The Grill-to-Go ... went

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE

Patriots 27, Browns 16 (12/9/'01): "Happy Father's Day!" My daughters Katie (14), Amy (11), and Jenny (9) stood with big smiles around a large present for me. It was by far the largest box I had ever gotten on Father's Day. I had no clue what it could be. We already had a large dog so I ruled that out. I was curious. Upon tearing open the paper with the gleeful help of the girls I saw standing in front of me a Grill-to-Go. A Grill-to-Go! It was the tailgating must-have item and I now had one. Thanks girls!

The Grill-to-Go was a somewhat space-age looking device when folded up -- its rounded, red body a sleek rocket shape. It sure looked ready to go. It was a great replacement for the charcoal and small propane grills that cluttered up all our car trunks. No more bags of charcoal and cans of lighter fluid. Easy to clean. A griddle for making eggs and bacon for the early morning tailgates. It was the hit of the 2001 tailgating season. At least the first three months of it.

Me, Paul, Bergs. and the Grill-to-Go arrived for the Week 13 game against the Browns. The Pats were at 7-5 and starting to ride the Brady wave that would wash them all the way to New Orleans. The wind chill was in the low 20s and there was a threat of snow. We tailgated among the snow banks and dirt piles rising high between the old stadium and the new one under construction. The lot was a mess. When the wind would blow the dirt would cover everything. You could feel it in your teeth. One tailgate Shep left a window open in his car. He was cleaning dirt out for years. To quote Mark: "Welcome to downtown Baghdad, boys."

We set up for the tailgate and I pulled out the Grill-to-Go. It was the first time for Paul. He was impressed. How could you not be? It went together like a dream and heated up quickly and evenly. The only glitch -- just a little one -- was the plastic tank at one end that the grease drained into. It had a little opening like at the top of a water bottle. Somehow you were supposed to get the grease out of there. But if there's one thing grease does, it's solidify quickly upon cooling. So by its seventh week in action the plastic grease tank was filled with old grease. As we sat in our chairs drinking and watching the burgers cook, we noticed the grease tank had caught fire. A small flame rising out of the little opening. I tried to put it out but it just kept burning and burning and burning... "Anything in the instruction manual about it also being used as a torch?" Bergs asked.

We ate and packed up the tailgate to get into the game. I had forgotten to turn the grill off and it was still hot. Too hot to put in the trunk. "How about we put it in the snowbank in front of the car and bury it so no one sees it and steals it," I said to Paul. He agreed with the plan. The Pats beat the Browns in a great battle to improve to 8-5. The highlight of the game was Troy Brown returning a punt 85 yards for a touchdown thanks to big blocks by Lawyer Milloy and Richard Seymour. I can still see the look on the punter's face -- the last man between Brown and the end zone -- as Seymour rumbled towards him to throw the block. One of the best moments of that year. Late in the game the weather turned nasty with a cold, wet snow. As we left the stadium the three of us decided to skip the postgame tailgate and hit the road. Paul and I jumped into my car and made an easy exit.

The next morning I was cleaning the supplies out of my car. Chairs. Table. Cooler. Grill? Where's the Grill-to-Go? Nowhere to be found. I thought back to the pre-game tailgate and an image of me burying the grill in a snowbank flashed before me. I lost the Grill-to-Go. That my three daughters gave me. Ruh roh. I figured I could just go out and buy a new one and they would never know the difference.

Then I heard a voice. "Hey Dad, where's the grill?" It was my always observant daughter Amy. "What happened to the Grill-to-Go?" The scene in the "Grinch" where the Santa imposter conned Cindy Lou Who into thinking he was taking the Christmas tree back to the North Pole to fix it ran through my head. But this turned out to be one of the few times a white lie eluded me. "I left it in a snowbank."

I often wonder if the Grill-to-Go sat in that snowbank till the next day when the snow began to melt and some member of the stadium staff noticed it sticking out. I picture him sitting on his deck at home, beer in hand, smelling his burgers cooking on my Grill-to-Go and watching the eternal flame burn from the plastic grease tank.

