Robert Kraft is walking with a little more bounce in his step these days. After a couple years dabbling in the principles of the Ideal Gas Law, and waging a disappointing battle with the league’s front office over the air pressure in footballs, a war that still haunts him, the Patriots owner has reason to smile.

Deflategate is finally in the rearview mirror. Even though the ball-deflating scandal that took his star quarterback, Tom Brady, away for four games at the beginning of the season is still dredged up, it’s technically a memory, albeit a bitter one for Kraft.

Today, his team is preparing to play in the 12th AFC Championship Game of his tenure. And while many teams across the NFL are searching for head coaches and quarterbacks, trying to find that elusive winning formula, Kraft is going strong with a pair he considers the greatest of all time at their respective jobs.

So, on the 23rd anniversary of the Kraft family purchasing the Patriots, with his team one win away from heading to Houston to vie for a fifth Lombardi trophy, the Patriots owner agreed to have a chat with the Herald.

We spoke last week and the list of topics discussed ran the gamut, from commissioner Roger Goodell’s continued absence from Foxboro in wake of Deflategate, to his relationship with coach Bill Belichick, to his hot takes on several of his players including Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Martellus Bennett and Michael Floyd. Kraft, who attended festivities for Donald Trump’s inauguration, also provided his view of political Washington.

Let’s start with the coach. The Kraft and Belichick union has lasted 18 seasons. It’s a bond that’s endured through winning seasons and championships as well as it fair share of turmoil and scandals, not to mention a 5-11 record in his first season a year after Pete Carroll was fired following an 8-8 mark.

It was interesting to hear Kraft talk about the people — including some unnamed personnel in the league office — who had warned him not to hire Belichick and surrender a first-round draft pick to the Jets in 2000 for the privilege of hiring him. Obviously, Kraft didn’t heed any of the warnings.

“We had people from the league office, high-level people telling us not to hire him,” Kraft said. “We had media people sending us press conferences of him from Cleveland . . . and then it didn’t go well (in the 2000 season). But I felt a certain sympatico with (Belichick), and it developed.”

After the inaugural 5-11 season, a 1-3 start followed in 2001. So it was a bit rocky at first. Kraft recalled how much Patriot Nation as well as local media critics wanted the Hoodie cast out at that point.

“People were on my case. They wanted me to fire him,” Kraft said. “Part of it is, when you have good people, you hang with them in the tough times, and we’ve had some tough times. I think we’ve built a great partnership. Our mutual priority is putting the New England Patriots in the best position we can to win football games.”

Earlier last week, Belichick made a point of saying he appreciated the latitude Kraft has given him to do what he thinks is best for the football team. He said that freedom has allowed them to be productive together.

“Life is about getting the best people you can find,” Kraft said when apprised of those remarks, “and, when you find out what they’re capable of doing, you keep delegating, and delegating and give them freedom to do their job.”

Together, they’ve weathered Spygate, Aaron Hernandez and Deflategate. As Kraft told me with respect to the latter during our sitdown last year, he made a “strategic decision” to drop the fight with Goodell and the league, only to see it backfire on him. The way the league piled on Brady angered him, and still does, but that’s in the past, and he’s moved on.

As a team owner, he still conducts business with Goodell. That’s just how it is. As for the commissioner avoiding Foxboro, and not showing his face and being accountable for dropping the hammer on Brady and the Patriots, Kraft left that mud on Goodell’s doorstep.

“Whether the commissioner comes here, or doesn’t come here, it’s his decision,” Kraft said. “There are certain rules and regulations, and you provide certain accommodations. But that’s a decision he makes.”

Goodell has chosen to go to the NFC Championship Game in Atlanta. He was there last week for the Falcons’ divisional round game against the Seahawks. He hasn’t been to Foxboro since the AFC Championship Game two years ago. Given the anger of Patriots fans toward the commissioner, we asked Kraft if he felt security would be an issue were Goodell to appear at Gillette Stadium.

“I hope not. We need to treat all people with respect,” he said. “That’s part of the culture we try to create here. Sometimes we don’t always agree with people, and what they think or what they say. Hopefully in New England, we’re people who are respectful of all people.”

As for Brady, the man on the wrong end of Goodell’s heavy-handed discipline, Kraft had some interesting things to say about his quarterback.

“I don’t think people understand how positive he is. And for me, it’s great to see how his teammates respond to him,” Kraft said. “He’s a great leader, he’s a great motivator. He’s a great competitor. . . . He demands excellence from everyone else in there.”

Kraft said it helps when the best players on the team are the ones who work the hardest. Brady certainly fits that description.

