The Curse of Mo Lewis
September 23, 2001 - Jets at Patriots
Mo Lewis knocks Drew Bledsoe out of bounds as Bledsoe was trying for a 1st down with 5:11 remaining in the 4th quarter and the Jets ahead 10-3. After being attended to on the sideline, Bledsoe returns for the next series but is ineffective (turned out to be seriously injured with internal bleeding) and is replaced by little known back-up, 6th round draft pick Tom Brady. The Jets hold on to win 10-3 as Brady was unable to lead the Pats on a game-tying drive.
This one play essentially turns the New York and Boston sports scene on its head.
Championships before hit
Since 1918
NY Baseball - 28
Boston Baseball - 0
After Hit
NY Baseball - 0
Boston Baseball - 1>>
>> Could be 2 this season
Super Bowl Championships Before hit
NY Football - 3
New England Football - 0
After hit
NY Football - 0
New England Football - 3
NY Knicks playoff wins
6 years prior to hit = 37
6 years since hit = 0
Before Mo Lewis hit
Good New York Sports
- Yankees were 3-time defending champions and on their way to the postseason to try for a 4th
- Mets were defending NL Champs and making a late season run to defend their NL crown
- Knicks were coming off 14 straight seasons in the playoffs, having won at least one playoff series in 11 of those seasons.
- Jets had beaten the Patriots 7 of previous 8 times (including the game where Lewis hit Bledsoe...Jets were up 10-3 at time of hit)
- New York Giants were coming off a season that saw them advance to the Super Bowl.
Bad Boston Sports
- Patriots had never won a Super Bowl (0-2 in 2 appearances) and were coming off a 6-10 season with 2nd year head coach Bill Bellichick who resigned from the Jets after being named head coach just one day prior. They had lost their 1st game of the season vs the Bengals and lost 10-3 to the Jets in Week 2.
- Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918. They were overmatched vs Yankees, losing in the 1999 ALCS and not reaching the postseason since 1999.
Since Lewis hit
New York Bad
- that SAME DAY the Mets about to cut the Braves lead down to 2.5 games with 2 weeks to play after being as far back as 13.5 games just a few weeks prior, blow a 3-run 9th inning lead and lose in extra-innings. The next week the Mets blow a 4-run 9th inning lead at Atlanta to unofficially eliminate them from playoff contention.
SUMMARY: Mets have made just one postseason appearance since, losing in the NLCS to a Cardinals team with the fewest wins to ever win a World Series (83) in a season of regular length (1918 Red Sox and 1981 Dodgers had fewer wins but a War and a strike shortened those seasons). In 2007 the Mets completed the largest collapse in regular season history as they failed to hold a 7-game division lead with 17 games remaining.
- The Jets lose to 2-12 Buffalo at home in Week 16 of 2001 season with a chance to clinch at least a tie for the AFC East and a 1st round bye. They would however qualify for the playoffs with a last second win over the Raiders in Week 17, but would have held the tie-breaker over Patriots who won the division and got the bye.
SUMMARY: have won just 2 games vs the Patriots since the Lewis hit (2-11). Have won 2 playoff games but were unable to connect on two late game FG attempts in the 2004 AFC Divisional round that would have sent them to the AFC Championship game. They have not won a playoff game since then and are currently light years behind the Patriots.
- The Yankees blew a 2-1 9th inning lead in Game 7 of the World Series to lose to the Diamondbacks and deny their chance for a 4th straight championship.
SUMMARY: have reached the playoffs every year since, but have not won another World Series. They have lost in the first round 4 times including the last 3 and only reached the World Series once. Perhaps the biggest indictment of the Mo Lewis curse was in the 2004 ALCS when they were leading the Red Sox 3 games to none and 3 outs away from sweeping them and advancing to the World Series. The Sox rallied to win that game and the next 3, becoming the only team in MLB history to rally from 3-0 down and win a series.
- The Knicks have become a laughing stock. Since the Lewis hit the Knicks have not won a playoff game and only reached the postseason once. They have mismanaged the salary cap and drawn off the court attention by their incredibly questionable behavior that culminated this summer in the Isiah Thomas/MSG vs Anucha Browne Sanders trial.
- The New York Giants have not won a playoff game after advancing to the Super Bowl in 2000. This includes blowing a 38-14 2nd half lead in the 2002 NFC Wild Card game.
