About a week ago now, we devoted one of these 25 days to the offensive coordinator of that 1996 team and an unsung hero, Ray Perkins. Today, it’s only fair we take a look at the defensive coordinator, Al Groh and what he meant to that team. Groh had a lengthy college and NFL coaching career beginning at Army in 1968. Stints at Virginia, Air Force, North Carolina, Texas Tech…
Patriots Co-Offensive Line Cole Popovich will not coach in 2021. Co-Offensive Line Coach Carmen Bricillo will assume full time coaching duties for the season. Popovich is sitting out the season due to the NFL’s vaccination mandate. Popovich was spotted wearing a mask during June’s mandatory OTA’s so it is safe to assume that he is not vaccinated. With Popovich sitting out the season, it does stretch the Patriots coaching staff…
Rookies have reported to Foxboro for the start of training camp. All eyes of course will be on Quarterback Mac Jones but the 2021 rookie class is talented and the expectation is that they will make a difference. When evaluating rookies from a coaching lense, there are different things each of them need to do at their respective position in order to gain playing time. Bill Belichick will NOT play…
We’re down to single digits in our 25 day celebration after today, so before we finish up with a few more key pieces to the puzzle and a look back at the postseason wins, there’s one major aspect of the season we haven’t really talked much about yet. Good ole Foxboro Stadium. Most people my age don’t remember the old place with the metal benches, gross bathrooms, mud pits in…
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson , linebacker Cameron McGrone (knee) and safety Joshuah Bledsoe (wrist) are opening on the active/non-football injury list. That means that they are not cleared for practice but once they are cleared, they can come off the list at anytime. Stevenson is a bit of a surprise. Of the three rookies, he was the one expected to make the most immediate impact this season as a compliment…
The Patriots signed the final two rookies in the draft class of 2021 when EDGE Ronnie Perkins and defensive tackle Christian Barmore signed their rookie contracts. Perkins, a third round pick out of Oklahoma signed a four year, $3.5 million dollar deal. Perkins will earn a signing bonus of $870,616 dollars. Barmore, a second round pick out of Alabama signed a four year, $8.5 million dollar deal with a $3.5…
We’ve had mostly positive things to reminisce about during our 25 day project, but today we take a look at a 12-6 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys on December 15, 1996. The score wasn’t pretty, but it was a very important day confidence wise for the young defense and coordinator Al Groh. At the time, the Patriots’ offense was humming while Dallas entered as the NFL’s…
Two weeks to go in our look back at the 1996 AFC championship season for the Patriots. Before we take a look at a dominant win over the Jets late in the season, a quick reminder that if you missed our live show on Monday night with Drew Bledsoe and Todd Rucci, do yourself a favor and find an hour to listen to it. Both of them were incredibly generous…
Lucky No. 13. First and foremost, a reminder that we are very lucky to have both Todd Rucci and Drew Bledsoe jointing us on the New England Football Show tonight at 8 to reminisce about that season and talk about what they’re up to now. Getting back to our trip down memory lane, we take a look back at the season that the original 87, Ben Coates had in 1996….
We’re up to our 12th day of 25 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1996 AFC championship team. A few days ago, we talked about the job offensive coordinator Ray Perkins did that season with the Patriot’ offense. Well, the guy leading the charge on the field was Drew Bledsoe. We are absolutely thrilled to have Drew and offensive lineman Todd Rucci joining us to reminisce about the season on…