Wandering Athol
Blood in the streets it's up to my ankle
Willie McGinest leaves the Patriots as #5 on the all-time list for regular season games played for the Patriots (171) and #2 on the all-time regular season Pats sacks list (78). McGinest had a Lazarus-eth resurrection (remember when he was on 2002 expansion draft list?) of his career in the post-Carroll days that has led to the tremendous popularity he enjoys now in Patriots nation, but there are 3 things I'll always remember Big Willie for:
1) The oddly disproportionate amount of BIG PLAYS he was involved in at crucial moments. Whether it was stuffing E James on a 4th & 1 in Indy, the 4 sacks against Jacksonville, or the mostly forgotten Manning sack at the end of the 2004 opener that pushed Vanderjagt just out of gimme range, McGinest was one of a handful of Pats defensive players you could almost count on for a big play when one was needed.
2) During the last 5 years in particular, the incredible football smarts he displayed on the field. Part of his smarts was his unselfishness - just one example I didn't know about until today:
Alan Greenberg, Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/sports/footb...16,0,2330870.story?coll=hc-headlines-football
He declined coach Bill Belichick's offer to move from left outside linebacker to right outside linebacker, which Belichick suggested because it would have helped shield McGinest's injury. One of the reasons McGinest said no was that teammate Rosevelt Colvin was already comfortable playing on the right side, and he didn't want to mess that up.
3) His presence. You take one look at the guy and you know you're looking at someone who is comfortable in a leadership position. He learned from Armstrong and has hopefully passed along the "team-first" attitude to guys like Brady, Branch, and Seymour (the early returns are promising). He set the tone in the Pats locker room for years:
Jackie MacMullan, Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/sports/footba.../23/sack_leader_is_a_sacrifice_leader?mode=PF
The first thing we let guys know when they come here is, `It's not about you,' " McGinest said. "It's about the team. We're spokes on a wheel. Everyone understands that. And if they don't, they learn real quick."
"When someone comes in and makes some comments we're not used to, or does things the way they maybe did on another team -- like San Diego -- Willie and I use that as ammunition," explained linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "We hold onto that ammunition for three years -- or more. We don't let anything go."
When Rodney Harrison came over as a free agent from the Chargers (hence the San Diego reference), he was brash and outspoken. McGinest felt he needed a little tweaking.
"We got Rodney good," McGinest said. "The way we do things is, if you come in late for a meeting, you've got to put $100 in the pot. So one of the first weeks he's here, Rodney walks in late. We were all over him. He didn't know what hit him.
"I realized later that because he was new, he wasn't sure how to take it. He was feeling a little bad. I told him, `Hey, Rodney, this is how we are. We hold everyone accountable. We're just having fun with you -- but you still better be at our meetings on time.' "
"That's the thing about Willie," said linebacker Matt Chatham. "He's joking, but he's serious. He'll start digging you about how many times he's been in the weight room. He'll be on you and on you until finally he goads you into going into the weight room yourself. It might seem like he's joking, but he really wants you in there."
McGinest turns everything into a spirited competition: who is in the weight room the longest, who gets to practice the earliest, who drinks the most water, who makes the fewest mistakes.
"He sets the tone," Bruschi said. "He's the one who lets us know when it's time to joke around, and when it's time to get serious. He's taught me so much. He showed me, `You can't be too sensitive here,' and `You can't relax too much there.' "
----------------------------------------
He, Vinatieri, Brown, and Bruschi are the links to the Patriots past, back to the days of Parcells and SB XXXI: the guys who survived the Carroll days and were rewarded in the Belichick era. I will miss them all when they finally, inevitably leave - either lost as FAs or retired. Every time I reflect upon one of those guys I think, "my, we've come a long way".
My McGinest montage:
1) The oddly disproportionate amount of BIG PLAYS he was involved in at crucial moments. Whether it was stuffing E James on a 4th & 1 in Indy, the 4 sacks against Jacksonville, or the mostly forgotten Manning sack at the end of the 2004 opener that pushed Vanderjagt just out of gimme range, McGinest was one of a handful of Pats defensive players you could almost count on for a big play when one was needed.
2) During the last 5 years in particular, the incredible football smarts he displayed on the field. Part of his smarts was his unselfishness - just one example I didn't know about until today:
Alan Greenberg, Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/sports/footb...16,0,2330870.story?coll=hc-headlines-football
He declined coach Bill Belichick's offer to move from left outside linebacker to right outside linebacker, which Belichick suggested because it would have helped shield McGinest's injury. One of the reasons McGinest said no was that teammate Rosevelt Colvin was already comfortable playing on the right side, and he didn't want to mess that up.
3) His presence. You take one look at the guy and you know you're looking at someone who is comfortable in a leadership position. He learned from Armstrong and has hopefully passed along the "team-first" attitude to guys like Brady, Branch, and Seymour (the early returns are promising). He set the tone in the Pats locker room for years:
Jackie MacMullan, Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/sports/footba.../23/sack_leader_is_a_sacrifice_leader?mode=PF
The first thing we let guys know when they come here is, `It's not about you,' " McGinest said. "It's about the team. We're spokes on a wheel. Everyone understands that. And if they don't, they learn real quick."
"When someone comes in and makes some comments we're not used to, or does things the way they maybe did on another team -- like San Diego -- Willie and I use that as ammunition," explained linebacker Tedy Bruschi. "We hold onto that ammunition for three years -- or more. We don't let anything go."
When Rodney Harrison came over as a free agent from the Chargers (hence the San Diego reference), he was brash and outspoken. McGinest felt he needed a little tweaking.
"We got Rodney good," McGinest said. "The way we do things is, if you come in late for a meeting, you've got to put $100 in the pot. So one of the first weeks he's here, Rodney walks in late. We were all over him. He didn't know what hit him.
"I realized later that because he was new, he wasn't sure how to take it. He was feeling a little bad. I told him, `Hey, Rodney, this is how we are. We hold everyone accountable. We're just having fun with you -- but you still better be at our meetings on time.' "
"That's the thing about Willie," said linebacker Matt Chatham. "He's joking, but he's serious. He'll start digging you about how many times he's been in the weight room. He'll be on you and on you until finally he goads you into going into the weight room yourself. It might seem like he's joking, but he really wants you in there."
McGinest turns everything into a spirited competition: who is in the weight room the longest, who gets to practice the earliest, who drinks the most water, who makes the fewest mistakes.
"He sets the tone," Bruschi said. "He's the one who lets us know when it's time to joke around, and when it's time to get serious. He's taught me so much. He showed me, `You can't be too sensitive here,' and `You can't relax too much there.' "
----------------------------------------
He, Vinatieri, Brown, and Bruschi are the links to the Patriots past, back to the days of Parcells and SB XXXI: the guys who survived the Carroll days and were rewarded in the Belichick era. I will miss them all when they finally, inevitably leave - either lost as FAs or retired. Every time I reflect upon one of those guys I think, "my, we've come a long way".
My McGinest montage:
