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Patriots: Robert Kraft Wanted AFC Championship in Foxborough

By Matthew Rewinski

Dec 20, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft heads to the field before their game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft heads to the field before their game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /
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New England Patriots owner and lifer Robert Kraft says that if he has any regret about the 2015-2016 Patriots season, it’s that the AFC Championship game wasn’t a home game.

Robert Kraft has been a Patriots season ticket holder since before Led Zeppelin IV came out, so it makes perfect sense that he took New England’s loss in the AFC Championship game to the Denver Broncos just as hard as everyone else did. Kraft also thinks he knows a big reason why the Pats weren’t able to advance to back-to-back Super Bowls – aside from “We could’ve put five tackling sleds in front of Brady and it would’ve probably been about the same,” of course.

In an interview with Maria Stephanos of WCVB on Wednesday, Robert Kraft was asked whether distractions had affected the Patriots this year, and here’s what RK’s two cents were:

“If you’re running businesses anywhere in the world, people who really do well are the people who have mental toughness. People talk about it, but this team had a lot of distractions, a lot of physical injuries. That whole ‘next man up’ and mental toughness was amazing.”

“I think if I had any regret, it’s that the conference championship game wasn’t played here in our hometown.”

Playing the Patriots at home during the playoffs is a usually one way ticket to NightmareTown. The Pats have a .778 winning percentage at Gillette in the playoffs, and the ’03 and ’14 Super Bowl runs both started with New England having home field advantage through the entire postseason.

Later on, Kraft also slipped in a subtle little burn to the Manning Brothers that Ricky Bobby would’ve been proud of:

“I happened to see Archie (Manning) there. He has two sons who have won two Super Bowls. But with all due respect, we have one son who has won four.”

Burn? Burn. Definitely burn.

And when asked about Tom Brady being booed during the Super Bowl’s MVP pre-game ceremony, he chalked it up to good, old-fashioned rivalries:

“To us, we didn’t hear it. We just heard a loud noise and I just heard cheers everywhere around me. I find out what people, all this social media chatter. I think there were a lot of Denver fans and Raider fans, since it was so close. I don’t know, I think they see us as a big rival. But he is such a classy, wonderful guy. He went there representing our team, our coaches, our fans.”

Good job taking the high road on that one, Kraft. When Patriots fans are chanting “Brady’s Better!” at Peyton Manning, you kind of lose your right to complain about trash talk.

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