This was the first season since 1992 that Drew Bledsoe was not on the opening day roster, as he was traded to the Buffalo Bills during the offseason.
Following their victory in Super Bowl XXXVI seven months earlier, the Patriots played their first game in the new Gillette Stadium in the NFL's primetime Monday Night Football opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a win for the Patriots. After an additional two wins to begin the season, including a 44–7 road win against the division rivalNew York Jets, the team lost five of its next seven games, allowing an average of 137 rushing yards a game during that span. In the final week of the season, the Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins on an overtime Adam Vinatieri field goal to give both teams a 9–7 record. A few hours later, the Jets, who defeated the Patriots the week prior, also finished with a 9–7 record with a win over the Green Bay Packers. Due to their record against common opponents, after the Jets won the tiebreaker for the division title, both the Patriots and Dolphins were eliminated from the playoff contention.[2] The 2002 season was the only time the Patriots failed to win at least 10 games during the regular season in the Brady–Belichick era. It also marked the only season with Tom Brady as the primary starter that the team failed to make the playoffs, and until 2022 the only time that Brady lost three consecutive games. [3]
^The Patriots traded their first-, third- and seventh-round draft picks to the Washington Redskins for the Redskins' first-round pick.[4]
^The Patriots traded fourth- and fifth-round draft picks to the Denver Broncos for the Broncos' fourth-round pick. The Patriots received the fifth-round pick in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the Patriots' sixth-round pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. [5]
^The Patriots traded a fifth-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys for the Cowboys' fifth- and seventh-round draft picks.[7]
^The Patriots and Chargers did not meet at all between 1984 and 1993 inclusive — an impossible occurrence in the pre-1978 or post-2002 NFL — because non-division conference matchups were entirely based on the previous season’s standings.[9][10]