“You see how hard he works. What’s great about that . . . I think some of the younger players who hadn’t seen him the first four weeks (during his suspension) then saw him come in — he’s the first one in, and the last one to leave,” Kraft said of Brady. “So it’s not just what he says, but it’s what he does and how he executes. We’re so lucky to have him here.”

One more nugget about Brady: In Kraft’s eyes, he’s the same kid who showed up with a pizza box tucked under his arm the first day, walking up into the stands to meet the owner and tell him he wouldn’t regret drafting him. Seventeen years later, that is still Brady today.

“I’ve seen it with some other players, and I’ve seen it with successful people, that success can sometimes spoil you. Not Tommy,” Kraft said. “I think it fuels him.”

Kraft has also been pleased with some of the newer additions to the Patriots family. He sounded enamored with Bennett. But then again, who isn’t?

“He marches to a different drummer, both intellectually and artistically,” Kraft said of the massive tight end, who came to the Pats via a trade with the Chicago Bears with one-year left on his contract. “I get a big kick out of it. At the same time, he’s very physical (as a football player). He’s been a great member of this franchise. I’m so happy he joined us. And I hope he’s with us in the future.”

From the sounds of it, the boss is on board with getting Bennett re-signed for 2017 and beyond. We’ll see if they can make the numbers match. As for his all-world tight end, Gronkowski, who is done for the year after undergoing back surgery, Kraft reports that Gronk has been working out daily in expectation of returning full force next season. Kraft was upbeat about the fan favorite, who’s now undergone three back procedures and numerous other surgeries between college and the pros.

“Gronk is one of the special people we’ve had come through here,” Kraft said. “He has an image of being a certain kind of guy, a party guy. (But) he’s very serious. He’s very hard-working and a good guy. He does so many things in the community, and he does them quietly.”

Kraft related a story of how Gronkowski surprised a young man battling cancer in New York, how the Patriots owner stashed him away in his place in the Big Apple, and Gronk made the kid’s day.

“This young man, he’s like 6 years old, he came with his family, just to see me, supposedly, and get an autographed picture of Gronk, and then I was showing him around my apartment, so we go in the bedroom, and there’s Gronk,” Kraft said. “He just made this kid feel so good. He just does a lot of nice things like that. And he’s not looking for kudos or anything like that.”

One other player we discussed was Floyd. The Patriots signed the wide receiver in Week 15, claiming him off waivers from Arizona, after the Cardinals let him go due to a drunk driving arrest. Floyd was caught on camera, in his car, asleep at the wheel, with the car running.

Asked if he had to sign off on that transaction, Kraft left the impression he is consulted on such matters.

“Bill talks with me. We chat,” Kraft said. “I think we’ve had a situation where certain young men are able to flourish here and do better here. We try to give a lot of support. Look, I think it’s worked out well so far, and I hope it continues that way. Every interaction I’ve had with (Floyd) has been very good.”

Floyd has spoken glowingly about the atmosphere in Foxboro, and how it’s conducive to him succeeding. Asked what the secret to his team’s success is, Kraft provided a guideline.

“The only time I’m interested in change is when I feel there’s an opportunity to make things better. We don’t break things down, unless we feel we have something better to put in its place,” he said. “I think creating a sense of continuity wherever you can, and having people who think the same way, and having the same values — integrity, character, loyalty — is very important to me. And building a team where we can go through tough times together, that’s sort of the moniker that’s most important to me.”

In terms of continuity, he’s had his coach and quarterback in place for nearly two decades, and while he’s lost a few coordinators along the way, Josh McDaniels is once again staying put. Asked about McDaniels declining to sign on with San Francisco, Kraft gave an interesting response.

“Well, you might read between the lines. This stuff doesn’t happen by accident,” Kraft said. “Bill and I have the longest owner-coach relationship by far in the league, and like I told you, continuity is important. Keeping it going . . . in 23 years, I’ve hired two coaches. You can look at the other teams.”

As for Trump, the Patriots owner hasn’t been shy about his support of the new president, whose ascension to the White House was laced with controversy. But as far as politics, and his relationship with Trump, all Kraft would comment on is the continuing gridlock in Washington.

“One thing, especially fans who don’t understand the game of football, and don’t understand what a team game it is, I wish many of the values we try to implement in the NFL, and the Patriots, I wish there were more of that in Washington because the only way you win (is) you’ve got to depend on the guy on your left, and the guy on your right,” Kraft said. “The lessons you learn playing football are lessons for life. I wish we would have more (cooperation) in Washington, to be honest. It’s not the red team, it’s not the blue team. It’s the red, white and blue team.”

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