Friday, January 28, 2005
PATRIOT REIGN
Before the New England Patriots were recognized for being a championship-caliber franchise, they were one of the biggest laughingstocks in all of sports. From the days of playing in Foxboro Stadium to the infamous Bill Parcells departure in 1997 with the Lisa Olson scandal in between, the Patriots were anything but a respectable franchise.
Enter Bill Belichick in 2000.
Belichick had been on Parcells' staff during the 1996 AFC Championship season. He would have been the right hire for owner Robert Kraft to replace Parcells after the Tuna had left for the New York Jets. But Belichick followed Parcells to the Jets and the Patriots hired Pete Carroll.
When Parcells resigned in early 2000, Belichick had taken over the position. It would be a short-lived tenure, as Belichick jumped to New England to take over for Carroll. Belichick's previous head coaching experience was in Cleveland, where he took the Browns to the playoffs just once out of 5 seasons. While in Cleveland, Belichick would make one of the gutsiest moves ever made by a head coach in the NFL by releasing fan favorite Bernie Kosar. A similar situation such as this would come into play 8 years later for Belichick.
Former Boston Globe sportswriter and current "I, Max" personality Michael Holley followed the Patriots during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. The Patriots won their first world championship in 2001, defeating the heavily favored St. Louis Rams. Holley approached Belichick about experiencing several aspects of the NFL culture through the eyes of the then-defending world champions. To those who believe that Belichick was a hard person to deal with, it was surprising to find out that Belichick liked Holley's idea. The rest, as they say, was history.
Holley was a fly on the wall for a Patriots team that finished 9-7 in 2002, missing the playoffs just one season removed from a world championship. Injuries and questionable personnel decisions had cost the Patriots in 2002. One of the decisions that was made in 2002 was questionable at the time, but right now, it sure as hell doesn't look that bad at all. During the 2001 season, veteran quarterback Drew Bledsoe, the face of the Patriots' organization since he came to Foxboro in 1993, was knocked out by the Jets' Mo Lewis with a vicious hit to his rib cage. Second year quarterback Tom Brady, a 6th round pick out of Michigan the year before, would replace Bledsoe. Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to a world championship just 4 months later with Bledsoe on the sidelines. Bledsoe was traded to Buffalo, one of the Patriots' AFC East rivals, for a first round draft pick in April 2002. The move was questionable only because the Patriots were trading Bledsoe to a divisional rival. But the important thing to realize about the Patriots is that they are only worried about making their team better. Not many teams think that way and there's a reason why the Patriots are where they are today.
Seahawks fans remember tight end Christian Fauria leaving Seattle for New England in 2002. Fauria was asked about the Patriots team-like atmosphere and the following should be a wake-up call to the Seahawks organization:
"It wasn’t like this in Seattle," he says. "I’ll use training camp there as an example. There was a serving tray where they had the salad, and it was kind of like the divider in the room. There were tables on both sides. I’m telling you, all the white guys were on one side, and the black guys were on the other. Now, I’m not saying it was prejudice or a race issue, but it always seems to happen that way."
"I don’t see that here at all. You see those domino games in the locker room? You have guys like Marc Edwards and Mike Vrabel saying, ‘Slap the domino, motherf**ker,’ just like everyone else. Seriously, I think it’s a credit to Scott (Pioli). He really brings good guys in. And I felt that right away. All the guys are generally good guys, with the same emphasis on winning."
Love or hate Fauria, you can't disagree with the man here. This isn't the first time I've heard about the Seahawks being talked about in this light, so obviously there has to be something to this. It is so important for the Seahawks to have a successful offseason this spring. The Seahawks are similar to the Patriots in a few ways, especially when you consider both teams' pasts. I'm a firm believer that if the Patriots can turn things around, so can the Seahawks. It just takes a good operation to do that, which the Patriots definitely have with vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli, Belichick, and vice president Jonathan Kraft, Robert's son. In the "I did not know that file", Pioli is married to Bill Parcells' daughter Dallas. Pioli is also one of Belichick's best friends. So for those who would love to see Pioli in Seattle, I seriously doubt it. That's why we've been pushing for Randy Mueller and Mike Reinfeldt to join the Seahawks front office.
