Today In Patriots History July 11, 2011: Mike Vrabel retires

[jmt57]

The big question is this: how many people will freak out over the thread title, while glossing over the date?

Today in Patriots History
Mike Vrabel retires​

July 11, 2011:
Mike Vrabel retires from the NFL after 14 seasons

Ex-Pat Mike Vrabel retires

Former All-Pro linebacker Mike Vrabel is retiring from the Kansas City Chiefs and returning to his alma mater as an Ohio State assistant coach. Vrabel confirmed Monday morning the end of his 14-year career and that he had taken the job as…

www.bostonherald.com

Former Patriots Star Mike Vrabel Retires

Former All-Pro linebacker Mike Vrabel has retired after 14 seasons in the NFL and will take a job as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ohio State…

www.golocalprov.com

Former Patriot Mike Vrabel Retires, Takes Coaching Job At Ohio State

Former New England Patriot All-Pro linebacker Mike Vrabel is retiring from the Kansas City Chiefs and returning to his alma mater as an Ohio State assistant coach.

www.cbsnews.com

Chiefs' Vrabel retires after 14 years; LB to coach at Ohio State

The official source for NFL news, video highlights, fantasy football, game-day coverage, schedules, stats, scores and more.

www.nfl.com

Former All-Pro linebacker Mike Vrabel is retiring from the Kansas City Chiefs and returning to his alma mater as an Ohio State assistant coach.​

Vrabel confirmed Monday morning the end of his 14-year career and that he had taken the job as linebackers coach with the Buckeyes. The position was previously held by his college roommate and teammate, Luke Fickell, who was elevated to interim head coach when Jim Tressel resigned May 30.​

Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who worked with Vrabel while with the Patriots, and later orchestrated the trade that brought the linebacker to Kansas City, called it "an honor and a privilege" to be associated with Vrabel for 10 seasons.​

"During his Patriots career, there was no player more respected for his football intellect and revered for his leadership by his teammates than Mike," Bill Belichick said in a statement released by Ohio State. "He was elected a team captain by his peers and is a player who I think everyone knew was destined to become a coach after his NFL playing career was over.​

"Mike Vrabel is as well-suited for coaching as any player I have ever coached. He has a tremendous feel for people, players, coaches and what his team needs regardless of the situation. He is outstanding in his knowledge of the game, which contributed to his excellence as a player. I have no doubt Mike will develop tough, intelligent, fundamentally sound winners."​

Mike Vrabel retires after 14 seasons - ESPN

In the statement released earlier Monday announcing his retirement, Vrabel specifically thanked Pioli and Patriots coach Bill Belichick.​

"I am especially grateful to Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli, who not only gave me the opportunity to play for a team that won three Super Bowl championships and an NFL record 21 games in a row, but also taught me invaluable lessons on creating the ultimate team approach."​

Vrabel lettered from 1993-96 at Ohio State when John Cooper was the head coach. He was a two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year. As a senior in high school in Akron, his host on his official recruiting visit to Ohio State was Fickell.​

Active in the NFL Players Association's executive committee and its negotiations with the league, Vrabel said he was unsure if he would have retired if there were no lockout going on in the pros.​

While with the Patriots in 2007 he had 54 solo tackles, 12½ sacks and forced four fumbles and was selected to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams for the only time in his career. He finished with 742 tackles and 57 sacks in 206 games.​

He was also known during his Patriots days as a short-yardage or goal-line fullback/tight end. He caught 10 career passes -- every one going for a touchdown. He caught two more touchdown passes in the playoffs, grabbing short scoring strikes from Tom Brady in the Patriots' Super Bowl victories against the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles.​

​

 

[jmt57]

Today in Patriots History
Fonzie Busted Again​

July 11, 2013:
Alfonzo Dennard is arrested on suspicion of DUI, refusing a chemical test, and a driving infraction while still on probation for a 2012 assault charge. He pleads no contest to refusing to submit to a chemical test in exchange for having the DUI case dismissed; was fined $500 and placed on probation. This came five months after being convicted of assaulting a police officer, for an incident that occurred seven days prior to the 2012 NFL draft.

Unfortunately for the cornerback, the timing could not have possibly been any worse. Not that there is ever a good time to be arrested, but Dennard's charges came when the news cycle was still dominated by Aaron Hernandez' murder arrest just fifteen days earlier.