The big man

The Patriots signed the Big Man. Vince Wilfork. Clarence Clemons to Tom Brady's Springsteen. One just isn't as good without the other doing his thing. The biggest off-season issue facing the Pats this year has been settled. And unlike previous off-seasons, this time it ended with everyone happy. Hopefully this sets the tone for the 2010 season.

Wilfork and the Pats agreed to a five-year, $40 million deal. The heart and soul of the D is locked up. If he can stay healthy for the length of the contract the team will more than get its money's worth. The Pats had little or no chance of competing with the Jets, Colts, or Chargers in 2010 with a Vince Wilfork-size hole in the middle of their D line. That's one big headache the team -- and the fans -- won't have to worry about.

The signing of Wilfork certainly flies in the face of the prevailing sentiment that the Patriots don't take care of their players. The thing about that prevailing sentiment? It's been wrong in most cases.

The team has lost some key players over the past decade. All teams do. Some of them were big contributors to the championship run. Some of them left because the Pats weren't interested in keeping them at the asking price. Some of them because another team wanted so badly to steal away some of the "winning chemistry" that they were willing to overpay.

David Givens and Deion Branch fall into the latter category. Givens was clutch for the Pats, especially in big games. The Pats made him a solid offer but Tennessee made an over-the-top one that even if he had stayed healthy he would have had a hard time justifying. Same goes with Branch. Super Bowl MVP and the best weapon Brady had to that point in his career. He (along with Givens) was key to the offense taking the next step. But, like Givens, the Seahawks were willing to overpay him AND give the Pats a first-round pick in a trade when Branch held out. He also battled injuries and has come nowhere near the elite WR status that he was being paid at. Both Givens and Branch landed huge paydays thanks to their play with the Pats but also largely due to the fact that they were part of a championship organization. That raised their profile and their value. Yes, the Patriots didn't reward their contribution to the team with big contracts. And that was seen as the team mistreating or not -- in the players' parlance -- respecting them. But it was neither of those. In both cases it was a business decision. It turns out they were the right decisions.

Of course the player that the Pats "mistreated" the most was Asante Samuel. The Pats drafted him in the fourth round (we need to start making some picks like that again and soon) and he proved to be a steal. Samuel was a playmaker -- plain and simple. Those are few and far between at the cornerback position. The Pats knew it and tried to sign him but ended up franchising him and "insulting" him with an $8 million, one-year deal. Samuel held out. The team agreed to let him go to free agency after that. Samuel had a great year in the 16-0 season. Oh, all except that little matter of the perfect season bouncing off his hands at the worst possible time. The Eagles threw a stadium-load of cash at him and he was gone. Belichick and the Pats misplayed that one for sure. They should have ponied up the money for Samuel before the relationship soured. It wasn't a matter of not wanting to pay him his due, it was a matter of not wanting to overpay him. Which the Eagles did. Which team has won more games since then? Eagles or Pats? That would be the Pats.

The Pats also let Super Bowl heroes Adam Vinatieri and Willie McGinnest go. Decisions I still don't agree with. But they have to make the decisions. And you can't keep everyone. The key is to keep the right guys at the right price at the right time. For the most part they have done that. Tom Brady. Ty Law. Tedy Bruschi. Matt Light. Ted Johnson, Mike Vrabel. And on and on. Even Richard Seymour was paid when he was due. The Pats traded him last year because, rightfully so, they knew his next contract would be a big one and the reality are his best days are behind him now. The sentiment that a team should pay a player for what he has done for the team just doesn't work in the NFL reality. That's how you end up with old, overpaid players. In other words, that's how you end up like the Redskins.

That's the difference with big Vince. He has a lot of great football left in him. And it will be in a Patriots uniform. A very good start to 2010.

