Here they are. The Top 20 plays that shaped the New England Patriots' dynasty.

These are the plays of the Bill Belichick Era you best never forget. And probably can't. They're the ones that led directly to championships -- most for New England, a couple for the other guys. Or they're plays that signified a sea change in the way the New England Patriots under Belichick would be behaving from there on out.

I did my best to stack them in order of importance. You got a problem with that? Good. Let us know what's too high, too low or just plain wrong. And thanks for keeping up!

CLICK HERE FOR PLAYS 85-71

CLICK HERE FOR PLAYS 70-51

CLICK HERE FOR PLAYS 50-21

THE YEAR: 2014 (actually February 2015)

THE GAME: Patriots 28, Seahawks 24

THE PLAY: Donta Hightower trips up Marshawn Lynch at the Patriots 1

WHY IT’S HERE: Donta Hightower’s 2014 season is a little underappreciated. He shredded his shoulder in Green Bay and missed just one game. He played in significant pain down the stretch and into the Super Bowl. And when the big linebacker was in a position to make a play that would keep the Patriots' faint hopes for a fourth Super Bowl alive, he made it.

The circus catch by Jermaine Kearse put the Seahawks at the Patriots 5 with 1:06 left. The Seahawks ran left behind the ominous tackle Russell Okung. Hightower stacked Okung, discarded, dove at the feet of the powerful Marshawn Lynch and got enough of him to bring Lynch to a stumbling halt at the 1. On the next play, Malcolm Butler intervened.

THE YEAR: 2003 (actually February 2004)

THE GAME: Patriots 32, Panthers 29

THE PLAY: Tom Brady to Deion Branch for 17 yard to set up game- winner

WHY IT’S HERE: With the Super Bowl tied at 29-29, the Patriots needed about 35 yards to get in range for an Adam Vinatieri field goal and New England’s second Super Bowl win in three seasons. As happened two years earlier, receiver Ricky Proehl had just scored a touchdown against a battered, tattered Patriots defense. The game was tied but New England would not have been the overtime favorite.

Thanks to a kickoff out of bounds by Carolina kicker John Kasay and two completions to Troy Brown, the Patriots were nearing field-goal range. But it was third-and-3 with 14 seconds left and Vinatieri – who was not kicking well that day with a long-snapper named Brian Kinchen suffering from the yips – needed to be closer. Brady got them there with a 17-yard completion to Deion Branch out to the right sideline, setting the stage for Vinatieri’s game-winner.

THE YEAR: 2003

THE GAME: Patriots 19, Dolphins 13

THE PLAY: Tom Brady to Troy Brown for 87-yard  overtime game-winner

WHY IT’S HERE: The Patriots have annual trouble in Miami even now. But back in 2003, the team’s record of South Florida futility was almost laughable. The Patriots had lost five times in a row in Miami and were 2-12 down there since 1988. The combination of defensive end Jason Taylor, linebackers Zach Thomas and Junior Seau and the evil corners – Pat Surtain and Sam Madison – were the bane of young Tom Brady’s existence.

This Sunday afternoon was following suit as the Patriots fumbled it away twice in the first half and punted six times. Time was wasting in overtime when the Patriots got the ball at their own 13 off a Miami pick. The Dolphins’ Olindo Mare had already missed a chip-shot field goal in overtime and Brady was coming back on the field after a Taylor strip-sack (New England recovered) ended their previous drive.

So on the first play of the drive, Brady dropped back and heaved toward Brown who hauled in the rainbow and scored from 87 yards away vanquishing – for a spell – the South Florida curse. 
 

THE YEAR: 2001

THE GAME: Patriots 24, Steelers 17

THE PLAY: Brandon Mitchell, Troy Brown and Antwan Harris combine on blocked field goal for TF

WHY IT’S HERE: Troy Brown had already lugged a punt back 55 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. And after Tom Brady went down, Drew Bledsoe finished off a drive with three throws to David Patten just before halftime, making it 14-3. But how was that going to hold up against the Steelers? Especially with Bledsoe getting his first extended action since September?

