Tag: New England Patriots

Robert Kraft and the Hall of Fame

Most fans can agree that Robert Kraft deserves a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame. He is one of the greatest owners of all time, oversaw the best dynasty in the sport’s history, and has been a massive help in the NFL’s growth, their TV deals, and ending the 2011 lockout. However, he continues to be denied a spot. Why is that?

First off, owners take a while to get in. Even though they run the league, this is the reality they all face. Since 2000, five owners have gotten in the Hall of Fame and have waited an average of just over 35 years between taking control of their franchise and getting enshrined. The honored owners were, Dan Rooney of the Steelers (25 years), Ralph Wilson of the Bills (49 years), Eddie DeBartolo of the 49ers (39 years), Jerry Jones of the Cowboys (28 years), and Pat Bowlen of the Broncos (35 years). Kraft became owner of the Pats 30 years ago, so he’s by no means had to wait longer than usual to be inducted.

Another reason Kraft hasn’t been inducted yet is that, until this year, coaches and owners were grouped together in the “coaches and contributors” category. Usually only one or 2 people from this group get enshrined each year and coaches tended to get in over owners. Now, owners will be considered separate from coaches, which will help Kraft out.

The next piece has to do with human psychology. Reports are that for over a decade Kraft has lobbied hard behind the scenes, having people close to him tell voters that Kraft needs to be put into the Hall of Fame. This is naturally going to irk voters who don’t want to be told what to do. These people all know football and it likely annoys them when someone consistently asks to be voted for because they think they are so deserving. This may have led some voters to reject Kraft, as they don’t want to feel like they’re giving in to what they perceive as whining or being told how to vote.

Also, there are reports that Kraft used The Dynasty docuseries to basically be an advertisement for his Hall of Fame candidacy. According to ESPN, Kraft owns the docuseries and sought editorial control of it. If that’s the case, to voters this looks like an embarrassing plea that isn’t going to convince them. It also looks even worse because Kraft has denied he had any involvement and said he was disappointed with the film. The only thing worse than making a documentary like that, would be to then deny your involvement and say it wasn’t good. There is a lot of he said, she said, but regardless, it isn’t a great look for Kraft.

Another reason for Kraft’s current omission from the Hall is that when you think of the Patriots dynasty, you think of Brady and Belichick before anyone else, and rightly so. They were a lethal combo of a superstar quaterback and genius head coach. When you watched the Patriots march through the playoffs year after year, it was Brady and Belichick who were talked about the most since the QB and coach are always right in the thick of things. Kraft definitely deserves credit, but no owner is going to outshine their star QB and head coach. When we look back on the Chiefs dynasty, no one will mention Clark Hunt over Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.

Lastly, I think it’s fair to say that some voters are jealous of the success the Patriots had and are salty because they consider the Pats to be cheaters. They see this as an opportunity to “get back” at the Pats, because Kraft is the one central member of the team they can get away with doing it to. Brady is guaranteed to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, because if he wasn’t, then it would completely delegitimize the prestige of the NFL Hall of Fame. Even Belichick, who is the least likable of the three, really has to get in first ballot. He is widely known as a football genuis and the greatest coach of all time. He has more Super Bowls than any other head coach and was the coach and architect of the greatest dynasty in the NFL’s history. Not putting him in right away, or damn near close to that, would just make the voters look petty and once again, delegitimize the prestige of the Hall of Fame.

I think Kraft is the greatest owner in NFL history and will soon get into the Hall of Fame. He just needs to stop trying so hard.

Bill Belichick Biography Review

For anyone interested in learning more about Bill, I highly recommend Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time by Ian O’Connor.

It gives an in depth look at the upbringing of Belichick as a kid, college student, and his early coaching days. The books takes you through his high and lows and helps you get a better understanding of why Belichick was the way he was. It is unbiased and neither attacks nor hypes up Bill. As a Pats fan, I absolutely loved it, but I think any football fan would enjoy it.

2024 NFL Week 1 Reaction

Baltimore Ravens (0-1) @ Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)

The exact type of opening game you wanted to see. The game set an NFL kickoff game record with 28.9 million viewers.

