New England Patriots: 5 Key moments in the 2016 Season

For the seventh time in the Brady-Belichick era, the New England Patriots are off to the Super Bowl. Here are five key moments from the season.

It was a more eventful season than most for the New England Patriots with the pre-training camp courthouse drama to in season injury issues. Here are five key moments from this season.

1) Opening Night Win in Arizona

For the first time in fifteen years, somebody other than Tom Brady was going to be the starting quarterback in the season opener. It was a strange feeling going into Sunday Night Football as there was no real idea of what to expect from Jimmy Garoppolo. With Brady you could assume that there was going to be at least some level of productivity but there was no knowledge base for Garoppolo. All fans had seen him in the regular season was in some mop up action in a few different games.

On his opening drive, Garoppolo missed on his first throw before hitting his next four passes, finishing the drive off with a perfect 37-yard pass to Chris Hogan down the left sideline. Overall it was a solid performance with a few errors from the first time starter, including losing the ball on a Markus Golden strip sack, but he finished on a high note, driving the Patriots into position for what turned out to be the game-winning field goal.

While it was not the prettiest performance, and given Arizona’s record they were not the NFC Championship team of 2015 but it was a great sign of the mental toughness this team showed throughout the year. Starting the season off with a win on the road in primetime cannot be understated in terms of giving the team confidence in their ability to function without their offensive leader.