PatsPropaganda

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History

A Look Back: The Journey of Hoy-Dog

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkxDKWOAKrI

Brian Hoyer was my second-favorite Tom Brady back up of all time. Yes, Jimmy Garoppolo was just so talented and handsome, he topped the list, but I always thought Hoyer fit the Patriots Tom Brady backup role as well as anybody.

An undrafted rookie in 2009, Hoyer stepped in for Matt Cassel and gave the Pats a solid but thankfully unneeded backup through the 2011 season. In that time, he saw snaps in some famous games despite never getting a start.

Hoyer played in three of the 2009 Patriots most (in)famous games — the snow blowout of the Titans, the “I can’t get this team to play the way they need to play” game in New Orleans, and the Wes Welker torn ACL game in Houston.

In his first Patriot stint, Hoyer appeared in 13 games, threw one TD and one pick for 286 yards and even picked up a rushing touchdown. Even in limited duty, he showed toughness and made some great throws (see videos below). After he left New England he started a fascinating journey around the NFL, with stops in five cities and nearly 40 starts. Despite playing for some terrible teams, Hoyer often did enough to help his team win.

Let’s take a look back at Hoyer’s journey around the NFL and the experience that should make him an even more valuable backup for his second tour of duty in New England.

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A Look Back: My Experience at Pats-Chargers 2006 AFCDG

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The 2006 AFC Divisional playoff game between the Patriots and Chargers in San Diego was one of the best fan experiences of my life. I recounted the whole story on my original Patriots blog way 10 years ago, and my original plan was to just throw out a link to that but unfortunately that blog has finally gone dark. So now I must re-write and re-tell the story but it’s one that’s well worth it and something that must be preserved in the history of Pats Propaganda.

So buckle up, it’s a fun ride.

2006 was when my Patriots craziness really kicked in. Yes, I had grown up just a few towns over from Foxboro and saw plenty of the Patriots getting their asses handed to them in the 80’s and 90’s. I had the thrills of the ’85 and ’96 Super Bowl runs, but by their first title in 2001 I was living in Los Angeles, watching from afar, and disappointed that I wasn’t living at home when all the success started happening.

One thing about Los Angeles, there are fans of all teams and gathering together with your fan-ily on Sundays was a great way to get a taste of home, especially at a bar like Sonny McClean’s in Santa Monica. The 2005 playoff loss to Denver hit me hard. It suddenly dawned on me that we had this young quarterback and “genius” head coach who still had a long career ahead of them. How many titles could they get? How great could they be?

For whatever reason that loss was what pushed my obsession into overdrive. I started frequenting PatsFans.com’s message board and devouring any and all posts by Mike Reiss, who scratched the major itch I had to understand the game at a higher level. I became a student of the game and a student of being a fan on the internet all at the same time. It would be another year, in December 2007, before I started blogging about the Pats, but in 2006 I was all in. Every Sunday was a major event like it had never been before.

I didn’t realize it until I was sitting in Sonny McCleans for the Pats’ AFC Wild Card game against the Jets that if they won, they’d go to San Diego to face the Chargers, an easy two-to-three hour drive depending on traffic as everything in Souther California depends upon.

The Pats won and I vowed to myself I’d find a way to get to the game.

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A Look Back: The Fan Journey of Super Bowl 51

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On Saturdays I try to take a historical look back at the matchup the Patriots will be facing tomorrow. Obviously there’s one big game on everyone’s mind in Pats-Falcons history, so it’s a good chance to remember how crazy it was to live through that game.

For the Patriots, it was maybe their ultimate moment. An impossible comeback that sealed their greatness for even their most ardent doubters and haters. If you can’t at least look at that game and put aside all the conspiracy theories you’re not truly a football fan.

Usually football games don’t really impact us any more than we let them. It all depends on how invested you allow yourself to be. But for me personally, Super Bowl 51 impacted my life in a very real way that ultimately was in large part responsible for 2017 being a life-changing year for me.

For that, no sporting event will ever compare to Super Bowl 51. I’m still wrapping my head around it even eight months later to be honest.

 

Let’s start with how we all felt when the score was actually 28-3, when it seemed almost assured that the Pats were about to lose their third Super Bowl in ten years.

