jmt57

It's certainly a concern for a playoff contender to be counting on production from so many inexperienced players, but it's not as if this is a sudden unexpected turn of events. Before the final gun sounded in last year's playoff game, we all knew the Pats would be counting on a lot of rookies and second year players this year. This is the second year of rebuilding the team, though the fact the Pats never bottomed out to a double-digit losing season perhaps reload is a better term than rebuild.


WR: With Welker's injury the expectation at the end of last season was that Edelman would have to fill his role for most, if not all of 2010. Tate was being counted on to replace Galloway/Aiken. With Welker's miracle recovery he apparently will be available to start the season, but the two 2nd-year players were, and still are expected to have much more significant playing time this year.

TE: It wasn't much of a surprise that neither Watson or Baker returned to the team this year. And it was no shock that the Pats drafted a tight end early. However I didn't expect the Pats to select two tight ends early, and it looks like the Pats will be counting on far more production from them than I would have anticipated back in January.

OL: The lack of availability of Mankins and Kaczur was not expected at all seven months ago. It has resulted in Connolly going from the third OL off the bench to a starting position, and others (one or two of Bussey, Wendell, Ohrnberger) moving up in a backup role. Granted Connolly is not a rookie or 2nd year player, but he is someone with no starting experience that we were not expecting to have to count on a few months ago.

DL: The departure of Jarvis Green was expected; the loss of Ty Warren was not. Many (self included) expected the Pats to draft a DE, but their replacements are veterans. Regardless, the Pats will now count on more production from one or both of two 2nd year players, Ron Brace and Myron Pryor. That reminds me: what's Darryl Richard doing these days?

OLB: Parting ways with Adalius Thomas could not happen soon enough for most people. As expected the Pats drafted an OLB, and Jermaine Cunningham will be counted on heavily in his rookie season. What was not expected is how much the Pats may end up counting on other OLBs with little experience. Marques Murrell is in his 4th season but has never started, and Rob Ninkovich has never started either, with almost all of his time in his 23 NFL games coming on special teams.

ILB: Rookie Brandon Spikes will be starting, and Tyrone McKenzie has for all intents and purposes a rookie too.

CB: It was a mild surprise at most when Shawn Springs was let go. Darius Butler was thrust into a starting role, but he did get a decent amount of playing time when Springs was sidelined last year. Drafting another corner caught a lot of Pats fans by surprise, and Devin McCourty will be counted on to contribute very much this year.

S: Second year player Pat Chung played in about 20% of the team's defensive snaps last year; he'll be counted on in a very big way this season as a starter.

ST: Rookie Zoltan Mesko takes over as punter.

==========

That's seven players with no NFL experience the Pats will be counting on, plus seven 2nd-year players that are being counted on much more significantly then last year. On top of that there are four more players without starting experience that will be counted on to produce much more than they have in the past. That's a whole lot for any NFL team, and is probably unheard of for team that won the division the previous year.

Not to be a gloom-and-doomer, but I think it is realistic to be some growing pains somewhere along the way as these players gain valuable experience this season.

cloud34

I count 5 rookies (McCourty, Gronk, Spikes, Hernandez, Mesko) and six 2nd year guys (Chung, Butler, Vollmer, Tate, Ingram and Edelman) who almost certainly will be key factors (yes, LS is a key position). If Brace and Cunningham are healthy, that's possibly 2 more. Pryor could contribute. All in all, that's 14 1st and 2nd year players. How quickly can they develop? IMO, that's the key to the season. I didn't include Price or McKenzie who at this point don't expect to see many snaps.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

You are correct sir....

__________________

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

SammyBlueCat

All of the youngsters that people have named will get on the job training and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully everyone will gel as the season progresses.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

There is going to have to be a TON of luck and A LOT of breaks for a team with so many young players for the Pats to win a SB this year,but thats why they play the games.

Last year featured a team that could not hold a 4th quarter lead - could not beat any real good team and was horrid on the road.

Is this team so much better than last years?- no one really knows what these rookies will do to fix those problems.

I will enjoy watching what the future high draft picks of this team do and how they mature into being leaders into the future,thats my excitement looking forward to for the 2010 version of the New England Patriots

__________________

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

PATRIOTSFANINPA

Add Cunningham to that list of getting less snaps IF he stays off IR,I think you won't see a great deal of this guy in 2010

__________________

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

Mainefan

Did anyone notice that we scored 35 points in 16 minutes the other night?

PATRIOTSFANINPA

Teams scored like that on the Rams just about all of 2009...like its nothing that is shocking...and that was with a portion of the Rams starters out

The Rams will once again give up a bucketload of points this year and will win about 5 games IMO

__________________

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

BradyFTW!

2005 was a poor draft? If Mankins, Kaczur, Sanders, Hobbs, and Wright (UDFA) is a poor haul, then every team in the NFL sucks at drafting. There are a lot of teams that would kill to get one all-pro and four starters/borderline starters out of a draft.

2005 and 2008 were fine, it's 2006-2007 that was kinda weak, and I won't really fault the Pats for 2007 either since they did get Welker and Moss out of it. The poor drafting angle is severely overplayed.

And in case anyone's forgotten, the SB teams relied heavily on first and second year guys to win titles. Players like Seymour, Brady, Light, Wilson, Samuel, Warren, Wilfork, Branch, and Givens all contributed a lot from very early on in their careers.

UofApatsfan

Lets not be so sure about that. In the regular season they were 8-0 last year at home, 1-6 on the road, and 1-0 at a neutral site. They are clearly a WAY better team at home. Regardless of that, there's always one team that makes home field extremely important, the Colts. Making the Colts have to beat them at an outdoors stadium away from the dome they pump noise into is reason enough to value HFA.