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Millen moment
When longtime Patriots fans reflect on the 1991 and 1992 seasons –- a.k.a. the Dick MacPherson era –- names like receiver Irving Fryar, tight end Marv Cook, running back Leonard Russell, linebacker Andre Tippett and safety Fred Marion might come to mind.
Another player from those teams is present here at Super Bowl XLI. And despite the teams posting records of 6-10 in 1991 and 2-14 in 1992, he reflects fondly on that era of Patriots football.
“I had great memories,” said quarterback Hugh Millen, who works part-time as a football television and radio analyst and is here with Seattle-based radio station KJR.
“The New England people are very provincial and passionate. I was told when I came that Steve Grogan is beloved because he was a tough guy, and right or wrong, that Tony Eason wasn’t perceived as being as tough so people kind of got on Tony Eason. They said first things first in New England, you better be tough. I thought that was good advice.
"We didn’t have success the Patriots are obviously having now, and I wasn’t the quarterback that Tom Brady is, that’s stating the obvious. But I had great memories and that was the only time in my career that I got to be a starter. The team had been 1-15 the year before, and not that you’re a good team when you’re 6-10, but it was a unique period in Patriots history that the fans could really be excited about. My sense from the New England fans was that we had a level of appreciation that would belie our 6-10 record.”
Millen enjoyed the time he lived in the region.
"Sean McDonough was my neighbor and we became good friends," he said. "I had nothing but good experiences, I just wish the next season, in 1992, I separated my shoulder in the first quarter of the first game and that year was a lot more difficult. I was kind of in and out the lineup, and trying to play with a separated shoulder. If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't have played with that injury."
Millen, who was a backup in Dallas and Denver after his two-year Patriots career, currently resides in Seattle.