Boston Good
- The Patriots aura officially changed to the rest of the NFL on January 19, 2002. Hosting a home playoff game in the divisional round the Patriots trailed by 3 points with under 2 minutes remaining and just inside the 50-yd line. Down by three points, the Patriots needed to get as close as possible for a game-tying FG due to the blizzard condition the game was being played in. On 1st and 10 at the Raiders 42 Tom Brady was hit by Charles Woodson and fumbled the football. The Raiders recovered and were set the run out the clock and advance to the AFC Championship game at Pittsburgh...but wait...The officials huddled and the replay booth signaled down to the field that the play would be reviewed to see if Tom Brady's arm was going forward at the time of the hit, which would make the play an incompletion. As if it was miraculously added to the NFL rule book that instant, the play was ruled an incomplete pass due to the "tuck" rule. The NFL rulebook says when a quarterback moves his arm forward, he is considered to be throwing a pass, "even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body."
Despite getting the ball back the Patriots could only drive the ball to the Raiders 29 before deciding to kick a potential game-tying FG. Somehow, miraculously Adam Vinatieri connected on a 46-yd FG thru a blizzard to tie the game. With all the momentum and good fortune on their side, the Patriots won the game in OT.
SUMMARY: The Patriots then went to Pittsburgh and defeated a heavily favored Steelers team to advance to the Super Bowl, where they won on a last second field goal. Two years later, the Patriots again won the Super Bowl on a last second field goal, then followed that with their 3rd Super Bowl trophy in 4 years. This season the Patriots could challenge the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the NFL's only undefeated team as they have won each of their first 5 games by 17 points, thanks to an offseason that saw them steal the best WR in football on a draft day trade for a 4th round pick and the sign the best defensive free agent.
It took the Red Sox a few years to understand the Mo Lewis curse, but once they did they provided the most undeniable, convincing evidence to it's theory. In 2003 the Red Sox lost in heartbreaking fashion in the ALCS to the Yankees, blowing a 3-run lead with 5 outs to go in Game 7. The next season the Yankees got up 3-0 on the Red Sox whose pitching corps were depleted thanks to an injury to Curt Schilling and a bullpen that had been abused for 19 runs in Game 3. Then a walk, stolen base and a game-tying single before an out was recorded in the bottom of the 9th changed their history as the Red Sox stayed alive. They won that game and the next in extra- innings. Schilling returned in Game 6 on a bad ankle to defeat the Yankees and force Game 7 that was over quickly. The Red Sox won 10-3. They then swept the Cardinals in the World Series to win their first championship since 1918.
SUMMARY: The Sox advanced to the playoffs again in 2005, but lost in the ALDS. Now in 2007 they have advanced to the ALCS and appear to be the favorite to win the World Series after posing the best record in the majors (own a tie-breaker with CLE).
Events that worked against the curse...
- The Jets winning the AFC East in 2002. One of their two wins since Brady took over took place in Week 16 of the 2002 season at Gillette Stadium that gave the Jets the tie-breaker over the Patriots. The next week the Patriots defeated the Dolphins to eliminate them from the playoffs and the Jets defeated the Packers to eliminate the Patriots.
- The Yankees winning the 2003 ALCS. Aaron Boone's walk-off HR ended a typical Red Sox season vs the Yankees as the Sox had many chances to win the ALCS but couldn't get it done.
- the 2006 AFC Championship Game - Leading the Colts 21-3 with just over 9 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, the Patriots fail to hold the lead and lose 38-34 with Brady throwing a game- ending INT on the Pats final drive.
Most obvious evidence there is a curse...
- The Yankees NOT WINNING a world series since the Bledsoe hit when they had won the previous 3 and 4 of the previous 5.
- The Jets posting 3 winning seasons since the hit and losing 11 of last 13 vs the Pats when they had won 7 of their previous 8 against them before the hit (includes the game Lewis hit Bledsoe)
- The Pats have won 3 Super Bowls and seemingly received every break known to man to help out. Things like that always used to work AGAINST the Patriots. Murphy's law turned upside down.
- The Red Sox rally from 3-0 down to defeat the Yankees in 2004 ALCS
- The Yankees (postseason) and Mets (regular season) have the two biggest collapses in MLB history.