Brown – who was the best Patriot in 2001 by an unimaginable margin – provided the answer.

The Steelers were about to finish off a drive with a 34-yard field goal when defensive lineman Brandon Mitchell got a paw on the attempt. Brown then followed the “scoop and score” directives of the Pats coaching staff. The teaching point? Loose balls in the kicking game should always be advanced because of the slow, sloppy field goal-protection units and the fact that – because it’s fourth down – the defending team will get the ball either way. So Brown scooped, took off and – when wrapped up briefly – lateraled to Antwan “Puddin’” Harris, who took the ball the distance for a touchdown that made it 21-3. The Steelers would score touchdowns on their next two drives – scores which would have put them ahead if not for the “scoop and score.”

THE YEAR: 2014

THE GAME: Patriots 43, Bengals 17

THE PLAY: Brady keeper on fourth down vs. Bengals

WHY IT’S HERE: For a week after the demolition in Kansas City, all the doctors stopped by the Patriots hospital bed and came away shaking their heads. The consensus was that the condition was grave. Even the optimists believed the team wouldn’t return to its former vitality. It was an ugly week. So on Sunday Night Football, the Patriots came out against a talented Bengals team that beat the Pats in 2013 . . . and bullied them.

With Tom Brady putting the Patriots on his back, physically and emotionally.

On their first drive of the night, Brady had completions of 20 and 30 yards. He also scrambled for six yards and. on a fourth-and-1 from the Cincinnati 5, he plowed for four yards to set up a Stevan Ridley touchdown. The 10-play, 80-yard drive was cathartic for the team which -- after getting questioned so harshly -- became galvanized in a way that would carry them to their fourth Super Bowl title.

THE YEAR: 2007

THE GAME: Patriots 38, Jets 14

THE PLAY: Randy Moss blows by three Jets to track down 51-yard TD in opener

WHY IT’S HERE: After two lost seasons in Oakland, the conventional wisdom on Randy Moss was that the party was over. He’d be a “what coulda been . . . ” enigma. Before the season, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King ranked Moss at No. 246 on his list of the NFL’s top 500 players.

Moss didn’t play in the preseason, nursing a purported hamstring injury, though my suspicion is that Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Josh McDaniels and Moss all knew what was going to happen when the Patriots offense was unveiled and didn’t want anyone to get a preview. The Patriots -- ushered from the 2006 playoffs by the Colts -- should have won the Super Bowl the previous year, but contract discord (most notably with Deion Branch) sidetracked the roster and the Pats were relatively punchless. Not so in 2007 with Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney added.

So there was that anticipation at the start of the season and -- with the Patriots opening in New York -- a renewal of the Belichick-Eric Mangini frostiness, which began when Mangini left to coach the Jets and tried to lug players and coaches with him on his way out the door. The Jets had a plan in their back pocket to fix the Patriots’ little red wagon, though. More on that later.

With Tom Brady for the first time throwing to elite outside receivers, he went 22-for-28 for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Moss had 9 catches for 183 yards and a 51-yard touchdown in which Brady threw a moonball and Moss ran past defenders like Usain Bolt at sixth-grade field day. Asked about Brady, Moss said, “It's like a kid with a toy for Christmas and he can't open it. He didn't have all of his toys to play with. Now that he has all of his toys to play with, the sky's the limit.”

Somehow the NFL left the Moss catch off their list of his top catches of 2007. But what that game and play did was presage the most incredible offensive season in NFL history to that point.

As for the Jets’ plan? They decided to turn in a Patriots’ cameraman over to the NFL when they caught him taping from the sidelines. The stupid effort at future edge-gaining by the Patriots would be conflated into a mortal sin against the game. And that event would foreshadow a similar effort by the rest of the NFL in 2014. Can’t beat ‘em, discredit ‘em.

