Who Was A Fan During The Dark Years

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

Yeah. My first full season as a Patriots fan was the season Tom Brady got injured and we went 11-5. It was a dark time indeed....

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I became a "bandwagon" fan in 1976 after moving back to CT from living overseas at age 13 and becoming emotionally invested as I watched a great team lose in the roughing the passer Oakland game

OK, I'll raise your Horace Ivory with an Ike Forte

 

[neali]

Doc and Nellies,

In Sharon. With the illegal cable, sorry satellite feed. Who remembers this?

 

[Boomer B]

I became a fan in the mid-80's when I was 12 years old. I'm from Vancouver so I didn't pick them based on being a home team, I picked them 'cause I loved the red jerseys. One of my older brothers was a Browns fan and the other a Seahawks fan.

Come high school the Pats were horrible. I had friends telling me it was ok to ditch them and pick another team. I'm loyal and stuck by them. Best decision I could have made. After all the losing the 2001 Super Bowl was like a dream.

 

[supafly]

I was a fan during the dark years when Bledsoe was drafted, but not THE dark years.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

I started watching the Pats in the early 80's (Grogan, Hannah, Mosi Tatupu, and Stanley Morgan years). '81-'82 round there.

They were really bad.

 

[Gumby]

76.

Neighbor's dad took us up from CT to one Pats and a couple sox games in the 76-78 timeframe. Stuck with both through all the down years. Only Pats Game i ever put Money on was the 86 SB. vowed Never to Do that again. Hard to get enough Pts to overcome 45-3. lol

 

[QuantumMechanic]

One of my fondest memories is being in the stands for the BUF game in '78 when NE clinched its first ever AFCE title.

 

[bostonbuzz]

Another old timer here...starting paying attention to football and the Pats during the 1961 season when I was eight. For what seemed an eternity I had the feeling they would never win championship or Super Bowl but was a diehard fan regardless. Today hearing people talk about them being the model franchise maybe the best organization ever from coach to quarterback still seems a bit surreal to me.

As much as I feel down when they lose a game and my desire to watch football wanes a bit for a few days those feelings are nothing compared to how I used to let the utter failures of the past consume me. Because of the things they've accomplished as an organization, how far they've come from the dark days, I will never have those sinking feelings again. The Loss to the Raiders in the playoffs back in the mid seventies when they had arguably the best team in the league, the Bears embarrassing Superbowl loss then the Packers Superbowl loss...MAN! Then a funny thing happened...the Tuck Rule and along came the Rams...

The rest is history and I am at peace.

 

[ctpatsfan1]

The following is the game I attended where I became a Patriots fan, to the chagrin of my father who was a Giants fan.

The Patriots evened the series four years later with a 28-20 win on Sept. 22, 1974 at the Yale Bowl. Patriots QB Jim Plunkett threw for three touchdowns and Mack Herron gained 191 total yards and scored 12 points.

Have been a Patriots fan ever since.

 

[mosslost]

Been a fan since 74 and it has not all been "dark years". So tired of that false story. Pats were very good from like 76-86, especially late 70s when the league was extremely competitive. (Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos, Oilers).. They had one terrible year in that stretch like 81. They late 80s very averagg. Then, yes, they were horrible like 1990 to 1995, but Bledsoe and Parcells began that era.

1988 9-7-0 T2nd -- AFC East -- Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1987 8-7-0 T2nd -- AFC East -- Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1986 11-5-0 1st -- AFC East 0-1 - Lost Divisional Playoffs Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1985 11-5-0 T2nd -- AFC East 3-1 - Lost Superbowl Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1984 9-7-0 2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Meyer,
Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1983 8-8-0 T2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Meyer Roster / Stats
1982 5-4-0 7th -- AFC 0-1 - Lost Round 1 Ron Meyer Roster / Stats
1981 2-14-0 T4th -- AFC East -- Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1980 10-6-0 2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1979 9-7-0 2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1978 11-5-0 1st -- AFC East 0-1 - Lost Divisional Playoffs Chuck Fairbanks,
Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1977 9-5-0 3rd -- AFC East -- Chuck Fairbanks Roster / Stats
1976 11-3-0 2nd -- AFC East 0-1 - Lost Divisional Playoffs Chuck Fairbanks Roster / Stats