Reading "Patriot Reign", I feel that I have a better understanding of the machine that is the New England Patriots. There are those who call the Patriots lucky. Nonsense. The organization brings in guys who know how to play football. All 53 players play some type of role for the Patriots. It's truly a team there in New England. There are a few guys such as Corey Dillon and Rodney Harrison who in their former cities (Cincinnati and San Diego) were considered "cancers". What did Harrison do in his first year as a Patriot? He won a world championship. Dillon is on the verge of winning his first world championship. Not only have the Patriots brought in good football players off the scrap heap, they have had success in the NFL Draft as well. Case in point, look at their draft picks from 2002 to 2004.
2002: TE Daniel Graham (1), WR Deion Branch (2), WR David Givens (7)
2003: DT Ty Warren (1), CB Eugene Wilson (2), WR Bethel Johnson (2), DT Dan Klecko (4), C Dan Koppen (5)
2004: DT Vince Wilfork (1)
Those are 9 of the Patriots' key draft picks over the past 3 seasons. And all 9 of those picks have contributed to the Patriots' success. There's a reason why the Patriots front office is the best in football right now.
I enjoyed "Patriot Reign", although I thought it was a little too short at 240 pages. I wish I could have been able to read at least another 25-30 pages. But I digress. It's not easy to write a book like this, because the NFL usually frowns upon those who want so much information about a team. Give credit to the Patriots. They weren't worried about their story being told to the world. Even with the information that is detailed in this book, the other teams still have to find a way to stop the Patriots. It's similar in a way to a team stealing another team's playbook. Yes, you may know the plays from the other team. But you still have to stop the other team.
There's still another week until the Super Bowl, so you should have plenty of time to read "Patriot Reign". In case you don't want to buy the book yet, my advice to you would be to check your local library, because chances are, they may just have it. Yes, even I go to the library. Amazing, huh?
Anyways, check out "Patriot Reign". It's a good read and you'll be able to appreciate the Patriots run of the last 4 years a lot more than you would have before reading the book.
Enter Bill Belichick in 2000.
Belichick had been on Parcells' staff during the 1996 AFC Championship season. He would have been the right hire for owner Robert Kraft to replace Parcells after the Tuna had left for the New York Jets. But Belichick followed Parcells to the Jets and the Patriots hired Pete Carroll.
When Parcells resigned in early 2000, Belichick had taken over the position. It would be a short-lived tenure, as Belichick jumped to New England to take over for Carroll. Belichick's previous head coaching experience was in Cleveland, where he took the Browns to the playoffs just once out of 5 seasons. While in Cleveland, Belichick would make one of the gutsiest moves ever made by a head coach in the NFL by releasing fan favorite Bernie Kosar. A similar situation such as this would come into play 8 years later for Belichick.
Former Boston Globe sportswriter and current "I, Max" personality Michael Holley followed the Patriots during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. The Patriots won their first world championship in 2001, defeating the heavily favored St. Louis Rams. Holley approached Belichick about experiencing several aspects of the NFL culture through the eyes of the then-defending world champions. To those who believe that Belichick was a hard person to deal with, it was surprising to find out that Belichick liked Holley's idea. The rest, as they say, was history.
Holley was a fly on the wall for a Patriots team that finished 9-7 in 2002, missing the playoffs just one season removed from a world championship. Injuries and questionable personnel decisions had cost the Patriots in 2002. One of the decisions that was made in 2002 was questionable at the time, but right now, it sure as hell doesn't look that bad at all. During the 2001 season, veteran quarterback Drew Bledsoe, the face of the Patriots' organization since he came to Foxboro in 1993, was knocked out by the Jets' Mo Lewis with a vicious hit to his rib cage. Second year quarterback Tom Brady, a 6th round pick out of Michigan the year before, would replace Bledsoe. Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to a world championship just 4 months later with Bledsoe on the sidelines. Bledsoe was traded to Buffalo, one of the Patriots' AFC East rivals, for a first round draft pick in April 2002. The move was questionable only because the Patriots were trading Bledsoe to a divisional rival. But the important thing to realize about the Patriots is that they are only worried about making their team better. Not many teams think that way and there's a reason why the Patriots are where they are today.
