Jerod Mayo far and away voted as the most indispensable player behind Brady

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/08/globe_100_most.html

If Wilfork went down with an injury,From the solid TC so far from Brace and what I have seen so far from Ron,We should be O.K.,not to mention we could change the defense a bit with help from Wright and Green.

However If Mayo suddenly got hurt or was out for sometime the defense would take a wallop - Adalius Thomas would be 3rd most indispensable with Wilfork 4th IMO

Therefore I must ask why the hell is Thomas not on that list??? - Burgess has yet to prove much of anything here in exhibition.

 

[DaBruinz]

Personally, the depth at LB is so thin that having Mayo there does make him virtually indispensable. However, the reality is that Mayo still has a long way to go. He needs to stop over-running plays and remember what other people's assignments are..

 

[NEGoldenAge]

I hate to say this, but ...............Neal. Bad things happen when he goes down. I'd list them, but the pain would be too great. Until we find someone better than Yates, Neal is top 3. Yikes!

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Personally, the depth at LB is so thin that having Mayo there does make him virtually indispensable. However, the reality is that Mayo still has a long way to go. He needs to stop over-running plays and remember what other people's assignments are..

Mayo also needs to start putting some pressure on the QB,We have seen a little of it in exhibition,but if it does not get better the defense will suffer.

I think our front seven is really relying on Mayo making pass pressure a bit more of a part of his game,If he does that he will be one heck of a complete player,until then hes a tackling machine and not much else - we need him to step up BIG in 2009, My hope is that Mayo surpasses Thomas with sacks this season.

 

[BelichickFan]

I love Mayo but . . . it's MOSS.

 

[DaBruinz]

Mayo also needs to start putting some pressure on the QB,We have seen a little of it in exhibition,but if it does not get better the defense will suffer.

I think our front seven is really relying on Mayo making pass pressure a bit more of a part of his game,If he does that he will be one heck of a complete player,until then hes a tackling machine and not much else - we need him to step up BIG in 2009.

Mayo putting/not putting pressure on the QB is a result of the play calling more than his abilities. I've not seen many plays where he's been called to put pressure on the QB..

The only way that Mayo will be able to put pressure on the QB is if the DTs (Wilfork/Brace/Pryor) can open up a gap for Mayo to shoot.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Mayo putting/not putting pressure on the QB is a result of the play calling more than his abilities. I've not seen many plays where he's been called to put pressure on the QB..

The only way that Mayo will be able to put pressure on the QB is if the DTs (Wilfork/Brace/Pryor) can open up a gap for Mayo to shoot.

I really hope we can see at least a little of it,I am not expecting 15 sacks like a Merrimen or Porter would bring,but half of that total would be nice in his 2nd season - If Mayo could get 6 or 7 sacks I would be happy.

 

[mosi]

Faulk. Still the best back we have. The first game last year proved that.

 

[NEGoldenAge]

Faulk. Still the best back we have. The first game last year proved that.

Kevin Faulk is Mr. Consistent. Not bad for a burner

 

[Spiral]

Since no one on this forum seems to be able to say for sure who the backup center is, I'd say Koppen is the most indispensible player behind, er, in front of Brady.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Top 5.

Brady- No Cassel to back him up. With what we have at backup QB, 9-7 or 8-8
Mayo- His speed and playmaking ability cannot be made up anywhere on the roster
Neal - Running game improved and sacks went down when he came back in 08. Look at Sb 42. Line was porous w/o him.
Faulk-See Neal
A. Thomas- Respected pass-rush threat. Knows the defense.

My .02$

 

[BradyFTW!]

I really hope we can see at least a little of it,I am not expecting 15 sacks like a Merrimen or Porter would bring,but half of that total would be nice in his 2nd season - If Mayo could get 6 or 7 sacks I would be happy.

Comparing a versatile ILB's sack totals, in any respect, to a pass-rushing specialist OLB is misguided. I'd be pretty surprised if he gets more than 5, simply because he'll have far, far fewer opportunities than a standard pass rusher. ILBs are the guys who keep you honest because you know that they can rush the passer if you don't account for that, but they don't actually do it very often.

 

[Sicilian]

I really hope we can see at least a little of it,I am not expecting 15 sacks like a Merrimen or Porter would bring,but half of that total would be nice in his 2nd season - If Mayo could get 6 or 7 sacks I would be happy.

