February 3, 2026 • 23 mins
A reflective finale featuring voices from across the team, looking back 40 years later. Focuses on what the 1985 season meant to the players, the franchise, and the fans — and how it laid the foundation for everything that came after.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you remember about the nineteen eighty five Patriots
forty years later? We're going back to tell the story
of the first Patriots team to make it to a
Super Bowl, A special team that blazed a pathway that
we much traveled over the next four decades. Here from
the players and coaches, as well as the sounds from
television and radio that defined the season, as we uncover
what made this a Patriots team to remember even if
(00:20):
they didn't win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Champion Jamie.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Annihilator might be a better word.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Sixty five.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
Play more cush out doing with the chief Coy burgers back.
We're gonna throw a fire. This one come fire. Cut
down on the mark, the touch down, pairs running player.
Speaker 6 (00:51):
Running it all away, poor touchdowns eighty five yards curving
Prior Deacon rolling out to the right side, avoiding the pressure.
I'm Ronnie Brot cuts down Win Duffin in the end zone.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Six points.
Speaker 7 (01:05):
Patriots shut it down.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Hatprian, Tony Cullen, hatbriand novalieve.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I might do so, And this is a Patriots Super
Bowl Sound Odyssey nineteen eighty five, Episode ten, Legacy.
Speaker 8 (01:17):
My football team has been winning games the same way
the Bears did today. I'm not going to ball loosen
people and getting the football, and I'm really proud of
our football team. They've just come so darn far over
such a hard road this year and played as consistent
football as any team I've ever been around. And I
just don't think there was one more darned thing we
(01:38):
could have done today.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Forty years ago, the Patriots made history. They didn't win
the Super Bowl, but they won something else, the hearts
of New England. The nineteen eighty five team represented a
turning point, a foundation, a spark. Four decades later, we've
taken a nine episode look back that covered it all.
Now in episode ten, we look back at the legacy
of the nineteen eighty five Patriots.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
A San Morgan threw.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
His hands and he had a touchdown. Mike Singletary, the
middle linebacker, may have gotten the pace of the ball
in flight.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
The morning after the Patriots lost to the Bears in
the Super Bowl, the Boston Globe ran a front page
article about members of the team's drug use. Just twenty
four hours prior. The Patriots had been enmeshed in the
best season in franchise history, and we're one game away
from winning a championship. Now they had suffered the most
lopsided defeat in Super Bowl history, and we're in the
media's crosshairs.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
The good vibes were quickly erased.
Speaker 9 (02:30):
Interesting, I guess is one way of saying it that
when the season ends and this all comes out and
it's like the Patriots, you.
Speaker 10 (02:37):
Know, were involved involved in drugs.
Speaker 9 (02:38):
Well, actually the team, in my opinion, was the cleanest
team in the NFL, and I happened to know it was,
but it got painted with a brush that was not
really accurate about what really happened.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Ironically, Raymond Barry had recognized the team's probably before the
season and had taken steps to clean things up.
Speaker 9 (02:56):
You see, I said down in the all season and
talk with ever player in the about this matter, every
one of them. We all got on the same page
about White had to stop. And I told him White
had to stop. And one of the main reasons is
is because the fans, the NFL or the reason why
we have a league, and they're buying a product, and
(03:17):
the product has got to be untainted.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
But as the firestorm rage, those proactive steps did little
to quell the flames.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
If in the future a player like this goes back
and lead.
Speaker 8 (03:28):
I'm going to get the information that he's on drugs
and he's going to be suspended after one year as
a loss of salary, and I'm going to tell the
press about it.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Days after the Super Bowl, Berry's team voted to become
the first NFL team to okay voluntary drug testing.
Speaker 8 (03:42):
To the best of our knowledge, the Patriots have become
the first pro sports franchise to submit to voluntary drug testing.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
This as a result of a team meeting in New
Orleans on Monday.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But the damage had been done. The success of the
season was forgotten, and for some players, trust have been broken.
It wasn't the end for Barry's Patriots, but the trajectory
had been set.
Speaker 11 (04:03):
The nineteen eighty six edition of the New England Patriots
Arride at Summer Training Camp. I was defending AFC champion
the year before. If under the stable leadership of head
coach Raymond Barry, they had given their fans the most
exciting season in teen history.
Speaker 8 (04:18):
They know they're good enough to go in the field
and play with anybody, and that's a big thing to
learn and to believe it doesn't win any games.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
You got to go out there and do it.
Speaker 9 (04:29):
But to know that you can do it, I think
is a major step psychologically.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
The Patriots would be even better during nineteen eighty six
as regular season, finishing eleven and six and winning their
first AFC East Division titles since nineteen seventy eight, but
the team was beginning to change, with John Hanna becoming
the first key veteran to retire.