 

[mosslost]

Been a fan since 74 and it has not all been "dark years". So tired of that false story. Pats were very good from like 76-86, especially late 70s when the league was extremely competitive. (Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos, Oilers).. They had one terrible year in that stretch like 81. They late 80s very averagg. Then, yes, they were horrible like 1990 to 1995, but Bledsoe and Parcells began that era.

1988 9-7-0 T2nd -- AFC East -- Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1987 8-7-0 T2nd -- AFC East -- Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1986 11-5-0 1st -- AFC East 0-1 - Lost Divisional Playoffs Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1985 11-5-0 T2nd -- AFC East 3-1 - Lost Superbowl Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1984 9-7-0 2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Meyer,
Raymond Berry Roster / Stats
1983 8-8-0 T2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Meyer Roster / Stats
1982 5-4-0 7th -- AFC 0-1 - Lost Round 1 Ron Meyer Roster / Stats
1981 2-14-0 T4th -- AFC East -- Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1980 10-6-0 2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1979 9-7-0 2nd -- AFC East -- Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1978 11-5-0 1st -- AFC East 0-1 - Lost Divisional Playoffs Chuck Fairbanks,
Ron Erhardt Roster / Stats
1977 9-5-0 3rd -- AFC East -- Chuck Fairbanks Roster / Stats
1976 11-3-0 2nd -- AFC East 0-1 - Lost Divisional Playoffs Chuck Fairbanks Roster / Stats

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Been a fan since 74 and it has not all been "dark years". So tired of that false story. Pats were very good from like 76-86, especially late 70s when the league was extremely competitive. (Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos, Oilers).. They had one terrible year in that stretch like 81. They late 80s very averagg. Then, yes, they were horrible like 1990 to 1995, but Bledsoe and Parcells began that era.

Depends on your metric, though. On the other hand they went 22 years (from 1963 to 1984) without winning a playoff game and only appeared in the playoffs 4 times in that stretch (1963, 1976, 1978, and 1982, and they made it in 1982 because of the special expanded playoffs due to the strike).

 

[Patjew]

A lot of the fans were here then I remeber 1-15 season the first season i remeber was the 86 super bowl season

Same here. I was 12.

 

[long distance]

I like dark.

 

[IndyKen]

Oh yeah, a fan since 1960-way back then when I was 11, so I have seen it all. Grew up in Orange, Mass. - I remember my Dad was uber excited that we were getting finally our "own" pro football after watching the Giants for a couple years on B&W TV. Some of those 70's teams were just a delight to watch. I lived in Denver back at that time and I attended the "great blizzard blowout" in November 1979 at Mile High- Pats got off to a rough start and it never got any better, but I stayed through the whole thing. The last 15 years have been the best, and of course the ride is still rolling along.

 

[sambam94]

was born in 65, first team I remember well was '76...but I do remember watching Plunkett

 

[obgod3]

Mid-70's so be thankful for what we have...

 

[MitchKumstein]

Became a casual fan in 1980, turned into a real fan in '85 during the first Super Bowl run.

 

[jmt57]

Became a fan somewhere in the mid-sixties. I started out as a Jim Brown/Cleveland Browns fan at a young age but after he retired I was strictly a Pats fan.

The Patriots were the first (and only) sports team that I bought season tickets for, starting in the mid-late seventies. I think it was 77 or 78, though I had been buying individual tickets for a couple years before that.


Earlier some people mentioned the Bob Windsor game. For those that weren't around then - as well as those that do remember - a couple of links in the way-back machine to that day.

Plunkett rescues Pats (October 28, 1974)

On This Day: Bob Windsor lays his career on the line for the game-winning score


Also, a bit on Windsor's post-football career:

Bob Windsor’s All-Pro Sports