The
New England Patriots, commonly
called the "
Pats", are a professional American football team
based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the
town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is
part of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC)
in the National Football League (NFL). The team changed its name
from the original
Boston Patriots after relocating to
Foxborough in 1971, although Foxborough is a suburb of Boston,
22 miles (35 km) away.
An original member of the American Football League (AFL), the
Patriots joined the NFL in the 1970 merger of those leagues. The
team advanced to the playoffs four times before appearing in Super
Bowl XX in January 1986, losing to the Chicago Bears. The team also
appeared in Super Bowl XXXI in January 1997, losing to the Green
Bay Packers.
Between 2001 and 2005, the Patriots became the second team in
NFL history (after the Dallas Cowboys) to win three Super Bowls in
four years (Super Bowl XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX), and the eighth
to win consecutive Super Bowls. The Patriots, however, were
defeated by the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, after winning
the first 18 games of their 2007 season. Under quarterback Tom
Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots have also
compiled the longest winning streak consisting of regular season
and playoff games in NFL history, a 21-game streak from
October 2003–October 2004.