Boston Herald: The Pats Have lost their Way

[flgreen]

Borges: Too many bad calls show Pats have lost their Way Friday, June 21, 2013  By: Ron Borges

 

So much for The Patriot Way.

 

Bob Kraft and his New England Patriots have for the past dozen years foisted upon a gullible public the idea that they go about their football business differently than their peers. They claimed to covet character guys who play hard, smart football and otherwise represent Kraft family values.Tell that to Randy Moss, the poster boy for self-absorption

 

Tell that to Albert Haynesworth, who crippled a guy when he struck his car going over 100 mph and underachieved for all but 18 months of his career.Tell that to Chad Ochocinco, who may grow up one day but not too soon.

 

Tell that to Jermaine Cunningham and, yes, Rodney Harrison and other Patriots busted for using performance-enhancing drugs.

 

Tell that to Rob Gronkowski, who cavorts with porn stars and regularly makes a drunken spectacle of himself.

 

Saddest of all, tell it to the 
Patriots’ $37.5 million tight end Aaron Hernandez, whose silence in the homicide of a semi-pro football player named Odin Lloyd is raising more questions than 
answers.The fact of the matter is the Pat­riot Way never existed. They didn’t do anything different than their peers except win three Super Bowls in four years.They became a dynasty the same way the Browns of the 1950s, Packers of the 1960s, Steelers of the 1970s, 49ers of the 1980s and Cowboys of the 1990s did.

 

They did it by stumbling across a future Hall of Fame quarterback buried deep in an early draft, inheriting the nucleus of a strong defense and a reliable kicker while hitting a gold mine of talent in back-to-back drafts.Then, when the talent began to wane, the drafts failed and age and slippage set in, the Patriots did the same things everyone else does.They lost their way trying to 
avoid 
losing 

playoff games.They took ever more dangerous risks on players with questionable injury histories, nitwit tendencies or, most significantly, serious character flaws. The team that once dumped draftee Christian Peter — because of a criminal record — now drafts guys like Hernandez and Alfonzo Dennard, who were off many draft boards because teams didn’t trust them.

 

The largest, most glaring example today is the baggage Hernandez apparently couldn’t shake when he came into the NFL. Blessed with first-round talent, he slipped to the fourth round four years ago, and everyone in football knew why: A significant number of teams feared his questionable associates and repeated 
positive drug tests.One can take a gamble or two on a player with a troubled past, but not as regularly as the Patriots have. You can do it when your locker room is strong and led by no-nonsense guys like Tom Brady, Troy Brown, Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi, Wes Welker and Ty Warren.But over time, most of those players left, and what remained was a weaker core unable to keep in check the excesses of guys like Gronkowski and Hernandez

 

.In essence, the Patriots lost their Way — sacrificing what they once claimed was most important — to gamble on suspect characters, injury-prone players or troubled guys on the way down while letting high character ones who simply wanted to get paid go as if they were greedy.What eventually results from that is dry rot or, as the front page of this paper can attest, much worse.

 

- See more at: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/2013/06/borges_too_many_bad_calls_show_pats_have_lost_their_way#sthash.k1CxuEaa.dpuf

[T0mShane]

Ron Borges has a weird vendetta against Belichick. It's almost pathological.

[dbatesman]

Ron Borges has a weird vendetta against Belichick. It's almost pathological.

 

The Boston media are total bottom-feeders. 

 

That said, it's nice to see someone puncturing the Patriot Way myth a bit. Can you imagine the coverage if Hernandez were a Bengal or a Cowboy or a Jet?

[JOJOTOWNSELL]

Im sorry but this Patriots offseason is way more "circus-like" then any ive ever had as a Jets fan......thats a fact

[faba]

I guess the Pats organization can not do no wrong anymore=HAH

[PFSIKH]

The Boston media are total bottom-feeders. 

 

That said, it's nice to see someone puncturing the Patriot Way myth a bit. Can you imagine the coverage if Hernandez were a Bengal or a Cowboy or a Jet?

