Off The Grid

1 ~ The Good

Despite the drafting of Ryan Mallett with #74 ~ which I am pretty much alone in considering an Atrocity ~ Coach Bill The Mad once again crushed it, securing tremendous Value throughout the Draft, particularly on his 2 Trade Backs.

~ LT Nate "Universal" Solder has nothing less than Super Star potential at an extremely vital position.

~ XB Shane "The Machine" Vereen is a magnificent Flex Back prospect who's exceptional physical talents are dwarfed by his diagnostic skills, processing speed, and instincts.

~ RG Marcus "Howitzer" Cannon's formidable fusion of power and extraordinary athleticism, for a man his size, offer legitimate Pro Bowl potential in Dante's Academy, making him a ridiculous steal in the 5th Round.

~ TE Lee "The Myth" Smith ~ a Binky of mine ~ brings absolutely ferocious run blocking prowess to the critical Tight End position. He had no peer among blocking Tight Ends in this Draft, and it is impossible to overstate just how vital his impact on our line up could be.

2 ~ The Bad

Despite this ~ and here we have the Duality of Coach Bill The Mad, the "riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma", to quote Winston Churchill ~ he once again left our team thin at positions of need: Defensive End + Flanker ~ OLB, to you Earthlings.

Say what you will about In Bill We Trust, but the fact remains that for 6 years, Coach Bill The Mad has brazenly ignored ~ or taken only half measures ~ to address dramatic weaknesses at first MidFielder ~ ILB, to you Earthlings ~ then Flanker, and, the last 3 years, now, Defensive End.

For 6 years, now, Fans such as myself, Reflex Blue, and others, who admire and even worship Coach Bill The Mad, but are willing to acknowledge that he is human and makes mistakes, have hollered loud and long for Coach Bill to address these grievous errors.

And for 6 years, now, those of us who admire ~ and even revere ~ Coach Bill The Mad, but have seen fatal flaws in his approach...have been proven dead right.

Even so, I believe ~ even with these hideous errors ~ that he remains far and away the best commander of the Draft...and I believe we are finally on the brink ~ good health willing ~ of an amazing 3-5 year run where it all pays off:

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Love HURTS!!

Off The Grid

3 ~ The D Line

The D Line is not going to acquire the dominating aggregation of talent that I had wished it would...but it is, nevertheless, not exactly time to slit our throats:

~ NT Vince Wilfork is The Man, and still at his Peak.

~ DE Ty Warren should play very solidly this year, particularly after he's had a month or two to break himself back in.

~ DE Marcus Stroud is a guy who I'm actually quite jazzed we got, and who could very well provide superior play at the other End. What really excites me about him, most of all, is that ~ despite conflicting reports out of Beefalo ~ this is a guy who, unlike Gerard Warren, made his name stopping the Run. I think he's going to be a tremendous asset on 1st and 2nd downs.

~ DE Kade Weston was a Binky of mine, a year ago, and commands an exceptional skill set that could very well translate into an exciting, play making contributor this year: my early Dark Horse candidate.

~ DL Ron Brace had an inconsistent year, but that, need we forget, is to be expected. Coming into his 3rd year, there is actually very good reason to anticipate a significant improvement in both his consistency and his overall quality of play, this year.

~ UT Myron Pryor is a guy who I strongly suspect will make a nice move forward, this year, after a rough Sophomore season, mostly as a Sub Pack cat.

~ DE Brandon Deaderick I don't know about, after the sketchy way his season ended. But how wonderfull is it, to be able to go this far down the line, before bringing his name up?? That alone is testimony to the improved Quality of Depth over a year ago, wish more though I might. And if Deaderick straightens himself out, all the better.

~ UT Mike Wright. If he gradually gets himself healthy and takes it through the gears by Halloween or so, then we'll be sitting pretty, indeed.