Speaker 8 (04:45):
I go was very simple, want to be the best
offensive guard that ever played football.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The rushing attack fell from six in rushing yards to
twenty eighth, but Tony Easton improved to offset the decline,
throwing nineteen touchdowns to ten interceptions and even earning some
votes for a sixth place eight MVP finished.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Deathon as Morgan open Stanley Morgan and he's just knocked
out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
As he was putting in it and then the high gear.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Stanley Morgan was a key beneficiary, posting and ninety one
receiving yards and ten touchdowns, making the eight P second
team All Pro and a Pro Bowl. Andre Tipet missed
five games but still made a second team All Pro
in an appearance at the Pro Bowl with nine and
a half sacks, while Garon Veris led the team with
eleven sacks in his second year. Mostly Tatupu and Raymond
Clayborne also made the Pro Bowl as well. The Pats
(05:32):
still had the talent, but the magic was missing.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
For New England, there was another remarkably fine year, a
home field advantage won by Denver when they beat New England.
Here earlier would have been the difference for Raymond Berry's
theme the weddings for Late in the third quarter of
forty eight yard utchdown pass from John la to Vance
(05:55):
Johnson on a play where the.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Patriots were off fide relaxed, oh Way.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Did not and hit Johnson with a bomb that simms
Denver to Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Unlike nineteen eighty five, the nineteen eighty six Patriots were
not road warriors and bowed out in the first round
of the playoffs, losing in Denver to John Lway and
the Broncos twenty two to seventeen. Things would only further
dissolve from there for the franchise. An eight and seven
finish in the strike shortened nineteen eighty seven season led
to a nine to seven finish in nineteen eighty eight.
Nineteen eighty eight was also the final year of the
(06:27):
Sullivan family's ownership of the Patriots, as Victor kiam took
over as principal owner. During the Sullivan's twenty eight seasons
owning the team, the Patriots tallied fourteen winning records, made
six playoff appearances, played in the nineteen sixty three AFL
Championship Game, and represented the AFC in Super Bowl twenty.
As Patrick Sullivan pointed out, there was something unique about
(06:48):
nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 12 (06:49):
What I hope that people remember about this team was
that they ended up coming together in a way that
almost any and enterprise that you have, if you have
a group of people that can pull together the way
these guys did, there's no limit to what you can do.
(07:10):
And there was this real camaraderie on that team, you know,
just this real warmth in the room. About the camaraderie
that that team had was pretty pretty unique, and it
extended out into the community. And our guys were always
(07:32):
very very strong participants in the community, which was something
that we've been very proud of.
Speaker 13 (07:37):
Finishing the year with three straight wins, landed New England
only one game from the playoffs in nineteen.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Eighty seven, and left Little Town.
Speaker 13 (07:46):
The Patriots were the division's best team that season's end,
fighters right to the finish. The nineteen eighties of a
New England Patriots displayed baha of a championship for coach.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Raymond Berry's New England Patriots.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
The nineteen eighty eight season began with a warm welcome
home for returning tight end Russ Francis. With young stars
like Rookie of the Year John Stevens and a physical
team of battle hardened young veterans to lead the way,
there is good reason for the optimism that shines among
coach Raymond Berry's team of character.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Very lasted one more years.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
The Patriots fell to a five and eleven finish in
nineteen eighty nine with a fourth place finish in the
AFC East. By nineteen ninety, the Patriots were a different team,
even if some of the pieces remained the same, including
Hall of Famer Andre Tippett, who stuck with the team
as they crashed back to Earth in the late eighties
and early nineties.
Speaker 14 (08:43):
Society is made up of that mentality. You know, it's
either you want it or you lost it. You lost it,
you got your ass kicking, but you want it. It's
like you know you will be love forever, and you know,
we wanted to thought that year was going to set
us up for future success. Little did we know, you know,
(09:05):
we were going to eventually start falling apart, because you
don't know, nothing is promised moving forward. But I would
hope that people would honor the body of work that
took place in the eighty five season, because you know,
nobody gave up, nobody sold themselves, you know, to the double.
(09:28):
It was like, you know, we were determined to make
things happen and to play like you know, there was
no tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
They'd win just nine games over the next three seasons
as the franchise would bottom out, and the promise of
nineteen eighty five was all but forgotten until now Irving
Friar and Ronnie Lapetz spoke about how special and unique
the bonds on the nineteen eighty.
Speaker 15 (09:50):
Five Patriots were. The year we went to the Super Bowl, though,
it just clicked for us, meaning we became a family.
And I can say that because all the other teams
that I played on, including the Patriots teams Miami, Philadelphia
and even Washington, we never got close like that again.
We never became a family. I still the guys that
(10:13):
I stay in contact with. The most are from those
eighties teams and the Patriots that I played with telling
because we just we became a family. We became really
really close.
Speaker 13 (10:23):
We did.
Speaker 15 (10:24):
Why that happened, How that happened, I'm not so sure
if it was Raymond Berry or if it was just
something that was organic that just happened, But that's why
things came together.
Speaker 10 (10:34):
That nineteen eighty five team was a very special team.
It was a lot of love in that locker room,
but we looked out for each other out there, out
there and other places. I just missed the old guys
and that team was a team that we wanted to win.
Speaker 16 (10:56):
So we played hard.
Speaker 10 (10:59):
We played together. When we lost, we still got together
on Mondays and you know we you know, we had
different guys on the on the buses that you know,
when you joke about somebody on the bus man, they
they joke bad. And then we get off the bus
(11:19):
all laughing and joking at each other and joking with
it doesn't having fun.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Even wide receiver Secret Jones said he forgot just how
good they were.
