Poll: Could Pats FO done anything better? - New England Patriots Forums

jacksonfan · 11-09-2006, 08:47 AM

Jacksonfan here. Longtime reader, first time writer. My poll questions is this:
Given the fact that we lost Deion Branch, let Givens walk, wouldn't pay Ty Law what it would have taken to land him, didn't take any high round linebackers in recent drafts, and didn't lock up Vinatieri several years ago, could the Patriots Front Office (Belichick, Pioli) done better. This is a frustrating question for me, since it seems we could really use a Ty Law, and Deion Branch right now, not to mention some speedier linebackers, and it seems at least, like we would have had the cap room to sign these guys. What do you think? Sometimes I just don't get the Pats FO, but most of the time it turns out that they knew what they were doing all along. What's your take?

***BelichickFan*** · 11-09-2006, 09:04 AM

They thought Branch would play this year. Jackson and Caldwell were fine replacement for Givens. Adding Gabriel was pretty good for the point in the offseason they did it. Of course in retrospect they may draft Greg Jennings with their #2 and not trade up. Or even draft Colston in the 6th round - but they don't have the benefit of hindsight when they're making the decisions.

PatsFanSince74 · 11-09-2006, 09:31 AM

i thought we'd beaten this horse to death many times out here two months ago. my answer today? "Yeah, sure. so what?"

***Tunescribe*** · 11-09-2006, 09:35 AM

Losing Vinatieri doesn't bother me any longer, though I wish they would have extended Givens and Branch long before it came to their leaving. It'd be great to still have Law, but he's a greedy money-grubbing problem child.

***DarrylS*** · 11-09-2006, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacksonfan

Sometimes I just don't get the Pats FO, but most of the time it turns out that they knew what they were doing all along. What's your take?

Not sure what you are looking for, but we are 6-2 and have a few injuries. I have felt from the onset that this team will will between 11-13 games, I am not sure of what your concern is. Every team has some weaknesses, but overall this is a very strong team that will only get better as the season progresses. I would have liked to see Ty stay, but he wanted too much cash. Deion, got his big payday in Seattle and essentially reneged on his contract, if the pats rewarded him for walking out how do you deal with the rest of the guys in the locker room? They had no choice, Givens was worth more to the lowly Titans than he was to the Patriots. Vinateri essentially extended his career 3 or 4 years by going to a dome.

This is not new info, but blaming the front office for some poor execution on Sunday nite is not the answer.. the answer is with the game plan of the coaching staff and execution of the players.

jacksonfan · 11-09-2006, 10:09 AM

In response to the who cares reply, I can understand your sentiments. What bothers me though is that when theres an obvious move they could make which would appear to put them over the top and give them the best chance to win another superbowl, they never do it. Now, I know I'm gonna get killed for this, but the way I see it, they keep a disciplined fiscal approach and put a value on every position and stick to their guns, they never overpay for a guy no matter what, and this seems to yield a solid, competitive team every year. But this year, I feel that since they had the cap room, if they'd ponied up a little extra for Law, and rewritten Branch's contract, this would have really made a difference and given them that little extra talent that would have put them over the top. Perhaps we would have been able to cover Indy's receivers better or maybe Branch would have not let that last throw bounce off his hands and we would have tied the game. I just think that the Front Office needs to be more flexible in special situations. I think exceptions to the rule should have been made for Branch and Law, that's all. I mean, why do all the right things to make yourself a solid, competitive team, and then not do those little extra things (i.e. signing Law and Branch) to put yourself over the top.

TomBrady'sGoat · 11-09-2006, 10:18 AM

I have to give the front office a pass on Deion. They seemed to have allocated money for him and planned to resign him. There wasn't really any way for them to know his agent was going to insist on tearing up the final year of the contract, and there was no way they could have done it.

As for Vin, yeah in hindsight I wish that 2 years ago they had re-signed him to a 3 or 4 year extension. I'd like to have him around still for this year and maybe next. They had to eventually move on from him though.

Caldwell is a fine replacement for Givens. Maybe I'm weird but I kinda like the guy. Hopefully Jackson develops and pushes Caldwell down a rung on the depth chart.

They deserve credit for getting Gabriel for a 5th when they really needed a receiver.