 

First, what Tom said is correct.

 

Second, that has always been overblown, by the media and Jets' fan base.  Dillon was not a saint.  Nor, was Moss.  They have given players second (or later) chances like all franchises do.

[dbatesman]

First, what Tom said is correct.

That's why I agreed with him.

 

Second, that has always been overblown, by the media and Jets' fan base.  Dillon was not a saint.  Nor, was Moss.  They have given players second (or later) chances like all franchises do.

Yes. That's entirely my point, Isaac Newton.

[HessStation]

I love the Gronk part. So spot on. He's such the typical old school meathead jock. He fits every stereotype. Lol.

[kay_gee]

Circus?

[kay_gee]

BTW, silence doesn't make Hernandez guilty, Boston Herald guy.

[pointman]

Circus?

Damn it, man!!! I was scrolling and was so excited that no one said that yet... I wanted to call "circus". 

[Larz]

no they haven't

 

they never won anything

 

without cheating that is

[TnT]

Circus 2.0

[rillo]

and still win 12 games

 

[Bugg]

As to Gronk if I was 23 had a pile of money and the world at my feet, suspect I'd make some similar questionable choices. We're gonna hang a guy because he bangs hot if slutty  girls? Thta's not murder. Borges looks like another guy tryiong to make a horrible story a more overarching horrible story.That's media nonsense. The Pats are run by some scummy guys, they have hired some questionable guys. That doesn't explain nor excuse murder. Love to see what Borges wrote about that great leader Ray Lewis. Did the Ravens lose their way for a decade and a half and 2 Super Bowls?

[stugotz81]

Circus 2.0

[Integrity28]

First, what Tom said is correct.

 

Second, that has always been overblown, by the media and Jets' fan base.  Dillon was not a saint.  Nor, was Moss.  They have given players second (or later) chances like all franchises do.

Tom may be right, but in this case Borges is entirely spot on. Especially the part about fooling the gullible into thinking the Pats do things different.

To your second point, Dillon and Moss had sour attitudes. The worst Moss ever did was stop caring while playing for a losing franchise, and I think he bumped a cop once or something. Dillon was always a dedicated player that got bitter playing in Cincy.

Neither of these guys should be used to make the argument that the Pats have always given bad eggs second chances. That's part of the myth for the gullible that Borges hints at. Those guys were very talented players that were plucked out of crappy situations and given the chance to win. That is entirely different than having murdering gang members of your roster.

You are sort of a pig for even implying that Dillon and Moss are on the same level as Hernandez. Being football sour doesn't equal being a criminal.

Dope.

[JOJOTOWNSELL]

if you go on profootballtalk.com, the 10 most commented article on the lower right hand side are all patriot articles.....ALL 10 OF THEM!!! that was us last year!!   thank you tebow, thank you aaron, thank you putin! CIRCUS!!

[faba]

At least Kraft is going to get another ring from Putin

[stugotz81]

Im telling ya right now...if Tebow ends up the Pats star tight end somehow this year, I'm offing myself

[kay_gee]

As to Gronk if I was 23 had a pile of money and the world at my feet, suspect I'd make some similar questionable choices. We're gonna hang a guy because he bangs hot if slutty  girls? Thta's not murder. Borges looks like another guy tryiong to make a horrible story a more overarching horrible story.That's media nonsense. The Pats are run by some scummy guys, they have hired some questionable guys. That doesn't explain nor excuse murder. Love to see what Borges wrote about that great leader Ray Lewis. Did the Ravens lose their way for a decade and a half and 2 Super Bowls?

 

What article did you read? Nobody's saying anything excuses murder, and nobody's "hanging" Gronk because he bangs porn stars. He's just saying it's trashy.