Speaker 17 (11:27):
Everybody played a part and it was special teams. And
you know, I I look back at the Tay. Sometimes
I'll go back and look my boys and look, say that,
how about this game? I had forgotten how talented our
defense was with Don Black, when Andre Chipper, you know,
Garon Varrus had a great year. And in the different
secondary you had Raymond Claiborne, who I think should be
in the Pro Football Fame, terrific, terrific cover guy, Ronnie Lapat,
(11:48):
you know, Roland James was tough a safety. And you
know we had Rick Sanford, Fred Marion just a tremendous,
tremendous group of players.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So we were a very t d team, uh, very team.
Speaker 17 (12:00):
We had great relationships with each other, and you know,
I think about it sometimes, like what will happen? What
would our history, would our story ben if we'd actually
won that Super Bowl?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You know, key running back and leading receiver Tony Collins said,
those connections still run deep.
Speaker 18 (12:12):
The thing that I really want the fans to know
about our team that we loved each other. That was
one of the keys to us.
Speaker 19 (12:19):
Getting as far as we did. We had a lot
of love for each other.
Speaker 18 (12:23):
And the crazy part about that is this guys, till
the day and man that that on that team that
I'm still friends with I'm still talking to it and
we're still friends and we'll always be friends.
Speaker 19 (12:34):
Those are my brothers.
Speaker 18 (12:35):
So uh, it was a pretty cool deal and I'm
so thankful to God that i got the opportunity to
be on that team.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Becoming the first NFL team to win three playoff road
games on their way to winning an AFC championship was
something the players still take great pride in today, especially
for John Hannah, who capped off the final season of
his Hall of Fame career by making history.
Speaker 20 (12:55):
Of all the things that I'm proudished was the rep trips.
You know, we're the first train to ever go to
a Super Bowl that many road trips, road games, you know,
and winning them and matter of fact, we all our
games were road games and went in as a wild card. Basically,
that's something that's never been done before, and we did it.
(13:16):
And I guess, of all the flames about it, that's
the one thing that kind of stands out in my mind.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Nineteen eighty five foreshadowed the incredible success that was to
come for the Patriots organization, and two people saw almost
all of it firsthand. Dante Scarnecki was nineteen eighty five
special teams coordinator and will go on to be a
part of nine of the ten future Super Bowl trips.
Director of Scouting Administration Nancy Meyer was a part of
all of them. After starting in nineteen seventy four, Meyer
(13:41):
stuck with the Patriots through thick and thin, wrapping up
fifty one seasons with the organization in twenty twenty six.
Who better to put the nineteen eighty five season in perspective?
Speaker 21 (13:50):
There were a special group in their own right because
they were well grounded and they came to the mentality
that of what it really does pay to be a
good football team. And as we got into the playoffs,
and to your point that you made earlier, they never won.
Speaker 16 (14:10):
A playoff game, but to get to the you know,
the end of the playoffs and when win the first game,
and then when the second game, but then when the
third game, I think that it was just something that
you know, those guys that have especially the guys that
had been here a long time, I thought they I
(14:33):
thought they really really enjoyed that. But in through the
whole process they grounded and really kept their eyes.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
On the prize.
Speaker 22 (14:42):
It was really a special team, and I think we
were all just so proud to go represent New England
and go on the road and win those games like
we did and really earn it because I think going
back when you mentioned before in nineteen seventy eight, and
I think we really felt like we were going someplace
(15:04):
then and that was cut off and such a bad
way that you don't want to criticize officiating, but sometimes
I have to, and you know, and it took a
long time to recover after that because of circumstances with
head coaches and players leaving and you know, really building
(15:25):
the program back up again to go and do that
in nineteen eighty five. But down those Chicago Bears, I
don't think anyone was going to beat him that day,
that's for sure. I think coach Berry brought so much
stability to the team at the time.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
He was such a good man.
Speaker 22 (15:44):
He cared about everybody on the team, everybody in the facility,
and you know, his kindness went a long way, and
I think the players at that point in time might
have been one of their first experiences of really understanding
the head coach is going to take you places. And
(16:05):
I think he was so respected and I think we
did think he'd take us to Super Bowls and beyond.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
You know, did you achieve all your goals and you
enter the National Football League? But why are you a laughs?
The only go I had coming to an NFL was
to make it for one year.
Speaker 19 (16:27):
And that was it.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
It never occurred to me anything else that happened. I
just wondered if he didn't make it one year, So yeah,
I didn't achieve that.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
It would be easy to lose track of the nineteen
eighty five Patriots, but they were a record setting team
with two future Pro Football Hall of Famers and six
Team Hall of Famers along with Scarnekia, also a Team
Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
According to the Modern Advanced.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Statistic DVOA, this was the fourth best Patriots defense of
all time, going back to at least nineteen seventy eight,
even when stacked up against the dominant Super Bowl winning
defenses that earned years of headlines Andre Tippett has a
bus and can't Ohio, and nineteen eighty five was the
culmination of the two most dominant seasons of his career.
Speaker 14 (17:05):
I would like for people to never forget that, regardless
of the fact that we didn't win, we lost the
Super Bowl, we were very first to get this franchise
to a super Bowl. Look at our body of work
(17:26):
building up to that and how it has transcended in.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Different things like that.
