ivanvamp

From: Team Preview: New England Patriots - NFL - ESPN (yes, I know some of you here hate espn and won't click on it...that's fine):

"DIVISION FINISH: 1 With Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker -- not to mention a rejuvenated Fred Taylor and Joey Galloway -- this is the best offense in the NFL and could rewrite records. And it'll need to be, with a defense relying on two rookies and a bunch of aging vets." (by Seth Wickersham)

Ok, so two rookies and a bunch of aging vets? Let's look at their projected defensive roster:

DL
Warren - 28
Green - 30
Burgess - 31
Wright - 27
Pryor - 23
Brace - 22
Wilfork - 27
Avg age: 26.8

LB
Mayo - 23
Guyton - 23
Alexander - 27
Thomas - 32
Woods - 27
Banta-Cain - 29
Ninkovich - 25
Avg age: 26.5 (25.6 without Thomas)

DB
Bodden - 27
Springs - 34
Wilhite - 25
Butler - 23
Wheatley - 24
Sanders - 25
McGowan - 25
Slater - 23
Meriweather - 25
Chung - 22
Lockett - 22
Avg age: 25.0 (24.1 without Springs)

So this defense has 4 guys over the age of 29. 14 of the 25 (56%) are 25 or younger. It's precisely the *opposite* of what Wickersham said. He said they are relying on a couple of rookies and a bunch of aging vets. In reality, they're relying on a few aging vets and a bunch of young guys.

italia44

.........he included Floyd Reese,Dante and Dean Pees.

patchick

Sounds to me like the writeup was done before Bruschi and Seymour's names were erased.

ivanvamp

Might have been, but that site says it was updated on Sept 7 (yesterday).

jmt57

No point in letting facts get in the way of good story.

cmasspatsfan

ESPN having a sucky inaccurate article, what are the odds

olschool

The trouble is it's too easy for these " reporters " to report. They spout all kinds of garbage and click "submit". There's no way the editors can keep up with all the info. In the old days they would have to type it out on paper, and submit it to the editor for approval. These days, as with everything on the web, you can expect that just about everything you see, will need further research, before you can believe it.

TruthSeeker

Indeed, the "aging vets" on defense has been fodder for commentators for a few years. That fact that it has changed just indicates how much these "experts" really follow the teams they comment on. I heard the same thing on Fox Sports talk radio late last week.

Reckedtrek

The good news is that ESPN has us as possible SuperBowl contenders with Bledsoe and Terry Glenn leading the offense, no one can stop us now!

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... I use heavy strings, tune low, play hard and floor it. Floor it, That's technical talk. ~ Stevie Ray Vaughan
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Metaphors

To be fair, most of the guys on that list are technically "vets". And I'm pretty confident that all of them are "aging" to some degree (if not, I'm sure Arlen Specter would have already asked for an investigation).