Bill Simmons: Patriots still seeking identity

[MassPats38]

Not sure if this has been posted yet. Pretty much summarizes fan camps and concerns.

If it has been posted, mods please delete the thread.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Ever since the Seymour trade, it seems (and maybe before), Simmons hasn't been high on the Pats at all. He said the Pats' season was basically after our week 1 win in Buffalo, even. FWIW, though, he knows almost nothing about football. He's even admitted that basketball is the only sport that has any nuanced understanding of, which we've all been saying for years.

 

[jcwfalcon]

Ah...time for his article again. Must be a little piece of heaven for you guys.

For the rest of us outside of the New England area, I read his articles kinda like my dog hears me when I talk:

"Blah Blah Blah, Boston, Blah Blah Blah, Patriots, Blah Blah Blah, My dad, Blah Blah Blah, Celtics, Blah Blah Blah, Bruins, Blah Blah Blah, my dog, Blah Blah Blah, Vegas, Blah Blah Blah."

The only thing he does thats an entertaining read for me anymore is his mailbag, half of which is the "blah blah blah" stuff above. I can usually follow it ok, until he goes off into Boston obscurity land, naming off people he thinks the national audience knows like he does...the Atlanta equivalent of me writing a national article and discussing Billy Joe Tolliver and Eric Pegram at length. It usually takes me a minute before I realize, i'm not meant to know wtf hes talking about.

The Sports Guy is a poor moniker. He's The BOSTON Sports guy.

My 2 cents. Not that you care.

 

[rsd]

I don't get why people are going so crazy after 2 games.

The current situation is very analogous to the Colts last year, where Manning started off very slow coming off surgery but then they came on strong at the end. Why are people losing their minds after 2 games???

 

[ensoul]

He does make some pretty good points on both sides of the fence. Of course because it is Simmons he makes better points for the negetive aspect of the argument.

 

[slash83]

I wonder if Pitts fans are going as crazy as Pats fans are since both teams are one and frekin one. I doubt they are though...

 

[BradyFTW!]

Ah...time for his article again. Must be a little piece of heaven for you guys.

For the rest of us outside of the New England area, I read his articles kinda like my dog hears me when I talk:

"Blah Blah Blah, Boston, Blah Blah Blah, Patriots, Blah Blah Blah, My dad, Blah Blah Blah, Celtics, Blah Blah Blah, Bruins, Blah Blah Blah, my dog, Blah Blah Blah, Vegas, Blah Blah Blah."

The only thing he does thats an entertaining read for me anymore is his mailbag, half of which is the "blah blah blah" stuff above. I can usually follow it ok, until he goes off into Boston obscurity land, naming off people he thinks the national audience knows like he does...the Atlanta equivalent of me writing a national article and discussing Billy Joe Tolliver and Eric Pegram at length. It usually takes me a minute before I realize, i'm not meant to know wtf hes talking about.

The Sports Guy is a poor moniker. He's The BOSTON Sports guy.

My 2 cents. Not that you care.

You're right, we don't care. And apparently the rest of the country disagrees with you, since he's ESPN's most-read columnist and has an extremely popular podcast. BTW, feel free to go ahead and point out all the obscure Boston references that he made in this article. Other than a passing reference to CHB, there really aren't any, even though it's an article about the Pats...

 

[letekro]

Ah...time for his article again. Must be a little piece of heaven for you guys.

For the rest of us outside of the New England area, I read his articles kinda like my dog hears me when I talk:

"Blah Blah Blah, Boston, Blah Blah Blah, Patriots, Blah Blah Blah, My dad, Blah Blah Blah, Celtics, Blah Blah Blah, Bruins, Blah Blah Blah, my dog, Blah Blah Blah, Vegas, Blah Blah Blah."

The only thing he does thats an entertaining read for me anymore is his mailbag, half of which is the "blah blah blah" stuff above. I can usually follow it ok, until he goes off into Boston obscurity land, naming off people he thinks the national audience knows like he does...the Atlanta equivalent of me writing a national article and discussing Billy Joe Tolliver and Eric Pegram at length. It usually takes me a minute before I realize, i'm not meant to know wtf hes talking about.

The Sports Guy is a poor moniker. He's The BOSTON Sports guy.

My 2 cents. Not that you care.

I'm up for some Eric Pegram talk whenever you are. As for the SG, he knows jack about football, taking up the favored mediot jargon of "passion, swagger, chemistry, physicality, blah, blah, etc., etc.", instead of real analysis. As others have mentioned, he's admitted as much. For me, he's wandering into Tucker Max territory - his schtick has grown old, and all that's left is an aging fratboy trying to sound hip.