Speaker 14 (17:32):
But appreciate those guys, the sacrifices that they made for
that eighty four eighty five season and things that they did.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
You know, we were trying to see it through.
Speaker 14 (17:43):
I mean, did we know the Super Bowl twenty was
going to be the way it was?
Speaker 13 (17:46):
No?
Speaker 19 (17:47):
I had no idea.
Speaker 14 (17:48):
I mean I thought we had just as good enough
chance of winning Super Bowl as the rest of us
on the team, and we had no idea what we're
up against. But value the work ethic, the body of
work leading up to that, Enjoy what took place.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Garon Verius had ten sacks as a rookie in nineteen
eighty five and added four more in the playoffs, playing
a key role in the historic run. He had eleven
sacks in nineteen eighty six before injury started to strike,
but he still learned a spot on the Patriots All
eighties team.
Speaker 23 (18:20):
Just to be part of that team. The history of
being the first New England Patriot team to reach the
Super Bowl and to get three road wins and what
we brought, the energy that we brought to the New
England region. That's what I'm most proud of to be
part of that unit and that we still talk to
each other and reminisce about those years and what the
(18:42):
Patriots have done. Congratulations to the organization, mister Kraft and
everybody of a New England fans of what the New
England Patriots are today and how they're viewed. And I
think that we were really one of the reasons that
got people really excited about the Patriots, what the potential
of the Patriots would be.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
And then.
Speaker 23 (19:04):
The Solomon the regime was over and then the mister
Rafts organization came in. It just took it to another level.
But I'm so proud to be part of the New
England Patriots and what they mean to so many people.
The class, you know, continual class every year, and I
think we were part of the starting that the way
(19:25):
people looked at us, and I'm proud to be part
of that and wishing nothing but success as they go
into the future Center.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Pete Brock had seen it all with the Patriots after
arriving in nineteen seventy six. He tasted the playoffs three
times before nineteen eighty five, with all the ups and
downs in between. A member of the Patriots All nineteen
eighties team, nineteen eighty five was the most special season
of his career, and Brock felt that the Patriots had
finally earned the respect and a town already.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Obsessed with the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
That whole stretch of playoffs, and you know, before we
went down to the Super Bowl, this whole region of
New England had something to cheer about. I remember there
was about four or five of us that got invited
to the Garden for a Celtics game, and between quarters
they actually paused the game and acknowledged that we were there,
(20:16):
and Larry Bird and Kevin McHale and Perish and you know,
the eighty five Celtics all turned and everybody, the whole
stands turned in a ploted us for that, and it
was like, you know, the whole community got behind it.
It wasn't just it wasn't just football fans. There wasn't
anything like that, but it was, you know, everybody for
(20:38):
a moment could celebrate everything this one thing together that
it was that kind of that kind of special. So
to be part of that was pretty phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Running back Robert Weathers, who delivered his fair share of
critical plays for the nineteen eighty five Patriots, highlighted the
hard work that this Patriots team and many others before
and after them put in before the twenty year dynasty
was born.
Speaker 19 (21:02):
I just hope we don't get lost in the sauce.
And there's a lot of sauce. No one can argue
when you look at what the Patriots has accomplished with
those six Siver Bowl wins. There were teams still working hard,
trying to let New England know that we're going to
(21:24):
work hard as hard as we can all the time
to get what you want. And so we gave him
a first glimpse of that. And we just don't get
lost in the sauce, and we remember that we're still
a shiny penny out there.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thank you for listening to this edition of the Patriots
Super Bowl Sound Odyssey podcast. Special Thank yous go out
to all the players, coaches, and team executives that took
the time to reflect and relay their stories from the
nineteen eighty five seasons.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I'd also like to acknowledge members of.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
The team who have passed away over the years, including
mostly Totupu Stephen starring Julius Adams, Lester Williams, Toby Williams,
Clayton Washoon, as well as coach Rod Rust and of
course New England Patriots founder Billy Sullivan. Their legacy lives
on with this nineteen eighty five team. Thank you as
well to producers Matt Morrell and Alex Kaimano who constructed
(22:12):
this ten part podcast, compiling great sound clips and bringing
the entire project to life. And finally, thank you to
you the listeners. Please be sure to like and comment
on the series wherever you get your podcasts, and be
sure to check out the Super Bowl Sound Odyssey podcasts
from the two thousand and one, two thousand and three,
and two thousand and four season. Forty years later, perhaps
(22:33):
we can now remember the nineteen eighty five Patriots not
for how their season ended, but for what it started. Because,
as we've seen over these ten episodes, this is a
Patriots team that should not be lost in the sauce.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Annihilating might be a better word.
Speaker 19 (22:58):
Doing what.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Urgan's back.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
We're gonna throw fire, this one come fire touch down
on Ley Margam touch down, still the one having one
for the twenty.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
Five easy Wall Bears homing player running it all.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
Away, good touchdowns eighty five yards, turning prior decent, rolling
out to the right side, avoiding the pressure on the
Ronny Brood Clare touch down, Lynn Buffon in the end zone,
six points.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Patrios shutting down at Prians.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
Tony Cullen hat Brands, I believe.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Thank you for joining me on this journey through the
nineteen eighty five season, the team that made New England believe.
