NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS MEDIA SESSION - OWNER ROBERT KRAFT - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Wednesday, February 1, 2012

(on what it means that the Patriots are playing in the Super Bowl during a season that was dedicated to the memory of Myra Kraft) “(Myra) thought I was a little nuts when I bought the team, but I told her that if we did a good job of managing the team, we could have a greater impact on our community than if we gave a half a million dollars to charity. You can see what it’s meant to our community and our fans throughout the country. The fact that she was so dear to me and all of our players are wearing her initials above their heart is an endearing thing. What she represented is important and I hope that special sense of spirit comes through.”

(on the special bond in the Patriots’ locker room this season) “This is my 18th year. There was only one other team that I loved the locker room, but this team is something special. This might be my favorite. I have like 53 extra sons. They presented me with a painting that had to be planned out six to eight weeks in advance. In this world where wealthy players are narcissistic and selfish, to take the time to give some something that was meaningful, I think every coach and player contributed to that. This painting will be in the locker room and to know the players come in from the field and touch it and kiss it; it’s brought them together. Yesterday at Media Day, being in the locker room and seeing the interaction among the players was just terrific. I must tell you that many games are lost and won in the locker room before the game starts. I just like our locker room. Now they’ve got to go out and execute. As far as the spirit and belief, in our last game of the year, we were losing 21-0 after 15 minutes. They came back and won that game 49-21. You need a certain mental toughness to be able to do that.”

(on when he knew hiring coach Belichick was the right decision) “I knew in ’96 when he joined us. We had a special simpatico. When the staff changed, I knew then that he was someone special that would be back in my life one day. The first year he was with us, we went 5-11. And then we were 1-3 the second year, so we were 6-14 and a lot of my friends in the media were telling me I made a big mistake hiring him, to fire him, I didn’t know what I was doing and that he didn’t know how to give a press conference with his monolithic answers. I’ve learned in life that I don’t sit in judgment of other people. I know what’s right for me. He was right for me. There’s no prescribed formula. Think about it; the NFL is geared to parity and everyone being 8-8. If you do well, you draft higher and you have a tougher schedule. So you want to get managers that you can empower to be bold, do different things. When they take those risks and they don’t work out, you back them.”