeing the world’s grandest sports event decided by penalty kicks, which is akin to the NBA Finals being decided by a foul shooting contest, the World Cup lived up to the hype. It ended with an overtime game with uber star Lionel Messi winning what some thought might be his final game. It had underdogs advancing, and the Americans made it out of group play. Best of all, TV ratings were great, which may signal soccer’s day as a spectator sport for the U.S. masses may have arrived.

Here Comes The Judge: Seeing clean cut, non-juiced good guy Aaron Judge chase Roger Maris’s and the Babe’s cherished single-season home run record in the AL was the feel-good story of the year. It was a “he’s got it the whole way” laugh in, until the palms got sweaty the last 10 days. But No. 62 finally came and the record, most importantly to New Yorkers, stayed in the Bronx.

Astros Blast Off in World Series: After being scorned by the baseball world since it was discovered they used an elaborate sign-stealing system all throughout their championship season of 2017, the Houston Astros finally got the monkey off their back. It happened by beating the Phillies in this year’s Fall Classic four games to two. It won’t erase the taint of 2017, but it does validate that after going to four Series since 2017, they have been one of the best organizations in recent memory.

Kyrie Irving’s World Implodes: The world’s most self-indulgent, delusional athlete wrote another chapter for the “why I (sports) hate this guy” book by derailing his team, not once but twice.

The first time was railing about the man in refusing to get vaccinated during the pandemic, which ran afoul of New York City’s mandate for having to be vaxxed to be part of mass gatherings. It led to his missing 53 games, which sent NBA favorite Brooklyn into a lurch that eventually led to their being swept out of the playoffs in Round I by Boston.

The other was getting suspended eight games after refusing to back down to the league-wide storm that followed his posting support for an anti-semitic documentary.

It all cost him close to $70 million in lost NBA salary and his canceled Nike deal.

And for those who still think he’s worth the trouble, the Nets were 11-18 in the 29 games played last year and the count this year was 2-6 before he was suspended and 5-3 in the games he missed.

College Football Playoffs Expands to 12-School Format: It won’t happen until 2024 at the earliest and maybe not until 2026. But the decision by the NCAA to begin a 12-school national tournament for Division I Football was met with near unanimous approval when announced in September. Its time had come for the following reasons: (1) D-1 football is the only sport in the NCAA without a season-ending playoff. (2) With New Year’s Day Bowl games no longer the unofficial ending of college football, it needed a better ending. (3) With schools like USC and UCLA headed to the Big 10, the once recognizable conference picture is a total jumble and this gives a better focus going forward. (4) Given the success of the Men’s Basketball Tournament, is there any doubt this will be a wild success too?

Golden State Proves Me Wrong Twice: First, I said in my NBA pre-season preview that after two injury-ravaged years I didn’t see the Warriors ever returning to their championship level form. SPOILER ALERT — They did. Then when they met the Celtics in the Finals I picked the Green and — SPOILER ALERT — they didn’t, after I underestimated how good their team defense was, their coach Steve Kerr was and historically how great Steph Curry is, which became more apparent as he dominated all but one game in the series. As for the history, winning for a fourth time in eight years cements them as one of the best multi-year run winners, while Curry pushed his way into my Top 10 greatest players ever.

Hot Seat Is Warming for Coach B: Due to repeated personnel miscalculations since 2013, his usual stubbornness, the team’s most mortifying loss since getting run over by the Bears in SB 20 and a major misguided choice for offensive coordinator, things are not going well for Bill Belichick three years into the post-Tom Brady era.

It has folks wondering the once unthinkable: If Coach B does catch Don Shula’s all-time record for wins, will he do it coaching in Foxborough?

I sense a clash coming between the owner and Coach B. One where Bob Kraft demands (as I would) he get some fresh perspective to help get things back on track by going outside the organization to hire a personnel guy with a track record of drafting success and another to lead the offense and develop their highly drafted young QB in a way Matt Patricia can’t.

Will he get stubborn and say no? Then what? Another year to fix it his way, or will a refusal push Kraft into making a “do what I say or else” decision most never expected would ever happen?

Brittney Griner Comes Home: This isn’t a sports story but an international news story involving a well-known American athlete that was in the news most of the year. Given the danger posed by the arms dealer she was swapped for in the prisoner exchange, the question is did it happen because of her celebrity? Or, more likely, because she was an innocent pawn taken hostage by a hostile country in retribution for the action taken by her country in support of Ukraine after it was invaded by a power-hungry dictator?

