1997 - Week 1 - San Diego @ New England

The opening game of '97 marks the first game post-Parcells w/ new coach Pete Carroll. Parcells would quit to lead the NY Jets and the Patriots would net a 3rd/4th round pick in '97, a 2nd in '98, and a 1st in '99, and 300k to a Pats charity. Pete Carroll would coach New England for 3 years and my recollection of his tenure was that the Patriots would always start fast and then fade late, which is kinda the reverse of how they've been under Belichick. In '97, the Pats would start 4-0, end 10-6. In '98, they'd start 4-1, end 9-7. In his last season in '99, they'd start 6-2 and limp to 8-8. This game also paired the last two losing Super Bowl teams, as the Patriots had just lost to the Packers and the year before the Chargers got bombed by San Fransisco. This was one of Drew Bledsoe's best regular season games as he went 26-39, 340 yards, 4 TDs/0 INTs.