Dennard was a person with impeccably bad timing. Expected to be a Day Two pick, he got in a fight outside a bar and was arrested seven days prior to the draft, resulting in a slip to the seventh round. At that time I thought the Pats had just made a huge steal, being able to select him so late. He was obviously going to drop, but I didn't think it would be that far.

Early in 2015 Dennard was waived, even though the Patriots had lost Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, and Kyle Arrington in free agency. A series of injuries in 2014 - first a shoulder, then knee, followed by a hamstring - caused him to miss ten games. That lack of availability could have been overlooked, if not for the off-field issues. He was claimed by Arizona but was released at the start of training camp - and poof, just like that his NFL playing days were over after just three seasons. An incredibly short career considering how highly regarded he was at Nebraska.

New England Patriots' Alfonzo Dennard arrested again

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft must have seen this one coming.

www.latimes.com

While Kraft might have been surprised by Hernandez being arrested on a murder charge, Dennard’s latest run-in with the law shouldn’t have come as a shock. This is another guy the Patriots probably need to throw into the free-agent heap.​

Alfonzo Dennard arrested again

New England Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard was arrested early Thursday morning in Lincoln, Neb., on suspicion of driving under the influence.

www.espn.com

Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard was arrested and accused of drunk driving Thursday in Nebraska while on probation for assaulting a police officer, the second New England player to get in serious legal trouble this summer.​

Dennard's early-morning arrest in Lincoln, Neb., where he was a college star for the Cornhuskers, came 15 days after Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder and three days after Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the club will "be looking at our procedures and auditing how we do things" with regard to character reviews.​

"The New England Patriots are extremely disappointed to learn of Alfonzo Dennard's arrest. We take this matter very seriously and are working to get more information on the incident," the team said in a statement.​

Dennard's arrest is his second in 15 months. He hasn't served a 30-day jail sentence for the assault outside a Lincoln bar on Apr. 21, 2012. That is scheduled to begin next March. He also was sentenced to two years of probation.​

Dennard and Hernandez both were highly-touted college prospects whose draft stock dropped because of character concerns.​

Seven days after being charged with assault, Dennard was drafted in the seventh round last year out of Nebraska by the Patriots. They drafted Hernandez in the fourth round in 2010 after he violated the substance abuse policy at Florida.​

Dennard became a starter at cornerback in the seventh game of his rookie season. The other starter, Aqib Talib, was obtained from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Nov. 1 then signed a one-year contract on March 16. He missed his first game with the Patriots while completing a four-game suspension imposed by the NFL for violating its policy on performance-enhancing substances.​

On Thursday, Dennard was pulled over while driving just before 2 a.m. and failed a field sobriety test, police said. A phone listing for Dennard couldn't be found.​

Police spokeswoman Katie Flood said he was taken to a detoxification center but not jailed. He also was accused of refusing a chemical test and a driving infraction.​

Terry Dougherty, Dennard's attorney in the assault case, said in April that he would ask Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy to suspend the 30-day sentence if Dennard complied with the terms of his probation over the subsequent 11 months. Stacy said then that she would consider such a motion.​

It's unclear whether prosecutors will move to have Dennard's probation revoked. Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly didn't immediately return a message.​

Dennard's arrest is the latest off-field incident involving a Patriots player while he was with them or before they obtained him. Among the others:​

• Brandon Meriweather, a safety drafted in the first round in 2007 from Miami, fired a gun at an assailant who had shot Dolphins backup safety Willie Cooper outside the house the two players shared with another teammate, police said. Meriweather wasn't charged and police said he used the gun legally.​

• Willie Andrews, a defensive back drafted in the seventh round in 2006 from Baylor, was cut by the Patriots after being arrested twice following the 2007 season. The first arrest was for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute two days after the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.​

• Nick Kaczur, an offensive tackle drafted in the third round in 2005 from Toledo, pleaded guilty in July 2008 to speeding in a deal with prosecutors and was ordered to pay $355 in fines and fees. He originally was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, after being pulled over by state troopers near Utica, N.Y.​

• Albert Haynesworth, a defensive tackle obtained in a trade on July 29, 2011, pleaded no contest the following month to a charge of simple assault in a case in which he was accused of touching a waitress' breast at a Washington, D.C., hotel.​

 

[jmt57]

Today in Patriots History
Former Patriots Player
Shoots Policeman in Helicopter​

In memory of Ernie Holmes, who would have turned 78 today
Born July 11, 1948 in Jamestown, Texas
Died January 17, 2008 at the age of 59 in Beaumont, Texas
Patriots DT, 1978; uniform #63
Signed as a free agent on November 30, 1978
Pats résumé: three regular season games plus one postseason game


Ernie Holmes played for Pittsburgh for six seasons, starting 58 games for the Steelers from 1972-1977. He was a crucial part of the famed Steel Curtain defense, where he earned a pair of Super Bowl rings. Due to weight issues Holmes was traded to Tampa Bay for a 10th and 11th round draft pick early in the '78 offseason, but was cut at the end of the Bucs training camp. The fearsome (and unstable) Holmes played in the final three games of the 1978 season with the Patriots (plus the Chuck Fairbanks farewell postseason loss to Houston), finishing his NFL career in that New Years Eve loss to the Houston Oilers in Foxboro.