4 ~ The Flankers

~ Jermaine Cunningham gave us a lot of reason to hope for an enormous jump in production, this year. As we all know, learning the Flanker gig in this Defense is one of the most complicated, complex, and difficult undertakings out there, as Willie McGinest, himself, discussed just a couple of days ago, when the stunning move of Mario Williams was brought up. Now that he's done the heavy lifting, so to speak, I expect that a young man with his tremendous physical skills and cerebral powers will start playing light years more instinctively than he did last year...with explosive results.

~ Rob Ninkovich. See Above. Although he doesn't command the composite skill set of Mister Cunningham, it says here that Mister Ninkovich's skill set is vastly under rated by the vast majority. It bears repeating that that position of theirs is extremely complicated, and for the two of them to come in with about 5 minutes of combined experience, get thrust into starting roles, and play as well as they did, last year...was astonishing. Ninkovich's physical skill set is not Cunningham's equal, but his instincts are his superior's, and he is a scrappy, wily, disciplined opportunist ~ jumbo shrimp?? ~ who I expect to take an enormous leap forward, this year. Again: the heavy lifting, like that of Cunningham's...is behind him. NOW...instinct takes over. And I strongly suspect that most fans are going to be shocked at how well these two play.

I will append, however, that I would absolutely love to see us haul in Mathias Kiwanuka and/or Manny Lawson, when Free Agency returns: We are far better off than 1 year ago, but I would still love to see us improve our Depth of Talent, here: There's far too precipitous a drop off, behind our current top guys, for such an important position, though I am a fan of Eric Moore.

5 ~ The Defense

I presume nothing ~ and I sure as hell would've preferred that we'd acquired more Depth of Talent, because injuries happen and I don't believe in taking unneeded chances ~ but my prognosis remains utterly unchanged from what it was a year ago, and throughout this past season:

This is a young Defense of exceptional aggregate talent and skill, and one that has put all the worst of its growing pains behind it. It is better coached than any D in the Game, and with so many young, talented, and vital players about to reap the rewards of intensive study and hard work, and launch their Games to a far more instinctive, and far more effective and impactfull level ~

~ DL Ron Brace
~ DF Jermaine Cunningham
~ DF Rob Ninkovich
~ MF Brandon Spikes
~ CB Devin McCourty

~ and with the immense impact that their improvement should have on the more seasoned players, who'll now be able to focus far more on their core responsibilities...the impact of simple experience ~ to say nothing of the return of injured key players ~ could be seismic.

I cannot wait to see this crew go back to work.

6 ~ The O Line

Oh, man, am I JACKED about Bill The Mad's O Line moves!!

With the accession of Nate "Universal" Solder, Marcus "Howitzer" Cannon, and Lee "The Myth" Smith, our O Line is prepared ~ come Halloween, or so, once these guys are more or less clicking ~ to launch into CRUSHING...SMASHING...DEMOLISHING...DOMINANCE.

No joke: Coach Bill has finally answered my prayers ~ and that of many others ~ and assembled 5/6ths ~ including Tight End ~ of a MURDERERS ROW of TERROR.

We are simply going to DESTROY people.

7 ~ The Running Game

While I was appalled that we burned a 3rd Rounder on Stevan Ridley, I was delighted at the notion that we are now either going to be 4 Deep with young, strong, healthy Running Backs ~ an unprecedented situation that I have long prayed for ~ or are going to be 3 deep ~ still pretty damned good and unprecedented ~ with the added bonus of extracting a probable 2nd Rounder for BenJarvus Green.

Far more importantly, though, is the advent of Shane "The Machine" Vereen.

For my money, he is Mark Ingram's clear superior, lady and gentlemen, and the fact that we traded Ingram for him and a 1st Rounder is just ridiculous.

Brother Maine has expounded with exquisite eloquence about how crippling Green's limitations are to our overall Offense: in a word, his limited ability to create on his own often necessitated our leaving in additional blockers. Even worse, this being a known problem, his presence in the backfield went a ways towards tipping our hand as to what we would be doing with our Tight Ends, thus obviating the explosive ~ and potentially dominant ~ advantage that the exciting hybrid skill sets our Tight End crew brings.

None of which is to say that Green ~ or Ridley ~ don't play important roles in this Offense.