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

As the world championships and duck boat parades were piling up during the first decade of the 21st century, Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan cautioned all to appreciate what was going on, in saying these are the good old days right now. The point was that all the winning by every pro team, including seven titles in the 2000s and four more in the 2010s, couldn’t last forever.

Well it’s now the 2020s and he was right. Those were the good old days. But what he didn’t say was how much of a disaster it would be when things went bad.

Consider the last week.

The Patriots: So much for the old adage “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” said to contain embarrassment over crazy things people do on visits to Sin City. Unfortunately for your New England Patriots, their actions played out on national television as they put the exclamation point on my recent pronouncement that their dynasty was dead with the single dumbest play in the 103-year history of the National Football League, a mortifying play that led a Bill Belichick team to be mocked worse than anyone since Mark Sanchez’s butt fumble in 2012. Except it was far worse, since it turned a game headed to OT into a dynasty-ending (and probably season-ending) loss as time expired.

I’m not going to go into the gory details. If you somehow missed it, count your blessings, ’cause it was gruesome.

In addition, by allowing the Raiders to score 14 points in the last 32 seconds to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat, they gave the NFL its 21st-century answer to 1968’s infamous Heidi game.

The Red Sox: Can anyone tell me what Chaim Bloom is doing? This week he followed up the year-long lie that retaining franchise icon Xander Bogaerts was the team’s top priority when he plainly wasn’t by designating Jeter Downs for assignment, who was the alleged jewel prospect he got for Mookie Betts. A day later it was the same thing for heralded low-cost steal (in August) Eric Hosmer even though all the September at-bats at first base would be going to top prospect Triston Casas. So after 45 at-bats he’s DFA’d. Next was the two-year deal given to ex-L.A. third baseman Justin Turner. Except they already have a third baseman. Which after the Bogaerts lie-athon should have people planning Raffy Devers’ going away party.

Beyond getting (and overpaying) closer Kenley Jansen, please tell me what the plan is. That is, if there is one.

The Celtics: Just 10 days ago they were up on Phoenix by 45 in the third period and had the best record in the NBA. But then came the latest Jayson Tatum choke in a marquee game vs. Golden State to send them off on a four-losses-in-five-games tailspin. Two of which came at the Garden vs. Orlando, who had the worst road record in the NBA. While it could be just a mini-slump, one of the things they need to work out is finding how to score when the threes aren’t falling, because they became too dependent on three-balls as they ran out to their 18-4 start. And can we stop with the “Tatum is the best player on the planet” talk, Scal? Because until he can stop shrinking from the moment anytime he’s facing Steph Curry (who owns him) he ain’t that.

The Bruins: I’m not saying anything about them because I don’t want to jinx them.

Here are a few more thoughts of a positive nature to send us all off in the holiday spirit.

Congrats to the estimable Patrice Bergeron for joining the 1,000-career-point club.

Ditto to Bogaerts for his big score in San Diego and thanks for representing the region with such class.

Make it three for the American team for advancing out of group play in the World Cup. A fourth for the WC itself. But they have to go to a play-till-they-drop format to decide the winner of the world’s greatest event. Deciding it on penalty kicks is like seeing Game 7 of the NBA Finals decided by a free throw shooting contest.

While the loss to Vegas was a killer, the bright side could be it may help save the struggling Josh McDaniels’ job.

You certainly can make a case that a WNBA player for an international arms dealer wasn’t an even swap. But it is nice to see an American hostage freed and that Brittney Griner will join an effort that will try to help Paul Whelan and other Americans be freed from prison in Russia.

I’m hoping Mac Jones gets a real offensive coordinator, a QB coach who’s played the position, two good (and speedy) wide receivers and a major shot of confidence for Christmas, because right now that boy is lost.

Finally, for those who don’t know the story of the Heidi game. After the Jets scored a TD in the final minute of their 1968 game to make them look like sure winners, NBC cut away to air their hyped holiday special movie Heidi, starring the still big former child star Shirley Temple. But two minutes into the movie a crawl came across the screen saying the Raiders had scored twice in the final seconds, to stun everyone who’d seen the game. It was all anyone talked about the next day, as NBC got blasted for pulling out of the game. Though Patriots fans wished it was the opposite, so they didn’t have to see Chandler Jones (of all people) give viewers the most stunning ending since Pittsburgh’s Immaculate Reception win over the same Raiders. Which, oh by the way, happened 50 years ago this Saturday (Christmas Eve). Which makes me wonder, when you throw in the Tuck Rule, how do the Raiders always end up in these weird-ending games?

