cstjohn17

Some good players here (Harrison, Colvin) but yet another reason to temper our optimism in regards to any of the top end FAs being signed.

http://www.boston.com/sports/footbal..._signings.html

I am a little afraid to see tomorrow's "worst picks" if the good list included Antowain Smith, Roman Phifer and David Patten.

mgcolby

Well, Smith ran for 1200 yards in 2001, Phifer was a very productive Coverage LB, right up until his retirement and David Patten came through in the Crunch in both the 01 and 03 playoffs. So I am not sure where you are going with this?

Again you can always look back at the Skins signings over the past 8 or 9 years and look at all the shiney names on that list that didn't do anything but steal Snyder's money.

__________________
Hey, Bill you're wasting Brady's prime years......oh wait....
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Jimke

I just alluded to this in another thread. All of these signings are 2003 and

before. This is why I have been complaining about our signings the past

two years. There is talent out there in free agency. The funny thing is

that the players obtained 2000 to 2003 were made in years that we did

not have much salary cap room.

Jimke

Where you go with this is that these good free agents played a

role in our winning three Super Bowls. The past two years have

not measured up and we have not won any more Super Bowls.

mgcolby

Neither did 29 other teams.

Last years signings didn't measure up because all of the primary guys got hurt. Especially the ST guys.

One thing that is conveniently overlooked about the past two seasons is how things out of the Patriots control affected the overall perception of the offseason. In 05 Bruschi has a stroke and TJ retires a week before camp forcing the Pats to throw Beisel and Brown in as the two starting LB's. They offer Mason more money than any other team and his wife doesn't want to move to NE so he signs with Baltimore. Last year Branch pulls his BS after they let Givens walk. How was any of that supposed to be forseen by the Pats FO?

And then the "Fans" and most of the media completely ignore the fact that the team has progressively gotten younger throughout the roster, pulled itself out of cap hell, dealt with an irrational amount of injuries and still managed to make the playoffs in 5 of the past 6 seasons, played in 4 AFCC games and won 3 superbowls. They have locked up both of their lines long term, Added a lot of depth to the DL, OL, RB, TE and DB. Have Nearly 30 mil in salary cap space and two first round draft picks.

How does any of that warrant the constant criticism that they face from their own fan base?

__________________
Hey, Bill you're wasting Brady's prime years......oh wait....
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

shatch62

You have to be kidding me. Smith was very good his first year. Phifer was border line great. He averaged about 100 tackles a year for the first few years here.

PATSNUTme

Well said!

We do have some very spoiled fans. One stop or one first down and we were playing in the SB. And, we could have done it with the guys that we had, if they would have been healthy. And, I'm talking about Dillon and Faulk who didn't play the second half . I'm taking about Chad Scott and Hawk who had the flu. that lead to the useless Rashad Baker having to play prime time minutes.
Where is the line between being spoiled and not knowing how to be loyal?

Gon_Trevil

If Junior Seau would have been able to play the whole year he might have cracked this list.

As for the worst signings... prepare to see our old buddy Duane Starks way up on that one, right next to Monty Beisel.

cstjohn17

I was misquoted!

Well not really, maybe I was a little harsh. What I meant was that names like Otis Smith, Antowain Smith, etc. don't exactly make you stand up and say "Wow!"

Some threads have us signing Thomas, Clements, Stallworth, etc. This isn't going to happen, it is a lesson in expectation management. Despite the cap room I won't be surprised if the Patriots don't sign anyone until after the smoke has cleared.

mgcolby

I don't know? But I do get annoyed when people talk about the past two offseasons as being unsuccessful because we didn't win the SB. How does that make sense? There are to many dynamics over the course of the season to lay all of the blame for not winning the SuperBowl solely on the offseason signings or lack there of.

What would happen if we go out and sign Thomas, Clements, Foster, Fletcher, re-sign Graham and Samuels, draft a stud LB and Safety and yet we still don't win the SuperBowl because they all get put on the IR in TC? Does that mean that the biggest FA coup in the history of the NFL would represent a colossal failure?

__________________
Hey, Bill you're wasting Brady's prime years......oh wait....
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.