 

The problem with the article is that the narrative constructed by the author is stupid because, as with most narratives created by sports writers, the narrative doesn't really exist. While Jets fans and select others know that the Patriots are just as scummy as every other NFL franchise, Boston media and ESPN like to pretend that's not the case, and now are acting as if all this crap is somehow new to their proud tradition of "classy." Which is a load of BS.

[PFSIKH]

Tom may be right, but in this case Borges is entirely spot on. Especially the part about fooling the gullible into thinking the Pats do things different.

To your second point, Dillon and Moss had sour attitudes. The worst Moss ever did was stop caring while playing for a losing franchise, and I think he bumped a cop once or something. Dillon was always a dedicated player that got bitter playing in Cincy.

Neither of these guys should be used to make the argument that the Pats have always given bad eggs second chances. That's part of the myth for the gullible that Borges hints at. Those guys were very talented players that were plucked out of crappy situations and given the chance to win. That is entirely different than having murdering gang members of your roster.

You are sort of a pig for even implying that Dillon and Moss are on the same level as Hernandez. Being football sour doesn't equal being a criminal.

Dope.

 

Maybe, you should take your jaded green glasses off for a second.

 

What was Hernandez' knock coming out of college?  He was a pot head and had some shady friends.  Not that he had a rap sheet a mile long.  He liked to party and could not cope with is dad's death.  That is not even close to the knocks on Moss or Dillon. 

 

Dillon was charged/arrested for domestic assault.  Moss was arrested prior to college and the as a Viking for being a dick as he used his car to 'elude' a transit cop and/or actual cop. 

 

Hernandez was not the pope nor was he the anti christ.

 

Now, if what appears to be happening in that on some level Hernandez is complicit in the murder then yeah you are right.  However, up until Sunday night, you are the dope for wearing your kelly green myopic Jets' glasses.

[jack48]

BTW, silence doesn't make Hernandez guilty, Boston Herald guy.

not of murder.  But destroyed video security systems and cell phones do probably add up to obstruction of justice, minimum.

[kay_gee]

not of murder.  But destroyed video security systems and cell phones do probably add up to obstruction of justice, minimum.

 

no, silence doesn't even mean you're guilty of obstruction of justice. destroying video security system and cell phones may be obstruction of justice, but silence is not.

[Integrity28]

Maybe, you should take your jaded green glasses off for a second.

 

What was Hernandez' knock coming out of college?  He was a pot head and had some shady friends.  Not that he had a rap sheet a mile long.  He liked to party and could not cope with is dad's death.  That is not even close to the knocks on Moss or Dillon. 

 

Dillon was charged/arrested for domestic assault.  Moss was arrested prior to college and the as a Viking for being a dick as he used his car to 'elude' a transit cop and/or actual cop. 

 

Hernandez was not the pope nor was he the anti christ.

 

Now, if what appears to be happening in that on some level Hernandez is complicit in the murder then yeah you are right.  However, up until Sunday night, you are the dope for wearing your kelly green myopic Jets' glasses.

1. This has nothing to do with the Jets. Your "green glasses" comments don't make sense, at all.

2. YOU made the comparison to Moss and Dillon after we learned of Hernandez potentially being tied to this murder. My point was that you don't compare a murder suspect to disgruntled players. It's not the same.

Moss and Dillon were proven high-level NFL performers. They didn't need to be rehabilitated by the "Patriot way" which is the mularkey the Pats fans have convinced themselves of, the mularkey that Borges is getting at. They just needed to not be surrounded by a losing nightmare. Cincy and Oakland. Oy.

Hernandez came out college with drug and gang affiliations. Unlike Moss and Dillon, he was not a proven commodity at the NFL level. And as we've seen the past week, nothing the Pats have done has fixed him. In fact I'd argue in the case of Moss and Dillon it was merely gained maturity with age that gave the appearance of them being "fixed", not anything the Pats did.

Obviously nothing the Pats do help save Hernandez from himself.

Long story short the Pats don't rehabilitate players with their "Way", and it's ****tarded to compare disgruntled players to a murder suspect. You want to talk about having blinders on? Jesus, look a the ridiculous sh*t you are saying....