Lamar Jackson falls to 1-5 vs Mahomes despite being 60-19 against the rest of the league. He and the Ravens need to solve their Chiefs problem. In terms of optimism for the Ravens, Lamar plus Derrick Henry should be a problem for other teams, especially as the year goes on. I love the 2 TE set the Ravens are using. Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely are both so talented that this formation will be lethal for their running and passing games.

The Chiefs look scary. Last year in their opening game, and for much of the season, they looked lethargic offensively and still won the Super Bowl. This year, their explosiveness is back. Rashee Rice continues to get better and develop into their WR1, Isaiah Worthy looks like he could be the next Tyreek Hill with his track star speed, Travis Kelce is gonna be Travis Kelce, Isiah Pacheco continues to get better, and Marquise Brown is going to come back from injury. I’m sure all the sports media will say that the Chiefs three-peating is a given for the next week and a half. One word of caution is that Brady’s Patriots teams that won the Super Bowl were often the ones who were “boring” like last years Chiefs. Those boring teams fared better than his ones with explosive offenses, so nothing is guaranteed.

Stats of the game: Mahomes became the Chiefs all-time leading passer this game at just 28 years old. Jackson moved to third all-time on the QB rushing list and could break Michael Vick’s record this year.

The league is sending a message with the illegal formation calls. It’s annoying right now but teams will learn and it will make the game better.

Green Bay Packers (0-1) vs Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) (In Brazil)

The playing surface was very slippery. That plus first game rust led to a sloppy game.

Saquon was on full display. It was a reminder that when he is on, he is one of the best RBs in the league. Him plus a great offensive line, two star WRs, and Jalen Hurts gives the Eagles an offense that can go toe to toe with any other in the league. Jahan Dotson and Dallas Goedert are good compliments too.

Jayden Reed looked electric for the Packers. They have so many good young players that it might be hard to keep them all happy and develop them like they want to. Their biggest current concern is Jordan Love. He sprained his MCL and should be back in a couple weeks. The Pack need to keep it together during his absence.

New England Patriots (1-0) @ Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)

An absolute shocker of a game. The Pats defense absolutely stifled the Bengals and they had no momentum or fire as a team whatsoever. For the Pats, I don’t think wins like this are sustainable because the defense completely carried and the offense was not very good. Still nice to get a W though.

For the Bengals, this is concerning. It’s one thing to lose and its another thing to lose and have the team not look like it gives a fuck. They had a loud offseason and have let the Ja’Marr Chase drama spill into the season. They are 1-5 in Week 1 the past six years, so this is familiar territory. They normally start slow and build momentum, but they need to sign Chase and have some passion as a team.

The one bright spot for the Bengals was that their rookie punter, Ryan Rehkow, had the best game by a punter I have ever seen. He had 4 punts and his AVERAGE punt went 64.5 yards (an NFL single-game record), including an 80 yard punt. The first and, probably, last time we hype up a punter on this blog.

New York Jets (0-1) @ San Francisco 49er (1-0)

The 49ers look motivated to get back to the Super Bowl. They went out and dominated the Jets without their best player Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey missing the game is probably good long term, as now the Niners know Jordan Mason (147 yds rushing), can help take some of the burden off McCaffrey. The one area they needed to be better was finishing drives, as Jake Moody made 6 field goals last night.

Rodgers and the Jets looked rusty last night. They clearly have the talent, but they need to mesh. Realistically, this was the first full regular season game they have played with Rodgers, so some kinks need to be worked out.

Game/Betting Picks Results

Game: 2-2 (2-2 This Season) (40-18 All-Time)

Spread: 2-2 (2-2) (41-16-1)

O/U: 3-1 (3-1) (32-25-1)

Patriots Season Preview

The Patriots are currently at the beginning of a full on rebuild so expectations are low. Hopefully last year was rock bottom and we see improvement this year. The biggest thing we need to see is improvement offensively. I don’t know how much Drake Maye will play, but we obviously want him to look good if he does. I think Maye will start playing around the mid season mark so the Pats can see what they have in him. The young wide receivers and offensive lineman we have ideally get experience and develop a lot this year too. The offense will likely start slow but gain momentum as the season goes on.

