Bill Reynolds: Have Patriots lost their 'Way?'

Monday
Jan 8, 2018 at 8:31 PM

It's starting to sound like fiction, some new page-turner about the sainted old coach who will end his career in the Hall of Fame, and the GOAT, the nickname for the greatest quarterback of all time.


 


Then there's the moneyed owner who often walks around in a blue suit and sneakers, with a beautiful woman on his arm.


 


Throw in adoring crowds at Gillette Stadium, and a vast fan base throughout New England that seemingly can't get enough of [...]

Bill Reynolds

It's starting to sound like fiction, some new page-turner about the sainted old coach who will end his career in the Hall of Fame, and the GOAT, the nickname for the greatest quarterback of all time.

 

Then there's the moneyed owner who often walks around in a blue suit and sneakers, with a beautiful woman on his arm.

 

Throw in adoring crowds at Gillette Stadium, and a vast fan base throughout New England that seemingly can't get enough of this franchise that was once like the bastard step-child on the Boston professional sports scene, and what you have is a civic lovefest.

 

You following all this?

 

It would be a surprise if you weren't.

 

Because these are the Patriots, and it would be difficult not to follow.

 

It often seems as if they are everywhere. On TV every week. On billboards. In the newspapers. On the sports talk shows. On the internet. In the conversations.

 

Everywhere.

 

But now it all seems a little different, like a piano out of tune, as if the formula that's made the Patriots all these years has been fiddled with, as if something has changed right in front of us. And there's little question the stakes have been raised. It's all or nothing for the Patriots now, as if their biggest opponent is themselves. Their legacy. Their expectations. The pressure they feel to get back to another Super Bowl, as if anything else is not only a failure, but an obvious symbol that this incredible era is ending.

 

This is the backstory here, the palpable sense that we are approaching the end of this amazing Patriots run, one that's gone for nearly two decades and given both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady their slice of football immortality.

 

This past weekend the rumors were flying around like footballs at a practice session.

 

In no particular order, we have heard that Brady and Belichick are at each other's throats, Belichick is thinking of going to back to New York to coach the Giants, and this incredible Patriots' run is over, ending not in victory parades and celebration, but in rancor and bad feelings.

 

Over the weekend, you might have thought the sky was falling.

 

Brady supposedly is upset over Belichick's decision to ban Brady trainer and business partner Alex Guerrero from Gillette Stadium. The entire organization is at odds with each other about how the promising Jimmy Garoppolo, the Pats' quarterback of the future, was allowed to get away. Fear and loathing in the locker room.

 

This is the Patriots?

 

What exactly is going on here?

 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if any of this is true or not. Perception can be more powerful than reality. At least, it can be with the Patriots, an organization long known for keeping its secrets behind closed doors and shaded windows.  

Fair?

 

Not fair?

 

Or just the way it is?

 

That has become the real story of this season as the Pats prime themselves for the playoffs, this sense that what used to stay in-house is now all but being broadcast around the parking lots on loudspeakers.

 

The Patriot Way?

 

Doesn't appear to be.

 

Especially with the Patriots, the organization that seemed to bury its secrets deep in a bunker beneath Gilllette Stadium.

 

Hasn't that always been one of the Patriots' great strengths, this ability to stay focused, no matter what was swirling around them?

 

Hasn't that always been one of the great strengths of both Belichick and Brady, this ability to block everything else out when it matters the most?

 

Hasn't this been one of those things that never seemed to change, no matter what was going on?

 

Hasn't this been one of the strengths of this franchise, this sense that their ghosts weren't allowed to run around on the field, but stayed buried in the bowels of the stadium, out of sight and out of mind?

 

That's what's been so surprising about the Patriots this week, the sense that they forgot one of the things that's made them so special for so long now.

 

Let's hope they remember.

 

 

 

 

Monday
Jan 8, 2018 at 8:31 PM

It's starting to sound like fiction, some new page-turner about the sainted old coach who will end his career in the Hall of Fame, and the GOAT, the nickname for the greatest quarterback of all time.


 


Then there's the moneyed owner who often walks around in a blue suit and sneakers, with a beautiful woman on his arm.


 


Throw in adoring crowds at Gillette Stadium, and a vast fan base throughout New England that seemingly can't get enough of [...]

Bill Reynolds

It's starting to sound like fiction, some new page-turner about the sainted old coach who will end his career in the Hall of Fame, and the GOAT, the nickname for the greatest quarterback of all time.

 

Then there's the moneyed owner who often walks around in a blue suit and sneakers, with a beautiful woman on his arm.

 

Throw in adoring crowds at Gillette Stadium, and a vast fan base throughout New England that seemingly can't get enough of this franchise that was once like the bastard step-child on the Boston professional sports scene, and what you have is a civic lovefest.

 

You following all this?

 

It would be a surprise if you weren't.

 

Because these are the Patriots, and it would be difficult not to follow.

 

It often seems as if they are everywhere. On TV every week. On billboards. In the newspapers. On the sports talk shows. On the internet. In the conversations.

 

Everywhere.

 

But now it all seems a little different, like a piano out of tune, as if the formula that's made the Patriots all these years has been fiddled with, as if something has changed right in front of us. And there's little question the stakes have been raised. It's all or nothing for the Patriots now, as if their biggest opponent is themselves. Their legacy. Their expectations. The pressure they feel to get back to another Super Bowl, as if anything else is not only a failure, but an obvious symbol that this incredible era is ending.

 

This is the backstory here, the palpable sense that we are approaching the end of this amazing Patriots run, one that's gone for nearly two decades and given both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady their slice of football immortality.

 

This past weekend the rumors were flying around like footballs at a practice session.

 

In no particular order, we have heard that Brady and Belichick are at each other's throats, Belichick is thinking of going to back to New York to coach the Giants, and this incredible Patriots' run is over, ending not in victory parades and celebration, but in rancor and bad feelings.

 

Over the weekend, you might have thought the sky was falling.

 

Brady supposedly is upset over Belichick's decision to ban Brady trainer and business partner Alex Guerrero from Gillette Stadium. The entire organization is at odds with each other about how the promising Jimmy Garoppolo, the Pats' quarterback of the future, was allowed to get away. Fear and loathing in the locker room.

 

This is the Patriots?

 

What exactly is going on here?

 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if any of this is true or not. Perception can be more powerful than reality. At least, it can be with the Patriots, an organization long known for keeping its secrets behind closed doors and shaded windows.  

Fair?

 

Not fair?

 

Or just the way it is?

 

That has become the real story of this season as the Pats prime themselves for the playoffs, this sense that what used to stay in-house is now all but being broadcast around the parking lots on loudspeakers.

 

The Patriot Way?

 

Doesn't appear to be.

 

Especially with the Patriots, the organization that seemed to bury its secrets deep in a bunker beneath Gilllette Stadium.

 

Hasn't that always been one of the Patriots' great strengths, this ability to stay focused, no matter what was swirling around them?

 

Hasn't that always been one of the great strengths of both Belichick and Brady, this ability to block everything else out when it matters the most?

 

Hasn't this been one of those things that never seemed to change, no matter what was going on?

 

Hasn't this been one of the strengths of this franchise, this sense that their ghosts weren't allowed to run around on the field, but stayed buried in the bowels of the stadium, out of sight and out of mind?

 

That's what's been so surprising about the Patriots this week, the sense that they forgot one of the things that's made them so special for so long now.

 

Let's hope they remember.

 

 

 

 

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