- The Knicks have not won a playoff GAME and become the laughing stock of not only the NBA but the entire sports world.
- the New York Giants have not won a playoff game (0-3) since after advancing to the Super Bowl the year prior.
Well, how can there be a curse when good things still happened to the other teams??
Curses aren't 100 pct against one team and for another. Remember during the curse of the bambino, the Red Sox completed one of the most dramatic comebacks when they rallied to win the 1986 ALCS. They had the "miracle" season of 1967. The Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl in 1985 as a wild card team, winning all 3 games on the road becoming the first NFL team to accomplish such a feat...
- The Curse timeline (Events that are in BOLD are items that work against the curse)
- September 23, 2001 - Mo Lewis knocks Bledsoe from the game allowing Brady to take over at QB
- September 23, 2001 - Mets blow a 3-run 9th inning lead vs ATL that would have cut their NL East deficit to 2.5 games
- September 29, 2001 - Mets blow a 5-1 9th inning lead vs ATL that would have cut their division deficit to 3 games.
- September 30, 2001 - Getting his first NFL start Tom Brady leads the Patriots and 10-point underdog at home to a 44-13 trouncing over Payton Manning and the undefeated Colts, who had scored 98 points in their first 2 weeks of the season.
- December 2, 2001 - Trailing 13-0 at half-time the Patriots rally to score 17 unanswered points in the 2nd half to defeat the Jets at the Meadowlands 17-13 and move within a half game of 1st place.
- December 7, 2001 - Jeff Van Gundy resigns from the Knicks, ending one of the most successful coaching tenures in team history. Knicks advanced to the 2nd round of playoffs in all but 1 of Van Gundy's 7 seasons and reached the NBA Finals in 1999.
- December 30, 2001 - Needing a win in each of their final two games to clinch the AFC East and a first-round bye, the Jets lose to the 2-12 Bills 14-9 at home.
- January 6, 2002 - The Patriots clinch the AFC East and a first-round bye defeating the Carolina Panthers, 38-6.
- January 19, 2002 - The Patriots defeat the Raiders in the "tuck" game to advance to the AFC Championship.
- January 27, 2002 - The Patriots, 10 point underdogs, defeat the Steelers in Pittsburgh to advance to the Super Bowl.
- February 3, 2002 - The Patriots defeat the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
- April 17, 2002 - the Knicks finish in last place in the Atlantic Division for first time since 1986-87, also the last time they failed to reach the playoffs.
- September 15, 2002 - Patriots defeat the Jets 44-7 at the Meadowlands. The final blow is dealt when ex-Jet Victor Green returns an INT 90-yds for a TD.
- September 29, 2002 - The Mets finish in last place for the first time since 1993
- October 5, 2002 - The Angels defeated the Yankees 9-5 in Game 4 of the ALDS to eliminate the Yankees in the 1st round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
- December 22, 2002 - Jets defeat the Patriots 30-17. The win allows the Jets to hold the tie-breaker in the AFC East, which would win them the division the next week.
- January 5, 2003 - New York Giants blow a 38-14 2nd half lead in the NFC Wild Card game to lose 39-38 to the San Francisco Giants
- September 28, 2003 - The Mets finish with 95 losses and last place in the NL East. The 95 losses are the most since 1993.
- September 28, 2003 - The Redskins defeat the Patriots 20-17. That would be the last Patriots defeat that season.
- October 16, 2003 - The Yankees rally from 5-2 down in the 8th inning to defeat the Red Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS on an Aaron Boone walk-off HR in the 11th inning to advance to the World Series.
- October 25, 2003 - Josh Beckett tosses a 5-hit SHO to defeat the Yankees in Game 6 of the 2003 World Series to win the series 4 games to 2.
- February 1, 2004 - Patriots defeat the Panthers 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVII on a last second FG by Adam Vinatieri.
- April 25, 2004 - The Nets complete a 4-game sweep of the Knicks in the 1st round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
- October 3, 2004 - Mets finish the season at 71-91, marking the 1st time since 1992-93 they had consecutive 90-loss seasons.
- October 20, 2004 - Red Sox defeat the Yankees 10-3 in Game 7 of the ALCS to complete an historic comeback, rallying from down 3-0 to defeat the Yankees 4 games to 3.
