Not so fast...

[fair catch fryar]

The season is over, but for those of you jumping off the bandwagon please do, and for the rest of us who have seen the Patriots in the 'dark ages' not so long ago, I'm still believing that while they may not be the juggernaut we're accustomed to, the Pats will be competitive for a few more years and I wouldn't be surprised if they win another Superbowl.
Don't be so fast to nail the coffin | Portland Press Herald

 

[DarrylS]

Don't ask them to stay, if they cannot see through this let them move on.. this team needs to change, but there is a whole lot more good than bad...

 

[kpreh]

I'm guessing a few fans of teams that have not had a winning record in forever would be happy to have our team. You can't win everything all the time some fans just have to realize that or move on to the next winning team, but then fans like that aren't real fans anyway.

 

[ausbacker]

We'll be a good team not a great team until the glaring holes in the team and coaching structures are addressed.

As for bandwagoners, well every team has them and all of them jump on and off as it suits. Questioning the Patriots doesn't make you a bandwagon supporter.

 

[scout]

It's games like this (one and done bashing) which separates the true fans from the bandwagoners. Typical posts pop up, fire BB..............enough said.

 

[DarrylS]

We'll be a good team not a great team until the glaring holes in the team and coaching structures are addressed.

As for bandwagoners, well every team has them and all of them jump on and off as it suits. Questioning the Patriots doesn't make you a bandwagon supporter.

No it doesn't, but the rhetoric employed is a lot over the edge... the reality that this team deserves criticism and advocacy for change, but have to look at a big picture... threads like BB should retire are idiotic.

 

[PromisedLand]

I am waiting to see how we do with the draft in the post-Pioli era. The Pioli era was not as good as the mythology would make one think. In fact in another thread there is a comparison between the Raven's last few drafts and the Pats - actually, there is no comparison, nor is there with ours and the Colts, or Chargers. Our Super Bowl teams were built on Parcell's guys (McGinest, Bruschi, Troy Brown, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy), a stroke of great luck in the draft (Tom Brady) and a couple of smart free agent signings or draft pick trades (Rodney Harrison, Cory Dillon, Ted Washington). Thinking back over the past 9 drafts, I can think of several solid picks (Light, Mankins, Koppen, Warren, Mayo, Branch, Samuel, Meriweather), a few JAGS, and lots of busts. As far as true impact players (ones that other coaches game plan against), there have been two: Richard Seymour in his prime (#6 overall pick) and perhaps Vince Wilfork. That's not a great record for all those draft picks.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

as i look over the debris of yesterday's comments here, i'm making a clear distinction between those where posters were rightfully ripped that, as Big Vince put it, the Pats "didn't come to play" yesterday and those where posters were making blanket judgments about the players and organization.

i think it's very reasonable to be angry at yesterday's performance (as Tommy said, he "would have booed" too) and still be objective about what the Pats were dealing with this season in terms of Brady's return from a lost year and a revamped Defense.

That doesn't mean we have to agree with every move they made in the offseason and on the field this year, but i think we have to cut a proven organization and a HOF HC a little leeway and see how it deals with some of the issues that are obviously on the table.

 

[ausbacker]

No it doesn't, but the rhetoric employed is a lot over the edge... the reality that this team deserves criticism and advocacy for change, but have to look at a big picture... threads like BB should retire are idiotic.

Indeed, but just because someone wants a change with BB moved on doesn't necessarily make them a bandwagon supporter. It just makes them plain stupid unless they can support why BB should retire.

 

[ramon]

as i look over the debris of yesterday's comments here, i'm making a clear distinction between those where posters were rightfully ripped that, as Big Vince put it, the Pats "didn't come to play" yesterday and those where posters were making blanket judgments about the players and organization.

i think it's very reasonable to be angry at yesterday's performance (as Tommy said, he "would have booed" too) and still be objective about what the Pats were dealing with this season in terms of Brady's return from a lost year and a revamped Defense.

That doesn't mean we have to agree with every move they made in the offseason and on the field this year, but i think we have to cut a proven organization and a HOF HC a little leeway and see how it deals with some of the issues that are obviously on the table.