Chemistry lessons

The Patriots are 7-5 after losing three of their last four games. That hasn't happened around here for quite a while. But it was really only a matter of time. You can't have a guy get knocked out and fall out of bounds unconscious so that his fumble doesn't count every year. We all know that, right?

Is the dynasty over? When the Pats aren't a playoff contender then the dynasty is officially over. As long as the Pats have Belichick and Brady and win 10+ games in a season then they still have a shot at a title. Just two seasons ago the team was, and this we all do know, 16-0. Even Joe Montana's 49ers sprinkled in several 10-6 seasons among all the Super Bowls. The Pats can still go 11-5 and host a playoff game. Sorry, that's not a failure. Lose to the Panthers this week and that's a different story. As long as Brady is healthy enough to play I can't see that happening. But if you listen to all the team chemistry experts this week you'd think the Pats had lost 10 in a row and players were taking swings at each other on the sideline.

Sure. Belichick had to send Moss, Thomas, and two others home for coming late to a meeting due to the snowstorm. That's not a good sign. But that doesn't mean the team is coming unglued. It hasn't reached that point yet but why wait till it does when you can write or talk as if it has? More fun that way, right? Nope. Why follow a team if you expect them to fall apart and lose to the Panthers or Bills in the next two weeks? What's the fun in expecting the Pats to let the division get away? They've lost some tough games the past month and that has a way of making a team look less than happy. Less than together. But team chemistry is overrated. Win a few games and the chemistry couldn't be better. Lose a few -- especially close ones -- and the chemistry can go south quickly.

It's the sports equivalent of the chicken-and-the-egg. What comes first? Good team chemistry or winning? Winning breeds good team chemistry but can you win unless you have it in the first place? Amateur psychologists (and ex-Pats greats) Ted Johnson and Richard Seymour weighed in on that subject in the wake of the Pats last-second loss to Miami. They questioned the chemistry and leadership on defense. I wrote early in the season after the win over the Ravens that "They have lost a ton of experience with the departures of Bruschi, Harrison, Vrabel, and Seymour. That may catch up to them when the stakes get bigger later in the year." Is it catching up to them? They had to get younger and faster. But did they get too young too fast? In the last-second losses this year would Vrabel or Seymour (the two players the Pats chose to remove) have made a difference? You never know. But they were on the teams that let some big wins slip away in the playoffs the last few seasons.

The young defense might look lost and dispirited right now but it looked darn good after the first Miami game. Or the Atlanta game. And certainly after the Ravens game. They could have lost any of those. Just like they could have won any of the losses except the Saints game. It's often a very thin line between wins and losses in the NFL. What puts a team on the right side of that line? Chemistry. Experience. Talent. Smarts. They are all a factor. But in the NFL the games are mostly decided by one simple factor -- who makes the most big plays in all three phases of the game. Make the plays when they are there to be made and even a group of players that are at each other's throats look like they love each other. (Right T.O.?)

Seymour says he could have provided the kind of leadership that can make a difference in close games. He might be right. But it's not like his presence assures you of tranquility and confidence. The team chemistry of the '02 Pats -- with Seymour and Johnson as starters -- sure didn't look all that great as they stumbled in the middle of the season and missed the playoffs. That looked like a team with a serious leadership problem. They won the next two Super Bowls. So you just never know.

As Brady said after the Miami game: "We've had a lot of fourth down opportunities this year and we're just not making the plays" It's the second part of that sentence that says it all. They are not making the plays. But the plays are there to be made. Even the most fervent "The season is over and the dynasty is dead" believer has to admit that if this team can start putting together a string of 60-minute games to build some momentum going into the playoffs then they are still a very dangerous team.

Like in '02 after the first Super Bowl, maybe it's one of those years where they just don't put it all together. I'm not even close to being convinced of that yet.

