PATRIOTSFANINPA

I couldn't help thnk WHAT IF after watching two particular plays in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl in regards to the 2006 and 2009 draft trades of the Pats with Green Bay that paved the way for the Packers to have TWO playmakers on both offense and defense who made two important plays to seal the championship.

Those 2 plays were the forced fumble of Mendenhall by a flying Clay Matthews who punched it out and the big catch by Jennings who helped serve the knockout punch to the Steelers in that late crucial drive.

A look back at the drafts that eventually helped GB to a Title

2006 Draft - The Pats make a RARE draft move and perhaps the worst move in BBs tenure by trading UP in the draft to #36 to take the all world WR Chad Jackson (sarcasm) leaving Greg Jennings to still be there for the Pack at #52

2009 Draft - Clay Matthews sits for the taking at 23 but the Pats move DOWN this time and the Pack says thanks,I'll take Clay Mathews and the Pats go on to draft Darius Butler

Not to say the 2010 draft wasn't great for the Pats,because it appears at the early indications it was,but there is no doubt the Pats moves in the draft in 2 of the past 4 years are a huge reason why the Packers are World Champions today.

When you look at the moves between the Packers and Patriots,only Rob Gronkowski at this time appears to be in the Patriots favor - Julian Edelman has been good at times but can't be considered a playmaker - Butler and Tate are still unproven and at this point are STs guys more than solidified starters and may or may not be busts...time will tell there but at this point Green Bay has dominated in both draft years moves.

I know,no one has hindsight to know these things would happen and I know other teams had a chance to draft Jennings and Matthews before NE could have, but still in the back of my mind I sit here and say WHAT IF we had those 2 playmakers...would we be holding that trophy this year?

WhiZa

You forgot to mention the Packers last loss was to the Patriots. After that game they had a new outlook on the season.

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Armen Da Pats Fan

Obviously, a lot of other teams passed on Jennings, too, but yes, I would much rather have jennings over Chad, even though, back then, I loved the Chad pick - a big-play Gator coming out of college.

Is Jackson even playing football anymore


This hurts.

Clay Matthews vs. Darius "Can someone help me get the splinters out of my ass?" Butler!

Imagine a young linebacking corps of Spikes, Mayo, Cunningham & Matthews?

Wow!

That said, I am hoping Darius steps it up and becomes a starter next to McCourty for years to come.

Time will tell. But Matthews is there now, no doubt

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JackBauer

Of course, the contest likely wouldn't have been close if the Matthews wasn't getting obliterated by a backup TE in the ground game.

I'm fine with what we got in lieu of Matthews.

Obviously, with the luxury of hindsight we'd rather have Jennings than Jackson. I'm pretty sure every team in the league has similar examples from past drafts.

PATRIOTSFANINPA

I am not sure how many good LBs from USC are coming out of the draft this year as I have not been in draft mode yet,but after seeing Cushing and Matthews play in the past few years you have to seriously think they will continue to put players of high quality into the NFL and hopefully the Pats can grab one.

seven

I never messed with video, but I am seriously motivated to create an informative montage of Mathews getting blown up a dozen or twenty times in the SB.
Would make a fun YouTube video.

One play in particular comes to mind, after being hit he got spun around, facing the wrong way, arms flailing, his legs got all twisted up and he went comically down in a heap. Brilliant.

The Great Clay Mathews in The Big Game™

Kid~Brady

We wont need Butler to step it up for awhile as long as Bodden returns in good health and stays that way.

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signbabybrady

I know people have tracked this trade before but it isnt just Matthews vs Butler its Matthews vs everything we go in dropping back. I am not even sure if Butler is the right pick. I might be wrong but I think Brace may have been the pick we accuired but Brace and Butler were 41 and 42 respectively so they would seem pretty interchangeable. But we also made further moves with the picks we accuired and I believe one of them wound up Gronkowski and the late pick added into the deal turned into Edelman. There also might be one more pick not accounted for.

It is easy to sit there and see that Matthews is nasty and that we have a need at OLB and think this move was bad but that ignores the percieved issues with system fit and ignores that the Patriots got tons in return to make the move. if you go 3:1 or 4:1 in talent in every trade you make you are ahead of the game I dont care how much better people think the 1 is.

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PATRIOTSFANINPA

What he did in the forced fumble on Mendenhall is what really mattered...at that time the Steelers were marching towards a go ahead score.

It's not always what you do the entire game but what you do when the game is on the line...he stepped up and made the play.

He made Mendenhall drop the ball and Mendenhall had only done that twice all season before that...it was not something that happens often but Clay found a way to pop it out and thereby all but preserve the Packers lead.

Great players make great plays.....he did that much like Bruschi had done for us so much over the years.

Seels

Hey I got an idea, let's talk about Clay Matthews in 90% of the threads in this forum.