30th Anniversary year of my fandom and…

[UGAPatsfan]

I became a fan in 1993.

I was almost 13 when Bledsoe was drafted.

From that moment on, there was always something to be hopeful and excited about

The Parcells years brought C Martin, Glenn, Law, etc and tgey were building.

Pete Carroll wasn’t as awful as folks want to remember.

Bill brought excitement and championships

It’s astonishing that in 30 years, I never really felt like there was no hope in sight for the team to be competitive.

I feel that now.

Bad football team, devoid of talent, coaching staff that seems to have lost it’s touch, no franchise QB or really even an obvious pro bowl player to point to.

I think we are in for a few years of suck…the hope being that a new HC can turn it around.

 

[The Boston Patriot]

You don't sound much different than most of the 'fans' who post here.

(Queue up the 'Glory Days' music, please)

 

[Patriot Missile]

You don't sound much different than most of the 'fans' who post here.

(Queue up the 'Glory Days' music, please)

Hate that song. I’ve always found it one 9f Bruce Springsteen’s most depressing.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

You don't sound much different than most of the 'fans' who post here.

(Queue up the 'Glory Days' music, please)

Just the facts…

Plenty of hopeless years for the Sox, Celts, and Bruins, but that Pats were always sort of one or two moves away be it personnel, or coaching.

This just feels like a total rebuild is necessary and it’s an odd feeling.

 

[Ian]

It’s astonishing that in 30 years, I never really felt like there was no hope in sight for the team to be competitive.

I feel that now.

You came on board around the same time I started getting more into it also, with my first visit to the stadium coming in 1994 (against Indy) and obviously I got caught up in it and really got hooked after sitting in between Bledsoe's dad and Ben Coates' brother.

The one positive is that this year is going to create a significant amount of urgency on the offensive side of the football, so we'll see an infusion of talent there relatively quickly. The question will obviously be who gets extended, how much talent they lose, and certainly what will happen with Belichick. I'm trying not to look much past Sunday right now, given the current state of things. But I feel pretty confident that things have been bad enough where ownership isn't going to be comfortable without significant changes on the offensive side of the ball. So I expect they'll be better there.

As for whether WR or QB will be the priority next offseason, that's anyone's guess. Again, it's a little early in the process, but I don't have much doubt an effort will absolutely be steps to improve things there, given what's transpired so far.

 

[XLIX]

Hate that song. I’ve always found it one 9f Bruce Springsteen’s most depressing.

One Step Up says hold my beer.....

 

[UGAPatsfan]

You came on board around the same time I started getting more into it also, with my first visit to the stadium coming in 1994 (against Indy) and obviously I got caught up in it and really got hooked after sitting in between Bledsoe's dad and Ben Coates' brother.

The one positive is that this year is going to create a significant amount of urgency on the offensive side of the football, so we'll see an infusion of talent there relatively quickly. The question will obviously be who gets extended, how much talent they lose, and certainly what will happen with Belichick. I'm trying not to look much past Sunday right now, given the current state of things. But I feel pretty confident that things have been bad enough where ownership isn't going to be comfortable without significant changes on the offensive side of the ball. So I expect they'll be better there.

As for whether WR or QB will be the priority next offseason, that's anyone's guess. Again, it's a little early in the process, but I don't have much doubt an effort will absolutely be steps to improve things there, given what's transpired so far.

I LOVED Ben Coates, and was so pissed when Curtis Martin left.

I agree…it’s been so bad on Offense that it just can’t be ignored.

I can’t help but feel like O-line is really the biggest thing that needs rebuilding.

Skill positions sure, but the line just isn’t good enough.

QB is an obvious question mark, and I actually believe the defense is in rougher shape though it appears though there are a few building blocks there.

On offense I can’t pick a single player who I’d pound the table to keep.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

I will also ALWAYS have a soft spot for Drew.

 

[Patriot Missile]

I will also ALWAYS have a soft spot for Drew.

He’s one of the Patriot greats as far as I’m concerned. Season tickets were never the same after Parcells and Bledsoe. Watching him was an intense experience, so good but so prone sometimes to mistakes.

