Twenty-one years ago, the New England Patriots completed the most dominant streak in the history of the NFL, finishing with 21 wins in a row across two seasons. Since it was such a dominant run, we have decided to take a look back at each one of the games.
This is the sixth in the series, so expect a ton more to come, and make sure to follow along on YouTube for the accompanying videos for each game as well.
Today, let’s take a look at Wins No. 11 and 12.
Win No. 11: Patriots 21, Jets 16
2003 Week 16 | Dec. 20, 2003, 8:30 p.m. ET | Giants Stadium
Setting the scene: With the division wrapped up and the Patriots in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the AFC, the final weeks of the 2003 regular season were all about staying there. New England entered favored to win on the road to complete a season sweep of the New York Jets after beating them in the home opener back in September. Jets quarterback Chad Pennington had to sit that one out after an injury in the final week of the preseason sidelined him for the first six weeks of the season, and the Patriots took full advantage. Rookie Asante Samuel victimized veteran Vinny Testaverde for a pick-six early in the fourth quarter after a Tom Brady touchdown run put New England on top a few minutes earlier, and that was enough to get the win. The 6-8 New York Jets had been eliminated from the playoffs, but they were looking to play spoiler with Pennington in the lineup for this one.
Set for a Saturday night, the two teams would face off for ESPN’s 200th NFL broadcast, one that featured highlights of old games broadcast on the network. The first game on ESPN happened in that very stadium when Raymond Berry’s New England Patriots fell to Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, and the New York Giants in 1987. Pepper Johnson played linebacker in that game, and he would coach New England’s linebackers in 2003. One of those linebackers would set the tone for this one early.
Game breakdown: It took only two plays for New England’s defense to show up, and one more play to put the Pats on top. Like he did against Miami’s Jay Fiedler two weeks earlier, Tedy Bruschi jumped an underneath pass from Chad Pennington and intercepted it on the second play from scrimmage. Tom Brady made the Jets pay immediately, converting a play action shot down the sideline to David Givens with the Jets biting heavily on the play fake. Forty-eight seconds in, the Patriots were up 7-0 and the crowd was silenced.
To their credit, the Jets hung tough. They mounted a 16-play, 83-yard scoring drive that culminated in a Chad Pennington rushing touchdown from a yard out to tie it up. Pennington found receiver Kevin Lockett for an 11-yard gain on 3rd-and-9 just over midfield to keep the drive alive.
After the defenses stiffened and the offenses traded three-and-outs, another New England linebacker would torment Pennington. Early in the second quarter, Willie McGinest batted a third down Pennington pass to himself and took it into the end zone from 15 yards out.
Up by a touchdown, the Patriots drove into Jets territory twice with a chance to extend the lead before the half, but neither was successful. After the Patriots failed on 4th-and-5 from the 25, the Jets took over down by seven just inside the two-minute warning. Pennington would find Santana Moss for 15 yards and Lockett for 23 early in the drive to cross the 50-yard line, and a 16-yard completion to Chris Baker with under a minute to go would help set up a 29-yard Doug Brien field goal to pull within four at the break.
Like Tom Brady did to open the first half, he would find David Givens for a touchdown to start the second. After Bethel Johnson returned the kickoff to New England’s 40, Brady hit Givens over the middle for a 16-yard gain. A few plays later, Antowain Smith took a toss play 23 yards as the Patriots entered the red zone for the first and only time that night. Brady and Givens would connect in the back corner of the end zone on a play-action pass to extend New England’s lead to 21-10.
Now up by two scores, the Patriots began to lock in on defense. The Jets drove close to the red zone on the following drive, but Pennington would throw his third pick of the night as Ty Law shut down Santana Moss in the end zone. They would score on the next drive, but it took a ball bouncing off Tyrone Poole to Curtis Conway for a conversion on 3rd and 22 for the Jets to get deep into New England territory. Pennington would take it in for his second rushing score of the night from the 10-yard line later in the drive, but his attempt on the ensuing 2-point conversion had no chance. The Patriots still led 21-16, and the Jets would never get closer.
