Best of the Belichick Era: Number 45 — Jarvis Green

Share

I'm spending 50 days ranking the top 50 players of the Bill Belichick Era, from No. 50 down to No. 1. (Click here for a criteria on how I made my selections.)

Enjoy.

Today we reach . . .

NUMBER 45: JARVIS GREEN
Years With Patriots: 2002-2009
Games: 121
Playoff Games: 15
Honors: Super Bowl winner (2003, 2004)

Over the course of his eight-year NFL career, Jarvis Green only started 46 of 121 regular-season games and four of 15 playoff games for the Patriots. He wasn’t a starter. He was a situational pass rusher. And a playmaker. Green’s name isn’t well-remembered nationally. And even around here, a play that Green couldn’t complete is one he’s indelibly linked to. It was Green that had ahold of Eli Manning’s jersey on the David Tyree Helmet Catch play in Super Bowl 42. Green holding on with a fist and his fingers while Manning furiously pumped his legs until he broke free and blindly threw downfield. The rest of that play was history and it took an emotional toll on Green. "When I first got home [to Louisiana]," Green said in 2012, "I couldn't sleep for two or three days. My wife said I was mumbling in my sleep about the game. She might pinch me or hit me to make me stop, and I'd be drenched. Just soaking wet from night sweats. That went on for weeks. I'd call out defensive plays.”

The Patriots may not have even had a perfect season to be snatched away if it weren’t for Green making a huge play three months earlier against – ironically – Eli’s brother. It was Green who came up with the strip sack of Peyton Manning that ended the Week 9, come-from-behind win for the Patriots in Indy when both teams were unbeaten. Green was Kryptonite for Manning. In addition to that 2007 play, Green also rolled up three sacks in the 2003 AFC Championship Game and was a beast for the Patriots in the 2004 Super Bowl run.

 

Contact Us