Today in Patriots History

[Actual Pats Fan]

The time period that comprised the combination of the Sullivans with Clive Rush and John Mazur, and the Pats attempting to assimilate into the merged NFL was a major dysfunction. As we saw a few years later with contract malfunctions during the Chuck Fairbanks era, I can't really blame a player back then for not wanting to play for the Patriots. Who knows what advice Olsen was getting while he was still under contract with the Patriots. Dryer wanted to be near Hollywood for his post-NFL career.

You're right, and the strike of '75 is another example.

I think about '74, when after we had our first non-losing season since '66, media tried to explain it away as a fluke. Wikipedia says after '75 the Patriots had a "few good seasons." Eleven winning seasons in 13 years, and .500 in the last season we wore our best uniforms, 1983? A few?

And Wikipedia says "The Patriots reached a nadir between 1989 and 1993 when they won only 19 of 80 games." A period of transition in fact better than a lot of other teams who went through much longer and much worse, during which the Patriot franchise was denigrated unmercifully due in part to the financial collapse of ownership. Hard to say that was worse than the pre-Fairbanks hiring years.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Onward and upward

Quoting Mr. Objective's post here on 5/19/15:

"What is not widely known is that Kraft’s great-great-great-grandfather, General Alfonzo Solomon Stanton Kraft, fought in the American Revolution. General Kraft is reported to have said four months after the Battle of Lexington that there were “two polar extremes in this conflict—the Patriots on the one hand and the Tories and the British on the other” and that they would never see eye to eye. General Kraft observed, however, that everyone could agree that the conflict had gone on long enough and that for the good of the colonies he was giving up the fight. Fortunately, General Kraft was replaced by General George Washington after General Kraft suffered a severe bout of indigestion after eating Indian (feathers not dots this time) food at a peace powwow with the Commander of the British forces and leaders of Indian tribes aligned with the British and General Kraft’s name is just a footnote to history."

It's a good thing this happened, otherwise we'd still be a cowering colony of the U.K., and our regional flag would look like this

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

draft pick

Happy Birthday, Maurice Roy Hurst (born September 17, 1967). His son Maurice Hurst Jr. graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School and is currently a defensive tackle at the University of Michigan.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Boston Patriots

Today, let's fondly remember coach Michael Joseph Holovak (September 19, 1919 – January 27, 2008), who was a winner and brought class to the Patriots.

There's too many people like Mike to count, who would be appropriately remembered and appreciated by having our players look like we looked like for 33 loyal years every Sunday out there on the field, where it counts, win or lose.

...time to fire up the Holovakestrator...

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

the Pats

Sam Edwards Adams Sr. (September 20, 1948 – October 10, 2015) did us proud here, and represented New England with honor, like his namesake, Samuel Adams (September 27 1722 – October 2, 1803), an American statesman, political philosopher, one of the Founding Fathers of our country, a politician in colonial Massachusetts, and a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution.

It's always been appropriate that our best team not quarterbacked by Tom Brady played during our nation's bicentennial. Sam, like Julius and all their teammates, deserved rings that they never got, and today we're left to honor them in any way we can.

And let's remember with love and affection, the greatest Boston coach ever, Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006), whose sacrifices and contributions to our community, and literally fights to represent Boston and New England with honor on the basketball court, overshadow the countless title rings he orchestrated.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

the Pats

Happy Birthday, Reginald Joseph "Reggie" Rucker (born September 21, 1947), who went to BU, was undrafted but made the Cowboys and later played here with the Pats from '71-'74. Along with old friend "Patriots '76" host Len Berman, worked the Bills game in '85 when Steve Grogan came off the bench, dusted off the cobwebs and turned our season around into a Super one.

Danny Villa (born September 21, 1964) played well here from '87-'91, and returned in '97.

In 2009, he pleaded guilty in court to three counts of rape of a child and two counts of enticing a child while coaching at Walpole High.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The Patriots

I missed the anniversary, but Darryl Floyd Stingley (September 18, 1951 – April 5, 2007) is a special Patriots hero, on and off the field. There's a reason we were about to give him a new contract, putting him among the highest paid receivers in the NFL, before the tragedy. Along with his '76 teammates, he is not honored and remembered enough, and I look forward to that situation being remedied.

I'd like to see them together, in the Hall.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

win the Super Bowl

Happy Birthday, Christian Ashley Fauria (born September 22, 1971)

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

New England

Happy Birthday, Ed Reynolds (born September 23, 1961)

Marty Schottenheimer's (born September 23, 1943) long and distinguished professional career (he has the most wins of any NFL coach to never coach a team in a Super Bowl) made its second stop right here for the Boston Patriots in '69-'70.

He has been battling Alzheimer's disease for the last six years. Marty and his wife Pat are celebrating their 49th anniversary this year.

 

[BabeParilli]

A half century ago (1968) the Pats went 4-10 with this as the lineup.


QB Mike Taliaferro
HB R.C. Gamble
FB Jim Nance
WR Art Graham
WR Aaron Marsh
TE Jim Whalen+
LT Tom Funchess
LG Justin Canale
C Jon Morris*
RG Len St. Jean
RT Tom Neville
LDE Dennis Byrd
LDT Jim Lee Hunt
RDT Houston Antwine*
RDE Larry Eisenhauer
LLB Ed Philpott
MLB Nick Buoniconti
RLB Doug Satcher
LCB Leroy Mitchell*
RCB Daryl Johnson
LS John Charles
RS Don Webb
K Gino Cappelletti
P Terry Swanson
PR Willie Porter
KR Willie Porter

 

[jmt57]

A half century ago (1968) the Pats went 4-10 with this as the lineup.


