Mainefan

This Gasper column belongs in the "Come on, man!" segment.

scott99

Some writers just like to trash the Pats, with Borges saying Brady won't retire a Patriot, and now this. That being said, there is some validity to the thought that the game may have passed Belichick by. I said it last year, it may have been in anger and in frustration, but I truly started to feel that way.

His drafting has been awful, his defenses no longer catch anyone off guard, his halftime adjustments have been terrible. For someone labeled a defensive guru or defensive mad scientist, his defenses have been incredibly vanilla. I love the Pats, and love Belichick, but sometimes the game just passes you by. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Synovia

Compared to whom?

lostjumper

Gasper is an idiot, nothing really beyond that. Belichick has delivered 3 superbowls...3 more than any other patriots coach.The NFL is a league of parity and besides the Colts and Pats, no one else has been competitive for the entire decade.

While we worry about the young secondary now, what if in 2 years that secondary becomes a beast, with Vince, Mayo, and Spikes in their prime. You could have a top defense, and still have a good enough offense to win games, much like 2001-2004.

Most clubs are competitive for a few years, then sink into .500 or below territory for a couple of years as they rebuild. Bill is trying to rebuild his defense while winning

Rob0729

His drafting has been horrible? He has had a few bad years, but his last two years look pretty good. But look around the league. The Colts who are supposed to be the gold standard have wasted first round picks in about four drafts if you count the first rounder they traded to get Tony Ugoh. They have drafted Joseph Addai (started out a stud and turned out a dud), Donald Brown, and Anthony Gonzalez (has slipped to third or fourth WR). None of them have lived up to first round pick status. I can go around the league and look for more.

As for halftime adjustments, we are talking one year. The Pats had no problem with halftime adjustments prior to last year. It may be because he had a rookie signal caller and no weapons for Brady beyond Moss and Welker.

As for the defensive schemes being vanilla, what are you talking about? The preseason?!? I wasn't a huge fan of Dean Pees, but the defense was not vanilla.

The Pats were 18-1 in 2007, 11-5 without Brady in 2008, and 10-6 last year with a banged up Brady and Moss. How exactly has the game passed him by? Because based on last year alone, he is just an above average head coach rather than an elite coach. Personally, I think his performance during the 2008 season was the best of his career since he won 11 games with a QB who hadn't had a start since high school and may never be good again.

emoney_33

With all of those terrible and awful things, it's a wonder why we don't send 12 guys to the probowl every year. I mean if the coaching/drafting is so absolutely piss poor, you'd have to give the credit to the extreme talent of the players for the reason why we continue to be a winning team. I mean especially since we had HOF Matt Cassel 2 years ago.

Seriously, if the game has passed him by. Who exactly in the last 3-4 years has a better track record? The game doesn't pass by people who ADAPT, it passes by the stubborn fool who refuses to adapt.

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Synovia

Borges was a great boxing writer. He's never been worth a damn when talking about football. He simply does not understand the game at all, and makes no attempt to. He simply spits venom at the patriots.

Rob0729

Before Borges developed the contrarian persona, he was a pretty good football writer. I mean you gotta go back to the 90s to see good examples of his writing, but there was a time when he was pretty good.

Synovia

You've gotta be talking early 90s, and at this point, thats so far back that I'm not convinced he hasn't been replaced by a robot or something.

Uncle Rico

I sometimes wonder how McDonough would be regarded here in the age of twitter and blogs and hyper media competition -- andwith a fan base that's very supportive of a highly successful regime.

He definitely had a chippy side to him and didn't lack for self-confidence. He also backed up everything he said - -one way or another. ( Just ask Ray Clayborn.)

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