- October 24, 2004 - In a battle of 5-0 teams, the Patriots defeat the Jets 13-7 at Gillette Stadium. The win is the last of the Patriots 21-game win streak dating back to last season.
- October 27, 2004 - The Red Sox complete a 4-game sweep of the Cardinals to win their first World Championship since 1918.
- January 15, 2005 - The Jets miss two FG attempts in the final 2:15 seconds that would have advanced them to the AFC Championship game. The Jets would go on to lose in OT.
- February 6, 2005 - Patriots win their 2nd straight Super Bowl and 3rd in 4 years as they defeat the Eagles, 24-21.
- April 20, 2005 - Knicks finish last in the Atlantic Division for the 3rd time in last 4 years, again missing the playoffs.
- July 28, 2005 - Knicks hire Larry Brown to turn their franchise around. Brown has a history of turning underachieving teams into winners and is a native New Yorker. Brown is given a 5-year contract worth between $50-60 million dollars making him the highest paid coach in NBA history.
- October 10, 2005 - Yankees lose 5-3 to Angels in Game 5 of ALDS and are eliminated in the 1st round for the 1st time since 2002. This marks the 5th straight season the Yankees did not win the World Series despite having baseball's largest payroll.
- January 1, 2006 - Jets finish the season at 4-12, marking the most losses for them since Rich Kotite's final season in 1996 when they went 1-15. Herm Edwards is allowed to take the head coaching job at Kansas City while the Jets hire Patriots defensive coordinator Eric Mangini.
- January 14, 2006 - Broncos defeat the Patriots 27-13 in the AFC Divisional round to end their 10-game postseason win streak.
- January 24, 2006 - Isiah Thomas and MSG are sued for sexual harassment and retaliation by Anucha Browne Sanders claiming Thomas made demeaning statements to Sanders, as well as making sexual advances and repeatedly telling her that he was in love with her.
- April 19, 2006 - Knicks finish the season with 59 losses, their most since 1985-86 and the 2nd worst record in the NBA. Despite their awful finish, the Knicks payroll was the largest in the NBA.
- June 22, 2006 - Knicks fire Larry Brown replacing him with President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Isiah Thomas. They refused to pay him the $40 million left in his contract, arguing that Brown "violated terms of his contract through various acts of insubordination."
- September 18, 2006 - Mets defeat the Marlins 4-0 to clinch the NL East, marking their first division title since 1988.
- October 7, 2006 - Yankees lose 8-3 in Game 4 of the ALDS at Detroit to eliminate them in the 1st round for the 2nd straight season. This marks the 6th straight season the Yankees are without a World Championship despite baseball's highest payroll.
- October 18, 2006 - Mets lose 3-1 to the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS at home. The Cardinals who won 83 regular season games, 14 less than the Mets, would go on to win the World Series.
- January 7, 2007 - Patriots defeat the Jets 37-16 in the AFC Wild Card round. The Jets had defeated the Patriots earlier in the season at Gillette stadium, but were easily beaten in this game.
- January 21, 2007 - Patriots are unable to hold a 21-3 lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship game and lose 38-34. The game ends when Tom Brady is intercepted with :24 remaining as they were trying to score the game-winning TD.
- April 18, 2007 - Knicks finish the season at 33-49 and miss the playoffs for the 5th time in their last 6 seasons.
- September 9, 2007 - Patriots defeat the Jets 38-14 in Week one of the NFL season. The Patriots are led by offseason acquisition Randy Moss (9 catches for 183 yards and a TD) who the Patriots acquired for a 4th round draft pick.
- September 30, 2007 - Mets lose 8-1 to Marlins, eliminating them from postseason contention. The loss was the 12th in 17 games that saw them blow a 7-game division lead in that span, marking the biggest collapse in MLB regular season history. No team had ever held a 7-game lead with 17 games and not won their league or division.
- October 2, 2007 - A jury rules that Isiah Thomas and MSG are liable for sexual harassment. MSG was found liable for punitive damages in an amount of 11.5 Million dollars, one of the largest sexual harassment judgments in history.
- October 7, 2007 - Red Sox complete a 3-game sweep of the Angels to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2004.
- October 8, 2008 - Yankees lose 6-4 to the Indians in Game 4 of the ALDS and are eliminated in 1st round of the playoffs for the third straight season. This marks the 7th straight season without the highest payroll in baseball winning a championship.
