Sep 7th 2008 9:26PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Patriots, AFC East, NFL Injuries, Super Bowl

There has been a neat little stat (or something) that has been bandied around over the past few weeks: Only one team this millenium has lost a Super Bowl and gone back to the playoffs the next season.

That team was the 2006 Seattle Seahawks. The 2000 Giants, 2001 Rams, 2002 Raiders, 2003 Panthers, 2004 Eagles and 2006 Bears all failed to make the postseason the year after they lost the biggest game of the year. You can also add the 1998 Falcons and 1997 Packers … then 8 of the last 10 Super Bowl losers couldn’t get back into the playoffs.

We always threw that fact out there because it just threw a little doubt in the Patriots’ dominance. I mean, the 2007 New England Patriots aren’t just any Super Bowl loser. This team went 16-0 during the season and won both its AFC playoff games before losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

Pretty much the same team is back with a big ol’ chip on their shoulder. The other contenders in the AFC (Colts, Steelers, Chargers) had some sort of issue heading into the season and they had a relatively easy schedule.

That was all before Tom Brady injured his left knee against the Chiefs and knocked him out for the year.

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