T-ShirtDynasty

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ast/index.html

More of the same... Fish won their last six games and have Culpepper now, so they're on the rise. Pats lost Adam, Willie and Givens, so they're in transition. Yada yada yada. Still an okay off-season read for those looking to avoid work.

fgssand

They just love to write off these Patriots this summer. Seems to be the popular theme for all prognosticators. Luckily, they are almost always w-r-o-n-g and will be once again.

Ho Hum.......we get #4 this year.

SunnyDenmark

Banks calls the Pats 'Team in Transition' and that is not the first we have heard it this off-season. But the way the writers spin it - it sounds more like the team is 'Lost in Transition' to (almost) quote a recent good movie title.

BB says that each new year is the rebuilding process and starting to push the boulder up the mountain all over again. It seems each year is a big transition with new FA's & rookies coming in the front door while traitors and scapegoats are quickly leaving out the back door.

I think each year we panic just a little looking at the loss of personnel. But the system is still intact - a system which has exceeded all our our wildest dreams. I'm not saying we shouldn't be somewhat critical - let's all have a go at it here in the verbal (gladiator) forum. It is fun to play 'arm chair General Manager'. But transition is not the devil it is made out to be. It allows the aquisition of new young blood and the letting go of unfulfilled hopes. It is HOW the transition is handled that determines the ensueing result the following season. And my money is still on BB / SP.

Or should we just fire all the coaches and clean house every few years to put the 'fear of god' in the troops / shake things up a bit? It seems to be a common theme throughout the league. If everyone else is doing it - doesn't that make it right?

PromisedLand

At least he didn't harp on the fact that the Dolphins won their last six games in 2005, my nominee for Most Frequently Quoted Misleading Statistic by the NFL Media. Playing at home, they barely beat the Patriots 2nd and 3rd stringers.

Had the Patriots needed the game and played their first team all the way, they almost certainly would have beaten that sorry Fins team. Then the Fins would have finished 8-8 and the Pats would have finished 11-5, and the media would have had to find some other misleading stat to harp on.

__________________
It's so simple, even a Jets fan could do it.ä
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

SunnyDenmark

Or if Cassell didn't have that 2 pt conversion pass slip out of his hand. Shame that was - damn rookies. (thanks for moving up 5 extra draft slots though).

PromisedLand

Exactly. BB and Cassell will never admit it but let's be honest - they really didn't want to win that game (wink, wink).

__________________
It's so simple, even a Jets fan could do it.ä
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

SunnyDenmark

I didn't see the game (only heard it via Internet) - but I recall the announcers generally saying something about BB giving a very animated lecture to Cassell on the sidelines (during a timeout) just before the 2 point conversion attempt. It didn't sound as if BB was to happy with the long TD drive. Did the TV show this (the timeout 'chat') at all?

JoeSixPat

Hmmm - Patriots lose players, AFC upstart gains players.... must be a winning formula, no?

Go back to 2003 and see what they were saying about the Bills signing of Takeo Spikes and Jeff Posey, Sam Adams and, of course, Lawyer Milloy, adding all that to an offense featuring Drew Bledsoe, Eric Moulds and Travis Henry.

What'd they finish that year?

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

smg93

I know I'm in the minority here but I actually thought it was a fair assesment from an outsiders perspective. Every team right now is excited about its newcomers particularly from the draft since not every team spends big for free agency. Even if we believe that we've covered most of our FA losses through our acquisitions of new players, that's a common reaction across the NFL before training camp, preseason and the regular season has started.

He didn't crucify the Pats for losing talent (and as much as we'd like to deny this sometimes, Willie, DG, and AV are talented playmakers), he merely stated that we would have to transition or get used to not having them around and putting new people in their place. I think that's fair.

JoeSixPat

Yup - I had hope in 2001, 2003, and 2004 too!

Everyone has hope this time of year.

The lesson to be learned however is that teams making a big splash in Free Agency aren't necessarilly any more likely to make it to the playoffs, so I just wouldn't put too much stock in what probably seems like a good offseason to most Fin Fans.

Buffalo fans must have been pretty pumped with those signings as well.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.