[PFSIKH]

1. This has nothing to do with the Jets. Your "green glasses" comments don't make sense, at all.

2. YOU made the comparison to Moss and Dillon after we learned of Hernandez potentially being tied to this murder. My point was that you don't compare a murder suspect to disgruntled players. It's not the same.

Moss and Dillon were proven high-level NFL performers. They didn't need to be rehabilitated by the "Patriot way" which is the mularkey the Pats fans have convinced themselves of, the mularkey that Borges is getting at. They just needed to not be surrounded by a losing nightmare. Cincy and Oakland. Oy.

Hernandez came out college with drug and gang affiliations. Unlike Moss and Dillon, he was not a proven commodity at the NFL level. And as we've seen the past week, nothing the Pats have done has fixed him. In fact I'd argue in the case of Moss and Dillon it was merely gained maturity with age that gave the appearance of them being "fixed", not anything the Pats did.

Obviously nothing the Pats do help save Hernandez from himself.

Long story short the Pats don't rehabilitate players with their "Way", and it's ****tarded to compare disgruntled players to a murder suspect. You want to talk about having blinders on? Jesus, look a the ridiculous sh*t you are saying....

 

My point, if you read my original post correctly and clearly you did not as reading comprehension appears to be difficult for you was the Patriots Way (e.g. only drafting/signing/trading for high character guys) is way over blown. 

 

My examples were Dillon and Moss who while having 'sour attitudes' had other issues.   Dillon had multiple offenses for violence against woman while in college.  I want to say he had an arrest for theft as a juvenile.    Moss used his car to push a cop out of his way when stopped for some violation while in Minnesota and I believe he also had a failed drug test which caused him to play at Marshall instead of Notre Dame. 

 

So you are wrong, they are more than sour attitudes.

 

And these are merely two examples.  Wilfork was drafted after his draft stock dropped due to drug use.    Donte Stallworth was convicted of vehicular homicide.  Alex Denard was arrested before the draft for striking a cop.  Ryan Mallet admitted to drug use during college.  Haynesworth.  Ocho Cinco. 

 

These are merely eight examples spanning the last decade of the Patriots taken a chance on a player with some issue.  The Patriot way is over blown.

[FloridaJetsFan]

Match point - Integrity28.

[dbatesman]

Alex Denard

Who?

[kay_gee]

I guess the Patriot Way is really a lot like everyone else's way, they're just endlessly more smug about it.

 

http://www.csnne.com/blog/patriots-talk/curran-hernandez-couldnt-walk-walk

 

Sunday morning, agent Brian Murphy sent out a tweet praising one of his firm’s clients, Rams receiver Austin Pettis.
 
“AP embracing the term role model and stepping up to give back to the community. A1 family is very proud!” tweeted Murphy.
 
A1 is Athletes First and it’s been a tough week for the firm
since another one of its clients, Aaron Hernandez, was sashaying around
this week with an Athlete’s First sweatshirt on while a murder
investigation swirls in his living room.
 
So good for Austin
Pettis for doing good. And while it’s Athletes First's right to
chest-puff about the good deeds of a client and every community
appreciates it, I’ve been thinking this week about how easily we in the
media and fans swallow the “good works” narrative we’re spoon-fed by
organizations whose ulterior motives for good works is also good
publicity.
 
Last August, Hernandez signed a contract and
immediately cut a check to Robert Kraft for $50,000 to go toward the
Patriots Charitable Foundation.
 
Despite the events of the past
week -- and whatever Hernandez may have been involved in or on the
fringes of in the past few months -- I don’t doubt that he meant well at
the time. And I don’t doubt that Kraft was truly touched by the gesture
because only a beyond-salvation cynic would think the Patriots
community commitment is only done for the positive press it engenders.
 
