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Former New York Jets center, now enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, Kevin Mawae had to acknowledge frequent in-division foes Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in his speech.
Mawae, 48, was inducted into Canton's hallowed grounds over the weekend along with seven over former players like Ty Law and Ed Reed. The proud Hawaiian-descent Mawae controlled the Jets' offenses' snaps for eight steady seasons at the turn of the millennium, from 1998-2005, finding himself and New York playing Belichick and New England at least twice per season.
Here's what the Hall of Fame center had to say about Belichick and the Pats (via Michael DePrisco in NBC Sports Boston):
“I never felt more challenged mentally in a game than when I faced your teams,” Mawae said. “I came to love the puzzle of figuring out your defense and the chess match those games became. I didn’t win all of them, in fact, my team’s lost most of them. I think we were 4-13 against you. That sucks. That was awful. I still hate the Patriots, everyone hates the winners.”
Saturday had a score of Patriots references, too, with former New England players—or opponents—making reference to the league's most dominant team of the 2000's and their polarizing head coach.
Mawae was a six-year consecutive Pro-Bowler while on the Jets and seven-time All-Pro-caliber center in his 16-year NFL career. He started an immaculate 177 straight games at center for New York in his tenure before going down with a triceps injury in 2005. The Jets could count themselves lucky with Mawae linchpinning the offensive line for eight years followed immediately by Nick Mangold and his 11 years at center.
