Re: If Larry Foote & Jason Taylor are signed, is this 2009 team as good as the 2007 t
The 2008 team had devastating season-ending injuries to the defense, nobody talks about this.
The 2009 edition is going to be the best Pats team. We won't go 16-0 in the regular season, but we have a better shot of winning it all.
Absolutely true, AND we somehow still finished 10th overall. We've patched up plenty of holes, and added plenty of depth--I see no possible way we couldn't improve over last yr.
The most important thing, IMO--is that we have to continue our good penalty ratio from last yr, and play smart. Continue to keep penalties and turnovers down, and we'll contend even if my grandma plays OLB.
These are the top 3 things for us to compete, regardless of who we add--don't add, etc :
1. Protect Brady, possibly have a good back up plan if needed. I wouldn't object to signing a vet somewhere down the line, mostly because we now lack a viable body with much experience. At least Cassel had 4 yrs in learning the playbook. Chances are, we probably won't end up signing a vet, but I personally would be a lot happier. At the very least, we need to protect our QB to the absolute max.
2. Continue to keep the penalties down. This couldn't be any more key, other than the Brady factor, IMO.
3. Improve even more on our turnover ratio, or at the very least--continue to keep ours down. This shouldn't be too hard, with TB coming back, etc. Cassel did a pretty darn good job of this, as did the RB's.
As long as we do these 3 things, and play like a team, we'll be just fine.