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Patriots coach Bill Belichick does not share in the widespread panic that seems to have engulfed Patriot fandom over the losses of free agents Willie McGinest (Cleveland), Adam Vinatieri (Indianapolis), and David Givens (Tennessee), key starters on the team's recent Super Bowl championship squads.
Meanwhile, in the two weeks teams have been able to sign free agents, New England has added only Reche Caldwell, a receiver considered a disappointment with the Chargers, who selected him in the second round in 2002.
''This is all part of the process," Belichick said yesterday. ''You do everything you can to improve the team when you can do it. That's the process. And it doesn't stop, really, until you get to the regular season. We have a long way to go."
As far as losing players to other teams, Belichick points to the long list of players who have departed in recent years, rattling off the names of Ty Law, Joe Andruzzi, and Ted Washington to illustrate there are changes each offseason.
''Every team has to go through it," Belichick said.
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An interesting quote....translated..the team gets older..players move on and younger players come in...the changing of the guard...
The "changing of the guard" saying may be accurate, then again the old "if it ain't broken don't fix it" saying may be true as well. No one can realistically expect every player to return but it to lose this many core players is disconcerting.
I remain concerned that BB will have a tough time replacing the "older" players who were still playing at a high level. Remeber some of these old players have been instrumental in the Pats success. Let's not pull a Duquette- Clemens where a player is deemed to be in the twilight of his career simply because of his chronological age. Granted I know baseball is different but the lost Pat players IMO still have a lot in the tank.
They had a couple of holes to fill after the Denver loss and (so far) another four our five holes have appeared in the past couple of weeks.
__________________ Yes...I am the proud "chowd" and PITA known as PatriotReign on JetsInsider "
The "changing of the guard" saying may be accurate, then again the old "if it ain't broken don't fix it" saying may be true as well. No one can realistically expect every player to return but it to lose this many core players is disconcerting.
I remain concerned that BB will have a tough time replacing the "older" players who were still playing at a high level. Remeber some of these old players have been instrumental in the Pats success. Let's not pull a Duquette- Clemens where a player is deemed to be in the twilight of his career simply because of his chronological age. Granted I know baseball is different but the lost Pat players IMO still have a lot in the tank.
They had a couple of holes to fill after the Denver loss and (so far) another four our five holes have appeared in the past couple of weeks.
would you feel the same if these three (Givens, Adam, and Willie) had just retired? would there be all the doom and gloom? I think 90% of all the sky is falling stuff is because they were popular players that went to other teams. I bet that if they retired, then we would not be in panic mode, even though we would have to replace them anyway. Let put this all in perspective...we act like Givens was the number one reciever...he was not, and can be replaced very easy. Adam is a kicker, a very good, very clutch kicker that has played a big part in our Dynasty, but you just can't justify paying a kicker the money he just got from the Colts. Thats why they will never win...they have a lot of money tied up in a few starters and the rest of the team stinks IMO as we have our money spread out over every player, thus the quality from top to bottom of our roster is solid throughout. Willie was also a very good, very clutch player but again, no way in hell can we afford to pay him what he got. That just does not make for good use of funds. So, the biggest problem with the fans is thinking with emotions. I will tell you this, if i had to chosse between the Pats winning superbowl and Tom Brady, i would go with the superbowl, even though he my favorite player. I would be heart broken is he left, but if my team was to continue to win the ring, all is good.
''This is all part of the process," Belichick said yesterday. ''You do everything you can to improve the team when you can do it. That's the process. And it doesn't stop, really, until you get to the regular season. We have a long way to go."
''Every team has to go through it," Belichick said.
That's Crazy Talk. spend some money NOWWWW!!!!!!!!
Interesting you should say that. The fan reaction in New England over Adam's departure was akin to that of Bernie Kosar's benching in Cleveland. Certainly they were both different situations, but ultimately Belichick was proven correct with his decision to sit fan favorite Kosar.
That is not to say BB is always right, or will be in this case, but at the very least he and his staff have earned some leeway with what they've accomplished. In other words, let's give them the benefit of the doubt, wait and see. It's still only March.
Here is the laundry list of potential fallout from these moves:
We may have decided that one of our 3 starting caliber OLBs at age 34 is closer to finished than he really is. OK, we decided not to delay the inevitable.
We may end up with a decent K with no good or bad record as a clutch kicker in place of a decent one with a good record in the clutch. Aside from the Snow Bowl the clutch guy did nothing extraordinary that you would not expect 90% of the Ks in the NFL to do.
We are replacing our #2 WR. There is the possibility we will be worse at this position. OH MY GOD, WE ARENT ALLOWED TO EVER GET WORSE AT ANY POSITION OR THE DYNASTY IS OVER!!!!!! Now the reality check. I have a pretty good feeling that whoever we put on the field at WR will be better than the corps of Brown, Patten, and my grandmother that we won a SB with.
I'm sure that we can be as good or better than 2003 when Branch missed a lot of the season, Patten missed almost all of it, Brown was no longer starting caliber, and we had Givens, Bethel Johnson, Brown, and a host of nobodies and won a SB.
What is thye doom and gloom about?
We are returing:
The best QB in the NFL
The best DL in the NFL.
The entire OL, but for one backup.
The entire RB/FB postion.
The 2 top TEs.
3 of the top 4 LBs.
The entire secondary but for guys who didnt play when we played our best.
We have 20mill, lots of draft picks, and 4 1/2 months and we are lacking:
a KICKER
The #2 WR (I think Caldwell at least replace Dwight)
One LB
If we could just have a league average year in injuries for once, I think we're stronger this year than last. Fine, Givens is a loss, Vinatieri is and McGinest is fr the locker room and depth.
But we're also returning Light, Koppen, Graham, Gay, Chad Scott, and half our Safeties. And maybe even the real Dillon, we'll have to see about that.
Sure we'll have a few season ending injuries, it's the NFL. But if we can just be league average instead of league leading in injuries, we're better off now than last year IMO . . . and we still have gobs of cap room and draft choices.
If we could just have a league average year in injuries for once, I think we're stronger this year than last. Fine, Givens is a loss, Vinatieri is and McGinest is fr the locker room and depth.
But we're also returning Light, Koppen, Graham, Gay, Chad Scott, and half our Safeties. And maybe even the real Dillon, we'll have to see about that.
Sure we'll have a few season ending injuries, it's the NFL. But if we can just be league average instead of league leading in injuries, we're better off now than last year IMO . . . and we still have gobs of cap room and draft choices.
Wouldnt it make sense that cutting ties with older players may have this in mind?
BB speaks - briefly
No one can realistically expect every player to return but it to lose this many core players is disconcerting.
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