Looking for Cheap New England Patriots Tickets?

Bookmark & Share Here:

Stadium Review - Monday Night Football Matchup
Nothing quite compares to a sports fan from Boston, Massachusetts. Combine that distinct Boston accent, with an in-depth knowledge of the game, and then stir in a little of that Irish temperament, and you my friends, have the recipe for a passionate group of fans that were bred for the game of football. 

In an area where all four of the major sports leagues are represented, the New England area is truly an exceptional sports Mecca. These fans live and die by their local teams and more importantly, they love a great rivalry, like Red Sox-Yankees or Lakers-Celtics. So with the recent rise to prominence of the New York Jets, the Patriots-Jets rivalry is quickly becoming a fan favorite as well.

      

Considering their dominance of the NFL over the course of the last decade, the New England Patriots organization has become the model that all teams strive to emulate. They have a cerebral staff that puts its players in a position to win each week and a top notch front office that consistently reloads via the NFL draft and through free agency. With Bill Belichick at the helm and Tom Brady under center, the Patriots continue to be a force to be reckoned with in the AFC and a consistent Super Bowl threat. Enter the New York Jets, the brash new kids on the block that are building something impressive with Rex Ryan in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Jets are bold and opinionated and they apologize for nothing. So it’s fitting with both team sitting at 9-2, and with the division title and home field advantage throughout the playoffs at stake, that they should meet on Monday Night Football in Foxboro, Massachusetts and that I should be there to be part of it all.

I always have a great time on my trips to Gillette Stadium. Patriots fans are die hard, all weather gamers that put on a great tailgate and always know how to make you feel welcomed in the lots surrounding Gillette Stadium. Located near the ocean, they generally pull out all the stops on gameday with a wide assortment of seafoods and chow-dahs nestled under pop up 10x10 tailgate tents. Walking the lot, you’ll see lots of boiled Maine lobster, bacon wrapped scallops, fresh fish, and even an oddity or two. I approached a group of Pats fans that had a charcoal grilled rotisserie going with an odd looking animal on the spit. Now I’ve been to a lot of tailgates, and I’ve seen pig roasts, whole chickens, and slabs of beef spinning over a bed of coals, but I’d never seen anything like this. When I asked what it was, they told me it was “Mark Sanchez’s Dawg”. I’d never tried roasted dog before, and the thing looked exactly like a charbroiled greyhound, flame broiled and ready for a taste. You know me, I’m game to try anything, so half way into my Fido sandwich, one of the guys finally took pity on me and confessed that it was a whole lamb they were roasting. I gotta tell you, I was a bit disappointed. I guess I’ll have to wait for my next trip to Asia before I can taste a bit of man’s best friend on a slow roasted spit.

My tailgating host for the evening was a group called RazorsEdgeTailgate.com. They’re typically a large group of 50-70 tailgaters and they were kind enough to invite me and a small group of Questers to break bread with them for the evening. Arranging these larger groups once in the lot at Gillette Stadium is a little more difficult that at most stadiums because the  stadium parking lots are not setup on a first come first serve basis. As you enter the lot, stadium staffers direct each car to a spot that they choose one right after another, so unless you drive in with your tailgating group, it’s likely that you’ll be placed all over the lot instead of having the freedom to select where you want to park. To get around this, most tailgating groups pick a rendezvous point to meet up at before heading over, so we met up with most of the RazorsEdgeTailgate in an abandoned parking lot near the stadium and convoyed into the lot. Once in place, the crew from Razor’s Edge Tailgate setup heaters and tents, while I donned my multilayered thermal fatsuit. Being a Monday Night Football game with gametime temperatures dipping into the teens, I wanted to be sure I’d be well prepared.

The Crew from Razor’s Edge set out an impressive variety of meats and seafood in true New England Fashion. Starting with a hot bowl of homemade Jambalaya, I soon graduated to samplings of local sausage, marinated chicken, bacon wrapped scallops, pieces of pork loin, and some marinated steak tips. It was an exceptional collection of foodstuffs with something for everyone. Bottles of Sam Adams were passed around along with some cans of Miller High Life (my measly contribution to the decadent affair … I’m such an embarrassment at times).

