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INDIANAPOLIS — From wherever his office inside the Patriots’ facility last season, Eliot Wolf must have gazed out his window and shook his head.
There was the talent-starved roster. The overworked, politicking coaching staff. The culture that grated members instead of building them up.
How do I know Wolf felt this way?
Well, setting aside the 4-13 record, he said as much Tuesday.
The Patriots’ old culture? Too punishing.
“Certainly,” he said at the NFL Scouting Combine, “there’s more of an open, less hard-ass type vibe in the building that we can move forward with.”
The offense? Not dangerous enough.
“We need to weaponize the offense,” Wolf said.
The defense? Too slow.
“We need to be faster and more explosive on defense,” he added.
Credit to him. The Patriots’ de facto GM is not running from the truth, nor the task at hand, nor the long, Bill Belichick-shaped shadow over his upcoming rebuild. That shadow, in the end, fostered an environment that accelerated the Patriots’ downfall after their competitive margins shrank to virtually nothing.
The coaching staff fractured, and the quarterback broke, while his own defense pointed fingers from across the locker room. Wolf saw it, and so did Mayo. That’s why they’re publicly shining a light on the darkness and looking ahead.
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Now before the Belichick defenders charge over the hill, swords out and shields ready to defend the greatest coach of all time, remember that Belichick earned the nickname “Doom” more than a decade before he took over in New England. Belichick’s greatness, his genius, was inseparable from the doom persona that birthed a hardline, thankless work environment in Foxboro. That environment worked because it was authentic to Belichick, and perpetuated by talented inferiors who believed in him, including the greatest quarterback to ever play.
Then, the quarterback left, more talent followed him out the door, the beatings continued, morale didn’t improve, and Belichick was gone, too.
The Krafts clearly believe Belichick was at the heart of their problems, and viewed Wolf as part of the solution.
Wolf is an outsider the team adopted in 2020, a 20-year veteran of NFL front offices who understands their football operations intimately but has maintained a professional identity and belief system separate from The Patriot Way. Or, as director of player personnel Matt Groh once described Patriot lifers, he hasn’t been “institutionalized.”
Wolf began to free his colleagues in recent weeks, encouraging them to speak more openly in a recent series of meetings that introduced a new scouting system and grading scale that he’s implemented from Green Bay.
“I was actually really encouraged by everybody willing to just say their opinion, even if it was different from the previous person,” Wolf said. “Having those open, honest meetings and working together to determine the best outcome is definitely what’s important.”
He later added: “This process is a lot more collaborative. We hear from the scouts more. We’re going to be able to determine together what’s the best thing for the team at the end of the day.”
Eliot Wolf: Patriots ‘definitely’ want to re-sign Kyle Dugger, Mike Onwenu
That last line should ring familiar. It was a Belichick go-to, the center square in his press conference bingo card. But as far as Belichick’s scouting processes? Those are getting ripped out by the roots.
More from Wolf: “The previous Patriots system was more, ‘This is what the role is,’ and this is more value-based. I think it makes it a lot easier for scouts to rate guys and put them in a stack of, ‘This guy’s the best, this guy’s the worst,’ and everything in between falls into place.
“Rather than more nuanced approaches. I just think it accounts for value better, and it also makes it easier for the scouts in the fall, as well as in the spring, where guys are going to be drafted.”
Naturally, such sweeping change is being met with pockets of resistance. Wolf’s stated goal of returning the Patriots to “respectability” also irked some. But not those inside the building.
One Patriots personnel evaluator later admitted to the Herald that the front office feels a loss of respect across the league. Player agents have insisted privately the Patriots must pay top dollar to sign their clients this offseason, a tax for being a losing team in a small market. Wolf did not commit to a free-agent spending spree, but shared part of his pitch to those players.
“This is a new program,” he said. “We’re heading in the right direction. It’s a new era.”
A new era founded on old ideas from Green Bay, where Wolf contributed to a Super Bowl-winning team in 2010. During that time, Wolf learned what a championship team feels like, sounds like, plays like. Wolf described The Packer Way as a belief system rooted in drafting and development, honesty and respect.
It’s a slow build, with a long-term payoff. Though Wolf didn’t sidestep expectations for 2024. He met them head-on, like every other aspect of his job to date.
What will a successful season look like for the Patriots?
“Really just showing good progress and turning the culture around,” he said. “And competing for the playoffs is something we’re not going to shy away from.”
An Instagram post that announced their closure on Tuesday evening did not point to any reason for the closure, and requests for comment were not immediately returned.
“Eight years ago, we opened our doors at the Innovation and Design Building with a simple hope: to bring you honest, delicious food and a warm place to share it,” read the post. “What we found instead was a community – regulars who became friends, first dates that turned into anniversaries, celebrations, quiet lunches, and everything in between. You made this restaurant so much more than a place to eat.”
Globe Food Critic Devra First awarded Chickadee 3.5 stars in October 2018, where she wrote how some meals “are magic, everything cooked perfectly, making you swoon.”
At the time, it was also considered one of the earliest restaurants to have opened in the still-industrial far reaches of the Seaport, which was home to ship-repair facilities and cutting-edge design firms, seafood wholesalers, and biotech companies. In terms of location, some said it was ahead of its time.
