Kraft a semifinalist for HOF

[Actual Pats Fan]

Same with Stanley Morgan, who should have been enshrined more than a decade ago... if he put his numbers up wearing a steelers jersey during the 80's (when they weren't winning championships) he'd be in the Hof

We've been better than the Squealers in every decade but the 70's-when we beat them there, and would have again on the way to Pats-adena, if not for Dreith.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Lloyd Wells

Lloyd Wells - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Roone Arledge

Roone Arledge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Rodney Harrison is likely never going to get into the HOF. His reputation as a dirty player is likely going to be a black mark against him.

Ironic that he himself was the target of a cheap shot.

Most intelligent football people will say he was not a cheap shot artist (like Tatum).

And I think Rodney should be in, but again his reputation works against him. And I think the reputation is largely undeserved.

As is the Patriots':

Morgan also deserves to be in. The guy will likely forever hold the record for average YPC for receivers with over 500 career catches. He unfortunately played on a Patriots team that was mostly considered a joke throughout his career.

That 'joke' had two (2) losing seasons in his 13 years here. There are over a dozen NFL teams which better fit the 'joke' label for that time period.

And let's face it. Grogan was not a prolific passer. Grogan was more of a dual threat of scrambling ability and passing than a pure passer. If Morgan had a better passer, he would easily gotten into the Hall by now. Don't get me wrong. I love Grogan, but he was no Marino or Montana or Kelly or Fouts or any other prolific passer of the late 70s and 80s.

There was never anything wrong with Grogan. His career trajectory was sabotaged by on(Dreith, Tatum)- and off(Sullivan)-field debacles, along with Raymond Berry's adoration of Tony Eason.

Every great quarterback threw picks. Every single one.

It was only in 2007 that most people - locally and nationally - took Brady's passing ability seriously.

Grogan beat Fouts, Marino and Kelly. Prolific passing is possibly the most deceiving statistic in evaluating the position (see Bledsoe, Drew). Berry did the exact opposite of what Belichick did in '01: He benched Flutie, who literally made the team competitive all by himself, with Tony Eason who had not played a down in a year.

Winning is what defines success in the sport, and greatness. Starr, Staubach, Brady, Grogan, Flutie, Plunkett and Montana are examples of those who grew and learned from the many obstacles and adversity which any QB faces, and played at the championship level.

Marino, Kelly, Fouts were undeniably prolific passers. I'm not pretending any of them would lead the '80 & '83 Raiders, '81 49ers or '01 Pats anywhere. Elway and Young played well on loaded teams.

Stanley's accomplishments stand on their own, regardless of catching passes from Grogan, Cavanaugh, Eason or Flutie. We can make a good case too for two other former Patriots (& Rams) WR's, Harold Jackson and Henry Ellard.

 

[Pape]

Remarkable.

Bought the land & lease at auction
Didn't sell
Paid record $ to buy a moribund, debt-ridden, ridiculed losing team
Made Hartford deal when he got same treatment as Sullivan/wound up leveraging it to stay, backed out at last minute
Got CMGI built
Hired Belichick against practically all the advice he got
Has done more than most owners to support alumni & fans-not heroic but better than nothing


Won't bother to list his mistakes, he's human

Add to that he fought for this team... Bought all the land surrounding the stadium, then the stadium itself... A much younger stan kronke bid more for the Patriots than RKK did, and he let Orthwein and the St Louis crew know he would fight them tooth and nail in court to block the move and enforce the terms of the lease ( which was onerous, originally set up to drain the Patriots of all their liquidity and unjustly enrich the Sullivan family - the terms were so bad that it was one of the major factors in bankrupting Kiam because he didn't control the stadium and the revenue stream )

Funny how all the haters seem to forget that without RKK there would be no New England Patriots, no Tom Brady, no BB, no perfect storm of coach and player that dominated the league for 20 years, no 6 Super Bowl titles...

I guess they could enjoy watching the St Louis Stallions though...