Larry Brown Sports

One of the rules that is being examined at the annual NFL owners meetings this week is the infamous tuck rule. The rule is one of the most beloved by New England Patriots fans and equally despised by Oakland Raiders fans. If not for the tuck rule, who knows where Tom Brady and Bill Belichick would be today.

In case you’re too young to remember, the tuck rule overturned a Brady fumble in the 2001 playoffs that would have allowed the Raiders to ice the game and advance to the AFC Championship Game. Instead, New England kept the ball and went on to win. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who said he never knew what the rule was prior to that game, has a predictable opinion on the matter. He also has a unique piece of memorabilia pertaining to the tuck rule, courtesy of former Raiders coach Jon Gruden.

“I love the tuck rule and forever will. I know (late Raiders owner) Al Davis, may he rest in peace, is probably smiling,” Kraft said Monday according to ESPNBoston.com. “But whatever the rule is, it is, I will forever … I have a picture, a big photograph in my office that Jon Gruden gave me with the snow coming down, and Tommy in that position. He signed it, ‘It was a fumble.’ I’ll probably give that to the [charitable] foundation to auction off at some point.”

Most people agree that the infamous tuck rule play from more than a decade ago was the right call on a bad rule. Outside of Foxboro, there are very few people who want to keep it in effect. I’m sure Gruden is one of the many who would be thrilled to see it go.

The New England Patriots generally refrain from getting into specifics with anything involving player contracts or business, but owner Robert Kraft gave some uncharacteristic comments on Monday in an attempt to clear up the Wes Welker situation. Basically, Kraft was trying to explain to Patriots fans how their beloved slot receiver was lost over a seemingly reasonable two-year, $12 million offer.

In summary, Kraft feels that New England’s offer of two years, $10 million plus incentives is a better deal that the one Welker took from Denver.

“I really believe in this case, his agents misrepresented, in their mind, what his market value was,” Kraft told reporters, via Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com. “When you come right down to the bottom line, he accepted a deal in Denver which is less money than what we offered him. In fact, he has a one-year deal in Denver for $6 million. Our last offer, before we would have even gone up and before we thought we were going into free agency, was a $10 million offer with incentives that would have earned him another $6 million if he performed the way he had the previous two years.

“But in Denver, he’s going to count $4 million against the cap this coming year and $8 million the second year. There is no guarantee that he plays the second year there. He will get $6 million the first year. Our deal, he would have gotten $8 million the first year – our last offer to him.”

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Perhaps nothing encapsulated the disappointment and frustration the Patriots felt after Stephen Gostkowski missed a potential winning field goal against the Cardinals than owner Robert Kraft’s reaction.

Kraft stood there on the sidelines with his mouth agape and a blank look on his face, utterly stunned that the Pats were unable to pull out a game that had been given to them.

New England had come back from down 20-9 in the fourth quarter to have an opportunity to tie the game on a two-point conversion. Their attempt failed, leaving them down 20-18. Even after allowing the Cardinals to convert a fourth down with under two minutes left in the game, New England got another shot at victory when Brandon Spikes forced Ryan Williams to fumble on a 3rd and 13 play with 1:01 left.

The Pats recovered and then scored two plays later on a run by Danny Woodhead, but the play was called back because of a holding penalty on Rob Gronkowski. New England eventually set up for a 42-yard field goal that would have given them a 21-20 lead, but Stephen Gostkowski hooked it wide left. They lost 20-18, leaving everyone stunned on their sideline, including Kraft, who had that shocked expression.

GIF via Kissing Suzy Kolber

Patriots owner Robert Kraft showed off his thespian side in a strange video that is making its way around the Internet. The video lacks much context, but according to Barstool Sports it shows Kraft interacting with gal pal Ricki Lander during the actress’ audition tape for the 2013 movie “The Internship.”

Kraft and Lander sparked dating rumors when they were photographed sitting courtside at a Celtics game last month. Kraft’s late wife Martha died last year.

