Metaphors
In the Starting Line-Up
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Put up Christmas decorations today and like many people I have breakable pieces wrapped in newspaper (that stuff before the internet). I happened across an intact section of the Herald from October 29, 2000 and it struck me how far the Pats have come.
Kevin Mannix (the original Belichick hater) gave out grades during the Pats bye week (2-6 at the time). Needless to say, it was pretty harsh:
Coaching = D
QB = B...he always liked Bledsoe
RB = C
WR = D
OL = D-
DL = C
LB = C-
DB = D
ST = B-
Interesting that about 15 of these players (including an afterthought 4th string rookie QB) would form the core of the championship teams starting less than a year later.
Lots of fun memories though. JR Redmond giving no indication he would come up huge in a Super Bowl. Shockmain Davis leveraging a cool first name to stay on the roster. Eric Bjornson and Rod Rutledge pretending to be TEs. Andy Katzenmoyer looking forward to a long career. Vinatieri missing chip-shot FGs to lose games. Good times...good times.
As a side benefit, in this particular section you could also read about the XFL draft and the construction progress of CMGI Field (CMGI stock price in 2000...$163. Stock price when CMGI Field opened... < $1).
So as we face a weekend with no Pats game, just remember that 10 years ago the Pats also played on Thanksgiving and got shellacked by the Lions. Sitting at 3-9 and spending December waiting for Rick Pitino to be fired, watching Tim Hasselbeck lead BC to mediocrity and counting the days until pitchers and catchers reported.
Suddenly the Pats 3rd down defense doesn't seem so bad...
Kevin Mannix (the original Belichick hater) gave out grades during the Pats bye week (2-6 at the time). Needless to say, it was pretty harsh:
Coaching = D
QB = B...he always liked Bledsoe
RB = C
WR = D
OL = D-
DL = C
LB = C-
DB = D
ST = B-
Interesting that about 15 of these players (including an afterthought 4th string rookie QB) would form the core of the championship teams starting less than a year later.
Lots of fun memories though. JR Redmond giving no indication he would come up huge in a Super Bowl. Shockmain Davis leveraging a cool first name to stay on the roster. Eric Bjornson and Rod Rutledge pretending to be TEs. Andy Katzenmoyer looking forward to a long career. Vinatieri missing chip-shot FGs to lose games. Good times...good times.
As a side benefit, in this particular section you could also read about the XFL draft and the construction progress of CMGI Field (CMGI stock price in 2000...$163. Stock price when CMGI Field opened... < $1).
So as we face a weekend with no Pats game, just remember that 10 years ago the Pats also played on Thanksgiving and got shellacked by the Lions. Sitting at 3-9 and spending December waiting for Rick Pitino to be fired, watching Tim Hasselbeck lead BC to mediocrity and counting the days until pitchers and catchers reported.
Suddenly the Pats 3rd down defense doesn't seem so bad...