NFL Network's Top 10 Patriots of All Time

[upstater1]

1. Tom Brady
2. John Hannah
3. Andre Tippett
4. Stanley Morgan
5. Mike Haynes
6. Julius Adams
7. Ben Coates
8. Jim Nance
9. Nick Buoniconti
10. Sam Cunningham

Limiting the list to ten players is tough to do.

I like this list, but Buoniconti to me is a ???.

Leaving out Stanley Morgan is a glaring error.

IMO, Bledsoe should also be up there ahead of even Coates.

 

[upstater1]

Bledsoe was the face of the franchise in the 90's. Morgan was very good, but he didn't finish up in the top 10 receiving and td reception year in and year out like Bledsoe did for passing yards and tds.

Morgan is 73th all-time with 557 receptions, and 93th all-time for average yards per game. Bledsoe is in the top ten in many passing categories, and 14th in avg passing yards per game. He was better than Morgan at their respective positions, and Bledsoe played a more important position.

As for Vinatieri, I'll just say that there is a reason why there's only 1 kicker in the HOF...

Different era for Morgan. Compare him to his contemporaries. Not to the gaudy numbers people are putting up in today's pass happy NFL. For his era, Morgan was one of the best in the league.

SI.com - Writers - Dr. Z: Hall of Fame incomplete without Pats' Morgan - Friday November 9, 2007 1:15PM

 

[Joker]

C'mon....GROGS!!!

We start Grogs instead of Eason we have a puncher's chance against the Bears


Toughest Patriot SOB ever

 

[RoughingthePasser]

1. Tom Brady
2. John Hannah
3. Andre Tippett
4. Stanley Morgan
5. Mike Haynes
6. Julius Adams
7. Ben Coates
8. Jim Nance
9. Nick Buoniconti
10. Sam Cunningham

Limiting the list to ten players is tough to do.

Exactly. You can't limit it to 10 players!
Our Cahmpionship teams were......just that.....


TEAMS

The names on the list really stood out-but I would go for the 10 best Pat teams opposed to players-we're excluding to many others.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Does anybody think Russ Francis deserves to be on the list?

 

[MoLewisrocks]

True - anyone could have made that Snow Bowl kick, and teams that argueably had more talent (the Colts) certainly never had any problems with kickers choking in high pressure situations.

But while the Colts viewed Vinatieri as the missing piece of the puzzle and have a SB ring to show for it, my guess is that the Patriots, in drafting a highly touted kicker instead of spending $3 million on Vinatieri, had plans to use that money on some key offensive players that would ensure that the Patriots could blow out teams rather than be dependent on winning by a Field Goal.

Overall I don't argue with that assessment - 16-0 during the regular season suggests it was a pretty good plan... though some would argue that Belichick didn't seem quite ready to trust Gostkowski with a big, high pressure, long yardage situation.

Would that have made a difference in the 2007 Super Bowl? No one knows, though Vinatieri did have a few surprisingly long FGs that season for the Colts.

My point is, I can easilly find a place on my top 10 list for a kicker who made some pivotal kicks in each of the franchise's Super Bowl victories (all of which coincidentally were decided by 3 points - which coincidentally was the number of points we lost by in the 2007 SB).

I'm not saying we don't win Super Bowl XXXVI without Brady - but I'm saying it's very possible we don't win Super Bowl XXXVI - or even get there - without Vinatieri.

And since winning creates an environment for winning, attracting top players willing to play for less than market value - one might argue those kicks helped create the winning franchise we have today.

In other words, are players flocking to the Patriots to play for Belichick if he never won a Super Bowl as HC? I doubt it.

I guess it's a subjective argument depending on how you define significance. Oddly some of the winning championships people are coming down on the other side of the fence when it comes to individual significance vs. team significance. Go figure... Evaluating significance the way Pats fans used to, emotionally, based on 41 years of little beyond brief flirtations with actual success.

The only locks on the list are Belichick (if coaches count), Brady and handful of the three ring wearers. I'd say Bingo, Ty, Vrabel, AV. Then I'd add a two ring guy, Rodney. Still leaves room for Seymour and a couple of the legendary HOF'ers sans rings, for now anyway. We win a few more in the B&B era and they don't make the list, either.

 

[Deus Irae]

Does anybody think Russ Francis deserves to be on the list?

You could probably find 20 players or more worthy of being argued for with this. Brady, Hannah and Tippett are probably the only 3 players that are a must for everyone's list.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Stanley Morgan, Gino Cappelletti, Jim Nance, Sam Cunningham should be there

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

Different era for Morgan. Compare him to his contemporaries. Not to the gaudy numbers people are putting up in today's pass happy NFL. For his era, Morgan was one of the best in the league.

SI.com - Writers - Dr. Z: Hall of Fame incomplete without Pats' Morgan - Friday November 9, 2007 1:15PM

:agree: Morgan has to be on this list

 

[TriplecHamp]

For the people who don't think A.V. should be on the list, imagine we had vanderjagt kicking for us....I'm not sure we would have 3 superbowls this decade. Troy Brown should also be on the list but I'm not sure who I would take off. You could also make a case for Mike Vrabel.

 

[BradyFTW!]

