# How would you rank the Patriots among the top five NFL teams? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 6, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-rank-the-patriots-among-the-top-five-nfl-teams/779178 "2017-02-06T18:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-rank-the-patriots-among-the-top-five-nfl-teams/779178/21 "2017-02-10T14:41:20Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > I’m going to argue that the Patriots are the least impressive of all the dynasties mentioned so far. The salary cap era has robbed the league of great teams. I don’t think the Patriots have ever beaten anybody that good. That’s nonsense. The salary cap was created, in part, to **prevent** dynasties. You can no longer just buy all of the best players because you have the deepest pockets. And once you have success as a team, your individual players are seen as more valuable and get lured away by higher salaries that you are prevented from matching by league rules. It’s so much harder to have a dynasty when the NFL is trying so hard to enforce parity. I’m not a Patriots fan in the slightest but even I have to admit that it’s impressive for them to be as successful as they are these past two decades; anyone objective must be. (Even with Spygate.) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-rank-the-patriots-among-the-top-five-nfl-teams/779178/22 "2017-02-10T14:54:58Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > The salary cap era has robbed the league of great teams. And yet no other team has accomplished what they have in the salary cap era. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-rank-the-patriots-among-the-top-five-nfl-teams/779178/23 "2017-02-11T14:08:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I nearly forgot George Seifert took over the 49ers after Walsh left. That makes the 49er era even more incredible. They sustained it with two coaches and even into the Steve Young era. Less incredible in that it predated the salary cap / free agency era, which began in 1994. Back then you could amass a ton of superstars and hold onto them because a) you could outspend everyone else as much as you wanted, and b) your players weren’t allowed to leave your team if you wanted to keep them. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > - > - The Cowboys won three Super Bowls in four seasons ('92, '93, '95), but then fell apart as their core players aged, and the Jerry Jones / Jimmy Johnson “marriage” soured. They didn’t “fall apart.” The salary cap and free agency tore them apart, as it’s designed to do. It’s a mechanism for parity. > [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > I’m going to argue that the Patriots are the least impressive of all the dynasties mentioned so far. The salary cap era has robbed the league of great teams. I don’t think the Patriots have ever beaten anybody that good. You have that exactly backwards. The Steelers of the 70s, Packers of the 60s, and 49ers of the 80s are all much LESS impressive than the Patriots of the 2000s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-rank-the-patriots-among-the-top-five-nfl-teams/779178.md?page=1)