The idea that Tuna Crap's name even comes up for the Pats' HOF is repulsive to me. He sabotaged the Pats' SB in 1995 while weaseling his way to the Jets during the season.
He was a jerk. It took me
years to appreciate his genuine effectiveness and undeniable leadership ability which motivated players to perform their best under the greatest pressure, and which nurtured a tree of excellent coaches including Belichick and Coughlin.
Like most of us, I've always hated the Giants. This was a real bias for me. Plus, his abrasive behavior was a turnoff and I know a lot of you can't stand his egotistic bombasticness.
But everywhere he's been including in two stints here (he was an assistant in '80), his players liked him. They fought, argued, got insulted, and
played hard for him. And I really appreciate his awareness of and insistence on respecting team tradition and history every place he was head coach.
I never blamed Fairbanks for how he left and I didn't blame Parcells either. He is what he is, take it or leave it. Orthwein hiring him
is the turning point that laid the foundation for our success thereafter. It gave us instant credibility - the kind we would not have had even if Flutie stayed and won a couple Super Bowls for us. This is what the mediots base their stupid nominations of him for the team HOF on. I mean I'm grateful Ron Meyer brought Scar here with him in '83...but the guy doesn't belong in our HOF.
As far as that Super Bowl, it was painful in several respects. First, Kraft had (and still has) us in those stupid uniforms with that ugly insulting flying elvis. We look ridiculous. Second, seeing McMahon there back in the Superdome winning another ring at our expense sucked big time - twisted the knife.
But the Packers were nationally televised a lot in '96, and I saw they were loaded and well coached.
Activating Troy Brown might have helped. Getting the message across to Adam that if he kicked off even once to Howard he'd spend eternity in the fiery gates of hell would also have helped.
But the late Ray Perkins was our OC the entire time under Parcells and with Bledsoe since he was drafted. Drew throwing the ball won us games, yes. But dropping Drew back repeatedly, over and over, endlessly that day
(48 times) to be sacked (5) and picked (4) worse than Tony Eason was wrong and that's what lost us the game. The Packers would not have stopped Curtis Martin if he'd had 25-30 carries - instead of only
eleven.
So I'm happy for Bill's contribution to the Patriots and I appreciate his, well, greatness. But he does not belong in our hall of fame.