For the people who don't think A.V. should be on the list, imagine we had vanderjagt kicking for us....I'm not sure we would have 3 superbowls this decade. Troy Brown should also be on the list but I'm not sure who I would take off. You could also make a case for Mike Vrabel.

I don't think anyone's claiming that Vinatieri wasn't crucial in winning the Super Bowls. I left him off my top 10, and I'm pretty sure that we'd have at least one fewer without him. But we can do that all day. Imagine if we'd had Gerard Warren instead of Richard Seymour. Do we win 3 SBs? How about if we'd had Terry Glenn instead of Troy Brown, or Ronald Davis instead of Ty Law, or Maurice Williams instead of Matt Light, or some JAG LBs instead of Vrabel or Bruschi, etc. etc.

 

[PYPER]

For the people who don't think A.V. should be on the list, imagine we had vanderjagt kicking for us....I'm not sure we would have 3 superbowls this decade. Troy Brown should also be on the list but I'm not sure who I would take off. You could also make a case for Mike Vrabel.

It's not about not appreciating AV. We all love that guy. But he's a kicker. Kickers only play in a small handful of plays each game and they're not even relevant unless all the players on the offense and defense bust their @$$es all game long to put them in position where they can contribute.

If you put a kicker (no matter how good he is) ahead of guys like Vrabel, Seymour, Armstrong, etc...that's a knock on all the sweat, blood, tears, and wear and tear these guys have sacrificed over their long distinguished careers. I feel reasonably certain that if AV was here, he'd tell you the exact same thing himself.

 

[upstater1]

For the people who don't think A.V. should be on the list, imagine we had vanderjagt kicking for us....I'm not sure we would have 3 superbowls this decade. Troy Brown should also be on the list but I'm not sure who I would take off. You could also make a case for Mike Vrabel.

We'd have 2 Super Bowls, or heck, maybe we'd have 3 because then our kicker wouldn't have left for free agency, leaving us with a rookie, making Belichick reluctant to kick a 45 yarder against the Giants. You never know.

We don't tie the Raiders without Vinatieri, certainly. BUT then what happens against the Giants with a vet kicker instead of a rookie?

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Top Ten Pats

10 Drew Bledsoe
9 Gino Cappelitti
8 Troy Brown
7 Stanley Morgan
6 Steve Grogan
5 Steve Nelson
4 Mike Haynes
3 Andre Tippet
2 John Hannah
1 Tom Brady

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I'm strongly in favor of leaving Vinatieri on the list and I would put him in the top five. Why?

NFL Football is played according to a set of rules on a field and with goalposts whose dimensions and size are established by those rules. One of those rules gives three points for a "Field Goal" kicked from that field and through the uprights of one of those goalposts. Another requires that a Kicker accomplish the same feat from a predetermined distance if a seventh point is to be allowed for a TD. These points count towards the final score and, indeed, can and often do determine the outcome of a game or championship.

The possibility that one of the players on the field will be able to kick a ball with his "foot" through one of those goalposts is one of the elements of the game that give rise to its name, as Doug Flutie reminded us a little while back.

If a player conditions and trains himself, physically and mentally, to be able to excel at scoring those points, why should his contribution to the game be measured any differently than that of any other player?

The skills that enable one to be an "every down" player (of which there hasn't been a single one since Chuck Bednarik, as far as I know) aren't necessarily the same as the skills that enable one to be a kicker.

The contributions of a kicker, who performs at a very high level under the intense pressure of the few seconds when he approaches and executes a Field Goal or Extra Point (or Drop Kick ) in virtually any weather or field conditions, are no less than those of any other player on the field whose efforts put the ball in position for a Field Goal or scored the TD for which the extra point is added.

Otherwise, why not limit scoring to points awarded for carrying the ball across the goal line or tackling an opposing player in his own endzone with the ball? But, then, it wouldn't be "foot" ball anymore.

 

[bagwell368]

Here are about 55 nominees:

Parilli
Nance
Cunningham
Plunkett
Grogan
Stingley
Morgan
Gino
Bledsoe
Brady
Coates
Hannah
Brown
Buoniconti
J. Adams
Eisenhauer
Seymour
Armstrong
Tippett
Law
Vinatieri
Jon Morris
Milloy
Haynes
Hunt
Morgan
Nelson
Clayborn
Francis
Wilfork
Bruschi
McGinest
Izzo
Rodney
Vrabel
Vincent Brown
Antwine
Addison
Light
Dee
Gostowski
Gray
Holloway

I bet I missed at least 5 if not 10. Put them all in!

 

[tanked_as_usual]

remove mcginest.......insert steve nelson

 

[tanked_as_usual]

remove bledsoe and coates.....insert grogan and armstrong

 

[tanked_as_usual]

julius adams belongs in there, also

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Vinatieri is only a kicker and does not belong on that list eh?

What were you guys saying when he kicked those game winning FGs in the SBs? - Were you saying at that time that he was one of your favorite players ever as a Patriot? - I bet you did

If Vinatieri was still a Patriot instead of a Colt, none of you would be bashing him for JUST being a kicker - Lets not BS each other here O.K.?

Too many Pats fans say gone AND forgotten when it comes to a special player who is now on another team - Thats kind of sad.

Without Vinatieri I can almost guarantee you that we lose at least one of those 3 SBs - He was Mr. Clutch and deserves the respect at this time that he garnished back then.