Here's the thing. We have coaches who worked their way up from QC jobs to coordinators. No other team in the league has had the same coordinators as long as the Pats have (and #2 isn't close). Both have more than earned the right to move up to the next level. Both leave guys (O'Shea and Flores) who by any standard would be qualified to move up.
Now compare this to the almost total turnover in Seattle, and the mediots want to paint the PATS as the team that is falling apart. We are the team that have "the rats leaving the ship". And we are the team that has already accomplished what 90% of the rest of the league would consider a successful season. Yet anything short of a Superbowl win, and the mediots will lead with stories about how the Brady/Bellichick conflict sabotaged the Pats season.
They are killing any enjoyment fans can derive from a victory. Guys like Shaunnessy artificially build up the Pats, dismiss their opponents, and raise the bar so high; just so if they lose they can gleefully tear them down. And if they win, they can downplay their accomplishment.
What the Pats have accomplished over the last 18years in this system, will never be equalled, and most fans, even some of ours, will NEVER appreciate just how hard it is to maintain excellence
God, I'm ranting again. I think it's because I came in 4th in a poker tournament that only pays the top 3.
Throughout our history, including last century, I remember countless big wins, a lot of them impressive and dominant, which were accurately reported in the papers.
Used to be, the off-field stuff and shenanigans were largely true, mostly due to Billy Sullivan, but at least the stories, like those involving John Hannah, were true.
After Hog's retirement, the big Patriots stories were just made up...local sportswriters have their own personal vendettas against the franchise, and it was common knowledge that Sullivan's financial house of cards was on the verge of collapse, and the local mediots chose to pile on as much as they could, setting the trend for national media and enabling the league to far more easily invoke its will on the franchise.
The Lisa Olson stupidity is definitely a precursor to the future Fake-Gates; but really, even today they continue to try to denigrate and dismiss our success in 1974, when we established ourselves as serious contenders in the modern era.
Now, everybody, including the old Celtics of the sixties, had to put up with media hysteria, and silly rumors and speculations. But, it's amplified exponentially with the Patriots...not to mention league denigration and stolen #1 draft picks!!
