OT: Brian Cushing wins Defensive ROY

[BadMoFo]

134 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 Ints, 2 FF.

Jairus Byrd, Clay Matthews and Brian Orakpo were the others receiving votes.

 

[bakes781]

Would've liked Clay on our team, but still like Butler especially where we got him.

 

[BradyManny]

4 guys all on patsfans.com draft board. Who knows how they would've performed as Patriots. I certainly had my doubts about Cushing & Matthews & Orakpo. I'm happy with what we've got, though Brace is the only real downer at this point.

 

[BadMoFo]

Would've liked Clay on our team, but still like Butler especially where we got him.

I like Butler too, but I don't think he's going to be that special type of player that Brian Cushing. Anyways, we really had no shot at getting Cushing because he went pretty high.

 

[BritPat]

The most deserved rookie award since probably Jonathan Vilma. He's been nothing short of sensational all season. Christ, he was excellent on Sunday.

 

[mgteich]

These choices were not related. We got Butler at 41. We had two picks before that.

Would've liked Clay on our team, but still like Butler especially where we got him.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

These choices were not related. We got Butler at 41. We had two picks before that.

except we kept trading down because BB did not see any value early on. Seriously, we drafted Chung and Butler instead of Cushing, maleuga and Matthews. Another brilliant draft for BB.

i don't want to ruffle any feathers around here, but it seems to me that Parcells drafted most of the players the composed our dynasty and the drafting has not been the same in a while.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Revis will be joining him for defensive awards soon...If Revis does not win DPOY there is something wrong.

 

[mayoclinic]

except we kept trading down because BB did not see any value early on. Seriously, we drafted Chung and Butler instead of Cushing, maleuga and Matthews. Another brilliant draft for BB.

Cushing went at #15. Not sure why you consider him ever to have been an option for us.

i don't want to ruffle any feathers around here, but it seems to me that Parcells drafted most of the players the composed our dynasty and the drafting has not been the same since he left.

BB drafted or brought in Tom Brady, Corey Dillon, Deion Branch, Matt Light, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, Dan Graham, Ted Washington, Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison, Eugene Wilson, Asante Samuel and Randall Gay. Do you think any of those guys might have had something to do with our dynasty?

 

[mgteich]

Let's be clear, Belichick had a great draft. It is only message board posters who disagree. Kiper recently re-graded us as A-.

We have 14 rookies on the squad (including the two UDFA's). Vollmer will be in everyone's top 10 in the re-drafts. Butler was 1st round value and will be at least a nickel for the next three years. We secured a long snapper, a backup DL and a solid backup slot back. That is a successful draft.

Yes, we had two players who were injured: Tate and McKenzie. We also drafted a group of developmental players who could work out, or not: Ohrnberger, Bussey and Richard.

Yes, there were two top picks who most of us would have changed at the time and in hindsight. We could have had Matthews (or Eric Wood or Nicks or Beanie Wells) at 26 and Laurinitis (or Sintim or Barwin or Unger or LeVitre) at 34 instead of Chung, Brace and Tate. So, yes, I think we could have done better.

And, of course, we will go into the 2010 offseason considering the same roster needs, hoping to secure players as good as those we passed on to get Chung and Brace.

Finally, I would note that Chung and Brace are not bad picks. Chung has been a solid special teamer and contributed more than Meriweather or Sanders did in their first year. Brace is a backup DL, and hoepfully a backup NT. We had the picks and tried our best to get a future top 3-4 NT. These are extremely difficult to find.

except we kept trading down because BB did not see any value early on. Seriously, we drafted Chung and Butler instead of Cushing, maleuga and Matthews. Another brilliant draft for BB.

i don't want to ruffle any feathers around here, but it seems to me that Parcells drafted most of the players the composed our dynasty and the drafting has not been the same since he left.

 

[Clonamery]

except we kept trading down because BB did not see any value early on. Seriously, we drafted Chung and Butler instead of Cushing, maleuga and Matthews. Another brilliant draft for BB.

i don't want to ruffle any feathers around here, but it seems to me that Parcells drafted most of the players the composed our dynasty and the drafting has not been the same since he left.

Just keep spewing that intelligence of yours without any basis. "Seems to me...."

Spolied little Yankees fans with no particular insight or class.

 

[oldskool138]

Didn't he play Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars?

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Just keep spewing that intelligence of yours without any basis. "Seems to me...."

Spolied little Yankees fans with no particular insight or class.

i'm giving my opinion. do me a favor and go follow the giants or jets. we don't need new yorkers on this board. i don't even like the yankees.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Cushing went at #15. Not sure why you consider him ever to have been an option for us.



BB drafted or brought in Tom Brady, Corey Dillon, Deion Branch, Matt Light, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, Dan Graham, Ted Washington, Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison, Eugene Wilson, Asante Samuel and Randall Gay. Do you think any of those guys might have had something to do with our dynasty?

ok i exagerrated bit. but i'm talking draft not trade or free agent. I'll give you brady, light, koppen, neal, graham, branch, wilfork, seymour, samuel, wilson. all those guys were good, but there were a lot of guys from the parcells era that helped too. and these guys you mentioned were drafted years ago.

 

[JackBauer]

ok i exagerrated bit. but i'm talking draft not trade or free agent. I'll give you brady, light, koppen, neal, graham, branch, wilfork, seymour, samuel, wilson. all those guys were good, but there were a lot of guys from the parcells era that helped too. and these guys you mentioned were drafted years ago.

"Exaggerated a bit"?

You could at least be honest and admit you had no semblance of a clue what you were talking about.

 

[SyN65]

Cushing is an absolute beast and is going to be one of the best LB's in the league in a few years. He deserves it.

DPOY is either going to be Woodson or Revis.

 

[GroganCountry]

4 guys all on patsfans.com draft board. Who knows how they would've performed as Patriots.

Well put. It's not like baseball's Rookie of the Year award - so much depends on just how much a player would fit into a specific system. So just because Cushing played great in Houston, it doesn't necessarily mean it would have transferred to the Pats' system and the results could have been different.

Regardless, it's interesting to see that all three USC rookie Linebackers all played well this season. SC was starting to get a bad rap as putting out defensive players who couldn't perform at the professional level.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

"Exaggerated a bit"?

You could at least be honest and admit you had no semblance of a clue what you were talking about.

maybe you're right but my point is that we could have drafted an impact player last year early on and didn't. vollmer is a good pick but it'll take him another year at least. there are others i didn't mention either like Maclin or clay matthews, vontae davis. i know maclin was drafted a bit higher than 23 but i don't think it would have taken much to get him. cushing i thought was drafted much lower - that's my mistake.

drafting has been a weak spot for the patriots from 2005-2008 and possibly 2009 depending on what happens. this is why we struggle at times and can no longer put away opponents.

 

[Clonamery]

i'm giving my opinion. do me a favor and go follow the giants or jets. we don't need new yorkers on this board. i don't even like the yankees.

That's fine, opinion is good when it's thoughtful, yours wasn't. I don't like the Yankees either and Yankee fans even less because of their whiney, petulant, picayune ways. That was what I was alluding to. Sorry you missed it.

 

[klinefan]

If cushing played here, he likely wouldn't have played a down.