 

[jcwfalcon]

even though it's an article about the Pats...

Cant speak for everyone. Only myself..and my pals that used to be avid readers when he seemed to cover more national topics. Seems like he used to use a lot more random mixed bag articles...and now he does these single topic, typically focused on a specific team in the Boston area. Whatever works for his ratings I guess. I just kinda roll over it now. Used to actually stop my day when I saw his article a couple of years ago.

 

[edelmansarmy]

Two weeks ago I thought we were a top 5 team with a good shot at the title.

I still feel the same way.

This fanbase has gotten way too emotional and precious.

They beat Atlanta and it will swing the other way and everyone will be talking about how they still have it.

Too many outlets and too many reporters with too much time.

I thought Brady was back after the Philly pre-season game?

Everything changes in a week in this sport and it only really matters when the playoff matchups are announced and even then we still won't know anything for sure. Arizona went from getting their asses kicked by us to a Super Bowl run in two weeks.

 

[They_Hate_We]

If Tyree drops that ball, this article never happens. People seem to forget that just last year the pats brought an 18-0 record into the superbowl after what was one of the greatest regular seasons of any team in any sport. For the love of God, at least wait until a 7-9 season before shelving the greatest owner, coach and quarterback in the history of this franchise.

 

[jmt57]

Simmons does correctly point out that there are two distinct group of Pats fans: the Kool-Aid drinkers repeating 'In Bill We Trust', and the naysayers who not only call for players to be cut and coaches to fired after a loss, but spend most of the week following a victory talking about what went wrong and needs to improve. Realists? Everybody in each camp considers themselves to be a realist, but I don't think there truly are any.

On a side note it is interesting that with a winning season the Pats would become the first team in the salary cap era of the NFL to achieve nine straight winning seasons.

 

[Kontradiction]

Simmons does correctly point out that there are two distinct group of Pats fans: the Kool-Aid drinkers repeating 'In Bill We Trust', and the naysayers who not only call for players to be cut and coaches to fired after a loss, but spend most of the week following a victory talking about what went wrong and needs to improve. Realists? Everybody in each camp considers themselves to be a realist, but I don't think there truly are any.

On a side note it is interesting that with a winning season the Pats would become the first team in the salary cap era of the NFL to achieve nine straight winning seasons.

Indeed. When I read that part, my first thought immediately went to whether or not he reads this forum.

 

[363839]

The Sports Guy is a poor moniker. He's The BOSTON Sports guy.

My 2 cents. Not that you care.

IN fact Boston Sportsguy WAS his original moniker.
Before he went to BSPN.

 

[Patjew]

Simmons should stick to the NBA, which he knows. He is awful with football.

 

[BradysBunch12]

Simmons knows as much about football as Rex Ryan knows about diets.

His writing style has always irritated me...kind of like how Shaugnessy used to be...speaking on behalf of all Boston fans, only Shaugnessy, like him or not, is a good writer and doesn't use lame 80s movies references and talk about his boring friends.

There's a reason he's on page 2. He's irrelevant.

He'll be the same one saying "I told you, don't count out the Pats" when we hoist the trophy in February.

 

[sieglo]

The more articles like this, the better.

Hope BB and TFB read it.

 

[BionicPatriot]

Simmons knows as much about football as Rex Ryan knows about diets.

His writing style has always irritated me...kind of like how Shaugnessy used to be...speaking on behalf of all Boston fans, only Shaugnessy, like him or not, is a good writer and doesn't use lame 80s movies references and talk about his boring friends.

There's a reason he's on page 2. He's irrelevant.

He'll be the same one saying "I told you, don't count out the Pats" when we hoist the trophy in February.

It's funny, I was thinking the exact same freaking thing. I can just see Simmons two years from now. when Seymour is old and done, the Pats land a talented youngster with the pick from Oakland for a player that was gone already. I can just see it now, "This is why Belichick is a genius, always ahead of the pack"
Honestly, Simmons **** is getting old. It's like he trys to be the typical panicky, twitchy nutty sports fan that everyone thinks resides in NE.

There IS a middle ground between the Kool-ad drinkers and the pesimists. We're the people that didn't think that much when we beat the Bills in week one, and didn't panic much when we lost in week 2. That's a normal sports fan. All of a sudden this whole ******* week I've heard nothing but how the team philosophy needs to change, Brady is done, Belichick is an idiot, etc. etc.

I really hate the extreme mood swings on this site. When you lose it's almost too depressing to listen to the little girls here sit around and cry like their boyfriend just told them to piss off. I honestly don't think I can handle another week of all the insane cliff jumping.