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Good stuff from Jackie MacMullen
PHOENIX -- If Tom Brady and the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in Super Bowl XLIX, Brady will match Joe Montana and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw's mark of four championships, reigniting the debate over Brady's legacy and his rightful place in football history.
Brady leads the parade of most career playoff wins (20), with Montana (16), Bradshaw (14) and Elway (14) rounding out the top four. He and coach Bill Belichick have combined to post the highest winning percentage as a coach and quarterback since the 1970 merger with a 160-47 mark (.773). Former Oakland QB Kenny Stabler and coach John Madden are second at 60-19-1 (.756). Everyone has their own idea about what criteria should be used to determine excellence. Bradshaw's Steelers won their four championships in six years (1975-80). Montana won his four over a nine-year span.
If Brady and Belichick win Sunday, the gap between their first Super Bowl triumph and this one would be 14 years. It is a remarkable run of sustainability and consistency provided by an invested owner, a single-minded coach and a franchise player who have remained entrenched in their belief that the Patriot Way works.
No wonder that 848 miles away in Texas, the San Antonio Spurs, the gold standard of consistency in professional basketball, watch closely as the Patriots approach another potential championship. New England's football team has long been the topic of discussion internally in the Spurs' offices as a franchise that mirrors their own.
And, say Spurs officials, they figure they can learn something from the New England football team.
"It's hard not to think that,'' surmised Spurs general manager RC Buford. "What Brady and Belichick have built, one has to respect and admire and hope to emulate their success.''
San Antonio has won five titles. The redoubtable tandem of coach Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan won their first in 1999 and then ripped off three more in quick succession: 2004, 2005 and 2007.
And then ... years of continued excellence but ultimate disappointment. The Spurs' loss to the Miami Heat in the 2013 Finals was every bit as heart-wrenching for their fans as the David Tyree helmet catch (or the Wes Welker drop) was for Patriots fans.
San Antonio led Game 6 of the Finals 94-89 with 28 seconds left and personnel began cordoning off the court to prepare for the championship trophy presentation. But a series of events -- including two 3-pointers by the Heat that were the result of a small San Antonio lineup relinquishing offensive rebounds -- enabled Miami to force a Game 7.
When LeBron James and the Heat clinched that title, the Spurs were mourned as a model franchise with a system to be admired, but a team whose best player was past his prime and whose championship window had closed.
Popovich encouraged his team to "ignore the noise," and the Spurs returned to the championship series the following season and dispatched of the Heat and James in five games.
Can the Patriots match San Antonio's success by knocking off a defending champion, as well?
"Our preparation through the year means there will be no surprises,'' asserted Darrelle Revis. "That's how the Patriots do it. Consistency, consistency, consistency.''
The similarities of the Patriots and Spurs are striking. Both are led by driven coaches with military backgrounds who even share the same heritage.
Popovich's mother was Serbian and his father was Croatian. Belichick's grandfather, Ivan Belicic, and grandmother Mary, Barkovic, were also Croatian, and, according to the Croatian Chronicle, immigrated to the United States from the Karlovac region.
Buford, who has been instrumental in the drafting and development of a plethora of foreign players who have enriched San Antonio's roster, said the teams share another commonality.
"I think in both cases you have an owner that allowed a coach and an organization to have the stability to build something with longevity and sustainability,'' Buford noted. "The owners are the parallels in this as much as anything.''
Each franchise has benefited from a superstar who has eschewed selling himself to the highest bidder, who has place his faith in a coach whose methods are rigid but effective and are predicated completely on a team concept that requires sacrifice from top to bottom.
Add a dash of innovative ingenuity that has set them apart from their counterparts (think offensive linemen catching touchdowns and a basketball team that was at the forefront of analytics) and you can see why Buford and former Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli used to find themselves comparing notes on a regular basis.
"We used to connect several times a year,'' Buford confirmed, "because we both seemed to be living in the same world, with a rock star head coach, a great owner and a franchise player.
"There were so many parallels to be drawn.''
The common thread includes a work ethic that leaves no stone unturned, something that Patriots receiver Brandon LaFell, who is about to complete his first season alongside Brady, said has been cemented by the quarterback.
"I knew Tom was great from the outside looking in, but all I saw was Sundays,'' LaFell explained. "I didn't see him Monday through Saturday. When I got here, with us playing a game on the road, then flying back and seeing him with two laptops, looking at film already, that's something I didn't know. I didn't see how much work he put in with the strength coaches before practice, and how much work he put in after practice, taking receivers to the side and running our routes and perfecting our timing and trying different plays. The guy works his tail off.''
LaFell is a basketball fan and agrees the Patriots and Spurs are kindred spirits.
"Now [that] you say it, you can put a comparison between the two,'' LaFell agreed. "The Spurs have been in championships and lost, and have been in championships and won, and just like Bill and Tom, they've been producing at a high level year in and year out.
"Some people counted them out, but somehow, some way, they still end up in the championship. The Spurs, they count 'em out every year -- they say they're too old, all that -- and they rest their players, and then when it comes to money time, they're playing their best ball at the best time, just like us.''
Buford said he's not certain whether Popovich and Belichick compare notes or exchange texts, as Belichick is known to do with coaches he admires outside his own sport, but the two tossed public bouquets each other's way this past December.
Popovich started it by lauding the consistency of New England's success.
"Any successful franchise has good synergy between ownership, management and coaches," Popovich said. "The Patriots obviously have that. It's a fantastic organization.''
When apprised of Popovich's comments, Belichick responded, "I have tremendous respect for Gregg. I think that the consistency they've had there, the level that they've played at and the way he coaches that team -- I love to watch that team. I admire him, I really do. It's flattering that he would say that. It means a lot coming from someone of his stature.''
With experience comes perspective, something a reflective Brady acknowledged Thursday afternoon in his final media session. The first championship in 2001 was a blur. This one, he said, has caused him to pause and examine the opportunity more closely.
"I think just from my experience, when I was so young that I didn't understand what this is all about and how challenging this is because everything happened so fast at such an early part of my career,'' Brady said. "I think over the years we've gotten some tough losses, and obviously we made it in '07, '11, those were challenging games. They came down to the wire and we lost. I don't think those things discouraged me at all.
They re-emphasized how hard and challenging it is to get to this point and how challenging it is to win this game. I have such an appreciation for it now. That's why I'm hoping we can accomplish and finally finish it off with a great win on Sunday. It would mean an awful lot.''
Receiver Julian Edelman can sense the urgency in his quarterback's voice. It has been 10 years since Brady was a champion, and he feels the void.
"He's had the experience of winning the last game of the year and how that changes your perspective on everything,'' Edelman said. "He wants us to experience that.''
Winning comes in many forms. While the Patriots and Spurs share common traits, their individual personalities are also divergent.
Spurs fans will be quick to point out that Popovich has no Spygate (or Deflategate) on his docket. Duncan prefers blue jeans to tuxedos and wouldn't be caught dead at the Met Gala.
The franchise forward snagged his fifth ring. The franchise quarterback wants his fourth.
The Patriots will be playing, and the Spurs will be watching.
_____________________________
Work like a Captain.
Play like a Pirate.
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RE: Vikes talk for Twins fans - 
~ we lose 
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