Pats wiping away remnants of glory days

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.csnne.com/07/27/10/Pats-wiping-away-remnants-of-glory-days/v1_landing.html?blockID=278311&feedID=3352

By Tom E. Curran

CSNNE.com

The artifacts of the New England Patriots dominant decade are everywhere around Gillette Stadium. From the Super Bowl banners to the Patriots Hall of Fame sitting out front, they're building the brand on the glory days.

But they're not building this year's team on it.

According to Troy Brown, Bill Belichick has been busy this offseason taking down reminders of who the Patriots recently were.

"From what I understand, they're gutting out the whole place," Brown said this afternoon at Mohegan Sun Casino where he was speaking to a group at the Comcast Sportsnet football roundtable. "There's no pictures of Troy Brown, there's no pictures of Tedy Bruschi, no pictures of Rodney Harrison in the building. It's all wiped off. It's (saying), 'Get your own identity. Get a name for yourseflves and don't worry about what Troy Brown did or Rodney Harrison did for this football team.' ...That's gonna be the key to this year is, 'Can these guys get their own identity?' Forget about the past and how successful they were let's be successful in our own way."

I asked if the exorcism bothered him at all.

"It doesn't sting to me at all, I mean I hate to walk in the building and my picture's not up there, that sucks, but it's something they need to do because they've been living in the shadow of the past Patriots. (The media) talks about it. "What difference did Tedy make? What difference did Rodney make?' Let's talk about what kind of difference Brandon Meriweather is going to make this year. That's the signal (Belichick) is trying to send to these guys."

There is further evidence of the very determined way in which Belichick is trying to remake the team's personality. From releasing players who didn't necessarily buy in, to making a true effort to draft or sign leader-types, it's clear that the way things were last season were as troubling as they seemed.

Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomecurran

[SMC]

This is idiotic.

[GodWearsAGrayHoodie]

Something tells me there is a bit of conjecture going on here that is different from reality.

In the players/coaches area there is almost nothing that could be taken down. (This is well documented.) The locker room, practice field, coaches offices have never had any mementos of past wins, SBs, players, etc. This has been true for at least as long as BB has been the coach.

I really doubt that in the spectator areas there is going to be any change either. I doubt Kraft would allow the removal of the three SB banners or the closing of the Patriots Hall of Fame.

I bet the only thing that is going on is an annual clean up of things from last year's wins.

[Thai Jet]

This is idiotic.

I disagree. I think BeliPRICK is roght in that the current team shouldn't rely on past performances, much like stocks and mutual funds. I think he's hoping this will make the team "hungry" for wins. Too bad they did diddly squat in the off season to help them acheive this.

[RutgersJetFan]

This is idiotic.

Idiotic yes, but this is what happens when you draft pansies.

[Larz]

clingons ?

[Integrity28]

It worked well for Mangini in Cleveland. I think its a great idea.

In fact, I would personally volunteer my future mother in law to meet Bellidoosh @ Crate & Barrel to help him pick out paint swatches and areas rugs its such a good idea...