A mind of his own
Boss puts perspective on tension
ORLANDO, Fla. — Vulnerability is a relative term to Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Yeah, something has been slightly awry with the Pats in recent months, but Kraft portrayed an optimistic tone yesterday while discussing the state of his organization and some of its most crucial stars. He downplayed the notion of “tension” between the Patriots’ power pieces, though Kraft admitted to meeting with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady after the season to hash out any lingering effects from a trying year.
And that’s when Kraft tried to put their unusual season in perspective.
“Yes, we’ve had the meeting,” Kraft said from the Ritz Carlton during the NFL’s annual spring meetings. “Just to be clear, I don’t know if things sort of — it’s like, we have meetings all the time. We’re not a big bureaucratic organization. We’re a private company. We don’t have boards. We answer to the fans the best we can. We met. I meet individually with each of them.
“The thing that I don’t know if it’s completely understood is that Bill and Tom communicate and meet a lot and spend a lot of time communicating. I think the residual of this (Super Bowl LII) loss was really hard on everyone, but I sort of see that as a high-class problem because I sat in the stands when we never were in the playoffs at home for 20-odd years.”
As for the described tension, Kraft again widened his scope. By comparing last season to his first couple of years with former head coach Bill Parcells, Kraft downplayed the atmospheric issues inside Gillette Stadium. Parcells led a notoriously challenging working environment for everyone in the building, including Kraft at times.
“OK, so that word, tension,” Kraft said. “I’ve owned the team 24 seasons. When you think about it, in any relationship, and I’ve had Bill as a head coach for 18 of those seasons. When I think about tension, I think about my first year as the owner. I love Bill Parcells, but if you knew him as a coach, the players walked on eggshells. Maybe ownership did as we went down the learning curve of how to get along. That was a great lesson for me to learn, and train, and try to understand how to be a good owner and at the same time how to work with a very strong and powerful coach. The so-called tension gets greater when you lose. We were 10-6 our first year (in 1994). The second year, we were 5-11, and we really had tension my second year of ownership.
“When I use (the word tension), that’s a pejorative term. In any successful business, in a marriage, if you have a good relationship, there are going to be things where you disagree. But hopefully you come together and you have a meeting of the minds and you discuss things. If everyone is (not) all on the same page, usually things don’t go as well.”
Kraft also strongly defended Belichick when pressed about the controversial decision to bench cornerback Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl. Kraft deferred to Belichick’s track record with his decisionmaking ability and was confident that Belichick believed the decision was in the team’s best interest, even if it didn’t ultimately play out in their favor in the loss to the Eagles.
Regarding a pair of lingering offseason questions, Kraft was asked about Brady’s emotions, which were obviously down during the final episode of his “Tom vs. Time” documentary. As neighbors, the pair speaks frequently, so Kraft had a good idea of what Brady endured in the wake of a Super Bowl loss. Kraft also pointed out that Belichick tells his players to steer clear of making any longterm career decisions or publicly declaring certain feelings in the aftermath of a stinging defeat. When those raw, rash feelings are disclosed, it’s easier for the public to overreact.
“Except for the win of the first (Super Bowl), when you lose, the feeling of losing is worse than the feeling of winning,” Kraft said.
And then there’s Rob Gronkowski, who has legitimately contemplated retirement during the past month. It’s still unclear if Gronk has reached a decision or shared it with the team, but he has recently been at Gillette Stadium, and Kraft again portrayed an optimistic tone when discussing his tight end. Oh, and Kraft loved the recent video of Gronk jumping up on Shaquille O’Neal’s shoulders at a party.
“I saw him a few weeks ago come into the building after hours,” Kraft said. “I should say one thing. When it comes to Gronk, I’ve met a lot of people in my life. I’ve never met anyone like him. If the good lord lets us come back as someone — I’ve said it before — he is the most carefree, happy, up kind of guy. I must say I sort of got excited seeing him vault up on Shaq’s shoulders. For a guy that size to be able to hop up on a 7-foot-2, or whatever Shaq is, it’s pretty cool. So that speaks well about his potential athletic moves.”
These might be more uncertain times than the Patriots have ever had under the current regime, but Kraft offered perspective yesterday and maintained his positivity while discussing their future together.