John Hannah and the 70's-80's Pats

[1960Pats]

Yes everyone thought the officials cost us the game. Ridiculous non hold on Francis and roughing the passer that changed the game.

There's always two sides, but most everyone thought the Sullivan's were cheap.

Which leads to the Sullivans. Bill got a pass because he brought football here, but the kids were hated. Also Bill didn't have the money to compete against people like the Hunts.

I think in the early days Hunt may have been helping the Pats more than competing against them. I appreciate both of them for bringing the AFL/Pats here. It's been one heck of a ride.

 

[Pats Fanatic]

That 1976 game is still the worst loss I can ever remember. I was only 11 years old at the time and the game was played around Christmas time and went to a Christmas party at church. I remember praying for a Patriots win. Well that was the last time, except for weddings, that I have gone to church.

 

[1960Pats]

I still get fired up when I think of the Dreith game in 76. What made it worse was that the Steelers won the 1 oclock game but lost both Rocky Blier and Franco Harris, something that Ben Dreith and his crew were well aware of at the time. The Raiders got a cakewalk to a Lombardi vs a weak NFC team.

But, that's all gone now. The Pats have since blown them out of the water. And it all started with a win 25 years later against the Raider tuckheads. As Jackie Gleason used to say, how sweet it is.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

To this day for 2 entire generations of Pats fans the name Ben F Dreith is synonymous with bag jobs but probably half his crew was in on it. That game could not have been called more one sided. Today's fans might look at the video of that play and think it's a borderline call but in an era when QB's didn't wear tutus that call didn't exist. QB's were routinely subjected to far worse hits on their follow through after two steps by the defender never mind a play like that where Hamilton had left his feet before the ball was released. Dreith compounded it by saying Stabler was hit in the head, if you can look at the video and find the head shot you'll be the first one in 40 years to do it. As ridiculous as that was on Hamilton it wasn't even the worst incident in the game, the non call on Francis being held (mugged) right in front of the official could be the poster child for an officiating Hall of Shame. I am not a conspiracy or 'fix' guy but that game was a total bag job, the sentiment at the time was the crew had to have money on the game and all these years later it hasn't changed. There just isn't any other plausible explanation for the calls or lack thereof as they happened throughout that game, no crew (not even one led by Corrente) is that incompetent.

It's sad that Kraft chose to never honor this team, which remains, five Super Bowl titles later, arguably the best Patriots team, ever.

Fairbanks, Gray, Francis and especially Julius Adams belong in the team Hall of Fame, before anyone else not named Tom Brady.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Ron Borges? Is that you?

You should provide quote marks and a Link ~ here you go ~ when you plagiarize.

All set

 

[italian pat patriot]

1976 L @ Raiders is still in my opinion the worst ever for our franchise

IF we should have won that game , much probably we would have been Super Bowl Chanpions and a turnaround for the franchise

 

[patfanken]

The thing that was so painful about that game with the Raiders wasn't JUST the Ben Drieth call. That was just ONE call. What was so painful was the other half dozen calls or non-calls that would have made the Dreith call irrelevant. I don't think there have been 5 other games in modern NFL history where one team was so obviously jobbed by the officials. It was a continuous factor for the ENTIRE game.

The Sullivans were thieves as well as being idiots and buffoons. They literally stole the team from the original shareholders. The myth that "they brought back pro football to Boston is completely fallacious. They did have a part, but just a part. The sixth largest TV market (at the time) was going to get a pro football franchise sooner or later. We just had to suffer through 3 bad owners before we got it right. Any success the Pats had before Kraft was DESPITE the owners.

BTW- Just an aside, but in 1979 John Hanna became the HC at Somerville HS. The guy he beat out was......me. History would show that they made the wrong choice.

I did get to know John after we both left coaching and went into the financial services industry. John was very successful. He could and probably still is a little standoffish when you first meet him. You'd probably think of him as a bit of a **** in fact. However, if you take the time to get past the ego, he was a pretty interesting guy. His problem at Somerville was that it wasn't ready for the 2nd coming of Bear Bryant. He knew his football, he just didn't know kids.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

1976 L @ Raiders is still in my opinion the worst ever for our franchise

IF we should have won that game , much probably we would have been Super Bowl Chanpions and a turnaround for the franchise

1976 R @ Raiders

("R"=Robbery)

 

[patfanken]

1976 L @ Raiders is still in my opinion the worst ever for our franchise

IF we should have won that game , much probably we would have been Super Bowl Chanpions and a turnaround for the franchise

concerning the Sullivan's i totally agree 100% wih RayClay, nothing to add on his amazing nr 6 post on this thread - simply perfect imho

Sorry I don't think so. Even a Superbowl win that year wouldn't have saved the Pats from the Sullivans. Their brand of ineptitude knew no bounds. They would have managed or rather mismanaged the team back to irrelevance in short order just like they did with that 76 team and the 85 team.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Sorry I don't think so. Even a Superbowl win that year wouldn't have saved the Pats from the Sullivans. Their brand of ineptitude knew no bounds. They would have managed or rather mismanaged the team back to irrelevance in short order just like they did with that 76 team and the 85 team.

sorry but i disagree - that would have been a HUGE turnaround - i believe it...the team from 1976 to 1978 was so good...with that hypotetichal W i think it would have been a good run

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The Sullivans were thieves as well as being idiots and buffoons. They literally stole the team from the original shareholders. The myth that "they brought back pro football to Boston is completely fallacious. They did have a part, but just a part. The sixth largest TV market (at the time) was going to get a pro football franchise sooner or later. We just had to suffer through 3 bad owners before we got it right. Any success the Pats had before Kraft was DESPITE the owners.

