Kraft on Sirius NFL Radio

Patriots owner Robert Kraft was an in-studio guest on Howard Stern's Sirius Radio show this morning, and he also had a brief visit on Sirius NFL Radio's "Opening Drive" program with Bob Papa, Randy Cross and Peter King. Kraft explained that he was at Sirius visiting CEO Mel Karmazin.

Boston Globe colleague Christopher Gasper transcribed the football-specific parts of Kraft's interview on the "Opening Drive" program (the other parts of the interview were economy-based), and it started with Papa reflecting on his meeting with Kraft prior to the Patriots' Nov. 13 loss to the Jets. Papa was the play-by-play man for NFL Network that night.

"Not making the playoffs was very painful and that particular game -- I remember that drive that Matt [Cassel] engineered at the end and the great catch that Randy Moss made to tie it up, and then Brett Favre probably had one of his best drives in overtime. Unfortunately that game didn't go our way, but it was a great game for the NFL Network," Kraft said on the program.

"I think Coach Belichick and his staff probably did one of their finest coaching jobs this year. They've had nine seasons with us, and I think what they accomplished with this team and what the players did and the way Matt Cassel rallied the team it was a real fun season, but then we dropped off a cliff at the end of the year. I'll tell you the story, we became Jets fans for three hours."

At the end of the interview, King asked Kraft if he had a gut feeling that another team would make a mega-offer, with a first-round draft pick, for Cassel.

"I try to talk about things I know," Kraft answered. "I would say I'm rooting for the economy to take on. ... I'm rooting for things to happen in the NFL that put the New England Patriots in the best position to win. What that means, that could go any number of paths. But in life it's always good to have more good people than you really need. I think that right now the New England Patriots are blessed at the quarterback position."