On their next possession, Pennington would find another New England defender. This time, it was Rodney Harrison down the sideline. Once again, the Patriots were not able to build off of it. Charlie Weis called David Givens to throw the ball on a reverse, and he promptly threw it directly to Jets defensive back Tyrone Carter. New England would get the ball back about a minute later after Richard Seymour and Willie McGinest combined for a third down sack.
Thanks to a third down conversion to Christian Fauria, the Patriots were able to run the clock near the two-minute warning before Ken Walter’s 26-yard punt gave the Jets the ball one final time at their own 18. Pennington moved the chains twice with check-downs, but a potential go-ahead drive was stopped short of midfield when he sailed a pass down the seam that was picked off by Eugene Wilson. One kneel-down later, and the Patriots were one win away from home field advantage in the AFC.
When it was all said and done, New England’s defense finished the game with five interceptions, four sacks, and a touchdown. While the Jets would out-gain New England 321 and 271, Pennington’s turnovers were too much for them to overcome.
Game Highlights:
Other game notes: The most notable moment from this game happened on the field, but not within the white lines. Before halftime as the Jets staged their field goal drive, ESPN’s Suzy Kolber tried to interview Hall of Famer and former Jets QB Joe Namath. Things did not go as planned, with Namath declining to answer the second question and instead stating his desire to kiss Kolber.
On the field, the ESPN crew was focusing on a situation between Patriots defensive tackle Ted Washington and Jets center Kevin Mawae, who was wired for sound. Washington’s agent accused the Jets offensive lineman of intentionally breaking his leg when the teams met in Week 3. The situation was defused early, though, when Mawae approached Washington and explained that he had not done it on purpose while the two made up.
While Mawae went on to his fifth of six consecutive Pro Bowls that year, the rest of their line struggled against New England’s blitz. That made it quite a shock when I consulted their coaching staff and saw the name of their offensive line coach: Doug Marrone. Let’s hope he’s learned a thing or two in 22 years.
The David Givens interception is one that is mentioned later on by Josh McDaniels in a Do Your Job special. After the play, the Patriots made the decision not to have someone other than Tom Brady throw the football when the offense was on the field. It would be Julian Edelman who would break that streak over a decade later in the 2014 divisional round against the Baltimore Ravens, a play that resulted in a touchdown to Danny Amendola.
Elsewhere in sports: Around the league that week, the Atlanta Falcons nearly blew a 30-7 fourth quarter lead in the Saturday early afternoon game. Three Brad Johnson touchdown passes to Charles Lee, Keenan McCardell, and Jameel Cook brought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to within two points with 27 seconds remaining, but the two-point conversion was unsuccessful with Johnson’s pass getting batted down at the line of scrimmage.
On Sunday night, the Denver Broncos went into Indianapolis and clinched a playoff spot, scoring touchdowns on four consecutive possessions behind a running game that went for 238 yards on Sunday Night Football. That’s a feat that would not be repeated when the teams met in the wild card round in Indianapolis two weeks later.
On Monday Night Football, Brett Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns one day after his father died. The Packers routed the Raiders in Oakland 41-7, keeping Green Bay alive in the race for the NFC North.
Win No. 12: Patriots 31, Bills 0
2003 Week 17 | Dec. 27, 2003, 1:35 pm. ET | Gillette Stadium
Setting the scene: The Patriots came into this game with an 11-game winning streak, and hosting the Bills, who they had famously lost to on opening weekend, 31-0. It was quite a different matchup this second time, as the Patriots had locked up a first-round bye and the Bills were 6-9, and hadn’t been over .500 since before Halloween.
The Patriots looked at this game as a chance to show everyone that they weren’t the same team who started the season, and that they were, in fact, the best team in the AFC, and perhaps the NFL. Of course, it might not seem like they could prove that against the lowly Bills, but they sure acted like they could.
Game breakdown: The Patriots started out the game by driving down the field on the first possession and scoring a touchdown. Tom Brady went 6-for-7 on the drive, and finished off with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Graham. The Bills and Drew Bledsoe responded by throwing an interception on the third play of the drive; Tedy Bruschi pressured Bledsoe into a bad throw and Mike Vrabel picked off the errant pass to set the Patriots up with great field position, which they cashed in on eight plays later with a 9-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.