THE YEAR: 2003

THE GAME:  Patriots 17, Titans 14 

THE PLAY: Adam Vinatieri kicks 46-yarder in arctic conditions vs. Titans

WHY IT’S HERE: For four seasons, we’d listened to Bill Belichick talk about complementary football, “all three phases”, the importance of special teams and field position. We’d all developed a better understanding and respect for it. But no game brought it all home better than the frigid AFC Divisional Playoff game the Tennessee Titans.

It all unfolded during the final 20 minutes of play. A Daniel Graham fumble set Tennessee up at their 47 with 2:06 left in the third and the score tied at 14-14. On first down, Willie McGinest sniffed out a screen to Frank Wycheck -- which may have been a double-pass in the making -- and notched a 10-yard sack. The Titans punted to the Patriots 5. New England flipped the field with a 13-play drive to the Tennessee 39, followed by a punt down to the Titans 7. When Tennessee tried to climb out of its end, McGinest struck again with a sack of Steve McNair.

Now there was 6:49 left. The Patriots took over at the Titans 40. Faced with a fourth-and-3, the Patriots went for it with 5:14 left at the Titans 33 so they could get closer for Vinatieri. The drive stalled at the Titans 27 after a drop by Graham. But Vinatieri knocked the rock-hard ball through from 46 yards during the coldest game in Gillette history.

THE GAME:  Patriots 24, Colts 14

THE PLAY: Ty Law picks Peyton Manning on second drive in AFC Championship

WHY IT’S HERE: Understand this: The Patriots still weren’t regarded as the best team in football at this point. The 2001 Super Bowl was seen as lightning in a bottle. In 2002, they missed the playoffs. And throughout 2003, the impression was they’d gotten by with smoke and mirrors. After the Patriots beat Tennessee in the game described in Play 14, Titans offensive lineman Zach Piller gave voice to the sentiment.

The Colts were the better team, the feeling went. They played in a better division, had the better quarterback, would take care of business. But the Colts first drive ended with a Manning pick on a ball thrown from the Patriots 5. The Patriots had a 10-0 lead when the Colts got the ball again. And on the first play of the drive, Manning was picked by the great Ty Law. The Colts broke on that play. On their next drive, the Colts snapped the ball out of the end zone for a safety. On the drive after that, Marvin Harrison was stripped. Manning threw two more picks to Law before the game was over. And while they rallied somewhat to make it interesting at the end, the Manning meltdown at the outset left a mark.

THE YEAR: 2014 (actually January 2015)

THE GAME: Patriots 35, Ravens 31

THE PLAY: Double pass

WHY IT’S HERE: The Patriots' run to their fourth Lombardi was loaded with, “We’re doooomed . . . ” moments for their fans. Given that some of their fan base just got here (relatively) and doesn’t know what bleak really is, the pessimism wasn't a surprise. And in 2014, it was well-founded. It took ingenuity and individual players displaying balls of steel to turn the tide. And one of the plays that combined both elements was the double-pass against the Ravens.

We started this list with the first iteration of the play from back in 2001, when David Patten hit Troy Brown (number 100). This time, it was Julian Edelman hitting Danny Amendola. One of the most impressive aspects of the play: The complete calm Edelman showed in pulling in the lateral from Tom Brady, setting his feet, and throwing a room-service pass right on Amendola’s hands. The play covered 51 yards and brought the Patriots into a 28-28 tie.

We have two other plays from this epic game on the list -- the formation chicanery with Hooman (number 49), and Brady’s game-winner to Brandon LaFell (number 72)-- but this play is here because of the way it was drawn up, executed, and showed the resolve of a team that erased two 14-point deficits in the game.

THE YEAR: 2003 (actually February 2004)

THE GAME: Patriots 32, Panthers 29

THE PLAY: Adam Vinatieri 41-yard field goal to win SB38

WHY IT’S HERE: Nobody expected Adam Vinatieri to miss the Super Bowl game-winner. That’s because nobody knew the behind-the-scenes drama that was unfolding all week long with long-snapper Brian Kinchen (number 46 in the picture at left).