ILB are not known for high sack numbers. Don't start judging him on numbers.

But even if you do, he has 1 sack in two preseason games only playing the early fraction of the game. That's eight sacks over sixteen games, even if he never played a second half all year.

 

[BradyManny]

I love Mayo but . . . it's MOSS.

Agreed. While Brady and the offense has won 3 SBs w/ lesser receivers, Moss is just so key to their success now.

Mayo would be a huge loss, and I don't even want to think about losing him, but I feel like AD's versatility, Guyton's emergence, and Bruschi's ability to provide average play at either ILB position would help overcome a loss of Mayo.

Losing Brady, Seymour, Moss, Wilfork, those would all be potentially catastrophic events that would require one player - like Cassel did last year - to step up in a huge way, beyond expectations.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Agreed. While Brady and the offense has won 3 SBs w/ lesser receivers, Moss is just so key to their success now.

Mayo would be a huge loss, and I don't even want to think about losing him, but I feel like AD's versatility, Guyton's emergence, and Bruschi's ability to provide average play at either ILB position would help overcome a loss of Mayo.

Losing Brady, Seymour, Moss, Wilfork, those would all be potentially catastrophic events that would require one player - like Cassel did last year - to step up in a huge way, beyond expectations.

This is such a hard agrument. Moss is incredibly important to this team no question. Last year, IMO Moss and Welker MADE Cassel. But if Moss goes down, you don't think they would find a way with Brady, Welker, Galloway, Lewis, Endleman, the TEs and the RBs to get 22-25 ppg?

 

[Robdude]

Hey I can see the arguements for Mayo and Moss. I was surprised that not so many people voted O-Line. I know people complain about Light but if he was lost for a season I would be very scared. Other people in this thread stated Neal has a bigger impact, I am not sure but if you say so I would vote Neal over Moss or anytone on defense

 

[RobertWeathers]

Hey I can see the arguements for Mayo and Moss. I was surprised that not so many people voted O-Line. I know people complain about Light but if he was lost for a season I would be very scared. Other people in this thread stated Neal has a bigger impact, I am not sure but if you say so I would vote Neal over Moss or anytone on defense

Good point. We don't know what kind of quality depth we have a backup LT. Slide Kazur over and plug in O'Callaghan at RT. That sure doesn't inspire a lof confidence in me.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Agreed. While Brady and the offense has won 3 SBs w/ lesser receivers, Moss is just so key to their success now.

Mayo would be a huge loss, and I don't even want to think about losing him, but I feel like AD's versatility, Guyton's emergence, and Bruschi's ability to provide average play at either ILB position would help overcome a loss of Mayo.

Losing Brady, Seymour, Moss, Wilfork, those would all be potentially catastrophic events that would require one player - like Cassel did last year - to step up in a huge way, beyond expectations.

Mostly agree, although I'd swamp Mayo and Wilfork for your list. The problem with losing a guy like Mayo is that it either forces Bruschi to step into a starting role or forces Adalius inside, and I'd rather not see either happen. In the former case, you're taking away what little depth you have, and in the latter you're downgrading the WOLB as well.

With Wilfork, on the other hand, you're probably plugging in Brace and spelling him with Wright and/or Pryor. Not something that I want to think about, but it's... less unappealing to me than the thought of losing Mayo.

So my list would be similar to yours, really:

Tier 1 (Basically, these guys are just so good that they're irreplaceable, period): Brady, Moss, Seymour, Mayo

Tier 2 (Maybe not as irreplaceable as the tier one guys, but extremely important to our scheme and the makeup of the roster): Wilfork, Welker, Neal and Adalius

Tier 3 (We have the depth to replace them better than we could the T2 guys, but would still be bad news): Meriweather, Warren, Light, Faulk

 

[ScottieC]

I love Mayo but . . . it's MOSS.

Moss hands down - You take him away and you just gave the opposing team a huge gift in game planning and preparation.

Mayo goes down and you have a huge problem as well, but you also have a coach that can probably scheme to overcome it to a certain degree.

You have NO answer for Moss, period.

 

[Sicilian]

Moss hands down - You take him away and you just gave the opposing team a huge gift in game planning and preparation.

Mayo goes down and you have a huge problem as well, but you also have a coach that can probably scheme to overcome it to a certain degree.

You have NO answer for Moss, period.

Except, you know, every other successful offense we've ever run here.

Just sayin.