BelizePats

mgteich is right. It's all about depth with Kazur now likely out for the season!
What concerns me is that Neal has not played a full season in years and I don't think it takes much of a leap of faith to assume that this trend will likely continue in 2010. If Neal goes down in game 4 and misses the next 4-6 weeks, then what?
At this point, after watching the second units inability to offer much in the way of protection in Atlanta, I'm hoping we pick up a late OG release from another team. I think we need another veteran with a few years battle tested NFL experience on this roster ASAP.
Mankins would be a great addition but I just don't see it happening. His time in NE looks to be done.
Given what's at stake (a healthy Tom Brady) and what looks like a strong 2010 team, I'd even be willing to part with the Panthers second that we own to secure the right veteran. Yes, its a steep price but its nothing to pay when the alternative might be getting Tom Brady killed.
Its all about depth and right now our OL depth looks shaky with the news of Kazur's back surgery.

PatsWickedPissah

Time for BB to pick up a vet OG discard for depth

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Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck." RAH

BPF

Quick-hit thoughts around NFL & Pats - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
Aristotle

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."
Socrates

STH since 1994....sec 236

KontradictioN

I seemed to remember you saying some glowing things about Bussey in the offseason.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

sg14

So our tackles are going to ne Light, Volmer and Levoir??

Bussey might make this team just due to a numbers game.

PatsFanSince74

Time to open the checkbook, pay Mankins and Brady and do that voodoo they do do so well on the cap.

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PatsWickedPissah

The 1st is simply not going to happen

The Pats apparently have an upper limit for their value on the OG position and it's not high enough for Mankins

Back to BB's past strategy of signing OGs off the scrap heap and Scar coaching them up. Hope it works.

__________________
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck." RAH

PatsFanSince74

That's not how I see it. The Pats now have one of the greatest if not the greatest QB ever to play the game going into his final three or so most productive years. (Maybe he'll prove to be Elway or Favre and produce at the highest level after 35, but we just can't know that. For now, Elway's the only QB to win a SB after he turned 36.) What we do know is that Tommy is playing at the highest level now and likely will for another few years.

I think they should throw out "the way we've always done it." A Tom Brady only comes to your team once in a generation, if that. Damn, but I think a healthy Brady could bring them two more trophies over the next three or four years. They've given him the tools. Now make sure he has an O line that can give him the time and save his body.

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Lamanai

What about Russ Hochstein? While he's not exactly the ticket to a Lombardi, he knows the Pats system, has excellent position flexibility (OG, C, FB, OT, TE) and could be available on the cheap (6th rounder?) Having him available for short yardage FB duties would eliminate the need/risk of Connolly to play that role. As I recall, he stepped up nicely in the biggest game of his career.

Not sure if Denver's line has enough experience to let him go, but it might be worth exploring. I for one would rather be pro active and go after a guy like RH than to wait for some castoff who is totally unfamiliar to the Pats. Just because some guy is a veteran, doesn't mean he's gonna stabilize our line in a pinch.

If there is some team out there with extraordinary OL depth, i'd be in favor of pulling a trade there as well. Draft pick (5th-7th), or a bubble guy. Baltimore is badly in need of CBs. Maybe Wilhite would interest them? Not sure if their blocking schemes are consistent with ours, so it might be a mismatch.

Just an idea...

UofApatsfan

Their behavior indicates that they have. They just made Vince Wilfork the 2nd highest paid DT in the NFL, and they won a bidding war with the Texans to resign Bodden. They wanna resign Mankins, his agent is just making the job impossible. A team trying to be more physical and run more is gonna want to keep its most physical run blocker.