Tom Brady calls out the Gillette Stadium crowd again

Patriots players have often called out the apathetic Gillette Stadium crowd. Tom Brady has done this several times. (remember the "start drinking early" line?)

Occasioanlly, fans do get upset about this, but they cannot deny that it is unequivocally true. Patriots fans tend to care more about beating the traffic than watching the game. When I was at the Raiders game a few weeks ago, Patriots fans starting heading for the exits in mass shortly into the fourth quarter, with the game still close. All of them missed Wilfork's game ending interception.

Tom Brady on WEEI, via Boston.com:

“We can’t focus on how loud we cheer or the chants that we have," Brady said. "Our stadium has been very loud at times and we’ve got sometimes a great crowd, sometimes we don’t have a great crowd. Sometimes it’s not as loud as it may be for other teams, but the better we play, the louder it will be so we’re going to focus on trying to play better. We’ve got a great home record over the years. I think we always play pretty well at home. Our communication is always pretty good. Our fans, they come, they cheer for us. We as players, we’re going to do the best we can. We’re going to try to make plays that excite the crowd and get them going.

"It all ties together. When it goes good, it’s great. When it doesn’t go good, I know it sucks for us, it sucks for you guys, it sucks for our fans, it sucks for our families. It’s not the way that you ever want it to go, but it’s the situation we’re in and it’s going to take some mental toughness to dig our way out of it, because there’s no one that’s feeling sorry for the Patriots, and nor do we want that. This isn’t a pity party, it’s highly competitive football. And if you’re not into highly competitive football then you probably won’t be on our team."

The topic comes up of course because the Patriots just played in Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs fans broke the guiness record for crowd noise. Surely a proud accomplishment for the good folks of Missouri. That is, until the Seahawks break it later this year. As often happens.

Anyway, the crowd arguably plays a larger part in the actual game in football than in any other sport. A loud crowd can make it hard for the offense to hear the snap, make audibles, etc. The Patriots have struggled with this in both Seattle and Kansas City, but it has been a long time since opposing teams have come into Foxborough and had to worry about getting their offensive signals across.

So, Patriots fans, enjoy beating the traffic Sunday night, that's what you pay that money for.