Kinchen was completely out of football for almost three seasons before the Patriots called him in Week 15 to handle long-snapping duties after Lonie Paxton and his replacement, Sean McDermott landed on IR. Kinchen was teaching middle school and working as a part-time coach with LSU’s Nick Saban at the time. He had a link to Bill Belichick and GM Scott Pioli from their Cleveland days during the 1991 to 1995 seasons when Kinchen played tight end. But self-doubt started to wrack Kinchen soon after he came aboard. Then came the long-snapping yips. Then came the coaching staff, Vinatieri and holder Ken Walter all trying to buck him up while at the same time internally tortured that this poor guy was going to come undone and not only cost them what they’d all worked for but shatter him. Then Kinchen cut his hand with a steak knife during the Super Bowl pregame meal.

The game was no picnic either.

Read all about the drama in the 2009 book and you’ll understand how fraught with disaster that kick was. And why it’s a play that’s been taken for granted for more than a decade.

THE YEAR: 2007

THE GAME: Patriots 38, Giants 35

THE PLAY: Tom Brady to Randy Moss for 65-yard TD, sealing three records

WHY IT’S HERE: The play itself? A perfect capstone to regular-season perfection.

From the first game of the 2007 season, it was apparent Tom Brady and the Patriots were offensively transformed by Randy Moss. That first game against the Jets and the touchdown pass to Moss where he sprinted past three defenders (Play 15) was bookended by this 65-yard touchdown in the final regular-season game in the same stadium. The catch gave Moss the single-season touchdown reception record (23) and Tom Brady the single-season touchdown pass record (50) while also putting the Patriots ahead for good in the final game of the first 16-0 season in NFL history.

Beyond this play and those accomplishments, what made the night so memorable was how the two teams competed. The Giants had little to play for. They were locked into a postseason spot and, win or lose on this night, were facing a Wild Card Round game the following weekend in Tampa. Many people were urging them to look past this game, rest their regulars and get ready for the playoffs. But with history on the line, Tom Coughlin did his old colleague and friend Bill Belichick the service of making the Patriots earn it.

And the Pats had to. Trailing 28-16 late in the third, they needed a flurry on both sides of the ball to get past the Giants. The price the Patriots would pay later? The Giants got needed confidence from playing New England so competitively. Soon, they’d put that confidence and the intel gathered to good use in a monumental upset in SB42. One other interesting parallel -- the 2001 Patriots used their regular-season matchup with the Rams as fodder for their Super Bowl win in SB36.

THE YEAR: 2001 (actually January 2002)

THE GAME: Patriots 16, Raiders 13, o.t.

THE PLAY: Tuck Rule

WHY IT’S HERE: The notion that the Tuck Rule "gave" the Patriots that AFC Divisional Playoff win over the Raiders is absurd. But it did give them a chance.

It was the right call by the rule and the evidence Walt Coleman was provided. Tom Brady’s arm was coming forward when Charles Woodson smoked him on a first-and-10 play from the Raiders 42 with 1:50 left. There was no replay angle that showed Brady’s off-hand ever touched the ball, so this was no bag-job call as so many have alleged.

Before the Tuck Rule play, the Raiders had their chance to salt it away and couldn’t get a third-and-1 with Zach Crockett. After the Tuck Rule play, they allowed a 13-yard Brady completion right. And the Patriots picked up two third downs and a fourth-down conversion on the overtime drive. They earned that win.

Adding to the drama of the game was the scene (snow falling throughout the night) and the setting (the final game in the history of star-crossed Foxboro Stadium). Not to mention the opponent: The Raiders, who were on the other end of a beneficial call in the most heartbreaking loss in Patriots history back in 1976.

