November 27, 2025 • 24 mins
Explores the foundation of the 1985 Patriots by revisiting the franchise’s AFL origins and the rise of the 1976 and 1978 teams. Highlights the leadership of veterans like Steve Grogan, John Hannah, and Steve Nelson, and sets the stage for Raymond Berry’s arrival.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What do you remember about the nineteen eighty five Patriots.
I might do so content creator for the New England
Patriots and lifelong fans, and as a local kid who
grew up a few towns away from Foxborough, this is
the first Patriots team I can recall at nine years old.
The eighty five Patriots Super Bowl run was a phenomenon
still clear in my mind. I had all their football cards,
the T shirts, the Painters, cap swished, the fish Bury
the Bears. For a generation like mine who saw the
(00:23):
Patriots start winning Super Bowl as adults, this was the
Patriots team that foreshadowed what was to come. Only we
didn't know it then, and we sure didn't know it
as the team fell back into the duldrums in the
late eighties and early nineties, I went back and rewatched
the eighty five season in order, game by game.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
At nine years old, you know the names, but you
don't truly know the football players.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Rediscovering how good they were made me see the nineteen
eighty five season through an entirely different lens. I talked
to many of the players and coaches who lived in
even Pat Sullivan, the son of Patriots founder Billy Sullivan
and the GM who put the eighty five team together
with purpose.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
What I found was that the nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Team deserves their due, even in the face of the
overwhelming success that followed decades later. Nineteen eighty five was
the culmination of something special that had been brewing Foxborough
since the mid seventies. They were the first NFL team
to win three playoff road games. They were the first
Patriots team to ever win an AFC Championship, and the
first Patriots team to ever appear in a Super Bowl.
(01:18):
They blazed a pathway that would be much traveled over
the next four decades. But more than that, they were
a special team that was flushed with special people across
the ranks on and off the field that translated to
special results and a trailblazing Patriots team that made New
England fans believe. That's why, now forty years later, we're
going back again to tell their story and how they
(01:39):
etched their names into team and league history. This is
a Patriots Super Bowl sound odyssey nineteen eighty five. Annihilated
might be a better word.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Doing de cour ur going back, We're gonna grow fire, one.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Cook fire touch down on then we mort puts down
hill the waters. He's getting bears ring Pier running it
all away good touchdown eighty five yards turbing.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
Fire decon rolling out to the right side, avoiding the pressure.
Speaker 6 (02:23):
I'm Ronny Broome, Wait bro touch down lin Uffam in
the end zone six foet Patrios shut down at Brian
Tony Cullen look at brand to.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Alieve Episode one, Dreams of the seventies. A right congratulations,
miss All he had to be. I've just a gratifying
year for you in this view.
Speaker 7 (02:41):
I'm on.
Speaker 8 (02:42):
I must say this that if there's.
Speaker 7 (02:44):
A happy man in the world and I I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Who he is.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Before nineteen eighty five, the Patriots were a team shaped
by two plus decades.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Of near missus, heartbreak, and hard earned lessons.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Stretches back to the AFL days, through the rise and
fall of Chuck Fairbanks, and into the turbulent early eighties,
where a talented team just couldn't seem to put it
all together until they did. The Boston Patriots began with
a dream team. Founder Billy Sullivan believed football could thrive
in the region. His son Pat Sullivan began his career
with the team as a ball boy in nineteen sixty
(03:14):
and he sented to become the GM in nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 9 (03:17):
Well, my dad's vision was pretty straightforward. He basically believed
that football could survive in New England, or in Massachusetts,
or even in Boston.
Speaker 10 (03:28):
For that matter.
Speaker 9 (03:31):
You know, there were three preceding teams that were National
Football League teams in Boston. They didn't succeed for various reasons,
and he just felt that there was enough of an
interest in football in this region to make a go
of it.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Founded in nineteen sixty, Sullivan's Patriots would pick up their
first AFL playoff win three years later, knocking off the
Buffalo Bills at War Memorial Stadium in nineteen sixty three
thirty three.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Thousand and four in the world's greatest fan jam, Buffalo's
War Memorial Stadium, inviting twenty four degree December twenty eighth temperatury,
it's all for the Eastern Division championship. Forrelli takes the
Bills beyond the point of no return. He hits Capelletti
with a look in path and Gino carried it fifty
one yards all toward.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
A week later, the Patriots fell to the Chargers in
the AFL Championship by a lopsided fifty one to ten.
It will be their final playoff game for thirteen years.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
Hatel Climactors descrived by billing himself.
Speaker 7 (04:31):
Diving over from the one.
Speaker 11 (04:33):
For the final score of man O Man look at
the sport board.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Purtis Championship Ballgame, San Diego Charger's New.
Speaker 12 (04:40):
World champions fifty one Boston Patriots fan.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
In nineteen seventy three, the seats began to take root
around an eventual team Hall of Famer named Julius Adams,
a defensive lineman who would anchor the team's defense for
sixteen years. Head coach Chuck Fairbanks also arrived that year,
as did a special draft class that would lead the
Patriots to eventual relevance.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
At the outside.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
Up the nineteen seventy four season, the New England Patriots
were charted as merely an improved team, despite facing an
unrelenting schedule that included five of the eight playoff teams
of seventy three. Team confidence was high and the young
squad was eager for competition.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Future team and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Hannon
was selected fourth overall with record setting running back and
fellow Team Hall of famer Sam Bam Cunningham, following as
the eleventh overall pick, and wide receiver Darryl Stingley, rounding
out a trio of first rounders at nineteenth overall.
Speaker 12 (05:28):
The completely re hauled New England team is led by
a new coach, Chuck Fairbanks, and three number one draft
choices blue Chips. All They are fullback Sam Cunningham, wide
receiver Darryl Stingley, and guard John Hannah.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Team hall of famer Steve Nelson was drafted in nineteen
seventy four and become another decade long defensive stalwart.
Speaker 11 (05:47):
Yon Leydon Nelson creb back into the hall and shot
past of the puddle dolphin blockers to Nail Greasy.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Then tight end Russ Francis and quarterback Steve Grogan were
selected in nineteen seventy five and wait and.
