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January 22, 2008 Since taking over ownership of the New England Patriots, Bob Kraft has indeed brought a winning mindset to a franchise long mired in mediocrity and worse. In his 15 years as owner, the team has won the division 8 times, been in the playoffs 10 times, won the AFC 4 times & won 3 Super Bowls.
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 A
written history of Firsts...
The beginning First Pats
Picks The Name Game First
front office moves Home
field disadvantage 1st
Training Camp The
inaugural season The First
Division Title The
First Super Bowl The
First World Championship
New Home, Gillette Stadium Champs AGAIN!!
Back to Back
Champs!!!
Perfect Regular Season
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| A Written History |
In the early 1950's William Sullivan began trying to get a professional football franchise into the New England region. In the late 50's when the Chicago Cardinals were looking for a new home, Sullivan and a small group of local investors made a strong bid to lure the NFL franchise to Boston. In the end, the team opted to head for St. Louis instead. Sullivan continued his search. A short time later a group of investors from around the country began organizing the American Football League in an effort to compete against the National Football League. Sullivan and the investors realized their opportunity was at hand and on November 18, 1959 his group seized the eighth and final franchise for the leagues inaugural season in 1960.
| At this time the team had |
no funds (they had to borrow the $25,000 needed for the
league's franchise fee).
no place to play home games.
an owner whom
was unknown to his fellow league members. |
A mere four days after Sullivan secured the right to the team, the league held it's first player allocation draft. The Patriots' took 41 players on that day in November. The first player picked up by the Patriots was Ron Burton, a running back out of Northwestern. Following this was a territorial draft in which the Patriots' first move was to take Gerhardt Schwedes, a halfback from Syracuse. All of this transpired before Sullivan could assemble front office staff to help run the team.
The
next order of business was to find a name for the new club. A contest was held
and the various suggestions for a name were submitted to a panel of local sports
writers. Seventy-four fans suggested the name "Patriots," which the
panel agreed best captured the heritage of the New England region. Phil Bissell,
an artist for the Boston Globe, drew a cartoon of a minute man crouched over a
football. Sullivan liked the design so much that he adopted it as the official
logo. On April 19, 1960, Pat Patriot was born.
Former Boston College head coach,
Mike Holovak, was hired as the club's first director of player personnel.
Following this Sullivan appointed Ed McKeever as his first general manager.
McKeever's first job was to find a head coach for the team. From a list of 70
possible candidates, the decision was made to name Lou Saban as head coach of
the team.
The 1960 BOSTON
Patriots, lead by
Head Coach Lou Saban.
The next order of business was to find a place to play. This would continue to be an annual problem for the first 10 years for the franchise's history. As a result of this ongoing problem, the Patriots ended up playing at Boston University Field, Harvard Stadium, Boston College Alumni Stadium, and Fenway Park before finding a permanent home in Foxborough in 1971 when the team moved into Schaeffer Stadium. The first field, at Boston University, housed the patriots for their first three seasons.
The Patriots opened their first training camp at University of Massachusetts in Amhurst on July 4, 1960. With the "open try-outs" and no restrictions the camp opened with 350 prospective players. Saban and his staff trimmed that number to 35 by opening day. That first season the Patriots set a number of AFL first. They played in the AFL's first exhibition game, against the Buffalo Bills on July 30, 1960. The Patriots won this game 28-7. The first score in league history came when a defensive end, Bob Lee, recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touch down. Two weeks later the Patriots had their first home game against the Dallas Texans. The Patriots lost 24-14.
The first regular season opened for the Patriots in Boston as they lost to 13-10 to the Denver Broncos. The Patriots managed to get to the .500 mark with a record of 5-5, before losing their final four games to finish 5-9. In the second year, the Patriots picked up "Babe" Parilli from the Packers. After a 2-3 start, Holovak replaced Saban as head coach. A major change made by Holovak was to move a defensive back by the name of Gino Cappelletti to wide receiver. The move paid off handsomely and the team finished its last 9 games with a record of 7-1-1, for a season record of 9-4-1. As a result of a 31-31 tie with Houston, the Oilers finished a half a game ahead of the Patriots and cost the Patriots their first division title. The next season, their third, the Pats did the same thing again, ending in second place to the Oilers with a 9-4-1 record.
Finally in 1963, the Patriots were able win a division title. They ended the season tied with Buffalo for the AFL eastern division with a record of 7-6-1. To break this tie, they played the AFL's only regular season tie breaker game in Buffalo. There was some controversy surrounding the participants on both sides. First Lou Saban, whom the Patriots fired as their head coach mid way through his 2nd season, in 1961 was........ It was Saban who objected to the Patriots using ........... . Said player had been hurt in the pre-season and had not played in a single regular season game in 1963. The AFL commissioner ruled that he could play and Saban slunk away to prepare for the game. The Patriots emerged triumphant 26-8. They then moved on to the AFL championship game with the San Diego Chargers. During the regular season the Chargers had beaten the Patriots 2 times. The third time was not the charm as the Chargers once again dominated play and scored a 51-10 victory.