Ty Law chose KC over NE. the money was about the same. I guess the Pats could have offered more and made the decision easy on him. Aging vets tend to be best if you can get them for short years/money. deviate and you often find yourself regretting it.

As for the linebackers, I find it hard to complain about a good rotation. they just better address the position in this year's draft. Tully may be the only currect LB who will be on the team in 3 years, and he might be gone after this year anyway.

It is what it is. They could definitely have done better. At the same time, they could have done much worse. sometimes the moves you don't make are just as beneficial as the ones you do.

***cstjohn17*** · 11-09-2006, 10:45 AM

I agree with you, and will likely also get killed for this. More could have been done to put the team in a position to win a championship. The team should still be in the running but it looks more like a one and done playoff team than a Superbowl champion. I don't want to be the Atlanta Braves and just make the play-off each year, we are lucky and spoiled to have won 3 titles but have an unique opportunity to win even more. IMO little was done to plug obvious offseason holes (CB depth, no top WRs and lack of speed at LB).

But as PatsFanSince74 said, not much we can do about it now. All I will be doing is enjoying the rest of regular season, 8 straight games at 1:00 is very sweet. It ends with another AFC East title and the playoffs, life is not so bad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacksonfan

In response to the who cares reply, I can understand your sentiments. What bothers me though is that when theres an obvious move they could make which would appear to put them over the top and give them the best chance to win another superbowl, they never do it. Now, I know I'm gonna get killed for this, but the way I see it, they keep a disciplined fiscal approach and put a value on every position and stick to their guns, they never overpay for a guy no matter what, and this seems to yield a solid, competitive team every year. But this year, I feel that since they had the cap room, if they'd ponied up a little extra for Law, and rewritten Branch's contract, this would have really made a difference and given them that little extra talent that would have put them over the top. Perhaps we would have been able to cover Indy's receivers better or maybe Branch would have not let that last throw bounce off his hands and we would have tied the game. I just think that the Front Office needs to be more flexible in special situations. I think exceptions to the rule should have been made for Branch and Law, that's all. I mean, why do all the right things to make yourself a solid, competitive team, and then not do those little extra things (i.e. signing Law and Branch) to put yourself over the top.

***psychoPat*** · 11-09-2006, 10:46 AM

There seem to be three aspects to front office work:
Drafting ...
Retaining / Extending ...
and Free Agents.

Belioli's drafts may well be the best among all 32 clubs over his tenure. (You know all the names.)

Of those dismissed or "allowed" to leave, i miss only Givens and Branch -
because of that special affinity between QB and WR, of which Manning-Harrison is the archtype.
Branch is the villain there. Yes, David should have been extended at reasonable money
before he even heard what Tennessee would pay.

I think the FO's STREET free agent recruiting has been outstanding.
Of the various celebrity UFAs in recent years, i wish only
that John Lynch ... Derrick Mason ... and Javon Walker had whispered Yes.

PatsFanSince74 · 11-09-2006, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacksonfan

In response to the who cares reply, I can understand your sentiments. What bothers me though is that when theres an obvious move they could make which would appear to put them over the top and give them the best chance to win another superbowl, they never do it. Now, I know I'm gonna get killed for this, but the way I see it, they keep a disciplined fiscal approach and put a value on every position and stick to their guns, they never overpay for a guy no matter what, and this seems to yield a solid, competitive team every year. But this year, I feel that since they had the cap room, if they'd ponied up a little extra for Law, and rewritten Branch's contract, this would have really made a difference and given them that little extra talent that would have put them over the top. Perhaps we would have been able to cover Indy's receivers better or maybe Branch would have not let that last throw bounce off his hands and we would have tied the game. I just think that the Front Office needs to be more flexible in special situations. I think exceptions to the rule should have been made for Branch and Law, that's all. I mean, why do all the right things to make yourself a solid, competitive team, and then not do those little extra things (i.e. signing Law and Branch) to put yourself over the top.

Assuming that mine was the "who cares" reply to which you refer,my point was that a lot of us who cared a lot spent a lot of time discussing this two months ago. now it's water under the bridge, the season is in full swing and we're 6--2, whatever piolichick might have done better. to summarize my views as expressed then: can't figure letting number Four go; it would have been nice to keep givens and mcginest, but there are reasons why you'd let them go too; i regret that we didn't get law; brady obviously is better with deion but he's making do just fine. back to the season now, OK?