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A Look Back: Patriots – Panthers

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The Patriots and Panthers have met just six times, but there have been quite a few notable games, none moreso than Super Bowl 38, which remains to this day one of the most exciting Super Bowls of all time. When they renew the rivalry again at Gillette tomorrow there won’t be quite as much on the line but somehow their games always seem to be interesting.

In their first matchup in 1995, the Panthers’ first season in the league, the Patriots lost in overtime, en route to a disappointing 6-10 season. John Kasay‘s overtime field goal dropped the Pats to 2-6 as Kerry Collins threw for 306 yards and Derrick Moore (? lol) rushed for 119 yards.

Their second matchup didn’t come until the 2001 season and because of 9/11 was played on January 6th, usually when the playoffs had started. We’re used to the final game of the regular season being meaningless but this one gave the Pats the chance to win the second seed in the AFC. The Patriots pounded the one-win Panthers 38-6 and set the stage for the Tuck Rule game two weeks later in the final game at the old Foxborough Stadium.

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A Look Back: Patriots-Texans Rivalry

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4G9vij_cHo

While the Patriots-Texans rivalry hasn’t been much of a rivalry on the field, their games have actually featured some really significant developments that have had major impacts. Though the Patriots haven’t lost to the Texans since 2010’s season finale and own a 8-1 overall record, the Texans have exacted more than a pound of flesh in some of those victories.

The most notable is of course losing Wes Welker to a torn ACL in that only loss, which set the stage for the Pats to get embarrassed at home in the wild card round the next week against the Ravens. The Welker injury was everything the Pats could not afford to have happen, losing their third down engine in a meaningless game a week before the playoffs started. This thrust Julian Edelman into the spotlight against the Ravens, where he came through with six catches for 44 yards and two touchdowns, but it would be four more seasons before Edelman truly took over that role from Welker.

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A Look Back: The 2009 Saints Massacre

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If you have yet to see the entire two-part Bill Belichick A Football Life, stop reading and watch it above immediately. Or for the purposes of this post you can just click play and it will queue right up to maybe the most infamous loss of the Belichick era thanks to NFL Films’ documenting it from the inside.

I am of course talking about the 2009 loss to the Saints in New Orleans by a glaring 38-17 score. The most famous part of this loss was recorded by the cameras as Belichick lamented not being able to get the 2009 team to play the way they needed to, that it had nothing really to do with the Saints and was mostly on the Patriots’ inability to overcome any adversity.

Eight years later we have a good perspective on the 2009 season now and I thought it would be a fun little look back at a terrible game that came in maybe the worst season under Belichick.

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Ty Law Named NFL Hall of Fame Semi-Finalist

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The first of the Dynasty Pats has come up for the NFL Hall of Fame, with Ty Law being named a semi-finalist.

Law was selected in the first round of the 1995 draft and played 10 seasons with the Patriots and won three Super Bowls, appearing in four. Of all the dynasty defense, Law might’ve had the most flash and broad appeal, although Willie McGinest might have something to say about that. Law made five Pro Bowls and was twice named an All Pro (1998, 2003). 36 of his 53 career interceptions came with the Pats.

Perhaps most interesting about Law is the window he provided into how Bill Belichick values cornerbacks. Here’s a tidbit from a previous article I wrote on how things broke down for Law in New England:

We begin in 2000 with Ty Law and Otis Smith. Law was already in the midst of a seven-year, $51 million deal he signed before Belichick arrived, while Smith, at age 34, was brought in on a veteran minimum deal. Smith would go on to start Super Bowl XXXVI with Law.

Law was the first example of how Belichick valued cornerbacks. In 2004, Law wanted another extension and the Patriots offered him $26 million over four years. Even today that would be the biggest contract extension the Patriots ever awarded to a corner.

Law called the offer an insult and countered with a seven-year deal worth $63 million, including a $20 million signing bonus.

Then-general manager Scott Pioli simply responded “We can’t do that. Save the paper.”

Law would play out 2004 and then be cut in ’05 and sign with the Jets for an almost identical contract to his last, seven years, $50 million. He was released after just one year by the cap-strapped Jets and would then sign a five-year deal with the Chiefs worth $30 million. He would play just two seasons in Kansas City and continue to kick around until he retired after the 2009 season.

It will be interesting to see if Malcolm Butler, the closest thing the Pats have had to a cornerback of Law’s skill, ends up in a similar situation.

15 finalists will be named in January. Law should have a good chance, but of course I think that…

ty law SB36