Speaker 11 (05:57):
Second touchdown was scored by tight end Russ France. There
are number one draft choice from Oregon.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
State Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Mike Haynes was
selected fifth overall in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 8 (06:06):
New England selects Mike Kynes, defensive back Arizona.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
State, while team Hall of Famer and three time Pro
Bowl cornerback Raymond Claiborne joined him in the defensive backfield.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
In nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 7 (06:17):
Wave Warren you Ovendos.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Over Hunter guard Nelson recalled Patriots teams that had the
talent but just couldn't get over the hump.
Speaker 13 (06:27):
When I was drafted in seventy four, we were, you know,
kind of a bad team. But seventy four we were,
you know, five hundred or something close to that. And
there wasn't many seasons, you know that we were under
five hundred. You know, my fourteen years, I've maybe four
or five teams, and I know that's a lot, but
(06:47):
I think we got a stigma of being because of
all successful the other teams with the Red Sox and
Celtics and the Bruins, and we were kind of the
fourth team in the city.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Suddenly the Patriots had the right talent at the right
spots to spite going fifteen to twenty seven hunderd Fairbanks
over his first three seasons.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
In nineteen seventy six, it all started to click.
Speaker 14 (07:06):
The Patriots two and one and smiling two weeks ago.
The Dolphins fell thirty to fourteen last week. The Steelers
thirty to twenty seven are the Raiders to be surprising
New England's next victim this week.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
They're really great football teams, really well rounded, great offense,
great defense, great special teams. You know, Grogan Darys, Stingley,
Res Frances, Sam Cunningham, John Hannah, Sam Adams, Oh god,
you name it. I mean, we had, we had all
(07:39):
the ingredients.
Speaker 11 (07:40):
The day was all New England as they surprisingly, shockingly
and smashingly devastated one of the fine teams in the NFL.
And after an opening day lost to Baltimore. Who would
have could have guessed that New England would be three
and one at this point in the season. Were they
having three consecutive games upset the mind Ammy Dolphins, Pittsburgh
(08:01):
Steelers and Oakland Raiders, And the way this fine young
football team is looked, maybe, just maybe those wins weren't
upsets at all. The New England Patriots look like they're
for real.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Patriots were eleven and three in nineteen seventy six, and
we're the only team all season long to beat the
Oakland Raiders, taking an early season forty eight seventeen September
win in New.
Speaker 15 (08:21):
England there's no fan like a Raider fan. They love
their team and they never never forget a loss. End
of this, Milieuke. Come the New England Patriots, who have
the unenviable task of beating Oakland for the second time
in one year in.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Their first playoff appearance since the early sixties. It will
be a rematch, this time in Oakland against the now
fourteen and one Raiders.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Get down. Call to God of Monisa.
Speaker 15 (08:44):
Soon a half yard lives.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Dorgan has a state. They lined up everybody's night, Thank
you down, what up the right time? Let's hint of
sand out of the tree. They opened the hole goes
in from three hours and the Patriot and fucked by
a car up twenty to death.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
The Patriots took a twenty one to ten lead into
the fourth quarter, but the Raiders quickly put together two
late drives.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Oh man, hegans from two yards goes in, but the
cart down twenty one to sixteen. It's fourth touched down
on the air, caught it down, then kicked it up
by a man and in his card, there's a time
on the affair with a car the witless twenty.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
One up in seventeen with Oakland driving to take the lead.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
There was a controversial roughing the passer call on ray
sugar Bear Hamilton in the fourth quarter, setting up Oakland's
go ahead score to complete the comeback and tear out
the hearts of the Patriots and their fans.
Speaker 7 (09:37):
On third and eighteen, number seventy one, Raymond Hamilton was
called for rubbing again statement instead of an incompleted pass,
and the fourth an impossible situation. Chuck Fairback's team was
against the wall with the Raiders at the one. A
storm of controversy clouted the scrimmage line. After winning all
the battles, the New England Patriots were about to lose
the war.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
The roughing the passer on sugar Bear go down in history.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
But later twenty bar no England twenty one.
Speaker 7 (10:07):
Oakland scored with ten seconds left in the clock. They
had come in like a lamb and gone out a lion.
Their dramatic turnaround from three and eleven to eleven and
three was unprecedented in league history.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
They will be back.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It was a moment that would echo into the nineteen
eighties and beyond. The Rivalry with the Raiders was born.
As Oakland moved on toward their first Super Bowl title
in franchise history, raids once again.
Speaker 15 (10:30):
On the Super Bowl Championships trap a back of Pat
brother five.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Two years later, in nineteen seventy eight, the Patriots didn't
just win, they ran through the league. Their rushing attacks
set an NFL record with three and sixty five yards
on the ground, a mark that stood for over forty years.
But it got off to a tragic start when Darryl
Stingley was paralyzed in a preseason game in Oakland after
a vicious hit by safety Jack Tatum.
Speaker 14 (11:04):
We're gonna hold them there. We had Joe deceiver as
Darryl Stingley, so that he ran Anthony as Jack Tatums.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
Down.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The Patriots would pull together and plow over the league.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
With the best offense in the NFL, this is the
league change the rules to loosen up the passing game.
The Pats leaned into the potent backfield of Sam Vam Cunningham,
Horace Ivory, Andy Johnson and quarterback Steve Grogan, who was
one of the earliest dual threat qbs.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
We're gonna throw a.
Speaker 16 (11:30):
Rare tossing chance and he's gonna scramble and has running row.
That is something we're going to continue to feature as
Andy Johnson's gets throw a hole and picks up nine
more yards up the middle, cutting half sampam center.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Pete Brock was one of the key blockers up front.
Speaker 17 (11:47):
Well. Seventy eight was a special season. That record stood
until twenty nineteen when Baltimore beat it. That was a
special group of guys. That was you know, it wasn't
just the running backs. It was you know, the the
offensive line and in the belief that we had that
we could We went into games, you know, with six,
(12:07):
maybe eight core plays that we knew we could run
against any defense that we face.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Steve Brogan joined Ivory, Coyningham and Johnson to give the
Patriots four five hundred yard rushers.
