FOXBORO — Matthew Slater was 19 and a red-shirt freshman at UCLA when the Patriots defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21, in Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6, 2005, in Jacksonville, Fla.
He tuned in to watch quarterback Tom Brady pass for 236 yards and two touchdowns, Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch make 11 receptions for 133 yards and the Patriots "making enough plays to win the game" and their third Lombardi Trophy in four years.
"I do remember waching the game," Slater [...]
FOXBORO — Matthew Slater was 19 and a red-shirt freshman at UCLA when the Patriots defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21, in Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6, 2005, in Jacksonville, Fla.
He tuned in to watch quarterback Tom Brady pass for 236 yards and two touchdowns, Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch make 11 receptions for 133 yards and the Patriots “making enough plays to win the game” and their third Lombardi Trophy in four years.
“I do remember waching the game,” Slater said. “It’s quite a story that Tom is still playing, still playing at a high level. He’s been really fortunate and blessed to be playing into his 40s and doing it at a high level.”
Now 32 and in his 10th NFL season, Slater will be playing rather than watching when the Patriots and Eagles meet 13 years later in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
“We’re all excited about another opportunity to go out there and represent this organization in the biggest game in pro football,” said Slater, who will be playing in his fourth Super Bowl since arriving here as a fifth-round draft choice in 2008.
It’s an opportunity that is the result of being able to improvise and improve after a well-laid plan went awry.
The expectation in September was the Patriots would be one of the two teams still playing in February as the defending Super Bowl champions loaded up in the offseason.
Among the veterans they added were receiver Brandin Cooks, tight end Dwayne Allen, running back Mike Gillislee, defensive lineman Kony Ealy, linebacker David Harris, and cornerback Stephon Gilmore. As it turned out, most of those acquisitions didn’t or have yet to pan out.
And injuries weren’t an issue last season, but they were this year. Receivers Julian Edelman and Malcolm Mitchell, All-Pro right tackle Marcus Cannon, defensive lineman Vincent Valentine, linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Shea McClellin, top draft pick Derek Rivers, and All-Pro special-teams player Nate Ebner have missed 123 of 144 man games due to injury.
The foolish talk from football followers in July was of going 16-0. Instead, the Patriots entered October with a 2-2 record, both losses coming at Gillette Stadium, and the wheels seemed to be falling off the wagon.
Many teams would have crashed, but the Patriots rallied as the fickle Foxboro faithful panicked due to a defense that was as leaky as a spaghetti strainer and an offensive line that couldn’t block grandpa from getting a second slice of pie.
“I say it all the time — just a group of fighters,” Duron Harmon, a defensive captain, said. “I mean you just look at the way the year progressed — [we] started the year not the way we wanted to, came out and lost the opener, got 2-2, but nobody in here really listened to the noise. We ignored it.”
Four days after losing to the Carolina Panthers on a field goal as time expired to fall to .500, the Patriots ground out a road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It wasn’t a stylish victory, but it was a stabilizing one.
With 10 days until their next game, the Patriots sorted things out. They’ve lost twice since Week 5, going 12-2 and advancing to the Super Bowl for a remarkable eighth time in the last 17 seasons.
“We did everything we can to get better and try to progress throughout the year,” Harmon said. “That’s the reason why we’re here right now, just because we continued to fight, never got down on ourselves, never pointed or blamed anybody. Just kind of worked together as a team and just kept getting better.”
And there was no better example of that fight than in the AFC Championship Game when the Patriots overcame a 10-point deficit with less than 10 minutes to play to upend the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-20.
Belichick won’t be named Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his Canton-bound career, but he deserves to be in the conversation after turning in one of the finest efforts of his 18 seasons in New England. He masterfully dealt with debilitating injuries and successfully built a no-name defense during a successful improvement project that is about to enter its sixth month.
The Patriots have a chance to become the first team since their ’04 predecessors to repeat as Super Bowl champions — along with winning a third Lombardi Trophy in four seasons.
They’ve succeed by relying on brand names like Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski and safety Devin McCourty, but also anonymous players like reserve tackles LaAdrian Waddle and Cam Fleming, defensive linemen Eric Lee and Ricky Jean Francois, and linebacker Marquis Flowers.
Dedication, persistence and attention to detail have paid off.
“A team that started slow, that grew together and bonded together and we’re all one now,” cornerback Malcolm Butler said. “We all go with the motto, ‘We all win, we all lose,’ so everybody is on the same page.”