This has been nineteen eighty five a Super Bowl sound
out of Sea. Until the next time the Patriots made
the Super Bowl, I might do so
What do you remember about the nineteen eighty five Patriots
forty years later? We're going back to tell the story
of the first Patriots team to make it to a
Super Bowl, A special team that blazed a pathway that
we much traveled over the next four decades. Here from
the players and coaches, as well as the sounds from
television and radio that defined the season, as we uncover
what made this a Patriots team to remember even if
(00:20):
they didn't win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Champion Jamie.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Annihilator might be a better word.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Sixty five.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
Play more cush out doing with the chief Coy burgers back.
We're gonna throw a fire. This one come fire. Cut
down on the mark, the touch down, pairs running player.
Speaker 6 (00:51):
Running it all away, poor touchdowns eighty five yards curving
Prior Deacon rolling out to the right side, avoiding the pressure.
I'm Ronnie Brot cuts down Win Duffin in the end zone.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Six points.
Speaker 7 (01:05):
Patriots shut it down.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Hatprian, Tony Cullen, hatbriand novalieve.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I might do so, And this is a Patriots Super
Bowl Sound Odyssey nineteen eighty five, Episode ten, Legacy.
Speaker 8 (01:17):
My football team has been winning games the same way
the Bears did today. I'm not going to ball loosen
people and getting the football, and I'm really proud of
our football team. They've just come so darn far over
such a hard road this year and played as consistent
football as any team I've ever been around. And I
just don't think there was one more darned thing we
(01:38):
could have done today.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Forty years ago, the Patriots made history. They didn't win
the Super Bowl, but they won something else, the hearts
of New England. The nineteen eighty five team represented a
turning point, a foundation, a spark. Four decades later, we've
taken a nine episode look back that covered it all.
Now in episode ten, we look back at the legacy
of the nineteen eighty five Patriots.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
A San Morgan threw.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
His hands and he had a touchdown. Mike Singletary, the
middle linebacker, may have gotten the pace of the ball
in flight.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
The morning after the Patriots lost to the Bears in
the Super Bowl, the Boston Globe ran a front page
article about members of the team's drug use. Just twenty
four hours prior. The Patriots had been enmeshed in the
best season in franchise history, and we're one game away
from winning a championship. Now they had suffered the most
lopsided defeat in Super Bowl history, and we're in the
media's crosshairs.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
The good vibes were quickly erased.
Speaker 9 (02:30):
Interesting, I guess is one way of saying it that
when the season ends and this all comes out and
it's like the Patriots, you.
Speaker 10 (02:37):
Know, were involved involved in drugs.
Speaker 9 (02:38):
Well, actually the team, in my opinion, was the cleanest
team in the NFL, and I happened to know it was,
but it got painted with a brush that was not
really accurate about what really happened.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Ironically, Raymond Barry had recognized the team's probably before the
season and had taken steps to clean things up.
Speaker 9 (02:56):
You see, I said down in the all season and
talk with ever player in the about this matter, every
one of them. We all got on the same page
about White had to stop. And I told him White
had to stop. And one of the main reasons is
is because the fans, the NFL or the reason why
we have a league, and they're buying a product, and
(03:17):
the product has got to be untainted.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
But as the firestorm rage, those proactive steps did little
to quell the flames.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
If in the future a player like this goes back
and lead.
Speaker 8 (03:28):
I'm going to get the information that he's on drugs
and he's going to be suspended after one year as
a loss of salary, and I'm going to tell the
press about it.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Days after the Super Bowl, Berry's team voted to become
the first NFL team to okay voluntary drug testing.
Speaker 8 (03:42):
To the best of our knowledge, the Patriots have become
the first pro sports franchise to submit to voluntary drug testing.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
This as a result of a team meeting in New
Orleans on Monday.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But the damage had been done. The success of the
season was forgotten, and for some players, trust have been broken.
It wasn't the end for Barry's Patriots, but the trajectory
had been set.
Speaker 11 (04:03):
The nineteen eighty six edition of the New England Patriots
Arride at Summer Training Camp. I was defending AFC champion
the year before. If under the stable leadership of head
coach Raymond Barry, they had given their fans the most
exciting season in teen history.
Speaker 8 (04:18):
They know they're good enough to go in the field
and play with anybody, and that's a big thing to
learn and to believe it doesn't win any games.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
You got to go out there and do it.
Speaker 9 (04:29):
But to know that you can do it, I think
is a major step psychologically.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
The Patriots would be even better during nineteen eighty six
as regular season, finishing eleven and six and winning their
first AFC East Division titles since nineteen seventy eight, but
the team was beginning to change, with John Hanna becoming
the first key veteran to retire.
Speaker 8 (04:45):
I go was very simple, want to be the best
offensive guard that ever played football.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The rushing attack fell from six in rushing yards to
twenty eighth, but Tony Easton improved to offset the decline,
throwing nineteen touchdowns to ten interceptions and even earning some
votes for a sixth place eight MVP finished.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Deathon as Morgan open Stanley Morgan and he's just knocked
out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
As he was putting in it and then the high gear.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Stanley Morgan was a key beneficiary, posting and ninety one
receiving yards and ten touchdowns, making the eight P second
team All Pro and a Pro Bowl. Andre Tipet missed
five games but still made a second team All Pro
in an appearance at the Pro Bowl with nine and
a half sacks, while Garon Veris led the team with
eleven sacks in his second year. Mostly Tatupu and Raymond
Clayborne also made the Pro Bowl as well. The Pats
(05:32):
still had the talent, but the magic was missing.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
For New England, there was another remarkably fine year, a
home field advantage won by Denver when they beat New England.