Speaker 17 (12:19):
We were going to run the football, and we were
to the point where if we didn't, if you didn't
throw the ball and it gained fifteen yards, it was
a waste of time because we could run over that
eight yards that you wanted.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
It was smash mouth football, built on a stable of
ferocious blockers and game breaking runners. Brogan's mobility added a
layer of unpredictability that would become a hallmark of the league.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Forty years later.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Second year wide out Stanley Morgan, another future Team Hall
of Famer, emerged as the deepest of deep threats, stretching
the field and keeping the defense honest.
Speaker 11 (12:50):
Brogan's seventy five yard master edo Stanley Morgan number eighty six,
illustrated New England's ability to strike instantly from long range
a Patriot pat in.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
This year, Patriots made the playoffs once again, but this
time it wasn't a controversial call that overshadowed the postseason.
It was the pending departure of their head coach, Chuck Fairbanks,
who had been suspended then reinstated for the playoffs as
he eyed a move to the University of Colorado.
Speaker 18 (13:13):
I would have to say that that's a tremendous disappointment
to me. I think the Chuck Fairbanks came here when
the team was at a low end and has made
it one of the most respective teams in the league.
And it was a difficult decision.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Patriots were listless against the Houston Oilers, quickly falling into
a twenty one to nothing hole.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
It is cut Ben Burrough whow Well scored Ben Burrough
with an all out clipse by New England.
Speaker 15 (13:41):
For the drive and what's your tiptoe down the side.
Speaker 17 (13:43):
Look, Dambo breaks it.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
Tamble to the fIF team table.
Speaker 11 (13:48):
Finally pushed Outaboll, Tamble. He's got it.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
He's got it.
Speaker 11 (13:53):
Right in the corner.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Earl Campbell thirty one to fourteen loss at home was
a disappointing ending for a record setting team and a
franchise that had still never won a playoff game since
the NFL merger. Despite a talented roster and playoff appearances
in seventy six and seventy eight, the franchise was about
to enter another playoff drought.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Steve Nelson didn't expect it to work out that way.
Speaker 13 (14:11):
You know, it's funny when you have success when you're young,
because you know, on the seventy six team, when we
played the Raiders, and you know, we had success, and
we thought, you know, we're gonna be good every year.
We're going to be in the hunt every year now
because a young team got you know, Steve Grogan's our quarterback,
and Steve's second year in the league, and we've got
players around and all our young John was young, everybody
was you know, everybody was young.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
But this doesn't work out.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Things bottomed out in nineteen eighty one with a two
and fourteen record, and a new head coach, Ron Meyer,
arrived in nineteen eighty two. Meyern never had a losing season,
but also led the Patriots to just a single postseason
loss and the strike shortened nineteen eighty two season, squeaking
in with a five and four record, only to be
once again dismissed by a twenty eight to thirteen score
to the Dolphins. It was New England's thirteenth straight loss
(14:55):
in Miami, dating back to the early seventies, a continuing
area of frustration for the franchise.
Speaker 8 (15:00):
I remind you of the fact that then until this
year they'd been under the same system.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Juck Fairbanks.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
I believe it came to New England in nineteen seventy
three and Ron Earhart succeeded him. Said they were basically
under the same system. This is the first year in
the Ron Meyers system and they're five and four.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
As you said, has a real positive talent. Departed team.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Hall of Fame left tackle Leon Gray was traded to
New Orleans after nineteen seventy eight. Haynes was traded to
the Raiders, winning a Super Bowl of his own in
nineteen eighty three, Russ Francis briefly retired before moving on
to the forty nine Ers, where he'd win a Super
Bowl in nineteen eighty four. From the nineteen seventy eight
record setting backfield, Sam Bam Cunningham was traded and Andy
Johnson retired.
Speaker 17 (15:38):
You know, at one point there was a purge of
an awful lot of great players. I mean, Russ Francis,
Mike Keynes, Tim Fox, and Cunningham, I could you know
name with several others just were gone, not signed. And
I'm actually it kind of gutted that that core and
(16:00):
you know, consistent leadership that we had in the locker
room for.
Speaker 19 (16:04):
Some reason or not.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
By the early eighties, many of the key pieces from
the late seventies were gone, but a corps remained and
replacements began to arrive. Patrick Sullivan was named GM in
nineteen eighty three and immediately set out to make the
most of what you have left with the seventies holdovers,
building around them with a new stable of backs that
included Tony Collins, Craig James, and physical fullbacks mostly to
Tupu and Robert Weathers.
Speaker 9 (16:26):
So my thought in eighty three was you know, some
of those guys had already retired, but a lot of
those guys were still, you know, in their.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Early to mid thirties in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 9 (16:40):
And I thought we could take advantage of their skill,
their experience, their tradition of winning games which they developed
in seventy six, seventy seven and seventy eight, and then
and then take that core and add to it, you know.
And that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Defense and emerging outside linebacker. We're showing what he could
do when given the chance. As a championship defense began
to come together.
Speaker 14 (17:06):
The defenders arrived, led by Andre Pippett, who made a
perfectly time hit and White nailed by Andrei Tippitt, his
thirteen sack of the year.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Per Tippoit, she might.
Speaker 20 (17:20):
Be the most devastating player in the NFL.
Speaker 16 (17:25):
He can turn a game around individually, and that's very
difficult for a defensive player to do.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Andre Tipptt played just nine games as a rookie in
nineteen eighty two, but began to put the league on
notice with eight and a half sacks in nineteen eighty three,
followed by a whopping eighteen and a half in nineteen
eighty four, Now the Patriots had a legitimate superstar hunting quarterbacks.
Speaker 19 (17:42):
These guys never gave me a legitimate shot, and I
was kind of pissed about that. So as eighty three
came around eighty four, I kind of wanted I kind
of like was sending my own message.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You guys sit me around and not let me compete.
