The 1999 New England Patriots season was the 30th season for the team in the National Football League and 40th season overall. They finished with a 8–8 record, tied for fourth place in the division, and out of the playoffs.
In May, the Patriots announced their intention to pull out of a publicly financed stadium deal in Hartford, Connecticut and instead work towards building a privately financed new stadium, which would become Gillette Stadium, at the site of the existing Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. On the field, the Patriots came into the 1999 season without second-year running back Robert Edwards; after rushing for over 1,100 yards in 1998, the rookie suffered a serious knee injury playing in a rookie beach game in Hawaii after the season. Taking Edwards' place were veteran Terry Allen and rookie Kevin Faulk, but neither player was able to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing and overall the Patriots' rushing offense was 23rd in the NFL. After beginning the season with a 6–2 record the team stumbled down the stretch and finished 8–8 and out of the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Following the season finale, third year head coach Pete Carroll was fired, while vice president of player personnel Bobby Grier was retained only until the 2000 NFL Draft.
Read more about 1999 New England Patriots Season: 1999 NFL Draft, Staff, Schedule, Standings, Notable Games, Final Roster
Famous quotes containing the words england, patriots and/or season:
“The Canadians of those days, at least, possessed a roving spirit of adventure which carried them further, in exposure to hardship and danger, than ever the New England colonist went, and led them, though not to clear and colonize the wilderness, yet to range over it as coureurs de bois, or runners of the woods, or, as Hontan prefers to call them, coureurs de risques, runners of risks; to say nothing of their enterprising priesthood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The American people is out to get the kaiser. We are bending every nerve and every energy towards that end; anybody who gets in the way of the great machine the energy and devotion of a hundred million patriots is building towards the stainless purpose of saving civilization from the Huns will be mashed like a fly. I’m surprised that a collegebred man like you hasn’t more sense. Don’t monkey with the buzzsaw.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)