ChoWZa

"Whether we give a player on the team a large contract, or it goes to another player, it's investing in talent," says BB.

Article - Reiss

PatsMyBoyz!

Great article by Reiss,as usual.

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MARQUISE HILL
1982-2007
RIP

Isaac

Indeed, this myth is all over the media: the Patriots have finally realized that bargain basement shopping doesn't work. Was it a change in organizational philosophy when they signed Colvin (for a greater % of the cap than the AD deal)? Was it a change in organizational philosophy when they offered a big deal to Derrick Mason? How about the monster deal offered to David Givens? This past week is simply a result of available cap dollars + desirable free agents + free agents accepting deals = lots of fun for Patriots fans.

The media is so maddened by the Patriots, they are jumping at this chance to scream: "See! See! You were wrong all along! Ha ha!".

PatsMyBoyz!

Exactly-in fact I heard a similar statement made by Phil Simms (?) on ESPN. The Pats finally realized they have to spend money and get good players,blahblah.
I'm not sure the national media necessarily intend to be disparaging,but I do think they just don't follow or understand the Patriots very well. Of course we have to give the Pats a piece of this because they aren't especially forthcoming about anything,leaving a lot of things up for speculation. Based on that I can almost excuse the nationals,but I can't excuse our local pundits for the same. If some of them put out more solid stuff maybe ESPN et al would pick up on some of it. But when we have Globe writers as guests on such esteemed shows as ATHorn and Cold Pizza,then that's what gets broadcast as the true inside story,direct from Boston.

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"Let's just do our jobs and then move onto the next play"


MARQUISE HILL
1982-2007
RIP

Gon_Trevil

What's beyond me is that this people make a LIVING following football. Boy, if it was my JOB to follow football... I'd be pwning all these pundits from endzone to endzone.

ClevTrev

Isaac, well stated. It's laughable how many times we hear how arrogant the Pats have been with Branch, Givens and others who've held the team up for more money than the team considers reasonable for that player at that position with that skill set. It's gotten to the point where I've heard the "expert analysts" gleefully rejoice when the Pats have struggled by attributing it all to the miserly ways of the team.

What those who follow this team closely understand is that the Pats prize balance AND skill by rewarding with fair value. Yes, the team has stars who are generously rewarded. AND the front office also has managed to stock the team with quality players at most other positions with salaries commensurate with their contributions. This is the discipline that enables the team to stay at the top of the power rankings over the course of years. Not many teams in the league can match this track record. Why? Many don't understand how to balance their rosters with the laser-like focus and discipline the Pats embody.

Over the last year, I've heard Pats fans getting frustrated because it appeared the team wasn't using its full portion of the cap. Guess this past week dispels that feeling completely. They have a plan and execute. Gotta love this team.

Buchanty

The only adage that has any currency at the moment is “what have you done for me today?”. The focus on the present, and only the present, gives the media the mandate to focus on the sensational while amplifying the trivial and mundane. Past and future, history and strategy, therefore have little marketability or interest, and that is why they are rarely addressed in print or broadcast.

However stepping back and viewing the Patriots since 2000, the KBP management team have excelled like few others in sport let alone the NFL. I see nothing in the latest free agency activities that suggest that the Patriots are doing anything different than before. Kraft, Belichick and Pioli have always run the operation as a business and planned and executed with Jack Welch efficiency. They have a planning cycle that determines needs, analyses appropriate actions, and executes “according to a comprehensive plan”, for short, mid and long term objectives. That approach has brought New England 3 Superbowls, but also a consistent and genuine interest in the post season, and this is largely forgotten by the media. Even in their worst year (other than the building year 2000) they almost got to the big dance in 2002.

The most impressive aspect of all this however is the obvious attention to detail and policy that keeps the enterprise prosperous. Last year, in my mind, laid the foundation for the free agency machinations that we are seeing now. Thanks to the media at the time I too was uncomfortable with the loss of Willie, Adam, Givens and most of all by Branch. But KBP stood firm - they maintained their policy of paying for value, withstood the criticisms and almost made it back to the Superbowl, falling 1 minute short. And guess what? - it wasn’t for lack of the boot or the glove. They fell short by that small margin because of defense, not that the planned one was poor - but it was riddled by injury (one of the highest teams with players on IR) flu and heat exhaustion (thank Polian for that masterstroke). You could even argue, and many have, that the fall of the dice on some of the refereeing decisions were all that stood in the way of that trip to Miami.

Now here we are today and those decisions not to re-sign those fan favorites have given us the cap room to improve on the areas that are needed to get to Arizona. I can only speculate on what the total salary cost would be for those 4 had the front office given in to their desires - but I would be willing to suggest somewhere in the region of 20million for 2007. AD for Willie, Ghost for AV, Welker for Givens, Brady for Graham and possibly Stallworth or Moss for Branch (though I doubt the Raiders will trade) - that is nothing short of brilliant especially as the team is still not handicapped by cap room.

These are good, good times - even if we don’t win the Superbowl every year! I look forward to the year when Bellichick is inducted into the HOF and all this can be better appreciated - though not too soon as I relish the campaigns still to come even more.

Pat_Nasty

No... you wouldn't. You'd be saying exactly the kind of dumb ***** that all the other pundits are saying... at least if you wanted to keep your job for long.

People think that a pundit's job is to provide insight and analysis, but it's not -- their job is to entertain, and their bosses long ago learned that the way to keep most of their readers/viewers/listeners entertained is to simplify things, and to shoehorn events into easy-to-digest narratives.

BB's approach to FA and the salary cap is nuanced and complex -- as one would expect from an Economics major. Most fans are going to glaze over if you start talking about the Pats' moves in these terms.

If, however, you instead talk about BB being "arrogant" when the Pats don't throw money on whoever's available, and suggest he thinks he can win with his schemes and without talented players, and then suggest that he's been chastened and learned his lesson from a bad beat at the hands of the Colts.... well, that makes for simple, compelling, copy, doesn't it? It's 100% fiction... but it seems to make sense on the surface, and it's much more compelling to most people than the boring truth

The folks who make up the sports media don't spin this kind of crap because they don't know any better... they do it because that's what most people want to read.

ClevTrev

Think you're being overly generous to the media. Yes, there is some sensationalism in the reporting. It does capture viewers. However, like many NFL GMs, many of these yahoos don't understand what it takes to maintain competitiveness in the NFL from year to year. It's easier to predict how a team will do based on the number of "star" players on a team's roster. What they fail to understand is the incredible discipline and the need to sacrifice some of these players who look good on paper, but whose salary demands would have a long-lasting effect on the team's continued success.

When the Pats won in 2001, they shocked the NFL world. Why? Who did they have? A roster of nobodies (at least in 2001). What they did have was coaching, chemistry, unrelenting desire, balanced skills, and execution. Those are the types of players found on the Pats roster today. They sacrificed and navigated around some potential roster land mines last season, and the fruits of that discipline are evident now. To top it off, despite their sacrifices last season, they almost made it to the show. Must be frustrating as hell to compete with this team.

PatsFaninAZ

It's a good article. Bottom line to me is that the most important variable in whether a good win-win can be reached is the agent. If he's there to represent his guy, not himself, decides at the outset what he wants, and doesn't get obsessed during the process with whether he's leaving a dollar on the table (even if he didn't want the dollar in the first place), then things can work, so long as you have a franchise that's not overly concerned about whether it could milk a slightly better deal out of a guy.