Speaker 19 (17:56):
I said, I want to show you I'm gonna get
my opportunity because people kept telling them, you know, you
got to put this kid in. You gotta put even Myers,
you got to put this kid in. You gotta put
this kid in. And then finally it happened.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
I got in.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I did what I knew I was capable of doing.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Tip it would be one of the finishing touches on
an elite defense that would peak in the mid eighties
and earn at spot as one of the greatest Patriots
defenses of all time.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
We had some leadership, some real.
Speaker 19 (18:19):
Leadership that kind of understood what needed to get done,
and then you got that new breed of players coming
in like myself and some of my other teammates, and
then the guys that we drafted over the next couple
of years. Ronnie Lapat Fred Marian was in my class.
We already had Roland James on the team, so we
(18:40):
had some good quality football players that led by example,
and with that we all stepped up our game because
we knew that we had to match that energy and
we had to do something to separate us from guys
that were tapping at our heels.
Speaker 13 (18:58):
Andre Tipple was a tremendous player, and Donnie Blackman was
a great player, and Larry McGrew and Johnny Rembert. We
had such depth at the linebacker position, and we had
we had a lot of you know, Raymond Claiborne was
a terrific player, Freddy Mary and Ryan Lapett. It was
just rolling James, you know, it just it was on defense.
It was a really good collection of older players and
(19:19):
younger players and had great coaches.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
After a five and three start to the nineteen eighty
four season, Sullivan replaced Ron Meyer with Hall of Fame
wide receiver Raymond Berry, who had been a receivers coach
with the Pats from nineteen seventy eight to nineteen eighty one.
Berry had stuck around the area and was working in
real estate when the call came in for him to
return to the coaching staff, this time as the head coach.
Barry's impact on the players was immediate and he would
(19:44):
become one of the most influential pieces of the success
that was to follow.
Speaker 9 (19:47):
It was a bit chaotic with Coach Meyer, and we
needed to We were going to waste another year, a
year and a half of that core group that you
brought up initially. We're going to waste another year a
year and a half of their career unless we brought
in somebody that would bring in instant credibility with the
players and instant stability, and that's what Raymond did.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
One member of Meyer's staff would stick around and continue
a career with the New England Patriots that would span
thirty four years and include five of their six titles.
Dante Scarneckie.
Speaker 21 (20:20):
We came up here from ston U. Poach Meyer brought
sex profession coaches up here. And to your initial point, yes,
there were a lot of good players.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
There was enough to.
Speaker 21 (20:33):
Get it done, and a lot of good guys, a
lot of character, high character guys, and so I mean
the cover definitely wasn't half emp here, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Smyro and Scarnekia were joined by a record setting running
back Craig James, who, along with Eric Dickerson, was famous
for the Pony Express backfield at SMU. The Patriots took
a late round flyer on James in the nineteen eighty
three draft when he initially opted for the USFL, and
the Ain welcomed him to the backfield in nineteen eight
when he jumped to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Ron Meyer was not an excell and I excell o guy.
Speaker 10 (21:04):
I mean he knew football, but he was a talent guy,
and he knew he knew great assistant coaches, and he
had a staff that was phenomenal. Steve said, well, Donus Garnett,
there was a whole all of them were world class coaches,
assistant coaches, and he made them make sure we knew
what we were doing as athletes. And he knew an athlete,
and so he knew what you could or could not do,
(21:25):
and he'd put you in position to have success.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
Harry is liked by his players, and he knows how
to communicate with him.
Speaker 22 (21:32):
And I can just see the fact that it was
just a matter of time if they kept doing the
things they were doing. Was they were playing great effort
football and they were just giving everything they had.
Speaker 7 (21:42):
And when you do that, you just hang in there.
Speaker 14 (21:45):
You're just going to play off, and.
Speaker 15 (21:46):
They and what up on him.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Barry led the eighty four Pats to a four and
four record the rest of the way, but made significant
progress earning the players trust while rebuilding the culture.
Speaker 21 (21:55):
Well, Raymond was I think more than anything, you know,
he was a component different personality than Ron.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
You know, Ron was a.
Speaker 23 (22:03):
Really good coach and we had a lot of success
that has been you and and uh, like I said,
we got in the playoffs the first year here, and
but you know it just.
Speaker 21 (22:14):
Uh it wasn't a good bit however you want the
guys that Raymond came in was more of a coming
influence on everyone and every he had.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
He had huge respect.
Speaker 21 (22:28):
Amongst the veteran players because he had been on the
previous bat uh to us when we got there, and
you know, Raymond Perry is the Hall of Fame football player.
Speaker 17 (22:39):
And he spent the rest of that season not so
much in you know, inserting, inserting his own system or
anything like that, but getting to know the players and
and and making us all feel like we were, you know,
part of something. He knew everybody's names, he studied who
(23:00):
they were, you know, their spouses and their families and
their kids' names and everything like that.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Running Back Tony Collins would also benefit from the switch,
recapturing his nineteen eighty three Pro Bowl form and leading
the nineteen eighty five team in receptions.
Speaker 24 (23:14):
And he was an amazing coach.
Speaker 20 (23:16):
I mean, you know, of course he was an olegod player,
but I think he was just as good of a
coach as he was a player, because you know the
time that he was with New England and that what
he did not just the winning part.
Speaker 24 (23:31):
The way he coached U Man, I always always remember
Coach Barry as a father figure and I looked up
to him and I still look up to him today
because of that.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
The team was a blend of eras the old guard
from the seventies, bruised but battle tested core of the
early eighties, and the new wave of talent led by
a familiar coach worthy of Hall of Fame respects.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
It was the right mix at the right time.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
No New England withers, the game away, hang down Arian Urry, Colt.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Brandon, but the Raiders were always there.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
The ghosts of the seventies lingered, and the losing in Miami, continued,
the eighty five Patriots would get their chance to right.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Those wrongs, and they wouldn't miss dinner Dead.
Speaker 15 (24:25):
Marianne brand Marion that his way, this game is over.
Speaker 16 (24:28):
The New England Patrian Sam upset the Los Angeles Raiders
twenty seven to twenty.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
You saw one of the finest games this year, maybe
the second finals.
Speaker 9 (24:37):
You will see the finals act week.
