A Generation Passes

For sheer fiery leadership, there was never another man to lead the Patriots' defense like Rodney Harrison. He came to the team in 2003, replacing another great strong safety, Lawyer Milloy, and stepped up the play a level beyond anything Milloy had done. He was sometimes called a dirty player; what he was was an aggressive player who kept playing until the whistle blew. He hit hard, not just hard enough to take an opposing player down but hard enough that the opposing player remembered that it was Rodney Harrison who delivered that lick.

He was an inspirational leader. If a player was down, Rodney was there to pick him up. If a player was slacking, Rodney was there to fire him up. When players with "bad boy" reputations came to Foxborough, Rodney was there to wise him up to the all-business approach of the Patriots. (What antics of Corey Dillon or Randy Moss ever happened in a Patriots uniform?) He exemplified the fire and determination of the Patriots' championship teams.

If Rodney Harrison was the adrenal glands of the Patriots, Tedy Bruschi was their heart. He was a defensive end in college; the "experts" said he was too small to play NFL football. Bill Parcells converted him to an outside linebacker, using him as a situational pass rusher and special teams player. He was good enough to stick, and after the conversion of Willie McGinest to defensive end and the departure of Todd Collins, to start.

But it was in 2001 that his big break came. Bill Belichick moved him from the outside to the middle, playing middle linebacker in the 4-3 set they used that year. When the Pats switched to a 3-4, he remained an inside linebacker. In the middle, Tedy Bruschi was not only a capable NFL player--he became a great one, the center of a Patriots defense that won three Super Bowls and, in 2003, had defensive numbers comparable to the best defenses in NFL history. In 2003-4, it is arguable that he was the best inside linebacker in football. With the last of the three Super Bowl wins, in February, 2005, he was on top of the world. The pictures of him playing with his sons after the game conveyed an unforgettable picture of a man who knew his priorities--first his family, then his team, last himself.

Right after that, he signed a new contract, taking much less money to stay with the Patriots than he might have gotten elsewhere. He declined to have an agent and negotiated the contract himself. Again, he knew his priorities. Then disaster struck. He had a stroke, which proved to be connected to a congenital heart condition, which required surgery. The "experts" said he would never play football again.

They were wrong, as they were always wrong about him. His recovery was amazingly quick. Still, the experts said, he wouldn't play that season. They were wrong again; by mid-season, he was back in Patriots blue. The experts blasted him and Bill Belichick, saying that he was risking his life. Instead, his return to play probably speeded his overall recovery; if anything, it was therapeutic.

On the field, Tedy was playing well. He could still make most of the plays. But it was increasingly clear, year by year, that he was losing a step each year. He was still a solid NFL inside linebacker. There was still no one better able to diagnose a play, no one with better tackling ability. But he was slowing, and he was tiring sooner. It was as if he had aged five years in one year. Seen only as a player, he was no longer an elite player--just a good one.

He remained, however, something that cannot be diagrammed or quantified statistically. He remained an inspiration. He was the man who, seven months after heart surgery, was on the field playing, and playing well. What player could ask for a game off with a little owie, knowing Tedy Bruschi's attitude to the game? If Rodney could straighten out the bad boys, Tedy could motivate the malingerers and mercenaries. Together, they created and maintained the Patriot ethic, and instilled it in any player who didn't leave.

There were other inspiring figures in that generation of players.

Another former college defensive end who the "experts" said was too small to play in the NFL, Mike Vrabel came out of Ohio State as a draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers used him as a reserve defensive end who played mostly as a situational pass rusher and special teams player. They never knew what they had there.

In 2001, that transformative year of the Patriots, the Pats signed him as a free agent. He stepped in as the strong-side linebacker, providing a strong pass rush and proving surprisingly strong against the run and even in pass defense. Two years later, when Willie McGinest was re-converted back to linebacker after several years as a defensive end, and Roman Phifer had slowed too much to play on the outside any more, Vrabel moved to the weak side. He was a revelation there, becoming a devastating pass rusher.

What nobody knew at the time was his other value. The Patriots started using him as a tight end, or occasionally as a fullback, in goal-line offensive sets. He is not the first defensive player to be put into that role. What made him unique was that he proved not to be just an extra blocker. He was a dangerous receiver with good hands and the ability to find the open spot in a zone. By the time he left the Patriots, he had some eight touchdown receptions in regular season play and two in Super Bowls.