Seahawks fans remember tight end Christian Fauria leaving Seattle for New England in 2002. Fauria was asked about the Patriots team-like atmosphere and the following should be a wake-up call to the Seahawks organization:
"It wasn’t like this in Seattle," he says. "I’ll use training camp there as an example. There was a serving tray where they had the salad, and it was kind of like the divider in the room. There were tables on both sides. I’m telling you, all the white guys were on one side, and the black guys were on the other. Now, I’m not saying it was prejudice or a race issue, but it always seems to happen that way."
"I don’t see that here at all. You see those domino games in the locker room? You have guys like Marc Edwards and Mike Vrabel saying, ‘Slap the domino, motherf**ker,’ just like everyone else. Seriously, I think it’s a credit to Scott (Pioli). He really brings good guys in. And I felt that right away. All the guys are generally good guys, with the same emphasis on winning."
Love or hate Fauria, you can't disagree with the man here. This isn't the first time I've heard about the Seahawks being talked about in this light, so obviously there has to be something to this. It is so important for the Seahawks to have a successful offseason this spring. The Seahawks are similar to the Patriots in a few ways, especially when you consider both teams' pasts. I'm a firm believer that if the Patriots can turn things around, so can the Seahawks. It just takes a good operation to do that, which the Patriots definitely have with vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli, Belichick, and vice president Jonathan Kraft, Robert's son. In the "I did not know that file", Pioli is married to Bill Parcells' daughter Dallas. Pioli is also one of Belichick's best friends. So for those who would love to see Pioli in Seattle, I seriously doubt it. That's why we've been pushing for Randy Mueller and Mike Reinfeldt to join the Seahawks front office.
Reading "Patriot Reign", I feel that I have a better understanding of the machine that is the New England Patriots. There are those who call the Patriots lucky. Nonsense. The organization brings in guys who know how to play football. All 53 players play some type of role for the Patriots. It's truly a team there in New England. There are a few guys such as Corey Dillon and Rodney Harrison who in their former cities (Cincinnati and San Diego) were considered "cancers". What did Harrison do in his first year as a Patriot? He won a world championship. Dillon is on the verge of winning his first world championship. Not only have the Patriots brought in good football players off the scrap heap, they have had success in the NFL Draft as well. Case in point, look at their draft picks from 2002 to 2004.
2002: TE Daniel Graham (1), WR Deion Branch (2), WR David Givens (7)
2003: DT Ty Warren (1), CB Eugene Wilson (2), WR Bethel Johnson (2), DT Dan Klecko (4), C Dan Koppen (5)
2004: DT Vince Wilfork (1)
Those are 9 of the Patriots' key draft picks over the past 3 seasons. And all 9 of those picks have contributed to the Patriots' success. There's a reason why the Patriots front office is the best in football right now.
I enjoyed "Patriot Reign", although I thought it was a little too short at 240 pages. I wish I could have been able to read at least another 25-30 pages. But I digress. It's not easy to write a book like this, because the NFL usually frowns upon those who want so much information about a team. Give credit to the Patriots. They weren't worried about their story being told to the world. Even with the information that is detailed in this book, the other teams still have to find a way to stop the Patriots. It's similar in a way to a team stealing another team's playbook. Yes, you may know the plays from the other team. But you still have to stop the other team.
There's still another week until the Super Bowl, so you should have plenty of time to read "Patriot Reign". In case you don't want to buy the book yet, my advice to you would be to check your local library, because chances are, they may just have it. Yes, even I go to the library. Amazing, huh?
Anyways, check out "Patriot Reign". It's a good read and you'll be able to appreciate the Patriots run of the last 4 years a lot more than you would have before reading the book.
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