THE YEAR: 2007 (actuallyt February 2008)

THE GAME:  Giants 21, Patriots 17

THE PLAY: Helmet catch 

WHY IT’S HERE: As it was for the Patriots on play No. 9, the Helmet Catch didn’t deliver the Giants that Super Bowl win. There was a fourth down that New York converted on that drive. There was a coulda-been pick by Asante Samuel. There was a near strip by Adalius Thomas of Eli Manning. There was a third-and-12 conversion when Brandon Meriweather left Steve Smith. But the improbability of Eli Manning’s escape from the grabbing hands of the Patriots; the appearance of the play being over; the fact Eli was just flinging the ball at the roof ; and the catch itself . . . which required otherworldly effort and a little bit of luck?

It caused some buckling.

Just with Tom Brady’s fumble being overturned against the Raiders six years earlier and Oakland losing focus, the helmet catch seemed to do the same to New England. The dirty details? It was third-and-5 at the Giants 44 and 1:15 remained. The play gained 32 yards and it came immediately after the Samuel play. If you’re from around here, the worst part is knowing the NFL Network will celebrate and commemorate that play like it’s the damn moon landing until the end of civilization.

THE YEAR: 2001 (actually February 2002)

THE GAME:  Patriots 20, Rams 17

THE PLAY: Ty Law’s pick-6 in the Super Bowl

WHY IT’S HERE: From June 8, 1986 – the night the Celtics finished off the Rockets to win the NBA title – until February 3, 2002, New England sports fans absorbed tragedy, futility, soul-crushing defeats, ineptitude and dysfunction. Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots. All of them. There was the senseless death of Len Bias and the tragedy of Reggie Lewis. The ball between Buckner’s legs and the dysfunction of the franchise even as it rolled out talented teams with diva superstars. The Bruins? Really good sometimes. Enough to captivate, but never willing or able to spend to get over the top. And the Patriots were a damn laughingstock.

So when Ty Law gave the Patriots a 7-3 lead in the second quarter of Super Bowl 36 against the heavily-favored Rams, the communal sense was, “Are you s*&*&*&*& me?! This really might happen?!!” That thought was co-mingled with the belief that fate would pull the rug out from under us again.

Didn’t happen that day. And it didn’t happen in large part because of the performance of the Patriots secondary, which pulverized the Rams receivers to a point where they didn’t want to compete.

Law was the best player in that secondary. And he combined shutdown corner skills with Aliquippa, Pennsylvania physical toughness and a self-belief modeled after his hero, Muhammad Ali. That Mike Vrabel – the best scrap-heap signing the Patriots ever made – smashing Kurt Warner and forcing the pick, Law was able to swoop in at the Rams 49 and hightail down the sideline and get one finger aloft. It was a No. 1 that could have also signified a new era in New England sports. The first of many championships in the new millennium.

THE YEAR: 2001

THE GAME:  Patriots 44, Colts 13

THE PLAY: Jerome Pathon obliterated by Bryan Cox with a seismic hit that signaled a change (13:27)

WHY IT’S HERE: The most memorable play of the first game of the Brady Era. So noteworthy it appears on Cox’ Wikipedia page.

This decleating – delivered by one of the game’s most feared players – became the rock on which the 2001 Patriots would build their style. It was a second-and-6 play for the Colts in the first quarter, Indy’s second play of the game. The Patriots were 0-2 and this was the first game after the attacks of 9/11 and the injury to Drew Bledsoe that landed Tom Brady in the starting lineup.

Pathon pulled in a short dart from Peyton Manning and Cox crushed him. Car-wreck type of hit.