In an emergency in 2005, with the Pats having lost three inside linebackers--Tedy Bruschi to stroke, Ted Johnson to retirement and Roman Phifer having been cut--he moved into the middle. He was slightly less effective inside than he had been outside, but he was still very good. With the release of Willie McGinest and the acquisition first of Junior Seau and then of Adalius Thomas, he moved back to the outside, and in 2007 he had his best season, going to the Pro Bowl and being a first-team All-Pro. He was probably the Pats' best defensive player that year (with all due respect to Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Adalius Thomas and Asante Samuel).

In 2008, he seemed to slow just a little, at age 33, and his statistics dropped. After the season, he, along with quarterback Matt Cassel, was traded to Kansas City, where he can expect to start for at least one or two more seasons as a sort of coach on the field. But he gave the Pats eight years of always good and sometimes outstanding performance, never complaining when he was moved around, always just happy playing football and happy being a Patriot.

One of the really long-time Patriots, one of the last remaining Patriots from the 1996 Super Bowl loss against the Packers, Willie McGinest's career happened in three stages.

He was a big--some said oversized--outside linebacker at Southern California, best known for his pass rushing abilities. He was the Patriots' first-round draft choice, and, his first year, played linebacker, before being converted by Bill Parcells into a defensive end. For his first three years, he was a solid, above-average player, a good pass rusher and adequate against the run.

After the departure of Parcells, his performance seemed to drop--along with that of most of the other Patriots. He had some nagging injuries, and there was some question as to whether the sloppy attitude of his best friend on the team, Chris Slade, was starting to infect him. He was still not exactly a bad player, but he was certainly not measuring up to what the Pats thought they were getting when they drafted him. His play improved in 2001, as Bill Belichick started to get more out of his players, to discard the underachievers and bring in players with a winning attitude. But it was his return to linebacking that completely changed him.

In 2003, the Patriots went to a 3-4 defense. McGinest was no longer needed as a defensive lineman, but there would now be four linebackers. Belichick restored him to his original position, as a strong side linebacker. He responded at a level that even Belichick probably did not foresee. The strong side became absolutely impossible to run against. Tight ends could not block him, and if an offensive tackle tried to block him, that would create a gap through which Bobby Hamilton or Ty Warren could fire to hit the runner for a loss.

Probably the best single play of Willie Mac's career can be seen in the above picture. The Patriots were playing in Indianapolis. They had run up a 31-10 lead, and it looked like a big win. The Colts, of course, are the Colts, especially at home. Peyton Manning started hitting everything in sight, and the game got close. In the final minute of the game, with the Patriots clinging to a 38-34 lead, the Colts got a first down. A run was stuffed by Ted Washington; a couple of passes failed, and it was fourth down. The give was to Edgerrin James on what was supposed to be an off-tackle play to the right. But McGinest broke through the block and was in the backfield almost immediately. James attempted to cut back (in the picture), but McGinest had a bead on him. The play was stopped for a loss, the Colts did not score, and the Patriots won. McGinest had completely blown up that play.

Almost a year later, McGinest would save another game against the Colts, sacking Manning in the final minute of the game. The Colts, instead of going for the winning TD, were forced to settle for the tying field goal--but their usually reliable (if eccentric) kicker missed the attempt and the Patriots, again, won.

While his play against the run in those years was probably the most remarkable thing about his game, it was with his pass rushing that he set a record. Willie McGinest has more sacks in post-season play than any other player in NFL history, a record he set in his next-to-last game in a Patriots uniform, a win over Jacksonville in January, 2006.

After that season, the Patriots, not wanting to pay big money for a player in his mid-30's, cut him loose. He went to the Browns, and played his last three seasons there. Belichick's instinct about him proved right; his effective years were done. He never did very well for the Browns, because he had become too slow. He has not yet formally retired, as far as I know. Before the 2008 season, he announced it would be his last, but he was not yet ready to retire.

During the off-season, he visited the Patriots and spoke of interest in finishing his career in New England. They did not sign him. On the other hand, last year, after a series of injuries to linebackers, the Pats brought back Junior Seau and Rosevelt Colvin. Both played fairly well, perhaps because, not having played early in the season, they were fresh while everyone else was bruised and tired. That being the case, I would not rule out just yet the possiblity that we might see Willie Mac put in one last appearance in a Patriots uniform late this year.

The old guard is now gone. It is up to a new generation of Patriots to keep the Pats' defense solid. Bruschi, Harrison, Vrabel and McGinest have set the standard high.