Here earlier would have been the difference for Raymond Berry's
theme the weddings for Late in the third quarter of
forty eight yard utchdown pass from John la to Vance
(05:55):
Johnson on a play where the.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Patriots were off fide relaxed, oh Way.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Did not and hit Johnson with a bomb that simms
Denver to Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Unlike nineteen eighty five, the nineteen eighty six Patriots were
not road warriors and bowed out in the first round
of the playoffs, losing in Denver to John Lway and
the Broncos twenty two to seventeen. Things would only further
dissolve from there for the franchise. An eight and seven
finish in the strike shortened nineteen eighty seven season led
to a nine to seven finish in nineteen eighty eight.
Nineteen eighty eight was also the final year of the
(06:27):
Sullivan family's ownership of the Patriots, as Victor kiam took
over as principal owner. During the Sullivan's twenty eight seasons
owning the team, the Patriots tallied fourteen winning records, made
six playoff appearances, played in the nineteen sixty three AFL
Championship Game, and represented the AFC in Super Bowl twenty.
As Patrick Sullivan pointed out, there was something unique about
(06:48):
nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 12 (06:49):
What I hope that people remember about this team was
that they ended up coming together in a way that
almost any and enterprise that you have, if you have
a group of people that can pull together the way
these guys did, there's no limit to what you can do.
(07:10):
And there was this real camaraderie on that team, you know,
just this real warmth in the room. About the camaraderie
that that team had was pretty pretty unique, and it
extended out into the community. And our guys were always
(07:32):
very very strong participants in the community, which was something
that we've been very proud of.
Speaker 13 (07:37):
Finishing the year with three straight wins, landed New England
only one game from the playoffs in nineteen.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Eighty seven, and left Little Town.
Speaker 13 (07:46):
The Patriots were the division's best team that season's end,
fighters right to the finish. The nineteen eighties of a
New England Patriots displayed baha of a championship for coach.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Raymond Berry's New England Patriots.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
The nineteen eighty eight season began with a warm welcome
home for returning tight end Russ Francis. With young stars
like Rookie of the Year John Stevens and a physical
team of battle hardened young veterans to lead the way,
there is good reason for the optimism that shines among
coach Raymond Berry's team of character.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Very lasted one more years.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
The Patriots fell to a five and eleven finish in
nineteen eighty nine with a fourth place finish in the
AFC East. By nineteen ninety, the Patriots were a different team,
even if some of the pieces remained the same, including
Hall of Famer Andre Tippett, who stuck with the team
as they crashed back to Earth in the late eighties
and early nineties.
Speaker 14 (08:43):
Society is made up of that mentality. You know, it's
either you want it or you lost it. You lost it,
you got your ass kicking, but you want it. It's
like you know you will be love forever, and you know,
we wanted to thought that year was going to set
us up for future success. Little did we know, you know,
(09:05):
we were going to eventually start falling apart, because you
don't know, nothing is promised moving forward. But I would
hope that people would honor the body of work that
took place in the eighty five season, because you know,
nobody gave up, nobody sold themselves, you know, to the double.
(09:28):
It was like, you know, we were determined to make
things happen and to play like you know, there was
no tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
They'd win just nine games over the next three seasons
as the franchise would bottom out, and the promise of
nineteen eighty five was all but forgotten until now Irving
Friar and Ronnie Lapetz spoke about how special and unique
the bonds on the nineteen eighty.
Speaker 15 (09:50):
Five Patriots were. The year we went to the Super Bowl, though,
it just clicked for us, meaning we became a family.
And I can say that because all the other teams
that I played on, including the Patriots teams Miami, Philadelphia
and even Washington, we never got close like that again.
We never became a family. I still the guys that
(10:13):
I stay in contact with. The most are from those
eighties teams and the Patriots that I played with telling
because we just we became a family. We became really
really close.
Speaker 13 (10:23):
We did.
Speaker 15 (10:24):
Why that happened, How that happened, I'm not so sure
if it was Raymond Berry or if it was just
something that was organic that just happened, But that's why
things came together.
Speaker 10 (10:34):
That nineteen eighty five team was a very special team.
It was a lot of love in that locker room,
but we looked out for each other out there, out
there and other places. I just missed the old guys
and that team was a team that we wanted to win.
Speaker 16 (10:56):
So we played hard.
Speaker 10 (10:59):
We played together. When we lost, we still got together
on Mondays and you know we you know, we had
different guys on the on the buses that you know,
when you joke about somebody on the bus man, they
they joke bad. And then we get off the bus
(11:19):
all laughing and joking at each other and joking with
it doesn't having fun.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Even wide receiver Secret Jones said he forgot just how
good they were.
