The longtime pillars of the Patriot Way, one-by-one, are moving on from New England.
And though Ernie Adams may not be as prominent of a public persona as Tom Brady, Julian Edelman or Rob Gronkowski, his contributions to the team have been just as imperative to its success.
One particular Super Bowl especially comes to mind.
The Patriots football research director on Monday announced his retirement after 21 seasons with the team and six championships. The right-hand man of head coach Bill Belichick since their days at Phillips Academy for high school, Adams has worn a variety of hats since he and Belichick arrived in New England together in 2000.
One of them? Recognizing a goal-line play that the Seattle Seahawks were setting up during Super Bowl XLIX. Or in other words, Adams was the brains behind the famous Malcolm Butler interception that won the game.
So in honor of Adams, let’s relive the NFL Films documentary, “Do Your Job,” that chronicled the journey to that 2014 title. The entire video is phenomenal, but the good stuff about Adams can be found around the 35-minute mark.
Sure, the Brady versus Belichick debate is the common one when arguing who was more important to the Patriots dynasty.
But Adams was there behind the scenes for all of it, too.
