teamplay

Anyone can play! Here are my five, Letterman style:

5. That Maroney hit the rookie wall, and Dillon didn't rebound more from last year.

4. That Watson failed to become a dominant force.

3. That the secondary got decimated for the 3rd year in a row.

2. That Belichick grew so snippy and surly as the year went on; he's not on a mentally healthy path, IMHO.

And my biggest surprise of the year:
1. How incredibly long it took for Brady and the receivers to get on the same page! This must be a really nasty offense to try to learn.

Sean Pa Patriot

I think your listening to much to the outside talking heads.. Belichick has been the same ...

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We going to take it one game at a time

skri65

Agreed with Sean Pa Patriot.

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"The Colts shock and awe offense ... was shockingly awful." - quote from NFL Game Of The Week (2005 div vs Indy)

ajmitch81

Given a full off season to better prepare for the NFL - Maroney could be a pro bowler by next season.

My biggest surprise would have to be how good Caldwell and then Gaffney played -- if Chad Jackson develops like he SHOULD, the Pats don't need to get a WR as much as the "experts" would like to believe.

The other surprise was how quickly the Linebackers aged - upgrading is sorely needed here. Infuse the position with a veteran like Edwards/Flecther-Baker and draft a young LB or two (Posluszny, HB Blades, Patrick Willis, something like that...)

The not surprise of the year -- Polian is a pompous *****hole...

patsfaninpa

All of your surprises are negative. Here's a couple positives.

1. A.Samuel played at a pro-bowl level in the reg. season. Then, played better in the playoffs.

2. S.Gostowski kicked better this year than Adam V did last year.

3. R.O'Callaghan looked like a stud RT until he got hurt. Maybe that's one of the reasons our running game faltered later in season.

4. D.Pees did a great job as our def. coordinator.


Here's something I'm not surprised about. Fans whining about a team that came within 4 yds of making it to the Super Bowl.

BelichickFan

He wasn't noticeably different than ever to me.

Ochmed Jones

I agree that his injury affected the running game from the mid-piont until the end of the season. However given his injury history, I'm not sure he'll ever be able to play a full 16 game season.
Ugoth of Arkansas helped make McFadden look really incredible this year. I would love to see him in a Pats uniform and starting at ROT next season. (But only if Graham is around to help him block against speed pass rushers.)

BelichickFan

I was happy with Gotti, Samuel, Hobbs, Caldwell, Gaffney, Warren specifically.

Disappointed in Light (although I'm optimistic after the playoffs), Jackson, Watson, and the injured DBs again. I'm wondering if Rodney will keep getting hurt now that his body is older and Wilson/Gay being hurt almost a second straight entire year was very disappointing.

skri65

I too wonder about Rodney. Also...Gay was hurt for (nearly) an entire second year. Wilson, on the other hand, was one of the stabalizing forces for our secondary last year. His play this year before gettign put on IR was subpar, perhaps because of his injury.

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"The Colts shock and awe offense ... was shockingly awful." - quote from NFL Game Of The Week (2005 div vs Indy)

Brownfan80

My surprises:

1. That the passing game didn't struggle more after it lost Deion Branch and David Givens and replaced them with Reche Caldwell, Chad Jackson, and Jabar Gaffney.

2. That the defense played so well even after losing Rodney for over half the season, Willie Mac in FA, and Seau & Wilson to injury.

3. That same defense falling completely apart in the second half of the Title game vs the Colts. Stunning.

4. In the first part of the year I was surprised at how well rookie RB Lawrence Maroney was doing, in the second half I was surprised at how hard he'd hit the rookie wall.

5. I'm surprised we made it as far as we did. IE - if you told me at the start of the season that we'd make the AFC Championship again I'd have a hard time buying it. But then, after we did make it, I'm now surprised/shocked that the wheels came off and that we're not playing in the SB Feb 4th.