ESPN ranked this Patriots roster as No. 1 team of last 25 years

The Patriots fielded a number of the best groups in NFL historical past over the course of their two-decade dynasty.

As such, it ought to come as little shock that a number of rosters led by Invoice Belichick and Tom Brady made the lower for ESPN’s Invoice Barnwell and his rating of the 25 greatest NFL groups of the final 25 years.

With six Tremendous Bowls secured by New England for the reason that new millennium, Barnwell had 4 Patriots groups featured in his top-25 record. However the membership that took the No. 1 spot on the record, mockingly sufficient, was one New England squad who didn’t find yourself lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

Sure, Barnwell’s No. 1 crew of the final 25 years was the 2007 Patriots — the stacked group of gamers that rewrote the document books en path to a 16-0 common season … solely to fall to the Giants in Tremendous Bowl XLII.

“Over a full 12 months, it’s robust to discover a crew that may realistically compete with the 2007 Pats, even with Tremendous Bowl wins on their résumé,” Barnwell wrote of the ‘07 Patriots. “They had been the one one-loss crew of the period. They’d the biggest common margin of victory (17.5 factors) by greater than a discipline purpose over the next-best crew. The 2000 Ravens had been the one crew with a greater Pythagorean expectation over the common season and postseason mixed.

“You bear in mind (or have heard about) the offense, however the protection wasn’t too shabby, both. The Patriots ranked sixth in EPA per play and fourth in factors allowed per drive. The protection contributed six touchdowns in the course of the common season, which appears nearly unfair given what the offense was doing on a weekly foundation. 

“Attending to play from forward as typically as they did clearly made life simpler for Mike Vrabel & Co., however even with win chance constraints on their efficiency and measure what they did when every crew had at the very least a 20 % probability of profitable, New England ranked fourth in third-down conversion charge and QBR allowed.”

Listed below are all 4 of the Patriots groups that Barnwell listed in his rankings — with the opposite three teams all taking house Tremendous Bowl titles at numerous levels of the franchise’s dynasty. 

No. 1: 2007 Patriots, 18-1, misplaced Tremendous Bowl XLII

No. 3: 2004 Patriots, 17-2, gained Tremendous Bowl XXXIX

No. 7: 2003 Patriots, 17-2, gained Tremendous Bowl XXXVIII

No. 11: 2016 Patriots, 17-2, gained Tremendous Bowl LI

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author masking the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Pink Sox for Boston.com, a task he has held since 2023.