Speaker 17 (11:27):
Everybody played a part and it was special teams. And
you know, I I look back at the Tay. Sometimes
I'll go back and look my boys and look, say that,
how about this game? I had forgotten how talented our
defense was with Don Black, when Andre Chipper, you know,
Garon Varrus had a great year. And in the different
secondary you had Raymond Claiborne, who I think should be
in the Pro Football Fame, terrific, terrific cover guy, Ronnie Lapat,
(11:48):
you know, Roland James was tough a safety. And you
know we had Rick Sanford, Fred Marion just a tremendous,
tremendous group of players.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So we were a very t d team, uh, very team.
Speaker 17 (12:00):
We had great relationships with each other, and you know,
I think about it sometimes, like what will happen? What
would our history, would our story ben if we'd actually
won that Super Bowl?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You know, key running back and leading receiver Tony Collins said,
those connections still run deep.
Speaker 18 (12:12):
The thing that I really want the fans to know
about our team that we loved each other. That was
one of the keys to us.
Speaker 19 (12:19):
Getting as far as we did. We had a lot
of love for each other.
Speaker 18 (12:23):
And the crazy part about that is this guys, till
the day and man that that on that team that
I'm still friends with I'm still talking to it and
we're still friends and we'll always be friends.
Speaker 19 (12:34):
Those are my brothers.
Speaker 18 (12:35):
So uh, it was a pretty cool deal and I'm
so thankful to God that i got the opportunity to
be on that team.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Becoming the first NFL team to win three playoff road
games on their way to winning an AFC championship was
something the players still take great pride in today, especially
for John Hannah, who capped off the final season of
his Hall of Fame career by making history.
Speaker 20 (12:55):
Of all the things that I'm proudished was the rep trips.
You know, we're the first train to ever go to
a Super Bowl that many road trips, road games, you know,
and winning them and matter of fact, we all our
games were road games and went in as a wild card. Basically,
that's something that's never been done before, and we did it.
(13:16):
And I guess, of all the flames about it, that's
the one thing that kind of stands out in my mind.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Nineteen eighty five foreshadowed the incredible success that was to
come for the Patriots organization, and two people saw almost
all of it firsthand. Dante Scarnecki was nineteen eighty five
special teams coordinator and will go on to be a
part of nine of the ten future Super Bowl trips.
Director of Scouting Administration Nancy Meyer was a part of
all of them. After starting in nineteen seventy four, Meyer
(13:41):
stuck with the Patriots through thick and thin, wrapping up
fifty one seasons with the organization in twenty twenty six.
Who better to put the nineteen eighty five season in perspective?
Speaker 21 (13:50):
There were a special group in their own right because
they were well grounded and they came to the mentality
that of what it really does pay to be a
good football team. And as we got into the playoffs,
and to your point that you made earlier, they never won.
Speaker 16 (14:10):
A playoff game, but to get to the you know,
the end of the playoffs and when win the first game,
and then when the second game, but then when the
third game, I think that it was just something that
you know, those guys that have especially the guys that
had been here a long time, I thought they I
(14:33):
thought they really really enjoyed that. But in through the
whole process they grounded and really kept their eyes.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
On the prize.
Speaker 22 (14:42):
It was really a special team, and I think we
were all just so proud to go represent New England
and go on the road and win those games like
we did and really earn it because I think going
back when you mentioned before in nineteen seventy eight, and
I think we really felt like we were going someplace
(15:04):
then and that was cut off and such a bad
way that you don't want to criticize officiating, but sometimes
I have to, and you know, and it took a
long time to recover after that because of circumstances with
head coaches and players leaving and you know, really building
(15:25):
the program back up again to go and do that
in nineteen eighty five. But down those Chicago Bears, I
don't think anyone was going to beat him that day,
that's for sure. I think coach Berry brought so much
stability to the team at the time.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
He was such a good man.
Speaker 22 (15:44):
He cared about everybody on the team, everybody in the facility,
and you know, his kindness went a long way, and
I think the players at that point in time might
have been one of their first experiences of really understanding
the head coach is going to take you places. And
(16:05):
I think he was so respected and I think we
did think he'd take us to Super Bowls and beyond.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
You know, did you achieve all your goals and you
enter the National Football League? But why are you a laughs?
The only go I had coming to an NFL was
to make it for one year.
Speaker 19 (16:27):
And that was it.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
It never occurred to me anything else that happened. I
just wondered if he didn't make it one year, So yeah,
I didn't achieve that.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
It would be easy to lose track of the nineteen
eighty five Patriots, but they were a record setting team
with two future Pro Football Hall of Famers and six
Team Hall of Famers along with Scarnekia, also a Team
Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
According to the Modern Advanced.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Statistic DVOA, this was the fourth best Patriots defense of
all time, going back to at least nineteen seventy eight,
even when stacked up against the dominant Super Bowl winning
defenses that earned years of headlines Andre Tippett has a
bus and can't Ohio, and nineteen eighty five was the
culmination of the two most dominant seasons of his career.
Speaker 14 (17:05):
I would like for people to never forget that, regardless
of the fact that we didn't win, we lost the
Super Bowl, we were very first to get this franchise
to a super Bowl. Look at our body of work
(17:26):
building up to that and how it has transcended in.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Different things like that.
Speaker 14 (17:32):
But appreciate those guys, the sacrifices that they made for
that eighty four eighty five season and things that they did.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
You know, we were trying to see it through.