The defense has been a strength so we want them to keep playing well. Expect a great season from Christian Gonzalez who played well before a season ending injury last year. It will also be interesting to see if anyone can replace Matthew Judon as a premier pass rusher. The Pats defense should be at worst average and will be the strength of the team.

Finally, we want to see that Jerrod Mayo can coach. He is replacing the greatest coach of all time so it doesn’t get harder than that. As a part of the dynasty as a player, he knows what it takes to win here so I have belief that he can have a similar positive impact that DeMeco Ryans had on the Texans last year.

I think the Patriots go 6-11 and finish last in their division. In addition to rebuilding, they have the hardest schedule in the NFL, so they get no break whatsoever. This should net them a top 10 draft pick and allow them to get another great young player to help build their team up. This year might be tough at times, but unlike last year we should have some things that give us hope for a great future.

The Unique Careers of Curly Lambeau and George Halas

Curly Lambeau and George Halas had unheard of careers in the NFL that will never be replicated. Both of these men were players, coaches, and owners (sometimes all 3 at the same time) for their respective teams. Looking at the modern NFL and seeing how that would be absolutely impossible to do today makes these feats even more incredible.

Lambeau founded the Packers in 1919 in his hometown of Green Bay, WI. He played on the team from 1919-1929 and was named to the 1920s All-Decade NFL Team. The Packers joined the NFL in 1921 and he was a player-coach from 1921-1929, before retiring as a player.

He continued coaching the Packers until 1949, winning 209 games and 6 NFL titles. He is tied for being the longest tenured coach in NFL history with Tom Landry and is tied with George Halas and Bill Belichick for the most NFL championships by a coach.

Lambeau won 226 games total as a coach, was part of the first NFL Hall of Fame class in 1963, and was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. The Packer’s stadium was named Lambeau Field in 1965 and bears the same name to this day.

George Halas co-founded the NFL and took ownership of the Chicago Bears in 1921. The Chicago native played for the Bears from 1920-1928 and was a member of 1920s All-Decade Team.

From 1920-1967, he coached the Bears 4 separate times for a total of 40 years. He was a 2-time AP Coach of the year, won 6 NFL titles as a coach (tied for an NFL record), and 318 games (3rd all-time). He won two additional NFL titles while owning the Bears.

Similar to Lambeau, he was part of the first NFL Hall of Fame class in 1963, and was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. He is nicknamed “Papa Bear,” due to his everlasting connection with the team and the NFC championship trophy is named after him.

2024 Week 1 Prediction

Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs

The season kicks off with an awesome opening matchup. The Ravens look to get revenge on the team who eliminated them from last year’s playoffs. I don’t think that happens as the Chiefs will win, cover (-3), and the under (46.5) hits.

Green Bay Packers vs Philadelphia Eagles (In Brazil)

A Friday night game to kick off the season in Brazil is unprecedented but I’m here for it. Both teams have huge expectations for the season. I think the Packers win, cover (+2.5), and the over (48.5) hits.

New England Patriots @ Cincinnati Bengals

This season will not be fun for Patriots fans. The Bengals, meanwhile, are all in for a Super Bowl victory. That will be apparent as the Bengals win, cover (-7.5), and the under (41) hits. Note: Updated 9/7 to Bengals -7.5

New York Jets @ San Francisco 49ers

Both teams think they can win the Super Bowl this year. The Jets are delusional, while the Niners actually have a shot. The Niners will win, cover (-3.5), and the over (44) will hit.