My
issue is with self-congratulation and cultivating a holier-than-thou,
above-the-fray, not-in-our-house image when, as we all know by now,
nobody is all good. Nor all bad.
 
We in the media were all made
well aware of Hernandez’s gesture and ran with the implication that,
“Hey, the kid gets it now and he’s a real good guy . . .” Happens a lot.
 
This
offseason, the Patriots traded for running back LeGarrette Blount. He’s
got a bit of a checkered past. They also acquired running back Leon
Washington who is seemingly pristine.
 
When I asked running backs
coach Ivan Fears about what Washington brings to the running back
group, Fears answered, “He’s a great guy. That’s all we ever have. We
don’t go for the other stuff. Our guys are solid people. They really
are.”
 
And in my mind, as Fears said that, I’m thinking about Blount.
 
Has the Patriots’ organization cultivated the notion of a so-called “Patriots Way?”
 
No doubt.
 
Not
on the football side, necessarily, where the highest compliment Bill
Belichick pays a player is often “football is important to him,” but the
organization has propagated the idea that they hire great young men
and, when they go outside that box, it’s done very carefully with the
expectation the player will come out clean after his baptism in the
Patriots culture and be an upstanding citizen or be gone.
 
That’s
what they want. That’s what they are committed to. But to succeed in
the NFL, a player has to embrace the side of his personality that
welcomes physical violence, extreme toughness and a “baddest man on the
planet” persona. Being a sweet person is at cross-purposes with being a
great football player. Many, many, many NFL players -- the vast majority
-- can toggle back and forth between the two personas. They are mature
enough to understand the difference, the demands of their job as
professionals and the responsibilities they have to the people paying
them millions.
 
The Patriots have a group of outstanding people
on their football team. Tom Brady, Jerod Mayo, Vince Wilfork, Logan
Mankins, Devin McCourty, Matt Slater, really, I could go on and on.
 
And
they have had those players for more than a decade in an abundance. The
Vrabels and Bruschis and Phifers. The Harrisons, Izzos and Lights.
 
They
have also had players who grew up and grew into their maturity. Willie
McGinest being the most prime example, in my opinion.
 
They have a lot of players who seem to have more character than I had at 25. And probably more than I had at 40, too.
 
But
it’s not going to be universal. Never can be. And pretending it is, and
wearing your moral superiority on your sleeve is whistling past the
graveyard. It also is going to make folks take a certain amount of glee
when that narrative blows up in your face.
 
Aaron Hernandez has
made the Patriots look like fools. If he plays another down for this
team, I’ll be stunned no matter how the Odin Lloyd murder investigation
turns out.
 
The senseless death of a 27-year-old is, quite obviously, the real tragedy here.
 
But
when it comes to Hernandez, the saddest thing to me isn’t the wasted
football talent. It’s the wasted opportunity to do good with his mere
presence in the community. The fact that he didn’t want to walk it like
he talked it when he said he was all grown up.
 
Walking it like you talk it is damn hard. Sometimes not talking at all is the best approach.

[Integrity28]

My point, if you read my original post correctly and clearly you did not as reading comprehension appears to be difficult for you was the Patriots Way (e.g. only drafting/signing/trading for high character guys) is way over blown. 

 

My examples were Dillon and Moss who while having 'sour attitudes' had other issues.   Dillon had multiple offenses for violence against woman while in college.  I want to say he had an arrest for theft as a juvenile.    Moss used his car to push a cop out of his way when stopped for some violation while in Minnesota and I believe he also had a failed drug test which caused him to play at Marshall instead of Notre Dame. 

 

So you are wrong, they are more than sour attitudes.

 

And these are merely two examples.  Wilfork was drafted after his draft stock dropped due to drug use.    Donte Stallworth was convicted of vehicular homicide.  Alex Denard was arrested before the draft for striking a cop.  Ryan Mallet admitted to drug use during college.  Haynesworth.  Ocho Cinco. 

