A New England Patriots Tale of Yore...
Despite the Patriots' Super Bowl run in 1986, the franchise was in dismal shape. The team that Raymond Berry built had crumbled into a perennial loser, winning just 14 games in a four year stretch from 1989 to 1992. Shortly after finishing 2-14 under former Syracuse coach Dick McPherson, the Patriots announced the hiring of Bill Parcells as head coach. Parcells, arguably one of the best coaches in football, and certainly the best button-pusher around, took immediately to the task of rebuilding the Patriots franchise, even as the team wondered where it would be playing its games in the coming years (St. Louis, perhaps?)
Parcells immediately drafted the deepest class of talent the Patriots had seen in years. The 1993 draft included quarterback Drew Bledsoe from Washington State, the overall number one pick in the draft and one of the two can't-miss quarterbacks in the draft class of '93 (Rick Mirer was the other). Linebacker Chris Slade became the first piece of what would become a stifling defense, and wide receivers Vincent Brisby and Troy Brown would make significant contributions to the team in years to come.
A loaf of bread... a quart of milk... and a stick of butter...
The team finished 5-11 in the first year of Parcells' reign, due in no small part to the lack of a featured running back and the misadventures of one Scott "Missin'" Sisson, the rookie placekicker notorious for missing almost half of his field goal tries. Sisson was replaced near season's end by former Giant Matt Bahr as Parcells began peppering his roster with players from his Super Bowl teams in New York.
In an attempt to find that feature running back, the Patriots moved several draft picks in offseason in order to acquire Marion Butts from the San Diego Chargers. Defensive end / elephant Willie McGinest was picked up in the draft, as well as offensive lineman Max Lane and linebacker Marty Moore. The Patriots began the season in a fashion similar to previous years, but rattled off seven straight wins to finish the season at 10-6. Facing the NFL's number one defense in the Bill Belichick-led Cleveland Browns, the Patriots lost the opening Wild Card playoff game and began planning for next season.
A loaf of bread... a quart of milk... and a stick of butter...
It was during this time that the Boston media latched onto the strong personality of Bill Parcells. Parcells had the reputation of being a straight shooter... if he thought your question was stupid, he told you so. If you asked a question ambiguously, you received an ambiguous response. It became a game for reporters, trying to phrase their question to exactly get the answer they were looking for, or at the very least get the coach riled up. Parcells played the game and played it well... his postgame press conferences were nearly as entertaining as the games that preceded them.
The 1995 draft saw another influx of talent, as the Patriots added Ty Law and Jimmy Hitchcock to the secondary, Ted Johnson to the linebacking corps, and an oft-injured running back from Pittsburgh named Curtis Martin to the fold. The Patriots were loading up on talent, but slipped to 6-10 that year, including an embarrassing Monday Night loss to the Broncos in which a fake punt by the Patriots early in the game blew up in their faces en route to a 37-3 home loss.
A loaf of bread... a quart of milk... and a stick of butter...
Meanwhile the tension between Parcells and owner Bob Kraft began to grow. Parcells had his own ideas about how to build a team, and those ideas centered around defense. Kraft thought that an offensive player would best suit the team's needs, and the disagreement came to a head on draft day, when Kraft overruled Parcells and the team selected wide receiver Terry Glenn from Ohio State. Parcells became openly critical of ownership and stirred up even more controversy when he referred to Glenn as "she" when asked about the receiver's problems with a recurring hamstring injury.
While the Patriots managed to draft perennial Pro Bowl safety Lawyer Milloy, linebackers Tedy Bruschi and Chris Sullivan, O-lineman Heath Irwin, and tight end Lovett Purnell in the 96 draft, the strong draft class was overshadowed by the Glenn issue and the drafting and near-immediate release of Christian Peter, a Nebraska product who had a history of alleged sexual assaults.
A loaf of bread... a quart of milk... and a stick of butter...
The 1996 New England Patriots started 0-2 but quickly established themselves as one of the better teams in the league. The Bills had been the preseason favorites to win the AFC East, and Denver was busy pummelling the rest of the AFC into the ground, but the Patriots piled up solid victories, including a 45-7 drubbing of the Chargers that sent them spiraling out of playoff contention. In a week 17 contest the Patriots showed their mettle when, down 22-0 at halftime to the Giants, the "Flying Elvises" came back to win the game 23-22, securing a first round bye in the playoffs.
When Mark Brunell and the Jacksonville Jaguars knocked off the juggernaut Broncos, the Patriots found themselves with home field advantage throughout the playoffs. After decimating the Steelers 28-3 in near zero-visibility conditions to win their first ever home playoff game, the Patriots held the Jags to two field goals, as a late fumble return for touchdown by Otis "My Man" Smith sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl for only the second time in the team's history.
As is sometimes the case with the NFL Playoffs, there were two weeks in between the Patriots victory in the AFC Championship and their date with the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI. With two weeks and the typical Super Bowl stories exhausted (other than the Patriots' slim hopes of winning), most reporters didn't have much to write about. Except Will McDonough.
The venerable reporter for the Boston Globe got hold of a story about a week before the Super Bowl that said that Parcells was going to up sticks after the season and become the head coach of the New York Jets. For Patriots fans this was akin to Superman shacking up with Lex Luthor and busting up Metropolis together. It was wrong on so many levels. And coming just before the Super Bowl, the inevitable distraction was the last thing the fourteen point underdog Patriots needed going into the Superdome. The team lost 35-21 in a game that was about as close as the score indicated. Five days later Parcells resigned as head coach of the New England Patriots.
A loaf of bread... a quart of milk... and a stick of butter...
Three days later, Bill Parcells was named head coach of the Jets. With the pain of the Super Bowl loss still stinging Pats fans, Parcells wore a perpetual smirk as he addressed the New York media during his first Jets press conference, taking occasional shots at the Patriots management and ownership. At one point, Parcells made reference to the fact that he didn't like having his personnel picked out for him. "They want you to cook the dinner," he said, "at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries."
The quote became the exclamation point on Parcells tenure with the team. The Patriots filed a greivance with the NFL, demanding compensation for Parcells, and in the end they were awarded four draft picks with which to shop for more groceries. The Pete Carroll Era had begun...
Addendum
Many fans argued, perhaps correctly, that Parcells was the reason that the Patriots reached the Super Bowl that year. And as Terry Glenn grew to become the biggest malcontent in New England, fans generally assumed that Parcells had been right all along. After all, the Patriots could have selected Ray Lewis with that pick, a man generally considered to be the most dominant player in the game today. But that's not who Parcells wanted to draft with the sixth overall pick. He wanted defensive end Tony Brackens from Texas, a guy whose skills were in such demand that he wasn't even picked until the second round, three picks before the Pats took Lawyer Milloy, who himself ended up being the second or third best overall defensive player taken in that draft. Terry Glenn, meanwhile, shattered the rookie record for receptions with 90, and stretched the field for Bledsoe and company every time he was in the game.