After the Patriots Failing NFLPA Report Card, it's Worth Revisiting Pete Carroll Talking About How Bad it Was When He Was in NE

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

A funny thing happened after the Patriots got the kind of reviews from the NFLPA that one would normally reserve for say, Madame Web:

It brought to mind an interview Pete Carroll gave Richard Sherman last summer, where he opened up about how amateurishly awful it was for him when he was hired by Mr. Kraft in 1997:

Newsweek - "So, when I go to interview with New England, Robert Kraft hires me with the understanding that I'm going to bring the San Francisco philosophy," Carroll told Richard Sherman on the former defensive back's podcast. 

Before long, though, a key difference emerged. 

"We did everything first class in San Francisco," the coach continued. "I mean, top drawer. Treated the players great. Looked after them. Took care of them. It was a clear philosophy that I was bringing, I was excited to unveil. The first thing we get to, we're having a minicamp. And, so, I'm just checking out, how the set up of it [is], how it's organized. And I'm figuring into the menu for the players on that weekend, you know." 

At that point, the big boss arrived and confirmed that Carroll wasn't in San Francisco anymore.

"And Kraft comes to me and says, 'Well, you know, we're not gonna feed them like that.' You know? 'We give them bologna sandwiches and chips and stuff like that.' And it went, and it hit me, just as clear as a bell. 'I'm in deep trouble.' I mean, if I can't even feed them the way I want to feed them, what's gonna come? I mean, I knew I had a moment, you know, 'Oh my goodness.' … That situation was, from the start, was a little challenging."

Holy moly. Balogna sandwiches and chips. In the late 1990s. Professional athletes. Some who ran 4.50 40s and some who played north of 325 pounds. Getting fed Oscar Mayer on Wonderbread like they're Appalachian kids coming home to the doublewide while mom's asleep in front of Judge Mathis with a burning Newport between her fingers. Probably with Miracle Whip and washed down with Fantas. 

This, as the NFL was branching out into contracts for Sunday Night Football and expanding into places like Carolina, Jacksonville, Houston, and moving back into Cleveland. While taxpayer-funded palaces were going up all across the country. When the Dot Com boom was in full force and the internet start ups were starting to get traction. And all the tech companies were buying up ads at rates undreamt of in the days when every commercial was for rent-a-car companies and antifreeze. 

The point being that the NFL was just beginning to catch onto how big it was and much money they could print. While Pete Carroll was finding out his player's training table looked like the lunch bag of the kid who gets picked on for being a poor. 

And you know what? This tracks. Not because the Krafts don't know how to run a football operation or were trying to cut costs. They were still new at this. RKK had just put up $175 million of his own money on a franchise that no one thought was worth that much. He owned the worst stadium in all of sports. It was surrounded by an unpaved parking lot that in the best of conditions looked like the lunar surface. And he was struggling on a daily basis to figure out how to get a new, state-of-the-art facility built. And was still a couple of years away from breaking ground on the one he'd end up financing completely on his own. So the Krafts don't get the blame for feeding their players a diet one step above offbrand cereal for dinner and government cheese. 

What does explain it? The fact these were the Patriots of the 90s. This is the culture that came with the purchase of the team. It's typical of how things had always been done. From the days they used to have to practice at elementary school fields that would be taken over by the teachers at recess, to the film sessions where they'd sit on boxes under a leaky roof, and when water would get into the projector and blow out the light, they'd all have to sit there in the dark, waiting for the coach to swap out the bulb. There's a legend of the time they stayed at a motel in Buffalo. But ownership didn't want to pay to have the beds changed so anyone pulling back their covers would be fined 10 bucks. These are all true stories, you can find here. 

And by the time Carroll got there, the league had moved on into the modern world, everywhere but in Foxboro. The Pats were still doing business as business had always been done, even right through the Parcells years. Hell, Tuna probably wanted his guys on bread and water, just to keep them in the old school mentality he'd grown up on and won Super Bowls with. Good times. 

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Hopefully this report card, and this story told by Pete, will serve as reminders of the need to update the facilities at Gillette and players' working conditions in general. Nobody's signing with New England just to chase rings. Or to play for or with any particular GOATs. And for sure no one's taking a discount to play here. The accomdations are going to have to be five star, not bag lunches. In the meantime, Pete Carroll is owed a lot of apologies.