"They are our team": Diehard fans not giving up on Patriots after 1-4 start
FOXBORO - Erin Gregory is a true diehard Patriots fan. "Everything is Patriots. My son's name is Brady. Football is just a religion for me," Gregory said.
She even has a room in her house in Hanover dedicated to her favorite team. What she would love to see is for the Patriots to find the missing pieces for a successful team. "Something is not clicking," she said.
We first met Gregory back in 2018, when she was surprised in her own home with Super Bowl tickets by Patriots Hall of Famer Troy Brown. That was a special moment. "This is my autograph from Troy Brown, and we first met one of the best days of my life. We did not take it for granted. But we never thought we were going to lose ever," Gregory said.
But that's not the case today. With a 1-4 record other diehard fans like John Malone of Foxboro find themselves reminiscing. "The 2019 AFC Championship Game. I still watched it last night," Malone said.
Malone moved to Foxboro with his wife in 2001 when the dynasty began, which makes the start of this season tough to swallow. "It's hard to watch but I implore the fans, Belichick, and the Krafts, and the Patriots have actually put together a pretty decent product for 22 years," he said.
Back in Hanover, Gregory who's not even a season ticket holder, hasn't missed a home game in six years and plans to head to Las Vegas this weekend to cheer her team on.
"It's painful though, but I am not going to give up on them. It's something we are not used to seeing, we just always dominate, so this is uncharted territory," she said. "We got to stop booing our Pats, man. We got to stop booing them. They are our team. You can't lose hope."
And these fans say it would be so sweet to live some of those glory days again.
"We should appreciate what we had, because it was amazing," Malone said.