JR4

This really a fun read .... Kalle Oakes has a way with words.
Very enjoyable read yet makes some profound statements.
I wish I could hand deliver it to Deion.

Enjoy

http://www.sunjournal.com/sports/local/20060820128.php

I love this one

"... Bill is the vine here. Everybody else is merely a Branch."

Mike the Brit

How good Deion is is a matter of dispute, but to call him "little more than a fair to middling receiver" is grossly unfair. Ask Tom Brady.

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My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

JR4

Good point. I agree with others that he is at the level of Reggie Wayne.
Certainly better than your average receiver.

mgcolby

893 yards of total offense in two pre-season games, I don't think the offensive production is helping out his cause much!

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Hey, Bill you're wasting Brady's prime years......oh wait....
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mgcolby

a fair to middling number 1 is exactly what he is.

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MoLewisrocks

"Yes, he is a Super Bowl MVP. So are defensive backs Larry Brown and Dexter Jackson, both of whom disappeared from the radar screen so quickly that I'm expecting to see them surface as NFL Network studio analysts any second now.

Branch's individual honor in the Big Game With The Roman Numerals was more a concerted effort by the media to be different and give the award to someone other than Tom Brady than anything else. His 11 catches against the Philadelphia Eagles and 10 versus the Carolina Panthers in back-to-back Super Bowls reflect Brady's command of the big stage. It's impossible to know what they really tell us about Branch.

Compared to the rest of Branch's career, those numbers stand out like Randy Moss at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes convention. Branch's average National Football League season in his four years out of Louisville: 53 catches, 686 yards, four touchdowns.

Decent numbers. Alvin Harper numbers compared to Michael Irvin. John Taylor numbers compared to Jerry Rice. Not the kind of numbers that should persuade the dominant team of the decade to slide the chips to the center of the table and begrudgingly mutter, "all in."

Branch is not in Wayne's area code. Nor for that matter do we need our #1 WR to be. Deion's strength is as a cerebral WR. Not necessarily a highly portable skill in the NFL though as there are not that many cerebral offenses and even fewer QB's capable of running them. Most need help from a big, strong, fast, beats coverage kind of WR with dominant physical skills and durability, and that is something the twig will never be. He landed in the optimum situation for maximizing his finesse skill set, and while he gets credit for working hard at holding up his end early, his response now is to thumb his nose at it. Brady can adapt to life without Branch easier than Deion will adjust to life without Brady.

Fair to middling WR may be harsh, fair to middling #1 is not. But take him out of this system and away from this QB and he might just morph into precisely that.

SVN

"After all, this is New England. This is the franchise Belichick built. To express the equation in Biblical proportions, Bill is the vine here. Everybody else is merely a Branch."
Nice line...

Pats726

A very good article...I like hsi style..he does say it all..

Willie55

That sums it up right there.

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JoeSixPat

I agree - and in principal therefore he should be expecting no more than 1a type money... and I agree with the Front office pricipal of not paying more than he's worth

breaking that principal could wreak havoc in negotiations with other players

the problem is, given the inflated NewCBA salary cap - its really really tough to guage what fair market value is.

I would think that the Patriots can overpay (and right now we can afford it) and still retain the ability to say they didn't pay him more than he was worth

I mean how far apart are the two sides?

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