Pape
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2012
- Messages
- 10,600
- Reaction score
- 16,025
Let the turmoil of yesterday settle a bit before thinking about what to post
Been to a lot of games, watched even more over the decades... We have seen the Patriots transition from a team of also rans in the 70's to a somewhat competitive team in the 1980's... While competitive, they were never consistently competing for the Lombardi
When Belichick first came here, the team was still embroiled in the fallout between Robert Kraft and Bill Parcells... Pete Carroll might have been a bit of a buffer for a few years, but Carroll and Ernie Zampese & Steve Sidwell really were just place holders while the team continued to crumble... I didn't want him as a coach, didn't think he offered much outside of maybe improving the defense... Boy was I wrong...
What he brought was consistency to the team... He brought in novel elements to the team as a whole (Ernie Adams) and promoted a team first mentality, something that had been lacking, even if we didn't know it at the time... 2000 was a tough year... The team didn't do well, somewhat similar to what occurred this year... But 2001, he took a shot a changing the dynamic of the team by putting the ball in the hands of Tom Brady... They are, and forever will be intertwined because of what they accomplished... While never flashy (except for 2007) the Patriots became the paradigm of what an NFL franchise should be... deliberate, methodical and efficient, much like the man himself...
Never thought we'd win a Super Bowl, let alone six - and even better, was able to see three if those victories in person... talk about a dream come true... 9 trips, 6 victories, and always in the hunt... The way the roster and team was maintained over the course of 20 years is nothing short of outstanding... So many moving pieces from players to staff to cap management, we became what every other franchise aspires to... The winning was handled by Brady (cannot stress this enough - Players Play, coaches lose), while Belichick ran the Patriots like they were Jeff Gordons pit crew, keeping everything in working order, with the efforts always focused on one thing - winning... attention to detail became synonymous with Bill Belichick...
What he accomplished here stands tall amongst the coaching greats... Lombardi, Walsh, Brown, The fedora guy from Dallas... Thats some heady company to keep...
Proud he was our coach for so long... Proud that he lead the franchise to so many years of unqualified success... Its something I don't think will ever be replicated in the NFL again as the game is pushed further away from its roots.
Been to a lot of games, watched even more over the decades... We have seen the Patriots transition from a team of also rans in the 70's to a somewhat competitive team in the 1980's... While competitive, they were never consistently competing for the Lombardi
When Belichick first came here, the team was still embroiled in the fallout between Robert Kraft and Bill Parcells... Pete Carroll might have been a bit of a buffer for a few years, but Carroll and Ernie Zampese & Steve Sidwell really were just place holders while the team continued to crumble... I didn't want him as a coach, didn't think he offered much outside of maybe improving the defense... Boy was I wrong...
What he brought was consistency to the team... He brought in novel elements to the team as a whole (Ernie Adams) and promoted a team first mentality, something that had been lacking, even if we didn't know it at the time... 2000 was a tough year... The team didn't do well, somewhat similar to what occurred this year... But 2001, he took a shot a changing the dynamic of the team by putting the ball in the hands of Tom Brady... They are, and forever will be intertwined because of what they accomplished... While never flashy (except for 2007) the Patriots became the paradigm of what an NFL franchise should be... deliberate, methodical and efficient, much like the man himself...
Never thought we'd win a Super Bowl, let alone six - and even better, was able to see three if those victories in person... talk about a dream come true... 9 trips, 6 victories, and always in the hunt... The way the roster and team was maintained over the course of 20 years is nothing short of outstanding... So many moving pieces from players to staff to cap management, we became what every other franchise aspires to... The winning was handled by Brady (cannot stress this enough - Players Play, coaches lose), while Belichick ran the Patriots like they were Jeff Gordons pit crew, keeping everything in working order, with the efforts always focused on one thing - winning... attention to detail became synonymous with Bill Belichick...
What he accomplished here stands tall amongst the coaching greats... Lombardi, Walsh, Brown, The fedora guy from Dallas... Thats some heady company to keep...
Proud he was our coach for so long... Proud that he lead the franchise to so many years of unqualified success... Its something I don't think will ever be replicated in the NFL again as the game is pushed further away from its roots.