The 2002 New England Patriots season was the 33rd season for the team in the National Football League and 43rd season overall. They finished with a 9–7 record, good enough for second in the division but not a playoff berth. As of the 2012 season, this was the last time that the Patriots failed to win 10 or more games in a season.
Following their victory in Super Bowl XXXVI seven months earlier, the Patriots played their first game in the new Gillette Stadium in the NFL's prime-time Monday Night Football opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a win for the Patriots. After an additional two wins to begin the season, including a 44–7 road win against the division rival New York Jets, the team lost five of its next seven games, allowing an average of 137 rushing yards a game during that span. In the final week of the season, the Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins on an overtime Adam Vinatieri field goal to give both teams a 9–7 record. A few hours later, the Jets, who defeated the Patriots the week prior, also finished with a 9–7 record with a win over the Green Bay Packers. Due to their record against common opponents, the Jets won the tiebreaker for the division title, which eliminated the Patriots and Dolphins from the playoffs.
Read more about 2002 New England Patriots Season: Staff, Opening Training Camp Roster, Notable Games, Week 1 Roster, Standings, Final Roster
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“How does Nature deify us with a few and cheap elements! Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous. The dawn is my Assyria; the sun-set and moon-rise my Paphos, and unimaginable realms of faerie; broad noon shall be my England of the senses and the understanding; the night shall be my Germany of mystic philosophy and dreams.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)