1999 New England Patriots season The 1999 New England Patriots season was the 30th season for the team in the National Football League and 40th season overall . They finished with a 8 – 8 record , tied for fourth place in the division , and out of the playoffs . In May , the Patriots announced their intention to pull out of a publicly financed stadium deal in Hartford , Connecticut and instead work towards building a privately financed new stadium , which would become Gillette Stadium , at the site of the existing Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough , Massachusetts . On the field , the Patriots came into the 1999 season without second - year running back Robert Edwards ; after rushing for over 1 , 100 yards in 1998 , the rookie suffered a serious knee injury playing in a rookie beach game in Hawaii after the season . Taking Edwards ' place were veteran Terry Allen and rookie Kevin Faulk , but neither player was able to eclipse 1 , 000 yards rushing and overall the Patriots ' rushing offense was 23rd in the NFL . After beginning the season with a 6 – 2 record the team stumbled down the stretch and finished 8 – 8 and out of the playoffs for the first time since 1995 . Following the season finale , third year head coach Pete Carroll was fired , while vice president of player personnel Bobby Grier was retained only until the 2000 NFL Draft . The Jets lost quarterback Vinny Testaverde in the second quarter when he ruptured his left achilles , and backup Tom Tupa ( a former Patriots punter ) was put in . The Patriots rallied from down 16 – 10 at the half with 17 points scored in the third quarter , but the Jets stormed back themselves with two touchdowns on a Tupa throw to Fred Baxter and a Bryan Cox interception return ; both times the Jets went for two - point conversions but failed . The Jets ' emergency quarterback Rick Mirer was put in late in the fourth and a throw was deflected by Ty Law and recovered by Chris Slade , setting up the game - winning Adam Vinatieri field goal of a 30 – 28 Patriots win . Kevin Faulk made his Patriots debut in this game , rushing ten times for 17 yards and catching one pass for eight yards . The Patriots committed 15 penalties eating up 135 yards and trailed 28 – 7 at halftime in Peyton Manning ' s second career trip to Foxboro . But Drew Bledsoe answered with touchdowns to Terry Allen and Ben Coates to tie the game late in the fourth ; the two Coates scores came off a Marcus Pollard fumble and a Manning three - and - out forced by Ty Law . Edgerrin James was then stripped by Tebucky Jones , setting up the game - winning Vinatieri field goal of a 31 – 28 Patriots comeback . Coates ' s fourth - quarter scores turned out to be the last of his career . Trailing 7 – 3 at the half , the Chiefs behind Elvis Grbac scored 13 points in the second half . The Patriots scored in the fourth on a Shawn Jefferson touchdown catch , then in the final minute the Patriots stormed down field , but a 32 - yard Vinatieri field goal try on the final play bounced off the right upright , securing a 16 – 14 Chiefs win . Dan Marino was injured after throwing an interception returned by Andy Katzenmoyer for a 57 - yard touchdown and was replaced by future Patriots backup quarterback Damon Huard . Huard was picked off by Ty Law for a 27 - yard touchdown , but from there the Dolphins clawed back into contention and Huard won the game in the final seconds on a short touchdown toss to Stanley Pritchett and a 31 – 30 Dolphins win . The Patriots defeated the Broncos for the first time since 1980 after going 0 – 11 lifetime against John Elway . Both teams rushed for 133 yards while Brian Griese of the Broncos threw for 309 yards compared to a modest 192 passing yards for Drew Bledsoe . Kevin Faulk scored on a 15 - yard rushing touchdown as the Patriots rushed to a 24 – 13 third - quarter lead and sweated out a Broncos rally to win 24 – 23 ; the margin of victory turned out to be set by a missed 59 - yard field goal try by Jason Elam . The Patriots mopped the floor of Sun Devil Stadium as Drew Bledsoe threw four touchdowns in a 27 – 3 runaway . The win , however , proved costly , for Ben Coates was held without a catch for the second time that season , a fact Coates took the media during the ensuing bye week to considerable effect . The game marked a fatal turning point to the Patriots season as Coates ' public protest soured his relationship with Bledsoe and coach Pete Carroll ; the Patriots fell from 6 – 2 to finish a dismal 8 – 8 ; Coates for his part had only sixteen catches the remainder of the season before he was let go and joined the Baltimore Ravens . The Patriots entered this game on a three - game losing streak and having never beaten the Cowboys in their history ; this was the eighth career meeting between the two clubs . Both Patriot slumps ended as the two defenses kept offense to a premium ; Troy Aikman and Drew Bledsoe combined for just 336 passing yards ; it was the Patriots ground game that took over to the tune of 116 rushing yards led by Terry Allen ' s 53 yards and a touchdown in a 13 – 6 Patriots win . Rookie Kevin Faulk had his most productive game of the season with 36 rushing yards and three catches for 43 yards .