How Slater’s passionate speeches helped keep the Patriots together
Patriots linebacker Josh Uche slowly closed his locker after a full day of meetings and practice, then took his first of a dozen steps toward the nearest exit.
He had an appointment at 3:30 p.m. The clock read 3:28. A reporter walked with him to see if he might have time for one question. Uche politely declined, then overheard the reporter mention the subject of his story as he continued toward the door.
He stopped and turned. “Oh, wait,” Uche said Thursday. “This is about Slate?”
In that about-face, Uche epitomized how Matthew Slater, in his 16th season, 13th year as captain and even from another room, holds his teammates’ attention and utmost respect. Slater said this week he will weigh retirement again this offseason, making Sunday’s season finale a potential farewell to one of the NFL’S greatest special teams players ever. Whether Slater, 38, retires or returns, and whether the Patriots win or lose, there is one guarantee about how Sunday’s postgame locker- room scene will unfold.
Players will gather. Bill Belichick will speak. Once Belichick finishes, he will cede the floor to Slater, as he has for years. Silence will fall.
“Once he talks, everybody shuts up and listens,” said Pats quarterback Bailey Zappe. “The coaches, players, everybody.”
According to teammates, Slater’s post-game speeches have helped sustain them in a season of unprecedented pain and losing. For some, his messages about mental toughness and togetherness have stuck with them for days, if not weeks.
“Listening to everything he has to say about the situation we’re in, you’re looking for things to get out of it. It’s all been a big deal to me,” said safety Kyle Dugger. “Being able to witness that kind of wisdom, it’s like light. He glows in the middle.”
“They definitely mean a lot,” added right tackle Mike Onwenu. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen the role they play, and the groundwork they set for the next game and really, the future.”
Slater, teammates say, is compelling and straightforward; challenging them both as men and colleagues. He tends to draw on lessons applicable to football and life. First known for finishing his speeches in the same manner Patriots Hall of Fame linebacker Tedy Bruschi once did while breaking the team down after wins (“aw, yeah!”), it’s now the content of Slater’s speeches that stick.
“Whether we win or lose, it’s always something from the heart, and always something spiritual. Like, he touches you on a spiritual level,” said safety Adrian Phillips. “You could tell that he wasn’t someone that asked to be in that position, but he grew into it, and he felt the calling and he accepted it.”
Zappe especially remembers Slater’s speech af ter a thrilling October upset of the Bills. His message hit home for a team that could have retreated inwardly at a time of competitive peril, having fallen to 1- 5 after a prior loss to Las Vegas. Instead, after being installed as heavy home underdogs, the Patriots rallied to beat Buffalo in the final seconds.
“He said, ‘ Send me,’ ” Zappe recalled. “He was talking about how some people shy away from opportunity, and people don’t want the opportunity. But
how we had to step up, saying: ‘Hey, send me. I’ll do it. Send me.’ And I was like, ‘ Wow. OK, Slate!’ “
The Patriots, of course, did not seize many opportunities after that win. Slater’s speeches turned from chasing football opportunities to personal growth, including after last weekend’s loss at Buffalo. The longtime captain often draws on his Christian faith, while relaying football themes of character and teamwork.
“It’s important because when you’re winning, s*** is so easy. And it’s easy to think you’re right, everything you say is correct, and everything’s just hitting right because you’re winning. But when you’re losing, that’s when you see the true character of people,” Uche said. “And seeing Slate up there preaching — and I grew up in a church, that’s how I was raised — everything he says resonates with me.”
Zappe added: “He’s really big on (the fact) there’s more to life than football. You are going to be more of a man outside of football than you are in football. So, be who you want to be outside of football, and become the man you want to be when football’s over, because you’re going to spend more time then than you are now.”
For incoming rookies, like punter Bryce Baringer, Slater is a bridge to the team’s past — to championships, the old meaning of being a Patriot, how to prepare and practice to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds with your play. Baringer was barely a teenager when Slater took his first NFL snap in 2008, but that hasn’t kept him from connecting with the captain, thanks in part to his speeches.
“When we got here, they told us the first person that always addresses the team after coach ( Belichick) is always Slate. So when he first did it after the Eagles game, the one thing that I take away from it is he relates a lot of it back to a life perspective,” Baringer said.
“I’ve been very fortunate, you know, to be able to be in the same room with him, learn a lot from him, and I think he’s the greatest special teams player to ever play. And so just to have that chance to be with him and learn and develop as a rookie is really cool.”
Slater’s contemporaries agree.
“Just seeing him week in and week out give those speeches, and after a lot of losses, to get in front of everybody and talk about what’s real and life outside of football, that is what I love most about him,” Phillips said. “To be able to touch you on a deeper level. That’s Slate.”
Zolak gives Klemm update
Former Patriots quarterback and 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Scott Zolak provided an update on Patriots offensive line coach Adrian Klemm in the first hour of his show, “Zolak & Bertrand,” on Friday.
Klemm has become a new center of media attention since being cited several times in the Herald’s recent report regarding the ongoing dysfunction in New England. Klemm took a midseason leave of absence for health-related reasons and missed the team’s last eight games as a result.
Said Zolak: “Without getting into detail, you (cohost Marc Bertrand) actually brought up the question: ‘Did (Klemm) potentially just get sent away?’ … He had a major medical thing right before (the Patriots’ November game in) Germany. Without getting into details, that squashed that (trip) real quick. And the person I talked to, it’s
100% legit.
“He’s looking to get back, trying to get back into the building, and it really kept him away. And it’s serious, serious stuff for anyone who anybody who went through this. I know some people that did it, and it’s not my job to talk about that. But I do know that it was a major medical thing that kept him away, to add to some of the discussion to his name.”
Return of the snow
For the first time since 2009, the Patriots are expected to play in a snowstorm at home Sunday against the Jets.
Less than 48 hours from kickoff, forecasts called for between four to eight inches of snow to fall through Sunday night. The Patriots practiced outdoors all week, but did not work through any inclement weather. Asked about getting ready for likely snow on Sunday, Bill Belichick said the team will prepare more mentally than physi
cally until game day.
“We’re not going to create snow and get a snow machine in here. But, depending on what the conditions are, we can certainly talk about it and show examples of what playing in different types of conditions is like as a mental reminder for everybody, definitely,” Belichick said. “That’ll be part of it, part of the preparation.”
As for whether he enjoys playing in games with extreme weather — a hat tip to Patriots’ playoff wins in the early 2000s — Belichick declined to say.
“All that’s out of my control. I don’t have any control over any of those,” he said. “Whatever it is, it is. Same thing with practice, for the most part. Whatever it is, we practice in it. Can’t control that. Maybe at some point we’ll play in it or not play in it, but we can’t do anything about that. We’ll deal with whatever comes, as will our opponent.”