After another stop by the Patriots, the Bills strip-sacked Brady and took over inside the New England 30. The Bills could only pick up 3 yards, however, and would have to settle for a field goal attempt, which they missed. Not only did they miss it, but they didn’t snap the ball in time, so they were pushed back another five yards, moving them out of field goal range. The Bills went for it on 4th-and-12, and Bledsoe actually checked it down, but it was incomplete anyway. The Patriots responded by going 68 yards in 11 plays to extend the lead to 21-0.
The teams exchanged punts until the Bills got into the red zone for the first time in the game. They got to 3rd-and-7 from the 15, and Bledsoe was sacked by Rodney Harrison. Ryan Lindell missed another field goal (this one actually counted), and the Bills still couldn’t get on the board. The Patriots, as they always seemed to do during this streak, capitalized off the mistake and drove 70 yards for another touchdown, this one putting them up 28-0. The game was still in the second quarter at that point.
The second half was more of the same. A few highlights were Adam Vinatieri somehow missing a 24-yard field goal off the uprights, and the Bills having an 11-play, 37-yard drive that ended in a punt; a drive that averages just over 3 yards per play and goes longer than 10 plays is nothing short of impressive. Vinatieri would end up making another 24-yard field goal attempt, after another Bills turnover. The turnover was a strip sack of Bledsoe by Bruschi, and it would be the last play of the game for the ex-Patriots QB, as the Bills would pull him after it.
The sequence that is probably remembered the most by Patriots fans is the one that ended the game. The Patriots pinned the Bills at the 2-yard line, and the Bills’ backup quarterback, Travis Brown, drove them the length of the field to try to score. He almost did it with a pass to Dave Moore, but special teamer Shawn Mayer made a touchdown-saving tackle. It looked like the clock might expire, but the Bills called timeout to be able to run a few more plays to try to break the shutout. The Patriots responded by waiting for the Bills to bring their offense out and calling their own timeout to try to keep the shutout in tact.
The tactic worked, as Brown was picked in the end zone by Larry Izzo. The Gillette crowd, and Patriots sideline, went nuts. Somehow, the Patriots had bookended their season with 31-0 games against the Bills. As someone who was at the game, and was also at both home playoff games, the crowd might’ve been more excited about the Izzo interception than any other play that season.
Game highlights:
Other game notes: Tom Brady would finish the day throwing four touchdowns passes to four different players. He ended the season with 23 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions, and not one receiver with over 803 receiving yards, but five over 400 yards. The Patriots also didn’t have a player rush for more than 650 yards, but they had two players rush for over 600.
The defense was dominant, with 29 interceptions, 18 forced fumbles, 41 sacks, and 6 defensive touchdowns. If you include the kick return touchdown by Bethel Johnson, they would finish the season with seven non-offensive touchdowns.
Elsewhere in sports: The most noteworthy game in this week was the Minnesota Vikings against the Arizona Cardinals. The Vikings had a very simple job: win. With a win, they would make the playoffs, and with a loss they would be eliminated. Up 14-6 in the fourth quarter, they picked off Josh McCown in field goal range. They weren’t able to get a first down and had to settle for a field goal with 6:52 left to go up 17-6. They wouldn’t get the ball back.
The Cardinals drove down and scored when McCown hit Steve Bush for a 2-yard touchdown. The ensuing two-point try was unsuccessful, so the Cardinals were still down by 5. They then recovered an onside kick, and got the ball all the way down to the 9-yard line. They were forced to use their last timeout when McCown was sacked back at the 17, making it do-or-die time. On third down, McCown was sacked again, this time at the 28, and fumbled. The Cardinals recovered, but had to scramble to run one final play before the clock ran out, since they were out of timeouts.
What followed was one of the craziest finishes in NFL history, with McCown hitting Nate Poole on an absolutely crazy play — one that wouldn’t have counted in today’s NFL (since he was forced out of bounds before he got his second foot down). The rules back then rewarded a touchdown to the offense anyway. The Cardinals finished their 4-12 season with a win, and the Vikings, who started the year 6-0, were eliminated from the playoffs on the final day, and the final play, of the season.