A season dedicated to his late wife Myra fell just short of the ending he had envisioned, but New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft nevertheless praised his team's "strength and spirit" in the wake of Sunday's gut-wrenching loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. Kraft spoke briefly to the media Monday afternoon after the team had arrived at Gillette Stadium in buses, passing a couple hundred fans who waited behind barriers to greet their fallen heroes. Included in the crowd were a number of youngsters holding signs thanking the Patriots for a good season. "I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the fans for the support they gave the team and my family all year," said Kraft. "They came out even (Monday). That's unbelievable to me. "When we dedicated this season to my sweetheart, I spoke with the coaches and the players and asked them to do something that would be special in her honor. The strength and spirit I saw with the team was unlike any other team I've seen in my 18 years in the NFL. "That sense of spirit also generated by our fans was appreciated by the team and our family. That's something that I'm forever to be grateful for. I'm proud of our fans." Patriots coach Bill Belichick echoed Kraft's sentiments about the makeup of this team. "I'm real proud of them," he said. "They worked hard all year. They competed well all season and we won a lot of games. The ones we didn't win we fought right until the end and played very competitively. We did that last night and just came up a little bit short. I have all the respect in the world for the team, and all the players, what they've done for over six months. It's not about one game or one play or anything, it's a whole body of work. "I really, really enjoyed coaching this team. I have a lot of respect for them." Read more: http://espn.go.com/boston/story/_/i...-praises-new-england-patriots-strength-spirit