 

These are merely eight examples spanning the last decade of the Patriots taken a chance on a player with some issue.  The Patriot way is over blown.

 

 

LOL, wait, I thought I had green colored glasses problems... not reading comprehension problems. 

 

What actually happened here is you failed to make your initial point clearly, so I took the opportunity to rail on it to troll you. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. 

[Integrity28]

I like that it took this much back and forth, and this much verbosity for this dope to finally reach the conclusion that he "originally" said the same thing I'm saying, and the same thing Borges said in the article. The Patriot Way is a farce. 

[Sperm Edwards]

Match point - Integrity28.

Really? This exchange made me cringe, not think to myself "YES!!"

 

The original post, PFSIKH said of the farce of a somehow different Patriot Way:  "that has always been overblown, by the media and Jets' fan base.  Dillon was not a saint.  Nor, was Moss.  They have given players second (or later) chances like all franchises do."  And it was pretty obvious what he was referring to.  Hell, he even boldfaced it in the quote he was responding to just to spell it out for everyone.  I think the only person who needed clarification was the one handing out unprovoked "dope" insults.  His point was straightforward even to the dullest posters we have here.

 

Gets called a pig and a dope for it.  It was totally uncalled-for and in my opinion was way out of line.  It screamed of someone just looking for a fight.

 

And, incidentally, PFSIKH was 100% correct (not that being 100% incorrect should elicit being called a "pig" anyway).  

 

One would think someone who seems to pride himself on having such control of the English language, like I28, could argue against someone's point of view without childish name-calling.  That doesn't require any special intellect or debating talent.  And it took 2 pages for him to realize that this "finally"-reached conclusion was quite obviously the very point from the start.

[Integrity28]

Really? This exchange made me cringe, not think to myself "YES!!"

 

The original post, PFSIKH said of the farce of a somehow different Patriot Way:  "that has always been overblown, by the media and Jets' fan base.  Dillon was not a saint.  Nor, was Moss.  They have given players second (or later) chances like all franchises do."  And it was pretty obvious what he was referring to.  Hell, he even boldfaced it in the quote he was responding to just to spell it out for everyone.  I think the only person who needed clarification was the one handing out unprovoked "dope" insults.  His point was straightforward even to the dullest posters we have here.

 

Gets called a pig and a dope for it.  It was totally uncalled-for and in my opinion was way out of line.  It screamed of someone just looking for a fight.

 

And, incidentally, PFSIKH was 100% correct (not that being 100% incorrect should elicit being called a "pig" anyway).  

 

One would think someone who seems to pride himself on having such control of the English language, like I28, could argue against someone's point of view without childish name-calling.  That doesn't require any special intellect or debating talent.  And it took 2 pages for him to realize that this "finally"-reached conclusion was quite obviously the very point from the start.

 

lol, awesome

[FloridaJetsFan]

Really? This exchange made me cringe, not think to myself "YES!!"

The original post, PFSIKH said of the farce of a somehow different Patriot Way: "that has always been overblown, by the media and Jets' fan base. Dillon was not a saint. Nor, was Moss. They have given players second (or later) chances like all franchises do." And it was pretty obvious what he was referring to. Hell, he even boldfaced it in the quote he was responding to just to spell it out for everyone. I think the only person who needed clarification was the one handing out unprovoked "dope" insults. His point was straightforward even to the dullest posters we have here.

Gets called a pig and a dope for it. It was totally uncalled-for and in my opinion was way out of line. It screamed of someone just looking for a fight.

And, incidentally, PFSIKH was 100% correct (not that being 100% incorrect should elicit being called a "pig" anyway).

One would think someone who seems to pride himself on having such control of the English language, like I28, could argue against someone's point of view without childish name-calling. That doesn't require any special intellect or debating talent. And it took 2 pages for him to realize that this "finally"-reached conclusion was quite obviously the very point from the start.

Truthfully, i was just trying to end the damned thing.

[HessStation]

Pfiskh has clearly lost his way.