2002 New England Patriots season

Opening training camp roster

At the time of the first public training camp practice at Bryant College on July 26, they had 79 players signed to their roster, one short of the NFL maximum of 80 players. The Patriots received five roster exemptions for the NFL Europe allocations of Mike Clare, Patrick Downey, Radell Lockhart, Scott McCready, and Maugaula Tuitele. Additionally, the Patriots allocated safety Mark Washington and cornerback Cecil Deckard to NFL Europe and received roster exemptions for them, but those players were waived before the start of training camp.

Notable games

The Patriots unveiled their first ever championship banner in pregame ceremonies on the opening of Monday Night Football for 2002. A Tom Brady touchdown to Christian Fauria was answered by a Kordell Stewart touchdown to Hines Ward, and the score was 10–7 New England at the half. In the third quarter the Patriots put the game away with Brady touchdowns to Donald Hayes and rookie Deion Branch; two Adam Vinatieri field goals secured the win despite a last-minute Steelers drive ending in a Stewart touchdown run on the final play; all the score did was reduce the Patriots' margin of victory to 30–14.

Of note this was commentator John Madden's first regular season game that did not feature an NFC team. He had worked at CBS and Fox for the NFC package from 1979–2001, and moved to MNF on ABC this season. ABC's games featured teams regardless of conference affiliation.

After a scoreless first quarter the Patriots scored ten points in the second, then in the third erupted in points by their defense; Tebucky Jones hammered the ball from Vinny Testaverde and ran in a 24-yard touchdown, and later ex-Jet Victor Green picked off Vinny and ran in a 90-yard touchdown. A Deion Branch touchdown catch and Kevin Faulk rushing score polished off a 44–7 slaughter in which New York punter Matt Turk on a 14-yard scramble outrushed the entire Jets offensive backfield (Curtis Martin, LaMont Jordan, and Richie Anderson managed only nine rushing yards and the former Patriot Martin was stopped for no gain three times).

Tom Brady reached 400 passing yards for the first time in his career, and wound up needing them as the Chiefs clawed to a 17–9 lead in the third quarter on two Trent Green touchdown throws. Following the second Green touchdown the Patriots kicked it up several notches as Brady erupted to three straight touchdown throws and a 31–17 Patriots lead; the Chiefs fought back themselves as Priest Holmes began storming up and down the field, setting up another Green touchdown throw (to Eddie Kennison), then answering a 42-yard Antowain Smith touchdown with two of his own, the final one on the game's final play, leaving the score tied 38–38. The game thus went into overtime and the Patriots settled the issue on the extra quarter's only possession, whipping down field in 4:40 for Adam Vinatieri's 35-yard game winner and a 41–38 final.

A year after erasing a 10-point gap and thus launching a run to Super Bowl XXXVI, New England's team-record 11-game winning streak crashed to a halt at Qualcomm Stadium. The game lead changed or tied five times; Tom Brady touchdowns to Christian Fauria and linebacker/tight end Mike Vrabel were answered by a Drew Brees touchdown to Curtis Conway and two LaDanian Tomlinson rushing scores. Brady clawed the Patriots to the Chargers red zone twice in the fourth but was picked off in the endzone by Donnie Edwards and Ryan McNeil.

The second post-Super Bowl XXXI rematch with the Packers was no better than the first one in 1997, as Brett Favre threw for just 147 yards, but they led to three touchdowns while Tom Brady was bullied into three interceptions, Kevin Faulk botched a lateral, and Bobby Hamilton was almost the only member of New England's defense to show up, recording a four-yard sack. The Packers easily won the game, 28–10.

The 3–4 Patriots faced former franchise quarterback Drew Bledsoe for the first time since trading him to the Bills after the 2001 season. Bledsoe had raced the Bills to a 5–3 start but the Patriots now found their championship moxie again. Brady threw three touchdowns while ex-Bill Antowain Smith rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown. Mike Hollis missed three field goal tries as the Patriots raced to a 38–7 win.

Another matchup with a former Super Bowl opponent took place in Champaign, Illinois, as renovation of Soldier Field forced the Bears to play their home games at the University of Illinois' Urbana–Champaign area stadium. Chris Chandler was drilled in the head by Lawyer Milloy on a quarterback sneak and had to leave the game, replaced by Jim Miller. An exchange of field goals left the score tied at 6 after one quarter, then the Bears, trying to end a six-game losing streak, erupted to three touchdowns, one a 44-yard Marty Booker pass to Marcus Robinson. Kevin Faulk, smarting from criticism of the botched lateral the previous month, now surged to the front, catching a pair of Tom Brady touchdown catches only to be stopped by Brian Urlacher on a two-point conversion try. Trailing 30–25 in the final two minutes, Brady was picked off by Marcus Harrison; Harrison started upfield with the ball bobbling in his hands; Brady swatted it out of his hands and the Bears recovered. The play was initially ruled an interception, but it went to replay and the ruling was changed to an incomplete pass. Brady then completed a four-yard quarterback sneak, and on the next play barely escaped a sack to flip the ball to Faulk for a first down to the Bears 20. With 30 seconds to go Brady dodged Bears defenders and lofted a pass caught by David Patten; the catch went to review as it initially appeared to be out of bounds, but replay showed Patten dragged both feet in bounds (the replay was able to clearly show that both of Patten's feet kicked up endzone paint); the Patriots then completed a two-point throw to Troy Brown and the Bears' final drive petered out for a stunning 33–30 Patriots win.