Zero excuse for the Patriots not to go 2-0 against the Jets?
After Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending Achilles tear, is there any excuse for the Patriots not to go 2-0 against the Jets this season? Beetle doesn’t think so.
This changes so much…
Marc Bertrand: I hate to say this because I don’t like seeing anyone get injured. I don’t like seeing Aaron Rodgers get injured. I thought this was going to be an interesting story in New York this year with the Jets. But do you know how good this is for the New England Patriots? And you know me, I’m big on the two Jets automatic wins being one of the most important things to the Patriots calendar, their year. The way they have beaten the bag out of the Jets, the way they’ve done it the last two years with Mac Jones, even when things aren’t going well you could bank on the Jets wins. I said the difference this year is you can’t do that anymore and that changes the entire look of their division schedule. When you don’t have those two automatic wins against the Jets, well, that really changes things. Now, automatic wins back on. Zach Wilson stinks, he wasn’t good in that game last night and here we are again. What a break for the Pats.
Scott Zolak: It’s the way they carried themselves for the last hree and a half months. The whole Hard Knocks… like, oh, man, look at him. He’s the GOAT. Look at the goat. You just caught passes from the goat. They already declared him the goat. They declared themselves the frontrunner for the Super Bowl. They’ve haven’t won a playoff game in how many years? And all of a sudden they’re elevating themselves into Super Bowl talk. I feel happy for the way they’ve carried themselves for the last three and a half months, but they felt they’re going to the Super Bowl. There’s no guarantees. You know how hard it is to not only win the Super Bowl, but to get to the Super Bowl. We lived it here for 20 years and that’s all Brady and Belichick talked about. It is so hard to get there, but the expectations were always there. They elevated themselves from an expectations standpoint. I feel awful for Rodgers, I’m with you. A league without Peyton Manning, a league without Tom Brady, a league when Patrick Mahomes hurt his knee and he’s running around. I wasn’t happy about that. Nobody wants to see these guys, the top guys get hurt.
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Changes Patriots fans can expect at Gillette Stadium in 2023
2. Impact of the new lighthouse
Scott Zolak: You see the lighthouse when you drive by, what is the foot traffic pattern if any that has changed around that area for fans able to access gates from the north?
Jim Nolan: I think the biggest thing is and you know Zo, we started doing it last year, but we’ve moved the security line out from where it used to be right next to the pro shop. So we do the security screening first and we’ve actually expanded that plaza significantly. The the new plaza is over six acres of land. So what you’ll do is you’ll be screened as you come into the plaza, and then we’re going to have three ticket points of entry. One at our new grand stairs, you know, which comes up right behind the lighthouse. One is behind the pro shop, which is also ADA access to ADA elevators, and then one which is our Ticketmaster ramp, is as soon as you come through, the security screening is on your left and what it does is it spreads out both the security process and the ticketing process to make it much easier for fans coming in from the north to get into the building. You know, but the grand stairs, once you take the grand stairs up, it brings you to our 100 level, literally right beneath the lighthouse where we’ve added a ton of new fan amenities. When you arrive on the 100 level, we have three new food and beverage locations and we have three new bars, you know, all situated to create a communal space in the middle and each of these locations will have some new things that we haven’t served at Gillette Stadium before and then also some old favorites.
4. What are some of the new food favorites?
Inside the tunnel adjacent to the Bud Light Celebration Beer Hall.
Scott Zolak: What are some of the new favorites?
Jim Nolan: One of our locations iss called the Beacon Market and in the beacon market, we have new frying technology that all the big fried food chains use. I won’t name them, but we’re going to have a fried chicken sandwich, which I have tested, and it’s delicious. We’re going have a beef brisket sandwich. We’re going to have a pulled pork sandwich and we’re going to have mac and cheese with pulled pork. And at each of these locations, we’re also going to have healthy options, too. So, you know, we’re going to have salads and wraps and other things. For folks who’ve been down here before, these are more like the the markets that we’ve had on the 100 level. Just with different options.
5. Fans will be able to pour their own beers
Doctor’s Island Beer – Hull, Massachusetts.
Jim Nolan: I think my favorite is going to be The Takeaway Tavern. You’re going to be able to pour your own beer. And in in these locations, over the course of the month, we’re rolling out what is the technology called Zip In, which is kind of the just walk out technology, you know, where you’ll scan your credit card on the way in, you’ll pick up your items and you literally just walk out. So it’ll be much faster. But in The Takeaway Tavern, first of all, you can pour your own beer, which is really cool on a game day and then as you walk around, you can grab a smashed burger, which is top notch. So in that location we’ll have smashburger and french fries, of course. And then, you know, a big favorite at Gillette are the fried chicken tenders. So that’s a location. If you’re looking to grab a beer and grab a burger and do it really quickly, come find the Takeaway Tavern.
6. What’s the technology behind pouring your own beer?
Marc Bertrand: It’s just like a soda machine. Yeah, it’s go up and get your own.
Jim Nolan: No, you can’t do that. It’s a controlled pour, so you can’t top it off. But as we do with all alcohol servers in Gillette Stadium, it’s monitored. And so it will have the same, you know, our same attention to detail will go into that place. But it just kind of unique where you get to physically pour your own beer in an NFL Stadium.
Scott Zolak: Is it a special cup? Does it have a chip in it that like when you place it down… I’ve seen it. It’s like Pittsburgh has these.
Jim Nolan: There’s no chip in our cups, you know, so what you do is you pop the cup underneath the system and then you hit a button and it pours the exact amount. So on a 24 ounce cup, it’s going to pour 24 ounces of beer. And like I said, then you can’t you can’t top it off. But with the Zip In technology, once we, you know, we check your ID, we check your sobriety before your beer, you’re just literally going to walk out the door.
