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And he also lists Chad Brown.... as a key departure... in a story posted August 14th... Research, apparently, is a little used tool in online 'journalism'.. all this from a website that claims to be a sports-betting blog. Anyone taking advice on how to spend their money from those guys better be prepared to lose a chunk.
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Fortunately someone who knows football IS building a team around Tom Brady.
Lets review for the slow.
RB. Traded for an elite RB in 2004, and won a SB, giving 'the franchise' a strong rb to open the passing game. Drafted RB #1 as soon as the elite RB show signs of wear and tear.
OL. Locked up the LT that has protected him his entire career to a long term deal in 2004. Drafted 2 backups plans at LT in 2005, both of whom are/will be starters at other positions. Resigned Neal. Drafted 2 more OL this year.
TE. Drafted a receiving TE #1 in 2004 to go along with the previous #1. Drafted another receiving TE in the 3rd this year. Drafted another receiving TE, who may be a FB or Hback in the 4th.
WR. REPLACED the 7th round draft choice that may well have been successful BECAUSE of Brady with arguably the best WR in the draft, who is an immense upgrade in physical skills over Givens. Added another WR in FA who is starting caliber, and no telling what he can do with Brady throwing to him.
When Brady became the starter, the WRs were Troy Brown, David Patten, Charles Johnson, and Fred Coleman.
They are now Branch, Caldwell, Jackson, Brown.
The offense since Brady first started has done the following:
LT- Same, with better depth
LG- First round pick
C- 4th round pick
RG- Developed a started, and drafted depth.
RT- Developed a starter and drafted depth.
WR- See above
TE. Went from Rod Rutldege and Jermaine Wiggins to 2 #1s Graham and Watson, a #3 and a #4.
RB. Went from Antowain Smith to Corey Dillon and Lawrence Maroney. Kept Faulk around for Brady to throw to on 3rd down.
I understand that BB doesnt run a fantasy football team, and that disappoints people who wish we could have LT, Tony Gonzalez, Chad Johnson, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. Its easier to like your team if you dont have to know anything about football and can rely on guys the media say are talented (then watch them not be a good football team) but anyone who thinks BB has not devoted a boatload of resources to surrounding Brady with talent either isnt paying attention or doesnt understand what they are paying attention to.
Minor quibble: "C - 4th round pick" - Koppen was drafted in the fifth round, was he not?
I don't know if this team will take a step back in 2006 but I see
a dangerous trend beginning.
I have followed the Pats since 1959 when they did not even have
a name. I would read the paper each day to see what player Mike
Holovak had signed.
Prior to the BB/Pioli era, the Pats had a few good teams but they did
not have any staying power. Ownership would intefere (Chuck Sullivan)or the general manager was inept(Bobby Grier). The Pats would lose good
players and replace them with inferior ones.
Free agency this year was not a good year for the Patriots. They lost
good players and signed players that other teams had discarded. I'm
fearful that our policy may be to discard players like Deon Branch, Daniel
Graham, Dan Koppen,and Assante Samuel after their rookie contract expires.
I don't know if this team will take a step back in 2006 but I see
a dangerous trend beginning.
I have followed the Pats since 1959 when they did not even have
a name. I would read the paper each day to see what player Mike
Holovak had signed.
Prior to the BB/Pioli era, the Pats had a few good teams but they did
not have any staying power. Ownership would intefere (Chuck Sullivan)or the general manager was inept(Bobby Grier). The Pats would lose good
players and replace them with inferior ones.
Free agency this year was not a good year for the Patriots. They lost
good players and signed players that other teams had discarded. I'm
fearful that our policy may be to discard players like Deon Branch, Daniel
Graham, Dan Koppen,and Assante Samuel after their rookie contract expires.
as you surely know i really love the posts that regards our past and i thks you for it too but i think that we can not compare present years with the past (that, again, i love too).
our 'today's' organisation is probably the best in the NFL
i think we never had in our history :
1 - a strong ownership like Mr Kraft
2 - probably the best Nfl head coach (BB)
3 - probably the best Nfl executive (SP)
4 - probably the best Nfl qb (TB)
5 - probably the best Nfl dl (RS)
this is the reason why i believe in the New England Patriots organisation
but i love the post from the 'beginning fans', really !
compliments to you to be a fan from day zero.
Last edited by italian pat patriot; 08-16-2006 at 08:17 AM..
I don't know if this team will take a step back in 2006 but I see
a dangerous trend beginning.
I have followed the Pats since 1959 when they did not even have
a name. I would read the paper each day to see what player Mike
Holovak had signed.
Prior to the BB/Pioli era, the Pats had a few good teams but they did
not have any staying power. Ownership would intefere (Chuck Sullivan)or the general manager was inept(Bobby Grier). The Pats would lose good
players and replace them with inferior ones.
Free agency this year was not a good year for the Patriots. They lost
good players and signed players that other teams had discarded. I'm
fearful that our policy may be to discard players like Deon Branch, Daniel
Graham, Dan Koppen,and Assante Samuel after their rookie contract expires.
I think the "policy" is to set a value for each player. With 31 other teams also able to set a value for that player, and many of them without the same level of fiscal discipline, it is more (rather than less) likely in any given case that the Pats "lose" a guy to free agency, assuming the player has anything to bring to the table.
And these past few years, each player has something to bring to the table in most years -- the SB ring. Even Branch, a year and a half removed from being SB MVP, is basically trying to get cleared for Free Agency based on the bloom staying on that rose. He knows he has low #1/high #2 numbers, and is likely to have again, under the Pats' system, and he wants #1 money or the right to look elsewhere. Well, nowhere is it written the Pats have to do that.