Crowd noise

WEEK 1
Patriots 25, Bills 24 (9/14/09): A memorable season opener. The Pats are 1-0. Nothing surprising about that considering they were at home, against the offensively-challenged Bills, and Tom Brady was back. My thinking during the tailgate (What a tailgate! 78 degrees. Shorts. Giant inflatable beer bottle. Steak wrapped in bacon.) was a 34-13 Pats victory if the game played out as expected. Well, it didn't. But come time to decide who makes the playoffs and who doesn't... it counts as a W.

Lots of story lines after this one. Brady and the offense misfiring in the early going; then catching fire down the stretch for the dramatic win. The question-mark defense looking very much like a question mark, at least till the final moments. The introduction of the Pats all-time team at the half (big cheers for Troy Brown, Rodney Harrison, and, of course, Tedy Bruschi). The blood oath that coach Dick Jauron has with his good friend Bill Belichick to do whatever it takes to stop his Bills from winning when they play each other.

A storyline that won't be talked about, however, is the Gillette Stadium crowd. Or should I say the much-maligned Gillette Stadium crowd. The noise -- or lack thereof -- at Pats games in the "new" stadium has long been an annoying topic. One of those "Are we really talking about this?" issues. Perfect to kill time on sports talk radio during slow days. It goes back to 2005 when Richard Seymour (you remember him) said after a lackluster 16-3 win over the Jets: "It is really disappointing. The loudest they ever got was when there was a Victoria's Secret model on the scoreboard. They don't know when to cheer. You look up and see half the stands empty."

First: That Victoria's Secret model was Gisele. As in the future Mrs. Tom Brady. As in one of the hottest women in the world. So I would say that proves that Pats fans do know when to cheer. Second: I was at that game. It was boring. The weather was lousy. Both teams were lousy. It was cold. Snowing. Not every game has the atmosphere of a playoff game. It is what it is. Granted. It was against the hated Jets. But it was a bad game. During a season of several bad games. The Pats finished 10-6 that year. It was win one, lose one. Win two, lose two. One of those years.

Early in the season the Patriots were 2-1 (having come off a great road win against the Steelers) and were hosting the explosive Chargers. It was the game of the week. And the crowd was into it. Better than any regular season game at the old Schaefer/ Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. If, like me, you have a large collection of videotapes (yes, VHS) of old Pats games go back and watch the first half of that game. It was electric. Both teams were playing at a high level, matching each other big play for big play. It was a beautiful late summer day. There was a moment late in the first half where the Pats were driving to tie the score at 17. Brady, coming off back-to-back 14-2 Super Bowl seasons, was looking more and more like the best QB to ever play the game. Everyone was on their feet anticipating a touchdown. I looked around and soaked in the moment. After all those years in a crappy stadium with a less than mediocre team, I almost couldn't believe my good fortune to be standing in this state-of-the-art building watching a team led by one of the best coaches and quarterbacks of all-time. I looked at Paul, another newspaper guy, and I could tell he was thinking pretty much the same thing. We were football fans and it didn't get any better than this.

Unfortunately the Chargers proceeded to destroy the Pats in the second half, rolling off 24 unanswered points. A real buzz kill in every sense of the phrase. Antonio Gates had his way with every DB and LB the Pats put up against him. It wasn't pretty. And the Pats never really recovered that season, struggling to stay above .500. By the time they got to the Jets game they also had been spanked by the Colts and the Chiefs. They hadn't lost a home game in the previous two seasons, this year they lost three. The Jets couldn't score. Their inept offense being as much or more the reason than anything the Pats D was doing. The crowd was cold and only mildly riled up when the Jets offense was on the field because there never seemed to be much threat of them suddenly doing anything. But on third downs, as is pretty much mandatory unless you have an injury, the fans were up and making noise. (If you're not gonna get up and make noise on third down plays to disrupt the other team's offense, please stay home on your couch.) The Pats won what was your run-of-the-mill regular season snoozer. One that I paid $135 to watch. And was glad to. Not sure how much Seymour had to pay to be there.