God bless Pathon, he went on to play the rest of the game and was targeted 10 more times. And he held onto the ball. But the spectacular nature of the hit was infectious. And the Patriots – many of whom were already talking that week about a bump in energy with Brady in the starting lineup – were ignited. Said Brady in the 2001 documentary America’s Game, “It was a different feeling that game. And we felt great about what we were capable of and we went out there for the first time in a year and a half and we’re like ‘Man, this is the kind of energy we have to bring every week.’ ”

THE YEAR: 2011 (actually February 2012)

THE GAME:  Giants 21, Patriots 17

THE PLAY: Wes Welker can’t hold on to Super Bowl-sealing pass from Brady 

WHY IT’S HERE: Missed opportunities, self-inflicted wounds and just plain bad luck. The Patriots could lament all those things in  the first 55 minutes of Super Bowl 46. But still, they led 17-15 with a little more than four minutes remaining and were driving. They needed to convert a first down. With a second-and-11 throw from Tom Brady to the great Wes Welker, it appeared they were about to.

The Giants had miscommunicated their defense, leaving a hole down the left seam that Welker sped into. Brady’s eyes lit up before the snap and his head went right to Welker, who was looking back over his inside shoulder. Brady’s throw was to Welker’s outside shoulder. Welker jumped, spun and had the ball in his hands for an eye-blink. But it didn’t stick.

NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth opined that Welker makes that play “100 times out of 100.” After the game, Welker said, “That’s a play I make a thousand times.  It's a play I never drop. Most critical situation, and I let the team down.” A completion would have put the Patriots at the Giants 20 with the clock running and four minutes left. The Giants would have one timeout and the two-minute warning remaining. The Patriots almost certainly would have kicked a field goal to go ahead 20-15 and the Giants would have gotten the ball back with about 100 seconds remaining needing a touchdown. Analytics experts set the Patriots likelihood of winning at 95 percent had Welker made that catch.  

It wasn’t a Buckner-level drop and fortunately Welker doesn’t seem completely haunted by it (though he did tell me recently he still thinks about it).  But it should have been a completion and the Patriots should have won their fourth Super Bowl that day.

THE YEAR: 2001 (actually February 2002)

THE GAME: Patriots 20, Rams 17

THE PLAY: Vinatieri 48-yarder in Superdome delivers SB36 win

WHY IT’S HERE: When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, it was viewed nationally and locally as a cathartic moment for a long-suffering region. Deliverance for a fanbase that resolutely suffered through 90 years of star-crossed heartbreak with a mix of stoicism and fatalism. “Long-suffering Red Sox fan” was a badge of honor, an identity. And New Englanders – baseball fans or not - would self-identify with the hideous notion of Red Sox Nation.

There was no “Patriots Nation.” To drag out the forced metaphor, Patriots fans were living in tents and cabins in the wilderness, recluses. Reluctant to be seen in town where they’d be mocked.

And suddenly, they cobbled together one of the most improbable, magical seasons in American professional sports, a year which gave birth to a dynasty which was first celebrated, now reviled but always respected. And while so many games and plays led to this 48-yarder – ones we’ve mentioned 12 times on this list – Adam Vinatieri kicking a 48-yarder right down the f****** middle to win the Super Bowl was an orgasmic moment for the recluses and pariahs that had been Patriots fans when nobody would admit to such a thing.

THE YEAR: 2001 (actually January 2002)

THE GAME: Patriots 16, Raiders 13

THE PLAY: Vinatieri from 45 through a blizzard to tie Snow Bowl

WHY IT’S HERE: Two thoughts traveling on parallel tracks were running through the mind while Adam Vinatieri trotted onto the field and lined up his 45-yarder to tie Oakland in the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff Game, the final one at Foxboro Stadium.

“There’s no way he can make this kick in this weather,” was the first.

“The way this season’s gone, I bet he makes this kick. It can’t end here. It can’t end now,” was the second.

From where I was sitting in the press box I couldn’t see the ball clearly, probably because I was looking for it on a higher trajectory than Vinatieri used. So I remember Vinatieri going through the ball, my being unable to locate it in the air ,and then looking for the refs under the goalposts to see their signal. And when I located them, I saw the ball scuttle past. Then I saw the officials’ arms rise.

Twenty-five years earlier, the first team I ever followed passionately – the ’76 Patriots – left me in tears when they lost to the Raiders in the playoffs. Now, at 33, I was covering that team and it had gotten a measure of retribution for the 8-year-old me.