QB Mike Taliaferro

My primary recollection of that team was Taliaferro being an absolute turnover machine. I'm sure much of that was on the OL, but he was painful to watch.

Between a young Bobby Orr on the Bruins, Yaz and the Impossible Dream Sox, and the Celtics still winning with Russell and Havlicek, it made those Patriots look even worse than they already were in comparison to all the other local pro sports teams.

 

[BabeParilli]

What I want to know is why Larry Eisenhauer isn't in the Pats HOF.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

My primary recollection of that team was Taliaferro being an absolute turnover machine. I'm sure much of that was on the OL, but he was painful to watch.

Between a young Bobby Orr on the Bruins, Yaz and the Impossible Dream Sox, and the Celtics still winning with Russell and Havlicek, it made those Patriots look even worse than they already were in comparison to all the other local pro sports teams.

Well, we missed Babe, who joined the Jets that year on their way to what is still one of, or maybe the biggest, world titles of all time. The Jets stuck it to Foola and the Dolts, and we all celebrated after nearly a decade of denigration and corruption (sound familiar?) on the part of the NFL.

Thanks to Rozelle, that corruption and bias was kept intact and alive and was, upon the culmination of the merger, then aimed directly at New England. Granted, there were some tangible drawbacks here in those days under the Sullivans, but all of the abject dismissal and abuse directed at us, since we started the climb to competitiveness and respectability on the field under Chuck Fairbanks, is and remains bullsh*t.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

made those Patriots

Happy Birthday, Leigh Edmond Bodden (born September 24, 1981)

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

birthdays

Happy Birthday, Brandin Tawan Cooks (born September 25, 1993)

Brandin played for us way back in the early 21st century, during the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era. He caught the winning TD pass against the Texans at old Gillette Stadium on 9/24/17, with seconds to go on the clock. Many people today do not realize that during this dynasty, the team wore the ridiculous, silly fake logo hastily conjured up by NFL Properties at the behest of James Busch (Meet Me in St. Louis) Orthwein just a few months before Brandin's birth, less than a year before Robert Kraft bought him out, an image virtually identical to its ancestor "proto elvis" which received what remains today the loudest booing in the history of the Patriots in 1979.

Hated by real Patriots fans, New Englanders and even opponents, the flying elvis, regularly rated worst among NFL and even all professional sports logos along with its corresponding Arena League reject uniforms were in fact embraced by many in the Boston area, even as they simultaneously complained about the same league stealing draft picks and leveling outlandish punishments on the team for imagined infractions. Today, of course, the only vestige of the impostor logo is as the butt of deserved ridicule, and receives raucous laughter whenever someone wants to reference a completely insulting, terrible notion, prospect or idea, usually suggested by the totally ignorant, as a cheap gimmick.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Patriots

Happy Birthday, Dion John Lewis (born September 27, 1990)

Happy Birthday, Ross Ventrone (born September 27, 1986)

Happy late Birthday, Lawrence Alexander "Larry" Izzo (born September 26, 1974). Oh yeah you know he's one of the bunch of guys Belichick brought on board who put us over the top in '01.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

former Patriots celebrate their birthdays

Happy Birthday, Joseph Robert "J. R." Redmond (born September 28, 1977)

Y'all remember this...and also

Irving Dale Fryar, Sr. (born September 28, 1962) has some personal issues, but he played his ass off here

 

[jmt57]

September 30:

Tom Brady makes his first NFL start on September 30, 2001. The Patriots crush golden boy Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts by the score of 44-13. It was the Colts first loss of the season, the Pats first victory of the year, and the first of a very long list of games between Brady and Manning. In a precursor of what would happen later in this rivalry, Ty Law had a 3-yard pick six off Manning. It was one of three interceptions the Forehead threw that day, two of which were returned for TDs (Otis Smith also had a 78-yard pick-6 to give the Pats a 17-0 first half lead).

Antowain Smith ran for two short touchdowns, rushed for 94 yards and caught three passes for 58 yards, while Adam Vinatieri booted three field goals. Brady went 13-23 for 168 yards while Manning was 20-34 for 196 yards and three interceptions. He was also sacked twice before throwing a late 4th quarter TD after Indy was down by 30 points. The Patriot defense came up with four turnovers, setting up Brady's first career victory.

Since Brady's first start the Patriots have won

• Five Super Bowls
• Seven AFC Championships
• 14 AFC East Titles
• 185 of the 238 games Brady has started (.777)
• 25 Playoff games (.735)

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

September 30:

Tom Brady makes his first NFL start on September 30, 1991.

That Pats team could have used him. And then some.

Regards,
Chris

 

[jmt57]

That Pats team could have used him. And then some.

Regards,
Chris

Since he would have only been 14 at the time, I'm not sure if Brady would have been all that much help to **** MacPherson's crew. It still may have been a tossup between TB12 and Tommy Hodson as the backup to Hugh Millen though....