Okay, let's get some perspective -- I remember Sam "Bam" Cunningham. I don't remember if he ever played for another team, but to me he is a Patriot forever. Loved the guy.
But I loved him the same way I loved those lovable losing Sox teams all those years. Loved following his stat line and watching him in action, as often as not in losing efforts. Loved Grogan the same way, loved telling people how he's the best running QB in the league but he can throw too, how much more valuable he was than Bert Jones was to the Colts... etcetera. What I really hated was having to shut the hell up when someone dropped the A-bomb, which they usually did pretty quick, to wit: "yeah um did the Pats make the playoffs this year?" Sometimes they did, sometimes they did not, but they hardly ever made it past the first round. These days losing in the second round is the disappointment, not the promised land.
The model for winning is different from the model of loyalty, like elsewhere in society these days. Just like one company will discard you like a rusty sprocket if you try to do your whole career there, one team can only carry you on the roster year in and year out if you really do take a hit to stay (the Troy Brown example.) I am not "for" labor or management in this issue, for the league. I am just "for" my team - the Patriots.
In practice this means I can't really go off too much on "greedy" players, but I sure can't go off on "stupid" management because their approach lacks loyalty. Most players don't show it, management sure doesn't show it. It's a business, different from the fan experience of the league in that way....
But the way the Brown deal works, well, that just gives me warm fuzzies. Regardless of anybody else, Troy Brown has reacted to free agency by unabashedly saying "me? I got paid fine... just let me retire a Patriot." I don't call that foolish, I don't call it the "model" for anybody else... I just call it a beautiful exception to the current environment.
I don't know if this team will take a step back in 2006 but I see
a dangerous trend beginning.
I have followed the Pats since 1959 when they did not even have
a name. I would read the paper each day to see what player Mike
Holovak had signed.
Prior to the BB/Pioli era, the Pats had a few good teams but they did
not have any staying power. Ownership would intefere (Chuck Sullivan)or the general manager was inept(Bobby Grier). The Pats would lose good
players and replace them with inferior ones.
Free agency this year was not a good year for the Patriots. They lost
good players and signed players that other teams had discarded. I'm
fearful that our policy may be to discard players like Deon Branch, Daniel
Graham, Dan Koppen,and Assante Samuel after their rookie contract expires.
The key to winning in the salary cap era at least in terms of longevity is to draft well and develop your own talent. The way to not win or stay mediocre is to go and sign big name players every year that come with a big cap hit. The Patriots have drafted well and they mix in an affordable vet from time to time and they refuse to over pay for the players they developed for various reasons. So far with the exceptions of Woody and Law, I can't think of an ex-Patriot who left for the riches who ended up playing better for his new team than he did for the Patriots. I am hesitant to put law into that category because the Patriots insulted him with an offer that would have paid him more guaranteed money than he has secured in the last two years via FA.
For the record and the horse that represents this subject has already been fed to the dogs, we lost an aging OLB that was a fan favorite who did a lot of great things over the past 5 seasons. Then another former fan favorite, who is a kicker and a number 2 WR who left for number 1 money. I don't see how we lost anything substantial, I will concede the fact that I would still like to have Givens and it would make the WR corps look better as of this moment. But give it time the WR corps will work itself out its only August.
Don't let one of the one of the more notorious idiot's on this board get you down with one of his constant "the sky is falling" threads.
__________________
Hey, Bill you're wasting Brady's prime years......oh wait.... To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I don't know if this team will take a step back in 2006 but I see
a dangerous trend beginning.
I have followed the Pats since 1959 when they did not even have
a name. I would read the paper each day to see what player Mike
Holovak had signed.
Prior to the BB/Pioli era, the Pats had a few good teams but they did
not have any staying power. Ownership would intefere (Chuck Sullivan)or the general manager was inept(Bobby Grier). The Pats would lose good
players and replace them with inferior ones.
Free agency this year was not a good year for the Patriots. They lost
good players and signed players that other teams had discarded. I'm
fearful that our policy may be to discard players like Deon Branch, Daniel
Graham, Dan Koppen,and Assante Samuel after their rookie contract expires.
How many players that were on the 2001 SB WINNING team were still on the Pats when they WON the SB in 2004? There was substantial "turnover" wasn't there? Every year the Pats "lose" players and plug new ones in and have had success. Hey the Pats didn't WIN the SB last year...they are taking a "step back". The season hasn't started and the roster isn't even set yet and we are "giving up". Last year we didn't have a great FA season, I don't think anyone "worked out" for us of our sigings....yet with all the injuries throughout the season that decimated our O line and secondary we had to have Brady and other reliable vets make mistakes and some terrible calls to stop our play off run in Denver. Take away the mistakes or the calls and we probably win that game and more liely than not go on to the SB.
Wait I know let me go find a BLOG with "homer" opinions to counter mikeys chicken little BLOG. I would have hated to see what you people would have said during the "bad" years of this organization. No one needs to be rah rah all the time but really the level of whining is amazing you would swear this is a AZ Cards board.
NOOOOOO!!!!! Where will we EVER find the TE depth to recover from the Fauria Loss??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! This is just like when we lost Wiggins!
PFnV
No, It not an apt comaprison. Wiggins was at least slow youngster, who could catch and when everyone slowed down to his speeed in a snowstorm, he went wild.
Fauria was a receiving TE who turned 35 after slowing down each of the last two seasons. He received a retirement present from Dandy Don Snyder and signed as a "blocking TE". Proving he has Not a Clue.
Re: Patriots will take a step back in 2006
Linear Mode