But the ability to bring a potentially elite caliber Flex Back ~ yes: elite caliber ~ such as Shane Vereen, could very well produce a spectacular impact on our Run Game: This is a guy who is equally adept between the Tackles and Outside, and who's patience, diagnostic skills, processing speed, and vision suggest that he will be both unpredictable to the enemy, and often devastating.

8 ~ The Offense

The Ripple Effect of bringing in these 4 guys ~ Solder, Cannon, Smith, and Vereen ~ should, frankly, once they're all clicking with the rest of the boys, produce a profound affect on our ability to run the ball:

When we want.

Where we want.

And against whomever we want.

And the combination of a suddenly dominant Running Game, combined with a deadly Passing Game, behind the greatest QuaterBack of this or any era...could wreak utter, screaming HAVOC on the rest of the League.

9 ~ 3 - 5 Year Prognosis

This may sound like Crazy Talk, but ~ my misgivings about our Depth of Talent in the Defensive Front 7 not withstanding ~ Coach Bill The Mad has assembled a team that is capable of going on a 3 to 5 year run that Legends are made of: an epic run that could quite possibly include a 19-0 Season...and even a ThreePeat.

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Love HURTS!!

reflexblue

I started looking at next years prospects at OLB and DE, and suddenly thought why bother, none of them will fit the scheme.

Off The Grid

That's very evocative of "How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Bomb", Brother Blue!!

I'm sure you and I diverge on Coach Bill's current level of effectiveness, but it is gratifying to know that we can so civilly, as men of lofty intellect!!

And of course we do share grave concerns with many of his recent moves...I, for one, will be sacrificing many goats and yaks ~ none of my own, of course ~ as a prayer to Baal to protect the health of General Brady, our still somewhat thin Defensive Front 7, and, frankly, anyone who comes within a MILE of that roster!!

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Love HURTS!!

Dufflebagz

The rest of your obsevations are great and all but this one is by far my favorite

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Mike the Brit

Says HI!

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My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

Off The Grid

Hi, Kyle.

Your assumption that I forgot him is wrong.

I didn't forget about Kyle Love: I almost put him in, in fact, but just didn't see the purpose in listing every last fringe player: I was targeting guys who I think will probably make the roster. I consider him a borderline roster player, who'll probably need someone else to screw up or get hurt to make the roster...Even so, he's a good young player who might have a future, here.

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Love HURTS!!

Hercules Rockefeller

Off The Grid, very happy to see you back, with your usual brand of wordsmithing and eternal enthusiasm. Though we certainly disagreed in your draft day thread, let it be known that I took exception to your draft day stance because of your esteem as a poster of intelligence, whose opinion I enjoy reading. I'm glad to see you back at it, and I share many of your concerns, but I share your enthusiasm. Go Pats! This team is going to be very good, and a few free agents---Kiwanuka and Lawson top my list---could go a long way to making things dominant on the defensive side of the ball.

Mike the Brit

It looked like an account of the roster, to me.

Anyway, it's the fate of UDFAs to be underestimated (see under BJGE). Kyle made the roster last year against strong competition and I don't see why that's less likely in his second year.

Not least because (I regret to say) I can't share your expectations of Mike Wright. From everything I hear (and what I know about brain damage) I think that Mike's career is over -- and so it should be.

Add to that that, if (heaven forfend!) Vince has to miss time, who, if not Kyle, is going to be the big man on the nose?

Still, carry on ...

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My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

Off The Grid

Your assumption that it was an account of the roster ~ even though I omitted a couple other guys besides Love ~ was a reasonable one.

It was your presumption of correcting my perceived error, based on your own incorrect assumption, that I...corrected.

***

Heaven forbid, indeed!!

But if Vince missed some time, Myron Pryor is every bit as big as Kyle Love. And more experienced.

And Ron Brace is bigger.

Frankly, we don't have a back up Nose Tackle that I'm really happy with, which is one reason why I was so fired up to snag Kenrick Ellis.

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Love HURTS!!