2024 AFC Predictions

AFC East

  1. Buffalo Bills (4 Seed)
  2. New York Jets (6 Seed)
  3. Miami Dolphins
  4. New England Patriots

The AFC East is up for grabs right now. The Bills have the best QB in the division, but Josh Allen will have to contend with some unproven playmakers around him. The Jets have all the talent in the world, but need to prove they can stay healthy and keep it together for an entire year. The Dolphins have a great coach and a track team on offense, they just feel limited by their quarterback. The Pats are currently at ground zero of a rebuild, so expectations are low – to put it nicely. Ultimately, I think the top 3 teams are so even that I’m going to give the Bills the tiebreaker due to having the best player in the division at the most important position.

AFC North

  1. Baltimore Ravens (2 Seed)
  2. Cincinnati Bengals (5 Seed)
  3. Cleveland Browns
  4. Pittsburgh Steelers

This is the deepest division in the whole league. This will be a close race, but the Ravens will just edge out the Bengals for the division title. They have a more talented team than the Bengals and they have a better coach. The Bengals have also been a little more loud than I would like a team to be in the offseason and I don’t think they’ll be focused to start the year. The Browns boast a great roster and coach, but Deshaun Watson has been absolutely terrible and often injured while in Cleveland. The Steelers have a great defense and coach, but no answer at QB. Russ or Fields limits them in such a stacked division and conference.

AFC South

  1. Houston Texans (3 Seed)
  2. Indianapolis Colts
  3. Jacksonville Jaguars
  4. Tennessee Titans

Similar to the AFC East, three teams could potentially win this division and it’ll be close at the top. The Texans have such a great blend of veterans and young player that I think it propels them to the top. The Colts have a potentially lethal combo of Anthony Richardson and Shane Steichen that should start paying dividends this year. The Jags had a terrible collapse last year that their psyche might be off this year. The Titans are by far the worst team in the division.

AFC West

  1. Kansas City Chiefs (1 Seed)
  2. Los Angeles Chargers (7 Seed)
  3. Denver Broncos
  4. Las Vegas Raiders

The Chiefs should easily runaway with the division. The Chargers with Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert will be a force to reckon with and will make the playoffs. The Broncos have potential but don’t have the talent to compete with the Chiefs or Chargers. The Raiders have good offensive skill players but QB will be an issue.

AFC Playoffs

Wild Card Round

  • 1 KC: Bye
  • 2 BAL vs 7 LAC: 7 LAC Wins
  • 3 HOU vs 6 NYJ: 3 HOU Wins
  • 4 BUF vs 5 CIN: 5 CIN Wins

Divisional Round

  • 1 KC vs 7 LAC: 1 KC Wins
  • 3 Hou vs 5 CIN: 5 CIN wins

AFC Championship Game

  • 1 KC vs 5 CIN: 5 CIN Wins AFC

Final AFC Thoughts: 

The AFC is the most stacked we have ever seen an NFL conference in recent memory. There are so many teams who could get an a hot streak and win the conference. I think Cincinnati ends up being the team this year. They are the one team that has proven they can consistently knock off the Chiefs and I see it happening again this year.

Note: All predictions as of 8/29/2024

Darrelle Revis 2009 Insanity

I’m not sure what is crazier, the season that Darrelle Revis had in 2009, or the fact that one of the greatest defensive seasons ever did not lead to a DPOY.

Part of what makes Revis’s season so great is that he matched up with a Hall of Famer or All-Pro 9 different times and shut them all down. He had an NFL Record 31 passes defended and allowed a 32.2 passer rating. Below are the pathetic numbers he allowed:

  • Andre Johnson, Houston Texans: 4 Rec, 35 Yds
  • Randy Moss, New England Patriots: 4 Rec, 24 Yds, 1 INT
  • Justin Gage, Tennessee Titans: 4 Rec, 37 Yds
  • Marques Colston, New Orleans Saints: 2 Rec, 33 Yds
  • Ted Ginn, Miami Dolphins: 2 Rec, 57 Yds, 1 TD allowed
  • Terrell Owens, Buffalo Bills: 3 Rec, 13 Yds
  • Louis Murphy, Oakland Raiders: 4 Rec, 58 Yds, 1 INT
  • Davone Bess, Miami Dolphins: 4 Rec, 18 Yds
  • Mike Sims-Walker, Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 Rec, 49 Yds, 1 TD allowed
  • Randy Moss, New England Patriots: 5 Rec, 34 Yds, 1 TD Allowed
  • Steve Smith, Carolina Panthers: 1 Rec, 5 Yds, 2 INT
  • Terrell Owens, Buffalo Bills: 3 Rec, 31 Yds, 1 INT
  • Antonio Bryant, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 2 Rec, 22 Yds, 1 INT
  • Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons: 2 Rec, 16 Yds
  • Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis Colts: 3 Rec, 33 Yds
  • Chad Johnson, Cincinatti Bengals: 0 Rec, 0 Yds

