NE Patriots at Gillete Stadium Experience

I experienced Gillete Stadium firsthand this season. I traveled down to Patriot Place on a Sunday afternoon to see the Patriots play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Having never been, I greeted the stadium with quite a shock.



The size of the complex was overwhelming. Did you know that Gillete is host to numerous concerts and events when the Patriots are not playing? They used the combined revenues to maintain the stadium.

They had a whole shopping mall before you even entered the stadium. Of course I had to peek in a couple before the game started! Besides the stores to shop at they also had an abundance of restaurants. My parents and I found an place called Skipjacks with an outside patio, where we quickly ate some lunch. The food was good, however the pricing was outrageous, but hey I guess that's what we get for eating on game day!

After eating we entered the stadium and did some exploring before the game, and man was it a lot of walking! I soon learned that everything there was expensive, even the food. We had great seats where we happily stayed for the whole game and left the game feeling excited they had won.

Before we headed home we took a tour of the hall of fame. It was neat and beautifully crafted. We spent what seemed like hours reading up and interactively learning the history of the New England Patriots.

I was blessed to spend such beautiful day with my parents watching the game we all love!

Best NFL Coaches

To make a great football team, you need a great coach right? Right!

However it is not all about the records, but about how they influenced the football sport. We will start out my list with Don Shula. A coach with the most NFL wins, he remains the most winning coach in history.

Next we have Vince Lombardi, a name that may sound awfully familiar for football fans all around the U.S.. Shortly after his death in 1970 the NFL named their Super Bowl Trophy after him. He captured five league championships while coaching the Green Bay Packers, coining the term, 'winning is everything.'

The one coach that made the '10 All-Time Greatest NFL Coaches' list (footballbabble.com) still actively remains coaching today; Bill Belichick. Coach to the New England Patriots which happens to be my home team, he was twice named Coach Of The Year. In addition to his record setting, Bill has influenced and mentored other NFL coaches throughout his career.

Past NFL Players Turned Criminal

Football is a violent sport, and I believe that is part of what makes it so entertaining and popular to our society. NFL members play with no regard for safety of the other players.

Like any other jobs word of advice, 'it is important not to bring your work home with you'. However out on public display we have seen some (former) NFL players who haven't followed that word of advice. 

Here are a few familiar names:

(Above: Michal Vick)

-Michal Vick: Charged with funding, promoting, and facilitating a dog fighting ring. Also charged for the abuse and murder of the fight dogs.

 

-'Pac-Man': Adam Jones rap sheet consists of assaulting strippers, bodyguards, and club patrons. He also engaged in a gun fight which resulted in one man becoming paralyzed.

If you search Google for NFL criminals other names such as; Lawrence Taylor, Jim Dunaway, O.J. Simpson, and Rae Carruth are just a small preview of the names that show up.

D-Fence

Defense for any sport can be hard to understand. How they set up or align a certain way can be a confusing idea to grasp. Coaches create their own philosophies for a successful defense. All NFL teams have their own defensive coordinator, present at all games, and only in charge of defense. All of their coaching is focused on that one area of the team. Constructing your defense all depends on the players you have and what they expect to see with the opposing offense. A defense may use different formations based off the knowledge of how the opposing teams offense works.


In most cases, the defense can follow one of seven different formations:
- The 4-3: Most commonly used; have 4 down linemen and 3 linebackers. This formation can be easily modified. The opposing offense have a hard time finding an open area.

- The 3-4: Best used to stop short passing. Use 3 down linemen, 4 linebackers. The extra player in back helps guard pass coverage.

- The 4-4: Best used for stopping the wide running game or short passing game. This formation uses stunts and blitzes to confuse the offense. Also nicknamed the 'stack defense.' 4-4 relies on quick defensive players of good substance.

- The 5-2: Good for high school and college level.

- The 5-3: The goal of this formation is more intent on stopping the running offense. It has a strong middle.

- The 6-2: Used for short yardage defense and to stop the run. The linemen are positioned in the gaps of offensive players.



- The Goal Line Defense: Similar to The 6-2 formation but own different responsibilities.