An entire generation would pass before then team could take the next step.
After years of frustration following the clearly blown penalty call in the 1976 playoff game against the Raiders, fortune finally smiled on the Patriots. In 1985, with head coach Raymond Berry at the helm, the Patriots were able to get into the play-offs as the final wild card and the 3rd team out of the very tough AFC East. With a regular season record of 11-5 they edged out the Broncos for the final play-off spot. The problem was that as the last team into the playoff they would have to win 3 road games just to get to Super Bowl XX. This was a task that had never been accomplished in the history of the NFL. Compound this by the fact that the Pats had not won a playoff game in 22 years and you could not be called a realist to think that New England would get any chance to visit the championship game as anything other than spectators. The teams offense was based on the run and acceptable but Berry had built a tenacious defense that robbed other offenses like a band of highwaymen in the wilderness. Against the Jets, the defense created 4 turnovers with one going for a TD. Final score Pats 26, NY Jets 14.
Week 2 of the playoffs saw the Patriots return a Raider's fumble for the go ahead score to win 27-20. There is nothing like a killer defense to get a stadium fired up, unless of course the defense belongs to the visitors. The Patriots had just doubled their team's playoff win total for the entire history of the franchise. They were also only one game away from the Super Bowl. Cool! But wait! The Pats had to travel to the Miami Orange Bowl where, in 18 trips they had lost - 18 times. In week 15 of the regular season they had come oh so close but had once again lost to the Dolphins 30-27.
Finally, in the AFC Championship game, the curse was broken as New England used Miami's 4 fumbles and two intercepted passes to thump the Fins 31-14. Against all odds and reason the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl. I remember the night as if it were yesterday. Following the game I was on night security detail at my college. I had every piece of patriots paraphernalia that I owned either on my body or on the security car. The car stereo blared Dokken's "Tooth and Nail," and all was right in the realm. Two weeks later the Patriots dream of a first NFL championship ended in flames as the Chicago Bears' record setting "46" defense made minced meat out of the New England and any hope any of us might have had of that first championship. The Pats did not just loose, they got mauled and humiliated, 46-10. Many said it would have been better to not have even been there.
Following another failed championship attempt 11 years later in SB XXXI against the Green Bay Packers, the Patriots seemed destined to wallow in mediocrity. Each successive season following the 2nd Super Bowl brought 1 less win than the year before. Even when Bill Belicheck was hired as head coach for the 2000 season things went fabulously wrong as the team plummeted to 5-11. In 2001, following a week 1 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the world was stunned as terrorists attacked NYC and Washington DC. The nation drew together in a fever of patriotism. After of week of non-play in the NFL, the New England Patriots realized that this year was a write off when, in a home game against the New York Jets, Drew Bledsoe was knocked out of football for 8 weeks.
At 0 & 2 the world never looked darker or less inspired for fans of the team from Massachusetts. A nation in terror, a team without its leader. What happened next was so unbelievable that, well, no Hollywood script writer would have been able to sell such a fantastic the story. The Patriots fought their way back, up-hill every step of the way and with 3 weeks to go in the season actually had a shot at the No. 2 seed in the AFC. However, for this to happen, the sun had to move around the moon, water had to flow up-hill and your basic everyday run of the mill miracles needed to take place. Not only did certain teams need to lose, but they needed to lose to very specific teams while beating others. And as every true fan of the Patriots knew, these combinations of events NEVER went the way of the team from Mass. Never. Things seemed bleak.
Yet, to
everyone's amazement Buffalo beat the Jets in week 16 and then the Jets beat the Raider
s
in week 17,
part of the exact sequence of events took events to allow us to win the Division and sit
behind Pittsburgh with a bye in the playoffs. Now at this point we should have
known something was up, as life was getting just too weird. Stuff like this never
happened to our benefit. A week later in the playoffs t
he Raiders avenged
their loss to the Jets. The Raiders were headed to Foxboro. Things were
unfolding in a magical reversal of 1976, the year the Pats had been meant to win
their first Super Bowl. You know what happened and following a simply amazing
coaching job by Belichick and crew the Red, White & Blue team
was headed to New Orleans. For the 3rd time they would play in a Super Bowl in
New Orleans.
This time as possibly the biggest underdog in SB history (14 points).
Despite this the
Patriots won the hearts of much of America by shutting down the "greatest show on
turf" Rams and then kicking a field goal to break a 17-17 tie on the final play of the game.