Despite those performances and the Jets being the number 1 defense in the league, Revis lost out to Charles Woodson for DPOY. Woodson had a great year, but nowhere near what Revis did. Despite not winning any major awards, this season rightly has gone down in history, and it’s good to see that people still talk about it 15 years later.

Major News

The Pats traded their best defensive player Matt Judon to the Atlanta Falcons for a 3rd round pick. This is laughable. I have no problem with them not overpaying for an older Judon coming off a season ending injury. But why not do this before the draft? They could’ve gotten another offensive weapon to help out Drake Maye. Or a defensive player to help replace Judon. Now, they lose their best player and have nothing to show for it this year.

J.J. McCarthy is out for the year. This is sad to see. McCarthy had probably the best situation of any rookie QB with a great offensive coach and a ton of weapons. I definitely think he could’ve won OROY this year. It’s also odd how the situation progressed. He played a great game last weekend and no one was really talking about an injury. Then it seemed liked he had a minor injury that wouldn’t really affect him being ready for the year. And now he’s gone for the year. Regardless, he should still be a solid QB for this team once he’s back next year.

How to Stream Patriots Games This Year

In my article reacting to the NFL schedule release (https://wordpress.com/post/wheelhouseblog.com/1308), I mentioned how if an NFL fan wants to watch every game this season, it would cost at least $850 and require 6 different streaming services. Many fans mainly care about being able to watch their team every week. As a Patriots fan, this is what to do to watch every Pats regular season game if you don’t have cable/YouTube TV and don’t want to rely on random NFL streams.

  • Paramount Plus Subscription to watch 7 games scheduled for CBS: $6/ month for 4 months = $24
  • Venu Sports (Brand new combination of Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and ESPN for sports) to watch 6 games on FOX: $43/month for 4 months = $132 (UPDATE AS OF 8/16: A judge has blocked this venture and it could cause it to be delayed)
  • Prime Video to watch 1 TNF game (9/19/24) on Prime: $9/month for 1 month = $9
  • NFL Plus to watch 1 game (10/20/24) on NFL Network: $7/month for 1 month = $7. NFL Plus can only be watched on a phone or tablet. If you are okay with watching games on a phone or Tablet for the whole year, NFL Plus has local and primetime games for $7/month ($28 for the 4 month period 9/8/2024 – 1/5/2025). This should allow you to watch most (if not all) Pats games for a very low price.
  • Two of the Pats games are TBD and likely will be 1 pm or 4 pm games on CBS/FOX because it’s unlikely the Pats will get a primetime game Weeks 17 or 18.
  • NOTE: *The Pats regular season is from 9/8/2024 – 1/5/2025, so this blog is assuming you would purchase the subscriptions for Paramount and Venu on 9/7/2024 and cancel on 1/6/2024. If you keep them for longer in order to watch the playoffs, it will cost more.*

All told, it will cost you $172 for the year to watch every Patriots game on your TV (with the exception of the NFL Network game), which isn’t too bad. Additional benefits of the above platforms: Paramount Plus has Champions League and some other CBS NFL games. Venu will provide some other FOX NFL games, Monday Night Football, MLB (including the World Series), NHL, and college football games. Prime Video will also provide other TNF games. And of course, Paramount Plus and Prime Video have shows and movies. All told, each person will have to make the decision of the best way to watch their favorite teams play. Following the above strategy is a little annoying, but also is doable and not crazy expensive.