Speaker 14 (17:43):
I mean, did we know the Super Bowl twenty was
going to be the way it was?
Speaker 13 (17:46):
No?
Speaker 19 (17:47):
I had no idea.
Speaker 14 (17:48):
I mean I thought we had just as good enough
chance of winning Super Bowl as the rest of us
on the team, and we had no idea what we're
up against. But value the work ethic, the body of
work leading up to that, Enjoy what took place.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Garon Verius had ten sacks as a rookie in nineteen
eighty five and added four more in the playoffs, playing
a key role in the historic run. He had eleven
sacks in nineteen eighty six before injury started to strike,
but he still learned a spot on the Patriots All
eighties team.
Speaker 23 (18:20):
Just to be part of that team. The history of
being the first New England Patriot team to reach the
Super Bowl and to get three road wins and what
we brought, the energy that we brought to the New
England region. That's what I'm most proud of to be
part of that unit and that we still talk to
each other and reminisce about those years and what the
(18:42):
Patriots have done. Congratulations to the organization, mister Kraft and
everybody of a New England fans of what the New
England Patriots are today and how they're viewed. And I
think that we were really one of the reasons that
got people really excited about the Patriots, what the potential
of the Patriots would be.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
And then.
Speaker 23 (19:04):
The Solomon the regime was over and then the mister
Rafts organization came in. It just took it to another level.
But I'm so proud to be part of the New
England Patriots and what they mean to so many people.
The class, you know, continual class every year, and I
think we were part of the starting that the way
(19:25):
people looked at us, and I'm proud to be part
of that and wishing nothing but success as they go
into the future Center.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Pete Brock had seen it all with the Patriots after
arriving in nineteen seventy six. He tasted the playoffs three
times before nineteen eighty five, with all the ups and
downs in between. A member of the Patriots All nineteen
eighties team, nineteen eighty five was the most special season
of his career, and Brock felt that the Patriots had
finally earned the respect and a town already.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Obsessed with the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
That whole stretch of playoffs, and you know, before we
went down to the Super Bowl, this whole region of
New England had something to cheer about. I remember there
was about four or five of us that got invited
to the Garden for a Celtics game, and between quarters
they actually paused the game and acknowledged that we were there,
(20:16):
and Larry Bird and Kevin McHale and Perish and you know,
the eighty five Celtics all turned and everybody, the whole
stands turned in a ploted us for that, and it
was like, you know, the whole community got behind it.
It wasn't just it wasn't just football fans. There wasn't
anything like that, but it was, you know, everybody for
(20:38):
a moment could celebrate everything this one thing together that
it was that kind of that kind of special. So
to be part of that was pretty phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Running back Robert Weathers, who delivered his fair share of
critical plays for the nineteen eighty five Patriots, highlighted the
hard work that this Patriots team and many others before
and after them put in before the twenty year dynasty
was born.
Speaker 19 (21:02):
I just hope we don't get lost in the sauce.
And there's a lot of sauce. No one can argue
when you look at what the Patriots has accomplished with
those six Siver Bowl wins. There were teams still working hard,
trying to let New England know that we're going to
(21:24):
work hard as hard as we can all the time
to get what you want. And so we gave him
a first glimpse of that. And we just don't get
lost in the sauce, and we remember that we're still
a shiny penny out there.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thank you for listening to this edition of the Patriots
Super Bowl Sound Odyssey podcast. Special Thank yous go out
to all the players, coaches, and team executives that took
the time to reflect and relay their stories from the
nineteen eighty five seasons.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I'd also like to acknowledge members of.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
The team who have passed away over the years, including
mostly Totupu Stephen starring Julius Adams, Lester Williams, Toby Williams,
Clayton Washoon, as well as coach Rod Rust and of
course New England Patriots founder Billy Sullivan. Their legacy lives
on with this nineteen eighty five team. Thank you as
well to producers Matt Morrell and Alex Kaimano who constructed
(22:12):
this ten part podcast, compiling great sound clips and bringing
the entire project to life. And finally, thank you to
you the listeners. Please be sure to like and comment
on the series wherever you get your podcasts, and be
sure to check out the Super Bowl Sound Odyssey podcasts
from the two thousand and one, two thousand and three,
and two thousand and four season. Forty years later, perhaps
(22:33):
we can now remember the nineteen eighty five Patriots not
for how their season ended, but for what it started. Because,
as we've seen over these ten episodes, this is a
Patriots team that should not be lost in the sauce.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Annihilating might be a better word.
Speaker 19 (22:58):
Doing what.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Urgan's back.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
We're gonna throw fire, this one come fire touch down
on Ley Margam touch down, still the one having one
for the twenty.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
Five easy Wall Bears homing player running it all.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
Away, good touchdowns eighty five yards, turning prior decent, rolling
out to the right side, avoiding the pressure on the
Ronny Brood Clare touch down, Lynn Buffon in the end zone,
six points.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Patrios shutting down at Prians.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
Tony Cullen hat Brands, I believe.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Thank you for joining me on this journey through the
nineteen eighty five season, the team that made New England believe.
This has been nineteen eighty five a Super Bowl sound
out of Sea. Until the next time the Patriots made
the Super Bowl, I might do so
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