Speaker 17 (24:39):
We got this fun this day, Stoppino.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Now we're gonna win the next year, next time.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Raymond Barry brings his team together with surprising expectations and
focused attention to detail as they prepare to embark on
the nineteen eighty five season.
What do you remember about the nineteen eighty five Patriots.
I might do so content creator for the New England
Patriots and lifelong fans, and as a local kid who
grew up a few towns away from Foxborough, this is
the first Patriots team I can recall at nine years old.
The eighty five Patriots Super Bowl run was a phenomenon
still clear in my mind. I had all their football cards,
the T shirts, the Painters, cap swished, the fish Bury
the Bears. For a generation like mine who saw the
(00:23):
Patriots start winning Super Bowl as adults, this was the
Patriots team that foreshadowed what was to come. Only we
didn't know it then, and we sure didn't know it
as the team fell back into the duldrums in the
late eighties and early nineties, I went back and rewatched
the eighty five season in order, game by game.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
At nine years old, you know the names, but you
don't truly know the football players.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Rediscovering how good they were made me see the nineteen
eighty five season through an entirely different lens. I talked
to many of the players and coaches who lived in
even Pat Sullivan, the son of Patriots founder Billy Sullivan
and the GM who put the eighty five team together
with purpose.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
What I found was that the nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Team deserves their due, even in the face of the
overwhelming success that followed decades later. Nineteen eighty five was
the culmination of something special that had been brewing Foxborough
since the mid seventies. They were the first NFL team
to win three playoff road games. They were the first
Patriots team to ever win an AFC Championship, and the
first Patriots team to ever appear in a Super Bowl.
(01:18):
They blazed a pathway that would be much traveled over
the next four decades. But more than that, they were
a special team that was flushed with special people across
the ranks on and off the field that translated to
special results and a trailblazing Patriots team that made New
England fans believe. That's why, now forty years later, we're
going back again to tell their story and how they
(01:39):
etched their names into team and league history. This is
a Patriots Super Bowl sound odyssey nineteen eighty five. Annihilated
might be a better word.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Doing de cour ur going back, We're gonna grow fire, one.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Cook fire touch down on then we mort puts down
hill the waters. He's getting bears ring Pier running it
all away good touchdown eighty five yards turbing.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
Fire decon rolling out to the right side, avoiding the pressure.
Speaker 6 (02:23):
I'm Ronny Broome, Wait bro touch down lin Uffam in
the end zone six foet Patrios shut down at Brian
Tony Cullen look at brand to.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Alieve Episode one, Dreams of the seventies. A right congratulations,
miss All he had to be. I've just a gratifying
year for you in this view.
Speaker 7 (02:41):
I'm on.
Speaker 8 (02:42):
I must say this that if there's.
Speaker 7 (02:44):
A happy man in the world and I I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Who he is.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Before nineteen eighty five, the Patriots were a team shaped
by two plus decades.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Of near missus, heartbreak, and hard earned lessons.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Stretches back to the AFL days, through the rise and
fall of Chuck Fairbanks, and into the turbulent early eighties,
where a talented team just couldn't seem to put it
all together until they did. The Boston Patriots began with
a dream team. Founder Billy Sullivan believed football could thrive
in the region. His son Pat Sullivan began his career
with the team as a ball boy in nineteen sixty
(03:14):
and he sented to become the GM in nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 9 (03:17):
Well, my dad's vision was pretty straightforward. He basically believed
that football could survive in New England, or in Massachusetts,
or even in Boston.
Speaker 10 (03:28):
For that matter.
Speaker 9 (03:31):
You know, there were three preceding teams that were National
Football League teams in Boston. They didn't succeed for various reasons,
and he just felt that there was enough of an
interest in football in this region to make a go
of it.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Founded in nineteen sixty, Sullivan's Patriots would pick up their
first AFL playoff win three years later, knocking off the
Buffalo Bills at War Memorial Stadium in nineteen sixty three
thirty three.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Thousand and four in the world's greatest fan jam, Buffalo's
War Memorial Stadium, inviting twenty four degree December twenty eighth temperatury,
it's all for the Eastern Division championship. Forrelli takes the
Bills beyond the point of no return. He hits Capelletti
with a look in path and Gino carried it fifty
one yards all toward.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
A week later, the Patriots fell to the Chargers in
the AFL Championship by a lopsided fifty one to ten.
It will be their final playoff game for thirteen years.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
Hatel Climactors descrived by billing himself.
Speaker 7 (04:31):
Diving over from the one.
Speaker 11 (04:33):
For the final score of man O Man look at
the sport board.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Purtis Championship Ballgame, San Diego Charger's New.
Speaker 12 (04:40):
World champions fifty one Boston Patriots fan.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
In nineteen seventy three, the seats began to take root
around an eventual team Hall of Famer named Julius Adams,
a defensive lineman who would anchor the team's defense for
sixteen years. Head coach Chuck Fairbanks also arrived that year,
as did a special draft class that would lead the
Patriots to eventual relevance.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
At the outside.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
Up the nineteen seventy four season, the New England Patriots
were charted as merely an improved team, despite facing an
unrelenting schedule that included five of the eight playoff teams
of seventy three. Team confidence was high and the young
squad was eager for competition.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Future team and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Hannon
was selected fourth overall with record setting running back and
fellow Team Hall of famer Sam Bam Cunningham, following as
the eleventh overall pick, and wide receiver Darryl Stingley, rounding
out a trio of first rounders at nineteenth overall.
Speaker 12 (05:28):
The completely re hauled New England team is led by
a new coach, Chuck Fairbanks, and three number one draft
choices blue Chips. All They are fullback Sam Cunningham, wide
receiver Darryl Stingley, and guard John Hannah.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Team hall of famer Steve Nelson was drafted in nineteen
seventy four and become another decade long defensive stalwart.
Speaker 11 (05:47):
Yon Leydon Nelson creb back into the hall and shot
past of the puddle dolphin blockers to Nail Greasy.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Then tight end Russ Francis and quarterback Steve Grogan were
selected in nineteen seventy five and wait and.