Back to opening night. Brady's return. Lots of questions and lots of promise. And even though the somewhat lowly Bills were playing the Pats even and then playing the Pats ahead by 11, a good 85 percent of the fans were still there, still cheering, still believing. Because they've seen Brady do some amazing things and you don't want to be in your car when he pulls off another miracle win. The Pats drove down the field and scored to cut the gap to five and the place went nuts. Still down by five with less than three minutes to go and the crowd that doesn't know when to cheer was behind their team as they had been all game. As they have been all decade.

ESPN's Bill Simmons, the go-to sports columnist of the day if you are a Boston fan and even if you aren't, wrote a piece last year about the lack of crowd noise. How the new stadium is the "Gillette Mausoleum." How loud and into the game the fans at the old stadium were. How his friend Bug didn't have as much fun at Gillette. Oh, how good things look through the golden haze of nostalgia. With all respect to Mr. Simmons, it doesn't sound like he's been to too many games over the years. Certainly not too many at Gillette. I've been to close to 200 games over the last 20 years. Is it different at Gillette? Of course. But the fans are more into the game. The other night the guys in front of us were talking about possible LBs they could bring in to replace Mayo in case he was out for weeks (which turns out he will be). A few others were debating Maroney vs. Fred Taylor (my vote: Taylor). In other words, when not cheering we were talking about the game. Except for when the woman in the tight pink Welker jersey and very small skirt stood up to wave her sign. But then we would go right back to talking about the game.

There wasn't too much of that in the old stadium. Lulls in the games usually meant fights in the stands. Or beer getting spilled all over you as someone tried to wedge themselves along the rows of people jammed into the aluminum benches. Or having crap hurled at you from the seats behind you which was surprising in our case since our seats at the old stadium were only about 10 rows from the top. Sure it was fun. As I said in a "Tales from the Tailgate" post ("The Snow Bowl"): The place was a pit and sometimes I miss it. But there were more games there where the crowd was asleep. Well, mostly passed out. Everyone thinks of the old stadium and thinks of the Snow Bowl. Or the '96 AFC title game. Or some of the great Drew Bledsoe led victories. But for every one of those games there were 10 where the game was bad, or boring, and the crowd was out in the lot grilling by the end of the third quarter.

The idea that Pats fans are spoiled by the success of the past decade has never made sense to me. There were always fair-weather fans and there always will be. And if you are under the age of 30 I guess you might think that if the Pats don't win it all then the season is a failure. But not me. And not the people I talk to. The beauty of the NFL is that each game is an event. In baseball when the Kansas City Royals (out of contention before the season starts) knock off the Twins or some other division rival late in the season it's no big deal. Just one of 162 games. But go to a Chiefs-Raiders game in Week 14 with both teams out of the playoff hunt and you will think you are at a playoff game. Pats fans are no different. If the game is exciting the crowd is into it.

Sometimes the games just aren't that good. That was true in the old stadium, and it's true at Gillette. But the crowd still drinks (Don Julio margaritas in the snow! Nice call Mr. Kraft), still has a good time, and still cheers the D to make a three-and-out and still yells "first down!" after another Brady-Moss hookup. Gillette isn't as good a home-field advantage as the old place? The team's record at Gillette: 52-12, with two 14-2 seasons, a 16-0 season, and two Super Bowls. 52 and 12! So much for that. Gillette has seen the two classic playoff battles with the Colts, the game after Spygate broke when the stadium rallied behind their coach and the team destroyed the Chargers, and the great snowstorm game against Miami where the snow was used like fireworks by the fans to celebrate Bruschi's pick-six. Just to name a few. I don't know about Bug, but Gillette felt alive to me on those days.

Some might say that a regular season game like Pats-Bills would have been a lot louder in the old stadium. They would probably be right. During the third quarter when the Pats were losing and the Gillette crowd wasn't all that loud, the highly-intoxicated crowd at the old stadium would have been much rowdier and noisier. No doubt about it. They just wouldn't have been paying too much attention to the game.