 

[PATS16N0]

I became a fan in 1993.

I was almost 13 when Bledsoe was drafted.

From that moment on, there was always something to be hopeful and excited about

The Parcells years brought C Martin, Glenn, Law, etc and tgey were building.

Pete Carroll wasn’t as awful as folks want to remember.

Bill brought excitement and championships

It’s astonishing that in 30 years, I never really felt like there was no hope in sight for the team to be competitive.

I feel that now.

Bad football team, devoid of talent, coaching staff that seems to have lost it’s touch, no franchise QB or really even an obvious pro bowl player to point to.

I think we are in for a few years of suck…the hope being that a new HC can turn it around.

On the bright side, it really can’t get any worse, so it’ll be some form of ascension from here on out.

My timeline is basically the same, and although I don’t remember everything from my teenage years in the 90’s, I have to say this is the most abysmal season I’ve ever seen.

 

[IcyPatriot]

I was 8 years old in 1967 when I discovered them ...
Had my own paper route then and followed them in the Providence Journal.
They were never on TV and the Boston signals were tough to get.

I discovered the Boston Herald sports section a few years later and the Sunday edition was great.
My Patriots favorites were Steve Grogan and Stanley Morgan ... Bledsoe got the Patriots on the 1:00 game.
There were many NY Giants fans back in that time ... they were like almost always the 4:00 game.
I was also a LA Rams fans 'Fearsome Foursome' and especially the Vikings 'Purple People Eaters'.

Younger fans have had it easy to follow their teams ... we worked our ass off with rabbit ears and directional roof antennas.
I was using my paper route money and would be up on the roof with the latest rotating VHF and UHF antennas and the electronic signal boosters.

I could go on ... always a homer through thick and thin ... just not the negative complaining type.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

I was 8 years old in 1967 when I discovered them ...
Had my own paper route then and followed them in the Providence Journal.
They were never on TV and the Boston signals were tough to get.

I discovered the Boston Herald sports section a few years later and the Sunday edition was great.
My Patriots favorites were Steve Grogan and Stanley Morgan ... Bledsoe got the Patriots on the 1:00 game.
There were many NY Giants fans back in that time ... they were like almost always the 4:00 game.
I was also a LA Rams fans 'Fearsome Foursome' and especially the Vikings 'Purple People Eaters'.

Younger fans have had it easy to follow their teams ... we worked our ass off with rabbit ears and directional roof antennas.
I was using my paper route money and would be up on the roof with the latest rotating VHF and UHF antennas and the electronic signal boosters.

I could go on ... always a homer through thick and thin ... just not the negative complaining type.

I grew up in Maine, so we still had two vhf channels and rabbit ears in the 90’s.

Never had a paper route as we were too rural, but same summer I raked blueberries (truly awful job), and cut grass.

Used a chunk of that money on patriots football weekly papers, a bledsoe jersey, and a sweet Celtics Starter Jacket

 

[mgteich]

On the bright side, it really can’t get any worse, so it’ll be some form of ascension from here on out.

Here is someone else whose whole perspective is after Bledsoe and then Kraft arrived.

It can get lots, lots worse. This is the first year that we haven't been competing for the playoffs in a very, very long time.
=====================
I suggest going to wiki and looking at their review of New England Patriots. Focus on pre-Kraft ppatriots.

Of course, if you think that things can't get worse, consider the jets for their ENTIRE history.

 

[ralmat55]

Things aren’t as bleak now as they appear. Despite the handwringing gloom and doom, a total rebuild is not necessary. There are good players here. You can see promise in others.

Injuries are not an excuse, but they are an explanation. The 2023 Patriots have been beset by injuries as were, as memory serves, most of the other bad Patriots’ seasons many of us endured way back when. The injured will return. They will have the highest round to round picks they’ve had since 2001, plus a $100 million of cap space they’ve got to spend having spent so little this season.

Sports fans either live by hope or expectation. Having been blessed with a generation long period where we expected to be good, we’re now in a period where hope must sustain our fandom for awhile.