Finally, on February 3, 2002, the
New England Patriots had become
World Champions.
 |
How Championship starved were Patriots' fans? When the 2001 New England Patriots' Championship video was released it sold over 600,000 copies in a matter of weeks. This more than doubled the record total of the previous sports top seller. NFL films was so impressed with the sales of the video/DVD that they immediately released a special "DVD only" presentation of the 3 playoff games titled "Three Games to Glory" with almost every play detailed with Gill Santos and Gino Cappelletti calling the action.
Can you say, "DVD just became a viable option for another 100,000
people?" |
The magical tour was not over yet.
As planned some seasons before, the new cmgi stadium was completed in the spring of 2002. The new digs for the Patriots were a world apart form the simple and limited home that the team had known for the previous 30 seasons. It also immediately catapulted the Patriots from having the worst playing facility in the league to now having arguably the best. Then just before the beginning of the season cmgi fell on hard times and had to pull it's money from the naming of the stadium. The Gillette corporation stepped in and Gillette Stadium was born.
You
have to admit that "the Razor" has a pretty good ring to it.
As luck or planning would have it, the first official game to christen the stadium was to be a week one contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. T-shirts were printed to celebrate the new home. The home team did not let the hometown faithful down, dispatching the Steelers 30-14 in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate.
Following
the first Championship in 2001, the team was unable to defend it's title very
well in 2002. With the arrival of some key free agents the 2003 season looked as
though it would be a return of high expectations. However, with a week 1 shutout
loss at Buffalo (31-0) and the loss of some key players to injuries things suddenly
looked bleak. Despite winning the next 2 games, the prognosis for the season
went from bad to worse as defensive starters continued to go down with injuries.
With the team training room looking like a triage from a civil war epic, the
team again suffered defeat at the hands of the Washington Redskins. At 2 wins
and 2 losses the weeks that stretched out before the team looked formidable.
Four of their next 5 games would be against teams that had been in the playoffs
in 2002. The Pats had lost to 3 of them the year before.
What happened next, well it can only be described as miraculous. Head Coach Bill Belichick was forced to play rookies in the place of injured veterans. A lot of rookies. And they responded like no rookie class in team history. The Patriots won all 5 of those games including a game in Denver and an OT game in Miami. The streak was on. Following a week 10 bye, the Pats shut out a highly ranked Dallas team and won in Houston in OT. I was on hand in reliant Stadium to witness this game. The team showed a lot of character to overcome mistakes and prevent defeat. It might sound strange to put it that way, yet Houston was poised to win this contest at several points during the game. The heart and soul that helped our team reach the 9-2 plateau with a 7 game winning streak had several of those fans present at the Houston game remarking, "What if..." Well, we would soon find out.
Patriots fans could feel something special was going on. Five wins in the final five games, 2 more by shut out, helped the team to shatter the franchise's old regular season win total, ending at 14-2. The team also had reeled off 12 straight wins. Despite the best record in football, many said the Patriots would not be winning their second championship. "Nobody in today's NFL can win 15 straight games. It is impossible!" As we would soon be reminded, the experts are often wrong.
During the final weeks of the regular season player after player who had been injured in the opening weeks became healthy. One by one they returned to the sidelines and the defense got better and better. In the playoffs, the team rose up and thrived on the home filed advantage of Gillette stadium and held the Titans and the Colts to 2 touchdowns each to advance to Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Patriots were headed back to Houston. Finally on February 1, 2004, the Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in what many are already calling "the greatest Super Bowl of all time."
With more early picks in the 2004 draft than any other team and the predicted return of Roosevelt Colvin, and the main 3 coaches, a trip to Jacksonville in February 2005 for SB XXXIX looked quite promising.
Following 2003 season, despite winning the Super Bowl the Patriots knew that there was one phase of their game that needed to be upgraded more than any other, and that was the running game. Although Antowain Smith was a nice guy he was not getting the job done gathering less than 700 yards in 2003. This along with the roster bonus due in the spring and his propensity to show up to training camp out of shape and annually failing the conditioning run meant that he was gone and that a replacement was needed.
Many quality backs were available in the draft but the Patriots wanted a proven commodity and someone who could contribute right away. Prior to the 2004 draft the Patriots traded one of their 2 second round picks to the Cincinnati Bengals for disgruntled RB Corey Dillon. Many felt that this would be the Patriots undoing as Dillon had become a cancer in Cincinnati. Other just drank the Kool-Aid and said in Bill Belichick we trust. Well, in retrospect the Patriots seemed to have done their homework as Dillon fit into the team and resurrected a dormant running game buy simply breaking the team record for must rushing yards in a season, 1,635. With the bon-a-fide threat of running the ball Brady and the passing game become more lethal and came within a TD of breaking the team record for points scored in a season. For the second season in a row the Pats were in the playoffs with a 14-2 record. The fans could get used to this.