Speaker 11 (05:57):
Second touchdown was scored by tight end Russ France. There
are number one draft choice from Oregon.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
State Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Mike Haynes was
selected fifth overall in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 8 (06:06):
New England selects Mike Kynes, defensive back Arizona.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
State, while team Hall of Famer and three time Pro
Bowl cornerback Raymond Claiborne joined him in the defensive backfield.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
In nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 7 (06:17):
Wave Warren you Ovendos.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Over Hunter guard Nelson recalled Patriots teams that had the
talent but just couldn't get over the hump.
Speaker 13 (06:27):
When I was drafted in seventy four, we were, you know,
kind of a bad team. But seventy four we were,
you know, five hundred or something close to that. And
there wasn't many seasons, you know that we were under
five hundred. You know, my fourteen years, I've maybe four
or five teams, and I know that's a lot, but
(06:47):
I think we got a stigma of being because of
all successful the other teams with the Red Sox and
Celtics and the Bruins, and we were kind of the
fourth team in the city.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Suddenly the Patriots had the right talent at the right
spots to spite going fifteen to twenty seven hunderd Fairbanks
over his first three seasons.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
In nineteen seventy six, it all started to click.
Speaker 14 (07:06):
The Patriots two and one and smiling two weeks ago.
The Dolphins fell thirty to fourteen last week. The Steelers
thirty to twenty seven are the Raiders to be surprising
New England's next victim this week.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
They're really great football teams, really well rounded, great offense,
great defense, great special teams. You know, Grogan Darys, Stingley,
Res Frances, Sam Cunningham, John Hannah, Sam Adams, Oh god,
you name it. I mean, we had, we had all
(07:39):
the ingredients.
Speaker 11 (07:40):
The day was all New England as they surprisingly, shockingly
and smashingly devastated one of the fine teams in the NFL.
And after an opening day lost to Baltimore. Who would
have could have guessed that New England would be three
and one at this point in the season. Were they
having three consecutive games upset the mind Ammy Dolphins, Pittsburgh
(08:01):
Steelers and Oakland Raiders, And the way this fine young
football team is looked, maybe, just maybe those wins weren't
upsets at all. The New England Patriots look like they're
for real.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Patriots were eleven and three in nineteen seventy six, and
we're the only team all season long to beat the
Oakland Raiders, taking an early season forty eight seventeen September
win in New.
Speaker 15 (08:21):
England there's no fan like a Raider fan. They love
their team and they never never forget a loss. End
of this, Milieuke. Come the New England Patriots, who have
the unenviable task of beating Oakland for the second time
in one year in.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Their first playoff appearance since the early sixties. It will
be a rematch, this time in Oakland against the now
fourteen and one Raiders.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Get down. Call to God of Monisa.
Speaker 15 (08:44):
Soon a half yard lives.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Dorgan has a state. They lined up everybody's night, Thank
you down, what up the right time? Let's hint of
sand out of the tree. They opened the hole goes
in from three hours and the Patriot and fucked by
a car up twenty to death.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
The Patriots took a twenty one to ten lead into
the fourth quarter, but the Raiders quickly put together two
late drives.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Oh man, hegans from two yards goes in, but the
cart down twenty one to sixteen. It's fourth touched down
on the air, caught it down, then kicked it up
by a man and in his card, there's a time
on the affair with a car the witless twenty.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
One up in seventeen with Oakland driving to take the lead.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
There was a controversial roughing the passer call on ray
sugar Bear Hamilton in the fourth quarter, setting up Oakland's
go ahead score to complete the comeback and tear out
the hearts of the Patriots and their fans.
Speaker 7 (09:37):
On third and eighteen, number seventy one, Raymond Hamilton was
called for rubbing again statement instead of an incompleted pass,
and the fourth an impossible situation. Chuck Fairback's team was
against the wall with the Raiders at the one. A
storm of controversy clouted the scrimmage line. After winning all
the battles, the New England Patriots were about to lose
the war.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
The roughing the passer on sugar Bear go down in history.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
But later twenty bar no England twenty one.
Speaker 7 (10:07):
Oakland scored with ten seconds left in the clock. They
had come in like a lamb and gone out a lion.
Their dramatic turnaround from three and eleven to eleven and
three was unprecedented in league history.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
They will be back.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It was a moment that would echo into the nineteen
eighties and beyond. The Rivalry with the Raiders was born.
As Oakland moved on toward their first Super Bowl title
in franchise history, raids once again.
Speaker 15 (10:30):
On the Super Bowl Championships trap a back of Pat
brother five.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Two years later, in nineteen seventy eight, the Patriots didn't
just win, they ran through the league. Their rushing attacks
set an NFL record with three and sixty five yards
on the ground, a mark that stood for over forty years.
But it got off to a tragic start when Darryl
Stingley was paralyzed in a preseason game in Oakland after
a vicious hit by safety Jack Tatum.
Speaker 14 (11:04):
We're gonna hold them there. We had Joe deceiver as
Darryl Stingley, so that he ran Anthony as Jack Tatums.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
Down.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The Patriots would pull together and plow over the league.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
With the best offense in the NFL, this is the
league change the rules to loosen up the passing game.
The Pats leaned into the potent backfield of Sam Vam Cunningham,
Horace Ivory, Andy Johnson and quarterback Steve Grogan, who was
one of the earliest dual threat qbs.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
We're gonna throw a.
Speaker 16 (11:30):
Rare tossing chance and he's gonna scramble and has running row.
That is something we're going to continue to feature as
Andy Johnson's gets throw a hole and picks up nine
more yards up the middle, cutting half sampam center.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Pete Brock was one of the key blockers up front.
Speaker 17 (11:47):
Well. Seventy eight was a special season. That record stood
until twenty nineteen when Baltimore beat it. That was a
special group of guys. That was you know, it wasn't
just the running backs. It was you know, the the
offensive line and in the belief that we had that
we could We went into games, you know, with six,
(12:07):
maybe eight core plays that we knew we could run
against any defense that we face.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
Steve Brogan joined Ivory, Coyningham and Johnson to give the
Patriots four five hundred yard rushers.