DaSilva, a three-time James Beard Best Chef: Northeast semifinalist, has led some of the top restaurants across the Greater Boston area. Aside from Barbara Lynch’s flagship No. 9 Park, he opened Spoke Wine Bar in Somerville in 2013. During his time at Spoke, he received a number of accolades and was named one of Zagat’s “30 Under 30” for Boston and earned the title “Rising Star Chef” from StarChefs.
Kilpatrick, who also left Lynch’s group in 2014, worked for the team behind O Ya to help open restaurants in New York. According to his LinkedIn, he started a new job as a regional operations manager for Lark, a boutique hotel management company, in April.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.
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🥵Very hot, with highs around 97 degrees. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
GBH’s Dan Murphy captured Abby Evangelista and her corgi, Rocko, at Sail250 this weekend. “Rocko gets dressed up for lots of occasions … sometimes just to go to the store, and he does so great with meeting people,” Evangelista said. Keep reading for more photos from the tall ships.
A year ago today firefighters were extinguishing flames at the Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. Ten people died in the fire, a tragedy for their loved ones and a scary moment for about 18,000 people who live in assisted living facilities across the state.
Now state officials have created new regulations for fire safety in assisted living facilities, going into effect later this month. Fire departments will inspect these facilities once a year, and facilities will need to submit emergency plans and train their workers on what to do in case of a fire.
GBH’s Craig LeMoult found that neither the new regulations nor state or federal fire codes address checking sprinkler systems. Some of the sprinklers at the Gabriel House weren’t working the night of the fire, including the ones in the room where it started.
“Had the sprinklers functioned properly, we’re not having this conversation right now. It is maybe a single fatality fire, but certainly not more than that,” Fall River fire chief Jeffrey Bacon told LeMoult. “The good news is that some of the sprinklers did function. And had they not, we would be here talking about 20, 30, 40 victims.” You can read the full story here.
1. Colleagues and friends are remembering Louisa Gag, a Boston transportation planner killed last week when a truck driver hit her as she rode her bike near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Gag grew up in Roslindale and worked for the city on expanding the BlueBikes bike-share program. Before that, she worked for the LivableStreets Alliance, co-authoring a plan to help cities stop traffic deaths. You can see her talk about her work in this 2019 video.
“In moments like these, there is a tendency to reduce the person to the way they died and to their activism,” said Stacy Thompson, a former executive director of LivableStreets. “While we may know Louisa as a deep champion of the city and a close advocate, she’s also a Boston Latin [School] kid. She’s also, like, the most infectious, hilarious person you’ve ever met. She’s also a daughter. It’s so important to us right now for her life to not be reduced to how she stopped living.”
2. More than 4,000 nurses are back at work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They went on a one-day strike last week, and hospital administrators kept them from returning to their jobs for another five days. The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Brigham management have been negotiating a contract for seven months, going back and forth over wages, health insurance premiums and staffing levels.
“It’s exciting, but also frightening,” said Christine Forgeron, a cardiac nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I don’t know what to expect when we go back to our patients. What happens next, because we still don’t have a contract,is the most unsettling part.”
3. Michael Walsh, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, will be on the primary ballot in September despite what Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp called “substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud.” The case began when Adam Roof, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, submitted a complaint accusing a signature gatherer Walsh’s campaign hired of either falsifying or not meeting state requirements for 1,021 of the 10,677 signatures they submitted. Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 signatures to get onto the ballot.
Karp said that there was indeed evidence that the signatures came not from voters themselves but from a list of registered voters the state’s Republican party gave the signature gatherer. But the case fell on a technicality: state law required Roof, the Democratic party official, to submit his complaint by certified mail, and he did not do so. The state’s highest court still has to decide what will happen to Anne Manning Martin, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who used the same signature gatherer.
4. Residents of towns around the Quabbin Reservoir flooded into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority meeting last week to ask for a better deal. The Quabbin supplies clean drinking water for dozens of cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Right now, the state requires towns like Shrewsbury, Belchertown, Orange and Pelham to keep their development in check to keep the Quabbin clean. Though those towns get some money in return, local officials said it’s not enough to cover their costs.
“We are protecting this watershed by foregoing any type of economic development, which is a cornerstone of providing the basics of education [and] public safety,” said state Rep. Aaron Saunders, of Belchertown. “It’s time for a change, and not an incremental one.”
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Tomorrow is the last full day of Sail Boston, the city’s tall ships celebration. The ships will leave our harbor Thursday morning. GBH photographer Dan Murphy was there over the weekend to capture the Parade of Sail.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
The Esmeralda, a ship from Chile, sailed by Castle Island.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Carolyn Gustine carried her son, Patrick, on her shoulders.
You can see the full photo essay here.
Dig deeper:
–Spectators line Cape Cod Canal to see tall ships make their way to Sail250 in Boston
–The World Cup transformed Greater Boston. Will it last?
–Department of Agricultural Resources celebrates Ice Cream Trail program
Local News
A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.
A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said.
Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said.
Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said.
Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said.
“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.”
During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said.
Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges.
“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.”
Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
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