1998 TEAM FEATURES/Patriotspppp

	1998 1999 2000
PFL HISTORY
	PFL History
1997 SEASON
	1997 Playoff Brackets 1997 All Pro Team
FEATURE STORIES
	Week 5 SF/Pitt PFL MADDEN FORUM INTERNATIONAL MADDEN DATABASE
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Ben Coates was the Pats MVP in 1998. Pats The Sleeper Team In The NFC Alex Smolka has already more than bettered his PFL debut last year. After finishing 6-10 and exiting the playoffs early last year due to forfeit, Smolka has refined his game and his coaching style to emerge as the dark horse from the NFC. Not given a chance by many skeptics to actually contend, Smolka's team were always well respected but never feared. It was common for New England to play extremely well, and still loose the football game. Smolka has turned that around by combining excellent coaching, game planning, and masterfully using his skilled position players to get the most out of them. Smolka's strong point this year has been his ability to scout his opponent and then promptly dispense of them. Just ask Israel Charles and the Dallas Cowboys. After two key Dallas victories, Smolka latched on to the Dallas game plan and masterfully designed the defense to shut down the Cowboys offense which became prolific near the offense. In addition, recognizing the Cowboy defensive scheme, Smolka changed his offense twice to exploit Cowboy weaknesses which lead to close margin wins for the Pats. Smolka did the unthinkable by sweeping Charles in the regular season and winning the second round playoff game spoiling Charles chance for a shot at the conference title with Jacksonville. The humble Smolka is quick to outwit you, as polite as he can, and soon, the game is over, you have loss, and because he such a class act, you can't be mad at him. Smolka has not only added to the PFL a great competitive spirit, but he represents what the PFL is all about; Intense competitiveness, sportsmanship and class. If Smolka goes on to defeat Jacksonville, he will certainly grab many votes for Coach of the Year honors if he hasn't earned them already. He is probably going to be the sentimental favorite against Keith Franklin and his Jacksonville Jaguars, and certainly if he makes it to the Superbowl, the sentimental favorite against the Broncos. One may ask, how could the Pats be considered the Cinderella story when the Broncs record of 7-9 as a Superbowl team should be more of a surprise. Simple. It's not the teams or the records in this instant. It's the coaches, their personality and what was expected of them from the start of the season. Denver was ranked number four in the preseason poll by the Swammi. New England was ranked near the bottom. Wayman Gresham thrives on running up the scores on his opponents when the game is clearly won. Alex Smolka play with class and good sportsmanship. That is the difference. Make no mistake about it, either champion, whether it is Gresham, Franklin, or Smolka will represent the PFL positively. And THE LEAGUE will be proud of any of these warriors. But c'mon, don't you just have to want for Smolka just a little more? The best of the PFL is yet come. Alex Smolka returns to the Pats after finishing 6-10 last year with renewed hopes of being in contention for a conference championship. The Pats did not play bad last year. As a matter of fact they played terrific, but could not find a way to win. Besides a couple of blowouts to Cincinnati and Seattle, Smolka was in nearly every game last year at the two minute mark. The Pats just could not take the lead or put the game away when needed. This year Smolka expects that to be different. According to our scouting reports, the Patriots will offer new wrinkles offensively, while still giving you a heavy dose of Curtis Martin. Defensively they are alot tougher allowing 14 pts. per game in their scrimmages against Kansas City and San Francisco. The NFC could very well go to the last week of the season before anything about the playoffs is determined.