A happy and safe holiday to all.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

They tell you never to make decisions when you’re emotional. So maybe it’s fortunate I had a few days before giving my reaction to the Red Sox letting their leader of 11 years walk out the clubhouse door on Friday morning.

Since I’ve been saying for a year they were not going to re-sign Xander Bogaerts, I wasn’t surprised when the news broke. But I was more annoyed than I’ve been since the Celtics dumped Isaiah Thomas after he gave up his body (and long-term earning power as it turned out) for the cause in a trade for Kyrie Irving that I said from the start was a mistake.

And here’s why.

The Contract: First I would not have given the 30-year-old Bogaerts an 11-year contract. But it never had to get to that point.

However, the owner and his GM assured it would with their ridiculous offer last spring. Like he’d take it, when his agent was Scott Boras, who always gets top dollar for his clients.

If they were actually serious about keeping him, they’d have made a real offer like the Yankees did with Aaron Judge by starting with a realistic figure. Like an overpay per year for a shorter term, like $30 million per for six years.

Instead they followed the same playbook that led to the Jon Lester disaster in 2014 with the same result.

Which, despite what he said publicly for a year, was mission accomplished for Chaim Bloom because he didn’t want Bogaerts.

The Issue – They Lied All Year: I’m hardly the only person who knew from the day Bloom signed Trevor Story last winter that he would become the low(er)-cost replacement shortstop for 2023. Yet Bloom denied it all year. I know it required a tricky answer, but I absolutely hate being lied to. It’s not the only rub here, but it is a big part of it, as it makes me question everything he says going forward. Because his actions say he’s dishonest. Ditto for team president Sam Kennedy and the owner John Henry, who condoned it through his silence.

The GM, Part I – His Brand of Baseball: I must admit I hate Chaimball. I don’t like his Tampa Bay bargain basement hunting, five-inning starters and most of all the stat geek approach. And most galling is that, because of the “numbers rule all” attitude, he has no idea what he just lost in Bogie. Bottom line: I don’t think he’s ready to be the GM and I have my doubts he ever will be.

What Did They Lose? Goodbye, leadership and a steadying influence. But if they’re moving forward with a rebuild around their young farm system guys, those exact qualities will be an important ingredient for their development.

It’s what the Celtics lost when Danny Ainge let Al Horford walk after 2018 and why bringing him back to have him influence his young teammates was the first thing Brad Stevens did as Celtics GM. And you can’t argue with the results.

The GM, Part II – Can He Judge Talent? Not that everything he’s done has been wrong, but I haven’t seen one thing he’s done that has impressed me.

Yes, I know Michael Wacha had a nice year. But he was just a low-cost guy he got lucky with as after several years of struggles there had been nothing in his recent past suggesting he could return to the solid guy he was early in his career with St. Louis.

Show me three more similar reclamation projects going that work and I may believe it was an astute move.

Of course the real proof lies in the guys coming up through his vaunted farm system — which, the way it’s gone with the hyped Jarren Duran,is not off to a great start.

I should also say that I’m not always right. I thought Stevens would be a disaster and he’s been just the opposite as Celtics GM.

But to this point the only thing that stands out outside of Story’s underwhemling season is the subtractions (Betts, Bogie) and the obvious miss of seeing perfect fit Kyle Schwarber walking to hit 46 homers in Philly for less money being paid to the now departed J.D. Martinez.

Who’s Masataka Yoshida? I had never heard of him before last week, so I have no idea how good he is or isn’t. But Rusney Castillo was the first thing that leapt to mind when I heard of the Yoshida signing. He was signed mid-way through 2014 with much fanfare. He turned out to be a titanic bust; in retrospect it was probably so because it was a hurried signing to distract fans who were ticked off that Lester had just been traded and the team was on its way to finishing in last place for the second time in three years. Fair or not, this seems similar.

The Owner – What’s Fair To Expect: Owners can’t guarantee championships and fans don’t have the right to expect that. But since the Red Sox have grown from being worth $600 million to now being worth $3.9 billion since Henry bought the team on the backs of his customers paying the highest ticket prices in baseball, Red Sox Nation has a right to expect Henry to spend to make it competitive.

I was OK with two years of payroll restructuring to lay the groundwork for the future. But the continued Tampa Bay wannabe approach is the opposite. Enough already. This is a big market team supported by a passionate fan base, which has money to spend. If he doesn’t want to spend that’s fine. But if he doesn’t want to, he should sell the team, because Red Sox Nation has done its part.

