And the Bledsoe contract became insignificant quickly.
Thanks to the injury and Belichick possessing a brain and keeping Brady in there
It's a typical loser move owners make, paying a mediocre quarterback a fortune and declare him a 'franchise' QB. Like Eason, Drew threw for a lot of yards but please.
Pacells got a winning tradition started but then couldn't be part of the long term culture that Kraft decided was critical. And he was totally, 100% right. You can't have a "team first" culture when the coach is an attention-seeking egomaniac.
I understand/agree with Parcells coming off as a blowhard. Took me years to come around on him. But Kraft is about making it all about himself. He didn't hire Bill. Only the return of Belichick reinstated the winning culture.
The most impressive thing about Kraft is the clear learning curve.
Disagree. He hasn't learned anything. He sticks with decisions he makes - with the good ones, it works out. With the wrong ones, things will never improve or be fixed.
The logo/uniforms/visual identity stuff pales in comparison with everything else. It shouldn't even be on the list; it has nothing to do with consistent winning or financial success.
The Raiders-Cowboys game featured a matchup with classic, established, traditional, attractive, professional preferred uniforms. A Pats-Bucs game today does not.
Financially, Kraft's net worth would be $1 billion greater today if he'd restored what was established and unanimously chosen by the team's fans for 32 years. People nationally always liked the Patriots' logo and uniforms, even if they weren't rooting for them. Marketing and promotions are a religion to them, but Orthwein and Kraft are terrible at it. He spends a fortune promoting the flying elvis, and it's like Mitt Romney spending to get votes.
Kraft forever blathers that 'There Were No Championships', conveniently ignoring Dreith and Tatum, the 8 years from 1993-2000 when 'There Were No Championships' and the 9 years from 2005-2013 when 'There Were No Championships'.
Before Brady the team's record was worse with the new logo than it was the previous three decades. But Kraft has
always said everything to empower and sustain the false laughingstock narrative. Over a dozen other teams were much worse than the Patriots prior to Kraft; the media loses their minds in years like 1981 and 1990-92.
“Perception is reality.” You have a mental impression of something, and it defines how you see that something, regardless of the truth.
49ers, Cowboys, Steelers, Packers, Raiders and Colts are seen as winners.
Patriots have had nothing but national dismissal, denial and denigration of their on field accomplishments since 1970. Instead of debunking all of it, citing facts and supporting and empowering the very team he bought and the regional and national fan base he inherited, Kraft has consistently done the exact opposite: doubling down on how the team 'sucked forever' before he bought it. Orthwein considered the franchise 'broken and ridiculed'; in fact the owner was broke and the team inapplicably, inappropriately ridiculed solely based on bias.
The Tuck Rule, Belichick and so on was nothing more than the continuation of denigration of the team winning. It was no different in 1974 or 1985. It wasn't necessary for Kraft to be Al Davis, but capitulating and only responding with empty rhetoric which makes the Democratic Party blush only encouraged the three (so far) fake scandals with stolen top draft picks which create an unfair competitive disadvantage entirely specific to the New England Patriots. This directly affects their ability to win.