In the video, Lander says she’s auditioning for the role of “Mary Elena.” She and Kraft then begin role-playing, with Kraft reading from a script. Kraft seems to be playing the role of an exec from Yahoo!, and the two get cozy when Kraft offers to buy Mary Elena a drink. The video culminates with Kraft screaming at another actor and delivering a vicious knockout punch. (WARNING: End of video contains graphic language).

This wasn’t the first time we’ve seen Kraft exhibit odd behavior in a video, but it certainly was the funniest. And this is definitely the week of football folks gone wild.

UPDATE: Kraft issued the following statement in response to the video going viral: “I tried to help Ricki prepare an audition tape for an upcoming Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson comedy by reading Wilson’s lines. I never intended that it would be made public and I regret that it has.  I think we can all agree that Owen Wilson has nothing to worry about. I am going to stick to my day job.”

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Robert Kraft is widely considered to be one of the best owners in all of professional sports. When you think NFL owners, Kraft is almost certain to be one of the first that comes to mind. His obvious commitment to success has created one of the winningest teams in football over the past decade.  With that in mind, it would be ludicrous to say Kraft has ever rooted against his own team.  Or would it?

Drew Bledsoe was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame on Saturday.  While many have forgotten, the man whose injury paved the way for one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time actually played in a Super Bowl himself.  The Patriots selected Bledsoe with the first overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft — a selection New England secured with a 2-14 record in 1992.

“Can you remember the last time you rooted against the Patriots?” Kraft asked during his speech to which fans insisted they never had. “For me, it was the 1992 season finale against the Miami Dolphins. With a 2-13 record, a loss would secure us the first overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft and a chance to draft a true franchise quarterback.”

Kraft added that the Bledsoe selection contributed to his decision to purchase the Patriots outright in 1994.  Little did he know, a sixth-round draft choice in the 2000 draft would forever change his franchise.  To those of you who think it’s terrible that an owner would want to throw a game: Get a grip — the fans wanted it, too.

With the baseball season just starting to heat up and the NHL and NBA playoffs well underway, it’s easy to forget that we might not have football to look forward to in the fall. NFL players are currently locked out of team facilities while guys like Drew Brees are digging into their own pockets to keep their teams fresh.  If nothing else, at least the owners are acknowledging that the entire situation is starting to look bad.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald called our attention to some comments Patriots owner Robert Kraft made about the lockout on Sunday, in which he acknowledged that the current labor struggle is starting to make the league look bad in the eyes of the fans.

“The problem can be solved. I really believe that,” Kraft said. “We’re blessed to have one of the greatest sports businesses in the world right here in America. And one of my concerns is that we not aggravate our fan base, because they don’t really understand, and they don’t want to understand whether it’s the owners or the players (fault). They just want to have football.”

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For as long as I can remember, listening to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft speak has baffled me.  He’s never been much of a talker and my mother (die hard Patriots fan) always insists that he’s hammered when they show him in the owner’s box or interview him on the sidelines.  My response has always been something along the lines of, “Come on, Ma, he’s one of the most powerful people in the NFL — get real.”  I’m not saying he was or was not drunk Thursday night during the Patriots preseason game with the Saints because I have no idea, but I can certainly say his speech at halftime had me squirming in my seat.

The Patriots welcomed former running back Sam Cunningham into their Hall of Fame and Kraft was the guy who introduced him.  Let’s just say Cunningham probably wishes somebody else was given the honor.  Check out the video of Robert Kraft slurring his words when introducing Sam Cunningham as a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame:

Yowza.  Congratulations on being the newest inducted “mammer” of the Pats Hall of Fame, Sam.  If not for your contributions, there’s no way New England would have managed to rush for 365 yards over the course of the season in 1978.  Amazing feat, isn’t it?  I can only pray Kraft is a bit more articulate in trying to convince Tom Brady to remain a Patriot for life.

Video Credit: YouTube user jay5704