new program, is always a big learning experience for everybody and you just keep getting better every week. I’m sure we’ll g

The Hall of Fame might change its" Patriots First ReadPatriots Opinion2020 could be Patriots legend Gino Cappelletti’s best shot yet to make the Pro Football Hall of FameNew Danny Etling Jerseys 2019 ,9commentsThe Hall of Fame might change its EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:2020 could be Patriots legend Gino Cappelletti’s best shot yet to make the Pro Football Hall of FameTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesIn 1960, Gino Cappelletti made his pro football debut as a member of the newly created Boston Patriots. Over the course of the 11-year career that followed, he became one of the most recognizable faces of the young franchise — and one of the American Football League’s biggest stars: Cappelletti was a five-time AFL All-Star, was voted the league’s most valuable player in 1964 and retired as its all-time leading scorer with 1,130 points.‘The Duke’ earned all of those accolades not only by being one of the best players of his era, but also by being one of its most versatile ones. As a kicker, for example, Cappelletti made 176 field goals (out of 333 attempts) as well as 342 of 353 extra point tries. He also played wide receiver for the Patriots and caught 298 passes for 4,770 yards and 42 touchdowns. Furthermore White Derek Rivers Jerseys , he intercepted four passes as a part-time defensive back.And yet, Cappelletti still has only one Hall of Fame jacket to call his own: the red one the Patriots awarded him in 1992, when he became the second player to be enshrined into the team’s Hall of Fame. Despite his on-field success, the 85-year old, who has also called 585 games as the team’s color commentator alongside Gil Santos, has not been recognized as one of the great players of his time by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.However, this could all change in 2020 as the Hall of Fame is considering expanding the number of enshrinees for one season. David Baker, the Hall’s president, recently said that it could potentially add twenty new members next year in order to to deal with numerous deserving candidates not yet being enshrined and to also honor the NFL’s 100-year anniversary. Baker broke it down as follows on SiriusXM earlier this week:Given that he retired more than 25 years ago Derek Rivers Jerseys 2019 , Cappelletti would fall under the ‘senior’ category Baker mentioned and could benefit from its potential expansion to ten enshrinees in 2020 — especially considering that only one or two seniors usually enter the Hall of Fame each year. This numbers game has so far prevented the Patriots legend from making its way to Canton, but the change could very well work in his favor now.Needless to say that Cappelletti is deserving of the honor, and now is the voters’ best chance to show that they agree and recognize him as the all-time great he is. Regardless of how the competition actually looks on the field, Patriots coach Bill Belichick has long made it a point to be effusive in positive observations about the next team on New England’s schedule.There are times when that feels more organic than others. This is not one of those weeks.The Dolphins are coming off a 59-10 loss to the Ravens that saw them fail to do much well in any phase of the game. That didn’t stop Belichick from saying Miami has “a lot of great players” and noting the team will be “well prepared” despite Dolphins players feeling that wasn’t the case.“Last week was last week. I’m sure they’ll make a lot of corrections,” Belichick said on a conference call. “The first game, with a new program, is always a big learning experience for everybody and you just keep getting better every week. I’m sure we’ll get a strong effort from Miami this week and we’ve got to be ready to go. Again, they have a lot of good players, a lot of good skill players White Deatrich Wise Jerseys , a lot of good players on defense. They’re young, they’re aggressive, they’re talented and we’re going to have to contend with all of them and the scheme that they come up with. I’m sure they’ll have things that we’re not working on and we’ll have to be ready to handle those.”The Dolphins are coached by former Patriots assistant Brian Flores, who Belichick said did a great job while he was in New England. If he figures out a way to go from losing by 49 to beating the Patriots, Flores will have plenty of others saying the same thing.