Speaker 17 (12:19):
We were going to run the football, and we were
to the point where if we didn't, if you didn't
throw the ball and it gained fifteen yards, it was
a waste of time because we could run over that
eight yards that you wanted.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
It was smash mouth football, built on a stable of
ferocious blockers and game breaking runners. Brogan's mobility added a
layer of unpredictability that would become a hallmark of the league.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Forty years later.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Second year wide out Stanley Morgan, another future Team Hall
of Famer, emerged as the deepest of deep threats, stretching
the field and keeping the defense honest.
Speaker 11 (12:50):
Brogan's seventy five yard master edo Stanley Morgan number eighty six,
illustrated New England's ability to strike instantly from long range
a Patriot pat in.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
This year, Patriots made the playoffs once again, but this
time it wasn't a controversial call that overshadowed the postseason.
It was the pending departure of their head coach, Chuck Fairbanks,
who had been suspended then reinstated for the playoffs as
he eyed a move to the University of Colorado.
Speaker 18 (13:13):
I would have to say that that's a tremendous disappointment
to me. I think the Chuck Fairbanks came here when
the team was at a low end and has made
it one of the most respective teams in the league.
And it was a difficult decision.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Patriots were listless against the Houston Oilers, quickly falling into
a twenty one to nothing hole.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
It is cut Ben Burrough whow Well scored Ben Burrough
with an all out clipse by New England.
Speaker 15 (13:41):
For the drive and what's your tiptoe down the side.
Speaker 17 (13:43):
Look, Dambo breaks it.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
Tamble to the fIF team table.
Speaker 11 (13:48):
Finally pushed Outaboll, Tamble. He's got it.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
He's got it.
Speaker 11 (13:53):
Right in the corner.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Earl Campbell thirty one to fourteen loss at home was
a disappointing ending for a record setting team and a
franchise that had still never won a playoff game since
the NFL merger. Despite a talented roster and playoff appearances
in seventy six and seventy eight, the franchise was about
to enter another playoff drought.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Steve Nelson didn't expect it to work out that way.
Speaker 13 (14:11):
You know, it's funny when you have success when you're young,
because you know, on the seventy six team, when we
played the Raiders, and you know, we had success, and
we thought, you know, we're gonna be good every year.
We're going to be in the hunt every year now
because a young team got you know, Steve Grogan's our quarterback,
and Steve's second year in the league, and we've got
players around and all our young John was young, everybody
was you know, everybody was young.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
But this doesn't work out.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Things bottomed out in nineteen eighty one with a two
and fourteen record, and a new head coach, Ron Meyer,
arrived in nineteen eighty two. Meyern never had a losing season,
but also led the Patriots to just a single postseason
loss and the strike shortened nineteen eighty two season, squeaking
in with a five and four record, only to be
once again dismissed by a twenty eight to thirteen score
to the Dolphins. It was New England's thirteenth straight loss
(14:55):
in Miami, dating back to the early seventies, a continuing
area of frustration for the franchise.
Speaker 8 (15:00):
I remind you of the fact that then until this
year they'd been under the same system.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Juck Fairbanks.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
I believe it came to New England in nineteen seventy
three and Ron Earhart succeeded him. Said they were basically
under the same system. This is the first year in
the Ron Meyers system and they're five and four.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
As you said, has a real positive talent. Departed team.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Hall of Fame left tackle Leon Gray was traded to
New Orleans after nineteen seventy eight. Haynes was traded to
the Raiders, winning a Super Bowl of his own in
nineteen eighty three, Russ Francis briefly retired before moving on
to the forty nine Ers, where he'd win a Super
Bowl in nineteen eighty four. From the nineteen seventy eight
record setting backfield, Sam Bam Cunningham was traded and Andy
Johnson retired.
Speaker 17 (15:38):
You know, at one point there was a purge of
an awful lot of great players. I mean, Russ Francis,
Mike Keynes, Tim Fox, and Cunningham, I could you know
name with several others just were gone, not signed. And
I'm actually it kind of gutted that that core and
(16:00):
you know, consistent leadership that we had in the locker
room for.
Speaker 19 (16:04):
Some reason or not.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
By the early eighties, many of the key pieces from
the late seventies were gone, but a corps remained and
replacements began to arrive. Patrick Sullivan was named GM in
nineteen eighty three and immediately set out to make the
most of what you have left with the seventies holdovers,
building around them with a new stable of backs that
included Tony Collins, Craig James, and physical fullbacks mostly to
Tupu and Robert Weathers.
Speaker 9 (16:26):
So my thought in eighty three was you know, some
of those guys had already retired, but a lot of
those guys were still, you know, in their.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Early to mid thirties in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 9 (16:40):
And I thought we could take advantage of their skill,
their experience, their tradition of winning games which they developed
in seventy six, seventy seven and seventy eight, and then
and then take that core and add to it, you know.
And that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Defense and emerging outside linebacker. We're showing what he could
do when given the chance. As a championship defense began
to come together.
Speaker 14 (17:06):
The defenders arrived, led by Andre Pippett, who made a
perfectly time hit and White nailed by Andrei Tippitt, his
thirteen sack of the year.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Per Tippoit, she might.
Speaker 20 (17:20):
Be the most devastating player in the NFL.
Speaker 16 (17:25):
He can turn a game around individually, and that's very
difficult for a defensive player to do.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Andre Tipptt played just nine games as a rookie in
nineteen eighty two, but began to put the league on
notice with eight and a half sacks in nineteen eighty three,
followed by a whopping eighteen and a half in nineteen
eighty four, Now the Patriots had a legitimate superstar hunting quarterbacks.
Speaker 19 (17:42):
These guys never gave me a legitimate shot, and I
was kind of pissed about that. So as eighty three
came around eighty four, I kind of wanted I kind
of like was sending my own message.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You guys sit me around and not let me compete.
Speaker 19 (17:56):
I said, I want to show you I'm gonna get
my opportunity because people kept telling them, you know, you
got to put this kid in. You gotta put even Myers,
you got to put this kid in. You gotta put
this kid in. And then finally it happened.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
I got in.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I did what I knew I was capable of doing.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Tip it would be one of the finishing touches on
an elite defense that would peak in the mid eighties
and earn at spot as one of the greatest Patriots
defenses of all time.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
We had some leadership, some real.