March 16, 1973:

Steelers' Tackle, Holmes, Arrested in Ohio Manhunt (Published 1973)

Pittsburgh Steelers football player E Holmes is arrested by Ohio State Police for allegedly shooting at trucks on hwy

www.nytimes.com

Sheriff's deputies and the Ohio State Patrol arrested a man whom they identified as the Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive tackle, Ernest Holmes, after a manhunt today in which a helicopter pilot was shot and wounded.​

The hunt was for a gunman who had been reported firing at trucks on nearby highways.​

January 18, 2008:

Texas crash kills ex-Steeler Ernie Holmes - UPI.com

Former defensive tackle Ernie Holmes, who played for two Pittsburgh Super Bowl winners, was killed in car crash near Lumberton, Texas, authorities said Friday.

www.upi.com

Former defensive tackle Ernie Holmes, who played for two Pittsburgh Super Bowl winners, was killed in car crash near Lumberton, Texas, authorities said Friday.​

Holmes, an ordained minister, was traveling alone on Highway 69 when his SUV crashed and rolled Thursday night, KFDM-TV in Beaumont reported.​

Holmes, nicknamed "Fats," a two-time NFL all-pro player, lived at Weirgate in Newton County, Texas, the report said.​

The big lineman played for the Steelers from 1972 to 1977 and for a season with the New England Patriots in 1978. He was on Super Bowl-winning teams in 1975 and 1976.​

Holmes was on a Steelers' defensive line that included Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White.​

"Oh, Ernie was definitely an enforcer," Greene told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.​

January 18, 2008:

Dr. Z: Steelers' Holmes was as misunderstood as he was underappreciated

Once I saw Ernie Holmes pick up a sportswriter by the shirt and hold him, with one hand, against the wall while he lectured the poor guy on the finer points of

www.si.com

Once I saw Ernie Holmes pick up a sportswriter by the shirt and hold him, with one hand, against the wall while he lectured the poor guy on the finer points of covering the Steelers. There were people who were scared to death of him, others who didn't want to have anything to do with him, still others who liked him as you would a big, galloping Great Dane puppy.​

The world discovered that the 6-foot-3, 280-pound Holmes, who one can safely say was the most feared member of the Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s, was a bit unbalanced when he made headlines by firing his pistol at trucks on the highway. Traffic made him nervous, he explained later. Besides, he said he was careful not to aim at people, just vehicles. When a police helicopter arrived on the scene, he turned his fire skyward.​

Woody Widenhofer, who coached the linebackers, said there were days when Ernie was just as good as Joe Greene. Noll scoffed at the idea that Holmes never earned any kind of All-Pro recognition.​

"You want to know how good he was, how tough?" Noll said. "Take a look at the way the guy who had to play against him looks, coming off the field after the game -- if he was able to finish it."​

I remember Picture Day before the '76 Super Bowl. Ernie grabbed me and said he wanted to explain what the game meant to him. I took six pages of notes in my 5 x 8 spiral. I didn't understand any of them. I am looking at them right now, and I still don't know what they mean.​

"You think I don't care, it's like two iguanas climbing up a tree, which one gets higher, they want to piss on you, I'm not going to let them ..." and on and on, for six pages.​

January 17, 2008:

Column: Holmes was finally getting life in order

It was with immense sadness Friday that the Pittsburgh Steelers learned that Ernie Holmes was dead at age 59. Sadness not only because a former Super Bowl hero had lost his life, but also because …

www.timesonline.com

“It was nothing short of a miracle,” Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount said of the turnaround the often-troubled Holmes made before dying Thursday night when he rolled his SUV in southeast Texas.​

“I’m so happy that at some point in his life, he got his life together.”​

Thirty-two years ago, when Time magazine featured the Steelers’ famous front four on its cover, Holmes admitted that “I don’t know what my life is except there is something pounding in the back of my head.”​