And if he won’t sell, the only thing that will get his attention is if you hit him in the cash register. So don’t buy tickets or merchandise and shop watching on NESN. Until he does.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

I never listen to talk radio or even read the papers much after a Patriots loss. Especially a bad one like last Thursday to Buffalo. That’s because for the most part all you get is blame, finger-pointing and vitriolrather than insight and perspective on what happened.

Not that there weren’t things that were bad, or even exasperating, like wasted timeouts and the usual for 2022 high number of penalties at the worst time.

Most watchers these days are in denial, judging the Patriots with expectations based on what they have been for the last 20 years, rather than a sober evaluation of what they are now, an ordinary team with a lot of holes that hasn’t been as good as their former patsy Buffalo for three years now.

Given how long their former relationship lasted, it is understandably hard to compute even with the evidence piling up, making much of Patriot Nation and the media unwilling or unable to go against muscle memory to face the reality that Brady and company ain’t walking through that door to save the day.

Said another way: The dynasty is over. Done.

It’s not an unusual reaction when that has happened, as fans and the media are the last to know. Or maybe the last to give up/in.

And it’s not confined to football. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy still refers to the Celtics as the NBA’s greatest franchise when they have won just one title since 1986. That, for the mathematically challenged, is 36 freaking years ago. They certainly have a glorious history, but their rivals in L.A. have won that title eight times in the same period. Ditto with the Canadiens in Montreal, who haven’t won the Cup since 1993, or much of anything else for that matter since Patrick Roy left the building in a snit with the brass two years later.

Bringing it back to the NFL, there have been four dynasties since I have been following the NFL. Which I define as lasting for 15 years or more amid turnover of the original group of players to more good players that eventually formed a completely different team as the winning continued.

That takes out historically superior teams like the 1960s Packers and ’70s Steelers because both faded as their throng of Hall of Fame players declined or retired as they aged with no one near good enough to step in for them to keep it going.

And sorry, ’90s Cowboys, while you were a dominant team, winning three times in four years is not nearly long enough to qualify. Ditto for one-year wonders like the 1986 Bears and 2000 Ravens.

The final qualification is that being in the mix to contend for a Super Bowl title year in and year out is more important than actually winning a huge number of SBs. Which is a legit point of debate as the aforementioned Packers and Steelers won five and four respectively during their impressive reigns but missed the cut because their excellence didn’t last long enough and a dynasty by definition is about length of time.

So that leaves the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s Oakland/L.A. Raiders and Dallas Cowboys, the ’80s/’90s Bill Walsh 49ers and the Patriots from 2001 to 2019. Notice I said the Patriots dynasty ended in 2019, to drive home the point that dynasties end long before most realize it.

Each ended for different reasons. Oakland ended as maverick owner Al Davis lost his fastball. That was somewhat the case for the Tom Landry-led Cowboys, but it probably had more to do with losing their edge in finding talent as the rest of the league copied their sophisticated use of newfangled computers and method of drafting players for athletic skills — speed, quickness, size — over the position they played. Their mantra was “get me the best athletes and we’ll find a position for them.” Concepts now identified by all at the pre-draft combine.

The advent of the salary cap croaked the 49ers, because it leveled the playing field for a team always willing to outspend others for talent or to keep their own.

Which brings us back to the Patriots. I know a lot of people bring it back to the “Was it Bill or Tom?” debate. But while losing Tom Brady certainly was a blow, it started before that. The one who knew it first was probably Brady because he pouted all throughout 2019 that he had terrible receivers and the offense was a disaster for a lot of the year. Along with other factors, this led him to take his talents to Tampa Bay, who, oh by the way, had two 1,000-yard receivers, so voila, he was TB-12 again.

As for the rest of us. While the dual drubbings by Buffalo at the end of 2021 made it clear how big the gap was between the two teams, it didn’t kill the notion that they could close it.

That’s come this year via a number of signs like their non-effort vs. Chicago on MNF, (used to be) uncharacteristic penalties piling up and the fact the team no longer has swagger or conveys the feeling they can get out of any jam.

The final piece for me is knowing they were gonna get thumped again on Thursday.

The culprit has been horrible drafting dating back to the early teens along with swinging and missing on almost everyone outside of Matthew Judon and Jalen Mills in their 2021 free agent spending spree.

Then there’s also that in not seeing how important game-breaking speed receivers have come to be in the 2022 NFL, there could be a creeping early sign it may be passing Bill Belichick by.

Hopefully, that feeling is wrong. But if it isn’t, the dynasty is dead and buried.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].