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Wish they were a tad Bolder and had told Crable to get his fragile butt out of town (cue the Crable lovers...).
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What do you suppose is the all-time record for trades by one team in one off-season? (Player trades, not moving up and down the draft board.)
From memory, so probably incomplete:
- Traded away Cassel & Vrabel
- Traded for Lewis
- Traded for A. Smith
- Traded away Hobbs
- Traded for Burgess
- Traded away L. Smith
- Traded away Hochstein
- Traded away Thomas
- Traded for Matthews
- Traded away Seymour
That's pretty wild in a league where player trades aren't especially common.
I see what you're saying in a way. But really the only move that could significantly backfire for us is trading Seymour. The rest of the moves have been smart, calculated, low risk good reward type moves. Pioli was here for some marquis FA signings like Rosey and ADT. As well as the release of Lawyer Milloy. I would even have the Moss and Welker trades as more bold moves than most of what happened before today's trade.
It was not bold to trade Cassel for anything we could get. Anything else would have been crazy. We need the cap money.
Belichick brought in new blood for the offense in Taylor, Baker and Galloway. With a healthy Brady and even a healthy Maroney added, we surely project to have one of the best offenses ever.
We had the #10 defense in the NFL. With a few ADDITIONS on the defense (Bodden and Springs), the team was the Super Bowl favorite.
There are many, many words for the transformation of our defense in one short year. Aggressive might be one such word. I assume you think it is better to be aggressive than prudent.
Yes, I think that it was absolutely awesome to secure Taylor, Baker, Galloway, Lewis, Bodden, Springs and McGowan. And yes, we had amazing draft (other than trading Hobbs for Ohrnberger).
If this was all there was, this offseason would have be awesome. Everyone was expecting a Super Bowl win. And we have three #2's in 2010.
All this was awesome. You might call it aggressive.
=============================================
AND THEN THERE IS THIS PLAN TO COMPLETELY REVAMP THE DEFENSE
Gone are Seymour, Harrison, Bruschi, Vrabel, Hobbs and LeKevin Smith. Gone is the 3-4.
Gone are thoughts of the need for backup inside linebackers. Our pass-rush was perceived to be a problem, so we will solve this by getting rid of Seymour and instead relying on Burgess and Banta-Cain. Simple folk might think that the secondary was the problem not the 3-4.
For years, we have been talking about the players not being suited for the 4-3. Belichick fixed that! Belichick is taking an enormous risk. Make no mistake. Once he had brought in the defensive additions, he could have had some tweaks to the defense and improved it from #10, especially with Brady back.
Instead, Belichick is rolling the dice, hoping to develop a defense in a few weeks, hopefully before the playoffs. We may still see some defensive additions. Free agant Carter could easily start for our Super Bowl defense.
And to think a few weeks ago, we were worried whether Burgess and Banta-Cain would provide enough of an improvement in the pass rush.
This season will be fun, perhaps like 2001. My preference would have been less fun, and a season like 2004 where the team methodically moved to the Super Bowl with no real question marks along the way. But perhaps Belichick will win his bet and the Brady Bunch will be so awesome that the defense will often be playing from way ahead and will be good enough to take us the distance. We can only hope and pray.
developing a new defense???? now??? he's got the bodies to continue to play the 3-4 effectively..........
just like EVERY year, we can only hope and pray........
I see what you're saying in a way. But really the only move that could significantly backfire for us is trading Seymour.
May or may not backfire in the short term, but in the bigger picture it was not going to be realistic to be able to resign both Sey and Wilfork. Not to mention that we have to take care of Brady.
I am stunned that an organization would give up a first round pick for a player who is in the last year of his contract, much less an organization like the hotel.
May or may not backfire in the short term, but in the bigger picture it was not going to be realistic to be able to resign both Sey and Wilfork. Not to mention that we have to take care of Brady.
I am stunned that an organization would give up a first round pick for a player who is in the last year of his contract, much less an organization like the hotel.
If we come up short this year we are going to be second guessing this trade, justified or not, that's just how it is.
If we win the Super Bowl, this deal is a slam dunk. Guys like Pryor and Brace are getting more reps than they would have. And the Raiders aren't turning it around anytime soon I am confident that 2011 pick will be a top 10. Either way, in the long run it is going to help us I agree. But when you're the favorites to win it all, this is still a very bold move.
What do you suppose is the all-time record for trades by one team in one off-season? (Player trades, not moving up and down the draft board.)
From memory, so probably incomplete:
- Traded away Cassel & Vrabel
- Traded for Lewis
- Traded for A. Smith
- Traded away Hobbs
- Traded for Burgess
- Traded away L. Smith
- Traded away Hochstein
- Traded away Thomas
- Traded for Matthews
- Traded away Seymour
That's pretty wild in a league where player trades aren't especially common.
9 months ago I posted an early blueprint for a proposed Pats offseason and draft:
It included a lot of suggestions which were far from clear at the time, such as franchising and trading Matt Cassel (at the time, there were still rumors of Brady not healing from his post-ACL repair infection). It proposed building a younger, more aggressive, attacking defense, and suggested that players such as Harrison, Vrabel and Bruschi were pretty much done and were marginal at best, and on the bubble. It also suggested that if we could someone to overspend and give us a 1st round pick for Richard Seymour in his contract year, that we should seriously consider trading him. A lot of the ideas were meant to stir up discussion and were controversial.
The FO has been criticized for holding on to valued veterans too long. We have been victimized by the same players who won SBs for us in the past few years, as Bruschi, Harrison and Vrabel have slowed and become injury prone. This year, the FO has been more ruthless than I could have imagined in jettisoning players from the past. As recently as a few weeks ago posters form this board raised the possibilty of signing Willie McGinest, Junior Seau, or Roosevelt Colvin as short-term stop-gaps. But the FO has clearly made a sharp separation from the past. Bruschi, Seau, Vrabel, Colvin and Izzo are gone from last year's LB squad. Harrison, Hobbs, and the unlamented Deltha O'Neal are gone from the secondary. And we did find someone willing to give us a (probably high) first round pick for an aging defensive star in his contract year, and traded Seymour. All of this is a sharp break from past habits of holding on to players too long, and has been more decisive and ruthless than I could possibly have imagined. And that doesn't include the offensive changes.
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid
"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi
My thinking is that BB is trying to accomplish two things with all these moves.
1.) He is trying to upgrade a defense that is NOT championship calibre and has not been for several years now.
2.) He is also exercising control over the locker room. Tow the company line and life is wonderful. Otherwise all beefs and unresolved disagreements will be dealt with.
At the end of the day, this is BB evaluating his team and BB listening to his locker room and making the moves he sees thinks will accomplish goals in the short and long term.
My thinking is that BB is trying to accomplish two things with all these moves.
1.) He is trying to upgrade a defense that is NOT championship calibre and has not been for several years now.
2.) He is also exercising control over the locker room. Tow the company line and life is wonderful. Otherwise all beefs and unresolved disagreements will be dealt with.
At the end of the day, this is BB evaluating his team and BB listening to his locker room and making the moves he sees thinks will accomplish goals in the short and long term.
The defence was championship calibre in 2007. They held the Giants to 17 points and were one dropped INT or one freaky catch away from winning that year.
Re: Bolder FO?
Linear Mode