The reason they're not the Hartford Pats is that Tagliabue dispatched his lackey, Roger Goodell, here to try to retain the lucrative Boston media market. In so doing, Goodell made lots of phone calls to Kraft (who wasn't legally permitted to negotiate directly with another state), somehow getting the Massachusetts Legislature to do a 180, allowing Kraft to back out of the deal at the last minute and build CMGI Field in Foxborough and, unfortunately, obviously forever endearing Goodell to Kraft in just as stuck-on and permanent a fashion as the flying elvis is to our helmets and the color blue is to our jerseys.

That, along with his sickening capitulation, acquiescence and contrition(!) in both fake scandals including stolen first round draft picks make it official that the Patriots have never had an owner who didn't have bats in the belfry.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

sorry but i disagree - that would have been a HUGE turnaround - i believe it...the team from 1976 to 1978 was so good...with that hypotetichal W i think it would have been a good run

Julius Adams got injured and was out for the year in Game 1 in '78...soon followed by others, including John Smith. We ran into the record books, but Steve Grogan was hurt by the end and our defense simply wasn't as good, or healthy, as in '76.

The general consensus locally among fans is that the Pats of that era underachieved, which is correct. Despite the lack of amenities and first-rate training facilities. Their ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in 1980 is unmatched in history; they found ways to lose that stagger the imagination, and kept themselves out of the playoffs - again - in the competitive AFC.

Later, Victor Kiam was compelled to fire Raymond Berry...after Berry had already released Doug Flutie. Let's all face it, Berry would have started Tony Eason over Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas or anyone else. Had we kept Flutie the team would have had a chance to compete for years. Instead, Doug got all his MVP's and titles north of the border.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The thing that was so painful about that game with the Raiders wasn't JUST the Ben Drieth call. That was just ONE call. What was so painful was the other half dozen calls or non-calls that would have made the Dreith call irrelevant. I don't think there have been 5 other games in modern NFL history where one team was so obviously jobbed by the officials. It was a continuous factor for the ENTIRE game.

I've never seen anything like it in any of the four major professional sports, ever.

 

[maust]

sorry but i disagree - that would have been a HUGE turnaround - i believe it...the team from 1976 to 1978 was so good...with that hypotetichal W i think it would have been a good run

It certainly could have generated a turnaround on the field but it would never have saved the Sullivans from themselves financially. The team, stadium and lease were so debt laden and leveraged from Billy & Chuck's double dealing with their financial 'partners' and the outright fleecing of their original investors and shareholders finally coming home to roost via lawsuits and court orders the house of cards falling in was inevitable.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

It certainly could have generated a turnaround on the field but it would never have saved the Sullivans from themselves financially. The team, stadium and lease were so debt laden and leveraged from Billy & Chuck's double dealing with their financial 'partners' and and outright thievery from their original investors and shareholders finally coming home to roost via lawsuits and court orders the house of cards falling in was inevitable.

Chuck was living in the Sullivan Stadium offices by the late 80's, after the Victory Tour debacle

 

[italian pat patriot]

the Victory Tour

that was the enormous mistake made by Chuck that caused the REAL disaster...

after Sullivan's ? Victor Kiam and James Busch Orthwein

 

[maust]

Chuck was living in the Sullivan Stadium offices by the late 80's, after the Victory Tour debacle

At the height of his chicanery and double dealing Chuck had buffaloed everyone so well he had a seat on the league's executive council. Had the Victory Tour panned out and given him the breathing room to do it he might have gone on to Ponzi the entire league. Still it was a heck of a con turning $8300 in cash into 30 years of living high on the back of the pig while amassing over $130M in debt, co-opting the state legislature and ultimately coming out of the mess as millionaires that never served any jail time who are generally viewed as incompetent but lovable good hearted Patriarchs to this very day by the general public. If they made a true life movie out of it no one would believe it.

 

[maust]

the


that was the enormous mistake made by Chuck that caused the REAL disaster...

after Sullivan's ? Victor Kiam and James Busch Orthwein

A commonly held misconception, the truth is the Victory Tour was Chuck's last gasp effort to keep the smoke and mirrors show going.

 

[zoostation]

The 1976 playoff game against Oakland. Hannah claims that officials cost them the game on Oakland's go ahead drive and on the subsequent drive by the Patriots. Can anyone tell me if that holds up or what the game felt like at the time?

This team was probably the 8th best Patriots all time team, maybe higher. Absolutely stacked. The Pats gave the Raiders a beat down earlier in the regular season a week after beating a very good Steeler team. The Patriots got SCREWED in that playoff game. They went out on the road and outplayed a Raider team that lost only 1 game (to the Patriots) that season only to have the refs take the victory away (twice). Any Raider fan who complains about the tuck 'RULE' needs to shut their mouth and be thankful for that gift the propelled them to be 1976 Super bowl champions.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

A great article about the Sullivans' financial shenanigans:
The $126 Million Fumble