The difference this season was that the Patriots were ranked behind the Steelers (in the AFC) who had dismantled the Pats at mid-season and finished the season at 15-1. Again the Colts visited Gillette Stadium with an "unstoppable" offense. New England shut down Indy and allowed only 3 first half points winning 20-3. In Pittsburgh, Corey Dillon and many of the players that were missing in week 8 showed up and the home town fans were left wondering what happened as the Patriots won 41-27 and were able to secure back to back visits to the game of the roman numerals. And on February 6, 2005 the Patriots did what only 6 other teams had been able to do, WIN back to back super bowls. Now came the real test. Could the Patriots win 3 in a row, despite losing both coordinators.
As we learned, the answer was no. Despite a gallant effort, the Patriots were not able to secure a first round bye. Then in the second round of the play-offs they lost in Denver. The Patriots handed the game to the Broncos on a silver platter and the guys in orange were more than happy to take what was handed to them and use it to win. The Patriots post-season win streak came crashing to sudden halt at 10 games.
In 2006 the Patriots took the field with an offense that had been gutted of it's starting wide receivers. Even still the team got as far as the AFC Championship game and had an 18 point lead at the half. In the second half, the less than stellar WR play resulted in the Patriots losing to Indianapolis. Heading into the 2007 season, Bill Belichick and the coaches decided that they were going to address the problem. And address it they did. First they signed free agent Donté Stallworth. Then they traded draft picks to Miami for Wes Welker. Things looked pretty great for the 2007 season. And then on draft day the Patriots pulled off the surprise of the off season. They traded a 4th round draft pick to the Oakland Raiders for Randy Moss.
The Patriots opened the 2007 season as the favorite to win the super bowl despite having the 3rd most difficult schedule in the league. And the season began. And after the first game a scandal involving video cameras was uncovered. Suddenly whole world pointed in shock and knowing contempt at the team that had won 3 of the last 6 Super Bowls. "Now we know how you did it," was the cry. Instead of crushing the team, it acted as a divining rod around which the team rallied around their coach and set upon a search and destroy mission through the NFL season. The first 4 games they won by at least 21 points each week. In week 6 they played the 5-0 Dallas Cowboys in a much publicized game. The offense was scoring so many points that people began to believe that the season scoring record was in reach. n week 9 they went to Indianapolis for the only meeting of 7-0 (or better) teams. When the smoke cleared the Patriots were at 9-0 and the talk of a perfect season began in earnest. The next game, at Buffalo, was moved to Sunday night so that the whole country could see the Patriots take on the surging Bills. As if to punish the league for trying to use them for the leagues benefit New England scored TDs on their first 7 possessions and won 56-10. Suddenly the Patriots were again being painted as bad guys for running up the score. That talk would end soon enough.
The next two games, also on national TV were very close affairs with New England needing to come back in the 4th quarter to win in both games. Many believed that these teams had provided a "blueprint" for the way that the Patriots could be beaten. A Pittsburgh player, Anthony Smith, guaranteed a win over the Patriots for the following week. Tom Brady burned Smith for 2 long TDs. After bad weather kept the next two games fairly close, only the New York Giants stood in the way of a perfect regular season. This was going to be a game that everyone wanted to see. But there was the small problem of the game being on the NFL network, which meant that less than 40% of America had any hope of seeing the game. At the 11th hour the league arranged for the game to be simulcast on NFLN, NBC and CBS. The last time something like this had been done was Super Bowl 1 when CBS and NBC aired the game. Virtually every home in the USA would be able to see the game. In a contest that neither team needed, both clubs played hard and the New England Patriots came from behind, again, to win 38-35. The NFL's first 16-0 run of a regular season was in the books on December 29, 2007. During the season the Patriots had to play 6 of 11 the teams that would make the playoffs making their accomplishment more impressive than the 1972 Dolphins. During this historic season the Patriots broke so many records that some joked that they broke the record for the number of records broke in a season. Despite all of this, a failure to win the Super Bowl would make the regular season nothing more than a footnote.
In the playoffs the Patriots faced the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional round. The question was as to whether or not the Pats could stop the Jaguars running game. With Tom Brady playing almost a perfect game (26 of 28 for 3 TDs) and the defense aiming to stop Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jaguars, Jacksonville fell behind and tried to play catch up in the second half. In the end the Patriots won 31-20. While Tom Brady had maybe his best game of the season against Jacksonville, in the AFC Championship game against the San Diego Chargers, he had his worst. He threw 3 interceptions, one in the red zone. Despite this, the running game was churning out lots of yards and the defense refused to allow the depleted Chargers team into the end-zone. The Patriots won 21-12. At 18-0, the New England Patriots were once again going to the Super Bowl. The 4th in 7 years. The 5th in Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi's careers. This was the 6th AFCC game for the pair.
Some of the information about the Patriots and team photo were taken form the 1994 Patriots Yearbook by the Phoenix Media Communications Group.
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Revised: January 22, 2008.