THE YEAR: 2014 (actually February 2015)

THE GAME: Patriots 28, Seahawks 24

THE PLAY: Malcolm Butler picks off Russell Wilson at goal line to save Super Bowl

WHY IT’S HERE: Is it the biggest defensive play in NFL history? You’d have a tough time making a case for any play to be ranked ahead of it.

The play itself – Malcolm Butler sniffing out a quick slant to Ricardo Lockette on second-and-goal from the 1 with 26 seconds left – was a singularly great football play. The historical importance of it to the Patriots franchise in delivering a fourth Super Bowl title and preventing a third straight Super Bowl loss is even more far-reaching.

It’s a play that symbolized a lot of things the Patriots under Bill Belichick have been about. It symbolized that it doesn’t matter how you got to the Patriots, it mattered what you did when you got there. Butler, an undrafted rookie who made the team in a tryout the previous spring, was on the field because another undrafted player, Kyle Arrington, was getting lit up. A bold move but one that had to be made. It symbolized preparation and attention to detail. During the week of practice leading up to the game, Butler arrived late when the Patriots scout team offense ran the play and Jimmy Garoppolo beat Butler with a throw to Josh Boyce.

The play needed to be sniffed out – it was by Butler and Brandon Browner – then executed with a great jam by Browner and an unhesitating break by Butler. It symbolized maintaining poise, which the Patriots had to do after the ridiculous juggling catch by Jermaine Kearse put Seattle on the brink of victory. It symbolized a measure of risk-taking and coaching by feel, as Bill Belichick eschewed a timeout and let the Seahawks run the play. That the coaches locking brains at the point – Belichick and his predecessor in New England, Pete Carroll – added another chapter to the backstory.

You could write a book about this play.  

THE YEAR: 2001

THE GAME: Jets vs, Patriots

THE PLAY: Mo Lewis changes course of NFL history with sideline hit on Drew Bledsoe

WHY IT’S HERE: While the Butler interception at No. 2 cemented legacies and places in history, the play at the top of this list was the one that started it all.

If you paid attention to what Tom Brady was doing in training camp practices and preseason games (30-for-51 for 390 yards) and contrasted it with Bledsoe’s performances (so underwhelming he played the bulk of the fourth preseason game and went 14-for-22), you could see the gap between $100 million franchise quarterback and sixth-round afterthought was closing. But even with the Patriots losing at Cincy to open the season and Bledsoe playing poorly against the Jets, it was still going to be very difficult for Bill Belichick to press the eject button on Bledsoe. The team was building a new stadium and Bledsoe was the hood ornament for the franchise. With ownership trying to sell luxury suites and sponsorships, benching the only marketable player for the worst team in the league might not be prudent.

Then Mo Lewis intervened.

With 5:19 remaining and the Patriots trailing 10-3, Bledsoe was flushed to the right on a third-and-10 from the Patriots 19. As he neared the sticks, Bledsoe saw Lewis coming and slowed to go out of bounds, then seemed to remember it was third down and he needed to push forward. Lewis had all the momentum and his devastating hit sheared an artery in Bledsoe’s chest and gave him a concussion. It was a terrible injury that caused internal bleeding and put Bledsoe in some touchy moments in the hospital.

And that’s what sucked. Here was a solid person of good character with a young family who’d given a lot for the franchise (albeit for a handsome paycheck) and now he was seriously hurt. But what happened in Bledsoe’s absence only confirmed what many suspected. He was an impediment to winning. It was that simple.

I don’t doubt for a moment Brady would have eventually taken Bledsoe’s job even if the injury hadn’t occurred. It might have been that week anyway Bledsoe was so ineffective against the Jets. But the course of the 2001 season wouldn’t have been the same and almost certainly wouldn’t have ended with Bledsoe hoisting a Lombardi in the Superdome on Feb. 3, 2002.