Razor’s Edge boasts two New England Patriots fans of the year, Karen Cardoza and Randy Pierce. I had the pleasure of meeting Randy while hanging out with the Razor’s Edge Crew and was most impressed by his story. Randy is a life-long, die hard fan of the New England Patriots who lost his sight back in 1989 at the age of 22, due to an unknown neurological disorder. Randy continues to attend every Patriots home game, flanked by his guide dog Quinn, and is an incredibly astute student of the game. Talking football with Randy is like standing next to an encyclopedia, he remembers everything and sees the game unlike anyone I’ve encountered. Randy’s latest adventure, known as 2020 Vision Quest is to climb all 48 of the rugged 4000+ foot peaks in the New Hampshire White Mountains in an effort to raise funds for the services that helped him cope with blindness, The New Hampshire Association for the Blind, and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. More details are available on his website 2020visionquest.org. Anyway, after some great conversation and additional sampling of tailgate fodder, gametime was soon upon us and we began the trek into Gillette Stadium.

The last time I was in town, Patriots Place, the outdoor mall located adjacent to the stadium, was under construction. Now just over three years later, it’s an awesome collection of premiere shopping and great sports bars. Open on gameday and throughout the week, it makes the stadium area around Gillette Stadium a more functional, year-round merchandise epicenter for holiday shopping and browsing. It’s setup a lot like Westgate City Center in Arizona, which I think is a great way to make use of the parking areas and open lots that are required by these new mega stadium venues through the rest of the year.

Built in 2002, Gillette stadium has all the amenities of the modern pro stadium venues. Great concessions, Sam Adams on tap, and those excellent common areas located on the mezzanines and in the endzones overlooking the field to allow fans to gather together throughout the game for a couple of choice ice cold beverages. The main design element, apart from the massive flatscreen scoreboards, is the lighthouse located in the north endzone next to a bridge that’s modeled after Boston's Longfellow Bridge. This entrance area was created at owner Robert Kraft’s insistence to give the stadium an identity which draws from New England’s heritage. The rally cry of the fog horn heard throughout the game and the Minutemen blasting muskets into the air after every score are also unique touches that bring New England’s past into the football arena.

Once gametime hit, the winter winds blasted through our seats in the upper deck chilling us to the bone, but the energy of those Patriots fans watching their team on the Monday Night Football stage seemed to counteract the extreme cold. From the opening kickoff right through the final seconds of the fourth quarter, the twelfth man was well represented in New England. Dropping their r’s and h’s, as they shout obscenities at the field, New Englanders have got to be some of the most entertaining hecklers I’ve encountered on my Quest for 31. They're not rude or overly obnoxious to opposing fans, but they find a way to make their point with some of the most creative verbal tough lashings that I’ve had the pleasure of listening in on.

The game itself wasn’t even on contest. Tom Brady spread the ball around on offense, leading an efficient, surgically precise, passing attack that sprinkled in devastating runs by Benjarvis Green-Ellis and Danny Woohead to keep this vaunted Jets defense on their heels from the start. The Patriots young defense put in a dominant performance holding Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets offense to only three points the entire game. It was a definitive statement, “This is Our House,” asserting their claim that the road to the Super Bowl XLV will pass through Gillette Stadium on the way to Dallas, Texas. Judging by what I saw from this inspired performance on Monday Night Football, they certainly look like the team to beat in the AFC.


For more information on the city of Boston, Massachusetts check out my other reviews by clicking on the links below:
     NFL: September 16, 2007 - San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots
     NBA: Boston Celtics, TD Garden - General Information
     NHL: Boston Bruins, TD Garden - General Information
 

 
Planning Your Next Trip to see the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium?
Traveling to all thirty-one stadiums around the National Football League, teaches you a thing or two about getting the most for your money.  I've set up this website to help others that are interested in NFL Travel.  Below you'll find links for cheap New England Patriots tickets, arena seating charts, and local weather, for everything you need to plan a successful trip to Gillette Stadium.