He’s the guy who was so distraught over the break up of his marriage in 1973 that he started firing a pistol at trucks on a highway in eastern Ohio and then at a police helicopter that was chasing him.​

At that point in his career, the Steelers could have easily severed ties with Holmes, one of the team’s two eighth-round picks in the 1971 NFL Draft. Instead, the Rooney family and coach Chuck Noll stood by Holmes. They served as character witnesses on Holmes’ behalf and managed to get him off without having to do any jail time.​

He was an admitted alcoholic who also battled substance abuse. Four years ago when he returned for the Mel Blount Youth Home Celebrity Roast, he weighed close to 400 pounds and walked with a cane.​

But two years ago, Holmes did reunite with Greene, Greenwood and White to film a “Chunky” soup commercial. All things considered, he looked great.​

January 18, 2008:

Ernie Holmes, member of 'Steel Curtain,' dies at 59

Ernie Holmes, a two-time Super Bowl winner and an anchor of Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" defense, has died in a car crash. He was 59.

www.espn.com

After football, Holmes had minor acting roles. He appeared in an episode of the 1980s TV show "The A-Team" and dabbled in professional wrestling.​

Eventually, though, he settled down on a ranch near tiny Wiergate, a town of 461 close to the Louisiana border. He was an ordained minister, had his own church and told the Steelers he was a more "spiritual being."​

The Steelers took note of the difference in Holmes at reunions and autograph shows. Former linebacker Andy Russell said Holmes had taken "meaningful steps in improving his life" and seemed to be a "much more thoughtful kind of person."​

To motivate his teammates, Holmes purposefully strayed into the Raiders' warmups to tell star lineman Gene Upshaw before the January 1976 AFC Championship Game what the Steelers would do to him and Oakland. The Steelers went on to win 24-13. But at a team Christmas party, Holmes surprised everyone by dressing up like Santa Claus and handing out toys.​

"I don't recall anybody telling him to do that," Greene said. "That was Ernie."​

January 20, 2008:

Ernie Holmes, 59, N.F.L. Lineman, Is Dead (Published 2008)

Ernie Holmes won two Super Bowls as an anchor of Pittsburgh’s famed Steel Curtain defense in the 1970s.

www.nytimes.com

He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car, and was pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.​

Ernie Holmes (1948-2008) - Find a Grave Memorial

Professional Football Player. Born in Jamestown, Texas, he played at the defensive tackle position for seven seasons (1972 to 1978) in the National Football League, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots. He was a member of two Super Bowl championship teams (1975 and 1976...

www.findagrave.com

Ernie Holmes once told a reporter from Time magazine that he was attracted to the violence of football and that he didn't "mind knocking somebody out."
QB Dan Pastorini described Holmes as the defender that he feared the most.​

 

[jmt57]

Here are YouTube videos and links to articles from the four games that Ernie Holmes played in for the Patriots.

November 3, 1978:
Patriots lose 17-10 at Dallas thanks to K David Posey missing three field goals.

Cowboys Foil Patriots, Clinch East Title (Published 1978)

www.nytimes.com

Highlights:


Extended Highlights:
1978 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS AT DALLAS COWBOYS

Full Game:
1978 New England at Dallas Regular Season wk 14




December 10, 1978: Patriots 26, Bills 24;
David Posey kicks the game-winning FG after Pats score two on a safety.

Patriots Clinch Division Title, 26‐24 (Published 1978)

www.nytimes.com

Highlights:


Full Game Radio Broadcast with Gil Santos, Gino Cappelletti:

1978-12-10 Buffalo Bills @ New England Patriots (WBZ)

December 10, 1978Schaefer Stadium Foxboro, MassachusettsWBZGil Santos, Gino Cappelletti

www.youtube.com

December 18, 1978:
Dolphins 23, Pats 3 in the game Hank Bullough and Ron Erhardt shared coaching duties while Chuck Fairbanks was suspended.

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/19/archives/new-england-coach-sought-release-club-loses-233-52151-college.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1978/12/19/dolphins-put-damper-on-patriots-23-3/bc670acc-e728-4d60-b528-f3828b478a7f/

Highlights:





December 31, 1978: Oilers 31, Patriots 14;
Fairbanks returns but it was a miserable day, miserable environment and miserable game

Wild?Card Oilers Upset Patriots (Published 1979)

Houston Oilers defeat New England Patriots, 34-10, in AFC playoff game (M)

www.nytimes.com

Highlights Lowlights:

Full Game:
​