Search - NFL: History of the New England Patriots on DVD

A passable history, but could be a whole lot better

J. Powell | United Kingdom | 12/06/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Avid Patriots fans will snap this one up i'm sure. I enjoyed it, but was left feeling a little short-changed. I'm a lifelong fan of the team and it was fantastic to see the first half hour of this DVD. The old footage of Gino and Babe Parilli etc, playing before all those empty seats at Fenway in the days of the Boston Patriots. Priceless. It's great to see this rare old footage, and its the reason i wanted to buy this DVD as soon as it came out. Unfortunately this was the only real highlight of the whole DVD. Where this DVD falls short for me is the brief run-through the 70's and 80's. These were very poor years for the team, with the exception of '76, '78 and '85. I will grant NFL films allowance for that. However, remember that this is what the team was. Poor! A bunch of no-hope failures. It was still our team, and we loved them regardless. The 85 season is not covered in too much detail, which is a shame as for most fans in their 30's and '40's like me, this was a legendary season to remember. The only time the pats looked halfway decent in their history. This wild card on the road victory procession to the Super Bowl was only given a short look. Why? And where is the profile of great Pats legends and Pro Bowlers from this era, like John Hannah, Steve Nelson, Steve Grogan, Andre Tippet etc. ? Because they didn't win a Super Bowl does that make them ineligible to be on this DVD?

Then we get on to another fairly brief look at the Parcells era, 96 and our second Super Bowl failure, then it's all Belichick era for the remainder of the DVD. Of course its great to see the Super Bowl wins again, but if you own any other Pats DVDs, it's nearly all stuff you've seen a hundred times before, and nothing new that you don't have at home already. The DVD running time is over two hours, but around an hour and 25 minutes is just Belichick era pats. To be honest it left me a little bit disappointed as i wanted to see the full history, not just the most recent history of the franchise from 2002 to now. It's like the Patriots didn't really exist before we knocked off the Rams in XXXVI.

That said, there are some good extras on disc two that i guarantee a few of which you won't have seen. Again though, if you have any other Pats DVDs, you'll already have over half of them. It all adds up to a bit of a cash-in on old material that's already been available on the market for years.

The Patriots deserved a little bit better. If you're a new pats fan or don't already own any other Pats DVDs from NFL Films, then this is really a great DVD. For the rest of us, you'll have seen most of it before."

Patriots fans sit back & enjoy the nostalgia!

David Falzano | Boston, MA USA | 12/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I havn't been around on this earth long enough to witness most of the years of the New England Patriots, but fortunately during my lifetime I'm able to enjoy the greatest era of the team's legacy! It's amazing to think that for many years the Patriots were a team that nobody thought much of but of course now that has all changed but it's GREAT to look back with this DVD set on how the Pats were born & how they've evolved over the years. And by no means does this seem like a quick summary, there is quite a lot of info not only describing the many seasons, but also a lot of detail to key games & moments, players, coaches, not only explained narratively but also from the lips of the players & personnel themselves! And as a bonus, the second DVD contains several segments regarding Bill Belichick, Teddy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, history of Foxboro Stadium & The Snow Bowl. For die hard pats fans this is 100% worth every penny!"