Take heart UGAPatsfan and congratulations on 30 years. You’re right about one thing; Raking blueberries was a truly awful job, however I always had spending money as a kid because of it despite my low, low middle class upbringing.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

Things aren’t as bleak now as they appear. Despite the handwringing gloom and doom, a total rebuild is not necessary. There are good players here. You can see promise in others.

Injuries are not an excuse, but they are an explanation. The 2023 Patriots have been beset by injuries as were, as memory serves, most of the other bad Patriots’ seasons many of us endured way back when. The injured will return. They will have the highest round to round picks they’ve had since 2001, plus a $100 million of cap space they’ve got to spend having spent so little this season.

Sports fans either live by hope or expectation. Having been blessed with a generation long period where we expected to be good, we’re now in a period where hope must sustain our fandom for awhile.

Take heart UGAPatsfan and congratulations on 30 years. You’re right about one thing; Raking blueberries was a truly awful job, however I always had spending money as a kid because of it despite my low, low middle class upbringing.

We vacation in Maine every summer and our camp is on a pond only accessible by dirt road through blueberry fields…I was floored a few years ago when I saw machines and realized they don’t hand rake anymore.

 

[BelizePats]

As a Canadian, I stumbled into the Pats in 1974-75. Not sure exactly when but it was pouring rain one Sunday and I couldn't go out and play. I watched my first full NFL game and Grogen lit the Jets up for 4 TD's. That was my team. End of story. Who knoew that this simple commitment would lead to such abject misery for so many years? But a fan was born. And aside from the '85 season, Drew was the first real glimmer of sustained hope. The year before was 1-15 I think. Truly the wors foootball I have ever seen.
Sometimes you have to move backwards before you can move forward. And then Brady and Bill colided. I was living in Belize for work and during the last quarter of the Superbowl against the Rams, I had to leave a crowded bar on Cay Caulker to watch the last quarter. I didn't want any one else around me and I cried when we won. I still don't like to watch Pats games with anyone other than true believers.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It’s been about 30 years for me, but I was 15 when it became my religion. I was in High School during the Carroll years and I just started attending College when the Pats began their 20 year run. I’m 41 now. Time has flown by.

 

[long distance]

Things aren’t as bleak now as they appear. Despite the handwringing gloom and doom, a total rebuild is not necessary. There are good players here. You can see promise in others.

Injuries are not an excuse, but they are an explanation. The 2023 Patriots have been beset by injuries as were, as memory serves, most of the other bad Patriots’ seasons many of us endured way back when. The injured will return. They will have the highest round to round picks they’ve had since 2001, plus a $100 million of cap space they’ve got to spend having spent so little this season.

Sports fans either live by hope or expectation. Having been blessed with a generation long period where we expected to be good, we’re now in a period where hope must sustain our fandom for awhile.

Take heart UGAPatsfan and congratulations on 30 years. You’re right about one thing; Raking blueberries was a truly awful job, however I always had spending money as a kid because of it despite my low, low middle class upbringing.

Agreed. Worse rosters not to mention organizations turned it around quickly before on less capital.

Pats had every opportunity to make a solid team this year but bad OL/O decisions predictably took much of the toll.
Id argue part of the injury situation comes also from bad roster management putting too much stress on the team.
Relaxed, balanced, fluid teams tend to have less injuries..

Some of the hope, excitement will come from cap space alone.
Hopefully this doesnt turn into one of those winning the offseasons orgs : )

 

[Pape]

I became a fan in 1993.

I was almost 13 when Bledsoe was drafted.

From that moment on, there was always something to be hopeful and excited about

The Parcells years brought C Martin, Glenn, Law, etc and tgey were building.

Pete Carroll wasn’t as awful as folks want to remember.

Bill brought excitement and championships

It’s astonishing that in 30 years, I never really felt like there was no hope in sight for the team to be competitive.

I feel that now.

Bad football team, devoid of talent, coaching staff that seems to have lost it’s touch, no franchise QB or really even an obvious pro bowl player to point to.

I think we are in for a few years of suck…the hope being that a new HC can turn it around.

Love it. Drew deserves to get much love...

 

[Triumph]

Hate that song. I’ve always found it one 9f Bruce Springsteen’s most depressing.

Springsteen sucks.

People in Jersey worship him.