"Rooter" Analysis: A Breakdown of the 2008 New England Patriot Draft Class

I can remember when Drew Bledsoe and Terry Glenn were fresh looking rookies, ready to make their mark on the NFL. I remember when Ben Coates was virtually unstoppable and Bruce Armstrong was a brick wall along an otherwise porous offensive line.

I remember these older Patriots teams because I have been a “rooter” of New England Patriots football since I was young.  “Rooter” probably isn’t even a word, much less a term that resonates with the average sports fan.

But to me, as child, being a “rooter” meant waking up every Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (hey, I was a growing boy who needed his sleep!) and anxiously awaiting the 1:00 p.m. kickoff. It meant throwing the pig-skin at halftime and having several fellow rooters over to my family room to watch the games. It meant getting seriously bent out of the shape when those horrible Patriots teams of old would find ways to fumble away leads and miss last second chip shots. It meant letting football dictate your Sunday, so much so that the inevitable Sunday night date with the homework I had put off all weekend was an upbeat conquering of academic assignments if the Pats had won, but a depressing, fruitless battle with concepts I couldn’t understand if the Pats had lost.

No one remembers these old Patriots teams. No one remembers the 4-12 seasons, the countless Bledsoe interceptions, the wasted 1^st Round draft picks, and the realization that this year- whatever year it was in the 1990s- probably wasn’t the year of Pat the Patriot.

Being a Patriots fan now is completely different. We all know about Mo Lewis’ hit, Tom Brady’s rise to super-stardom, the 3 Super Bowls in 4 years, and the regular season dominance that has come to define the boys in Foxbrough. Complain about anything as a 2008 Pats fan, and people will say, “What the hell you got to whine ‘bout, eh?”.

They are right in many ways. Watching #12 is a joy. Knowing you will make the playoffs is an absolute luxury. Owning the Jets- a team that used to torment me annually, especially when The Tuna came back to New England wearing green and white- is a point of pride.

But most assume that Patriots fans weren’t there for the bad days too. They think we all jumped on the band-wagon when Brady’s Bunch upset the Rams and their plethora of offensive weapons and pizzazz. That just isn’t true.

And I have to say, the last two seasons of Patriots football have left me with a sour taste of morning breath in my mouth. They have been inexplicably painful.

Losing to the rival Colts and the Manning-that-could-never-win-the-big-one  in the AFC title game- a game which the good guys led 21-3 at one point- was painful and sobering. Going 18-0….no, let me put that another way: not suffering defeat until the last minute of the season was a punch to the gut I’ll never forget.

Truth be told, these last two seasons of Patriots football have been exponentially more painful than those past seasons of undisciplined football, 1^st Round playoff exits, and Pete Carroll shenanigans.  2007 and 2008 have been seasons devoid of closure and satisfaction for Pats fans.

Quick Note: You’ll notice I don’t mentioned 2006, when the Patriots lost in the 2^nd Round to the Broncos at Mile High. I don’t mention it because we might have been the better team that night, but we played undisciplined, poor football. We turned it over 5 times and simply didn’t execute. That will happen to even the best of teams. That I can accept, that I can cope with, that I can move on from with time.

It’s not like the act of losing a football game is something I as a Pats fan can’t accept or deal with. I can. No one can win all the time, and no one probably should. It’s losing the way we’ve lost the last two years that has been painful and almost unbearable to watch.

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