Speaker 19 (18:19):
Leadership that kind of understood what needed to get done,
and then you got that new breed of players coming
in like myself and some of my other teammates, and
then the guys that we drafted over the next couple
of years. Ronnie Lapat Fred Marian was in my class.
We already had Roland James on the team, so we
(18:40):
had some good quality football players that led by example,
and with that we all stepped up our game because
we knew that we had to match that energy and
we had to do something to separate us from guys
that were tapping at our heels.
Speaker 13 (18:58):
Andre Tipple was a tremendous player, and Donnie Blackman was
a great player, and Larry McGrew and Johnny Rembert. We
had such depth at the linebacker position, and we had
we had a lot of you know, Raymond Claiborne was
a terrific player, Freddy Mary and Ryan Lapett. It was
just rolling James, you know, it just it was on defense.
It was a really good collection of older players and
(19:19):
younger players and had great coaches.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
After a five and three start to the nineteen eighty
four season, Sullivan replaced Ron Meyer with Hall of Fame
wide receiver Raymond Berry, who had been a receivers coach
with the Pats from nineteen seventy eight to nineteen eighty one.
Berry had stuck around the area and was working in
real estate when the call came in for him to
return to the coaching staff, this time as the head coach.
Barry's impact on the players was immediate and he would
(19:44):
become one of the most influential pieces of the success
that was to follow.
Speaker 9 (19:47):
It was a bit chaotic with Coach Meyer, and we
needed to We were going to waste another year, a
year and a half of that core group that you
brought up initially. We're going to waste another year a
year and a half of their career unless we brought
in somebody that would bring in instant credibility with the
players and instant stability, and that's what Raymond did.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
One member of Meyer's staff would stick around and continue
a career with the New England Patriots that would span
thirty four years and include five of their six titles.
Dante Scarneckie.
Speaker 21 (20:20):
We came up here from ston U. Poach Meyer brought
sex profession coaches up here. And to your initial point, yes,
there were a lot of good players.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
There was enough to.
Speaker 21 (20:33):
Get it done, and a lot of good guys, a
lot of character, high character guys, and so I mean
the cover definitely wasn't half emp here, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Smyro and Scarnekia were joined by a record setting running
back Craig James, who, along with Eric Dickerson, was famous
for the Pony Express backfield at SMU. The Patriots took
a late round flyer on James in the nineteen eighty
three draft when he initially opted for the USFL, and
the Ain welcomed him to the backfield in nineteen eight
when he jumped to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Ron Meyer was not an excell and I excell o guy.
Speaker 10 (21:04):
I mean he knew football, but he was a talent guy,
and he knew he knew great assistant coaches, and he
had a staff that was phenomenal. Steve said, well, Donus Garnett,
there was a whole all of them were world class coaches,
assistant coaches, and he made them make sure we knew
what we were doing as athletes. And he knew an athlete,
and so he knew what you could or could not do,
(21:25):
and he'd put you in position to have success.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
Harry is liked by his players, and he knows how
to communicate with him.
Speaker 22 (21:32):
And I can just see the fact that it was
just a matter of time if they kept doing the
things they were doing. Was they were playing great effort
football and they were just giving everything they had.
Speaker 7 (21:42):
And when you do that, you just hang in there.
Speaker 14 (21:45):
You're just going to play off, and.
Speaker 15 (21:46):
They and what up on him.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Barry led the eighty four Pats to a four and
four record the rest of the way, but made significant
progress earning the players trust while rebuilding the culture.
Speaker 21 (21:55):
Well, Raymond was I think more than anything, you know,
he was a component different personality than Ron.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
You know, Ron was a.
Speaker 23 (22:03):
Really good coach and we had a lot of success
that has been you and and uh, like I said,
we got in the playoffs the first year here, and
but you know it just.
Speaker 21 (22:14):
Uh it wasn't a good bit however you want the
guys that Raymond came in was more of a coming
influence on everyone and every he had.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
He had huge respect.
Speaker 21 (22:28):
Amongst the veteran players because he had been on the
previous bat uh to us when we got there, and
you know, Raymond Perry is the Hall of Fame football player.
Speaker 17 (22:39):
And he spent the rest of that season not so
much in you know, inserting, inserting his own system or
anything like that, but getting to know the players and
and and making us all feel like we were, you know,
part of something. He knew everybody's names, he studied who
(23:00):
they were, you know, their spouses and their families and
their kids' names and everything like that.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Running Back Tony Collins would also benefit from the switch,
recapturing his nineteen eighty three Pro Bowl form and leading
the nineteen eighty five team in receptions.
Speaker 24 (23:14):
And he was an amazing coach.
Speaker 20 (23:16):
I mean, you know, of course he was an olegod player,
but I think he was just as good of a
coach as he was a player, because you know the
time that he was with New England and that what
he did not just the winning part.
Speaker 24 (23:31):
The way he coached U Man, I always always remember
Coach Barry as a father figure and I looked up
to him and I still look up to him today
because of that.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
The team was a blend of eras the old guard
from the seventies, bruised but battle tested core of the
early eighties, and the new wave of talent led by
a familiar coach worthy of Hall of Fame respects.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
It was the right mix at the right time.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
No New England withers, the game away, hang down Arian Urry, Colt.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Brandon, but the Raiders were always there.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
The ghosts of the seventies lingered, and the losing in Miami, continued,
the eighty five Patriots would get their chance to right.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Those wrongs, and they wouldn't miss dinner Dead.
Speaker 15 (24:25):
Marianne brand Marion that his way, this game is over.
Speaker 16 (24:28):
The New England Patrian Sam upset the Los Angeles Raiders
twenty seven to twenty.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
You saw one of the finest games this year, maybe
the second finals.
Speaker 9 (24:37):
You will see the finals act week.
Speaker 17 (24:39):
We got this fun this day, Stoppino.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Now we're gonna win the next year, next time.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Raymond Barry brings his team together with surprising expectations and
focused attention to detail as they prepare to embark on
the nineteen eighty five season.
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