I would like to know what you mean by bandwagon fans. I am bitterly disappointed with yesterdays game and want BB and the Patriots to make some serious changes including FO moves. I think BB had a terrible year and his personnel moves have been among the worst in the laegue recently. However tyehy are always my favorite team and want the best for them

 

[E Belichick Unum]

The season is over, but for those of you jumping off the bandwagon please do, and for the rest of us who have seen the Patriots in the 'dark ages' not so long ago, I'm still believing that while they may not be the juggernaut we're accustomed to, the Pats will be competitive for a few more years and I wouldn't be surprised if they win another Superbowl.
Don't be so fast to nail the coffin | Portland Press Herald

There is a difference between what we watched yesterday and jumping off of the bandwagon. Yeah, I could have written that article, made all of those excuses about why the Patriots played so poorly and why the sun will come up tomorrow, but that would give the Patriots an excuse. There is no excuse for what happened yesterday. They didn't just get beat, they got crushed and all of the flowery prose in the Portland Press Herald will not change that.

I have been following the Patriots for 40 years, I haven't jumped off of the bandwagon, but I didn't put the rose colored glasses on either.

 

[PromisedLand]

I would like to know what you mean by bandwagon fans. I am bitterly disappointed with yesterdays game and want BB and the Patriots to make some serious changes including FO moves. I think BB had a terrible year and his personnel moves have been among the worst in the laegue recently. However tyehy are always my favorite team and want the best for them

Not to put words in his mouth, but too often here the label "bandwagon fans" is applied to anyone who expresses any disappointment, criticism or unhappiness with the state of the team. I have been a fan since 1960 and have many times expressed those opinions (as well as positive ones). That's what passionate fans do - it shows they care about the team, not that they are casual fans. Blind allegiance and homerism is not required to be a loyal fan.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

I think its hilarious that some will sit here and criticize anyone who bashed the pats for their play yesterday.

that was one of the most pathetic displays I have seen in a very long time.....and I can call most of you bandwagoners since there is a very small handful here who have followed the pats as long as I have.

I've been out to the parking lot by the end of the 3rd quarter of some game the pats were winning by that much.....I've booed pretty much every QB from Jim Plunkett to Tom Brady......they have all deserved it at one time or another......Brady looked like Tony Eason yesterday......he SHOULD have been booed and this team has earned being bashed.

maybe some of us simply aren't blind-lovers like you

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Not to put words in his mouth, but too often here the label "bandwagon fans" is applied to anyone who expresses any disappointment, criticism or unhappiness with the state of the team. I have been a fan since 1960 and have many times expressed those opinions (as well as positive ones). That's what passionate fans do - it shows they care about the team, not that they are casual fans. Blind allegiance and homerism is not required to be a loyal fan.

you means the ones who drank the kool-aid?

 

[kpreh]

Not to put words in his mouth, but too often here the label "bandwagon fans" is applied to anyone who expresses any disappointment, criticism or unhappiness with the state of the team. I have been a fan since 1960 and have many times expressed those opinions (as well as positive ones). That's what passionate fans do - it shows they care about the team, not that they are casual fans. Blind allegiance and homerism is not required to be a loyal fan.

lurking here as I do (not posting doesn't make me any less of a fan-just in case someone wants to mention that) I see what I would call Fair-weather fans all the time-making uneducated comments like Vince "is fat and lazy" or " Brady is thinking about doing his wife' . those kinds of comments are made by "new fans" ones that have never seen a losing season or never sat on those frozen Bleachers at Foxboro stadium. I have no problem calling them "bandwagon fans" cause that's what they are. Now the posters here who show some brain power that's a different story.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

lurking here as I do (not posting doesn't make me any less of a fan-just in case someone wants to mention that) I see what I would call Fair-weather fans all the time-making uneducated comments like Vince "is fat and lazy" or " Brady is thinking about doing his wife' . those kinds of comments are made by "new fans" ones that have never seen a losing season or never sat on those frozen Bleachers at Foxboro stadium. I have no problem calling them "bandwagon fans" cause that's what they are. Now the posters here who show some brain power that's a different story.

What makes use of the term difficult is it's not just new fans, there are some old fans who have just become so entitled in this decade (or apparently were never all that bright to begin with) they can't appreciate what they've been handed and what it entailed and unless they get what they've become accustomed to each and every week they feel entitled to bash and even take personal shots at players, coaches and other fans who point to their fairweather mentality.

 

[Jimke]

Not to put words in his mouth, but too often here the label "bandwagon fans" is applied to anyone who expresses any disappointment, criticism or unhappiness with the state of the team. I have been a fan since 1960 and have many times expressed those opinions (as well as positive ones). That's what passionate fans do - it shows they care about the team, not that they are casual fans. Blind allegiance and homerism is not required to be a loyal fan.

Right on! I also started watching and following the Patriots their
very first season. My wife came on board with me in 1964. I was
recently referred to as a malcontent and a troll by one 10,000 post
forum member.

My problem probably is that, like you, I have seen many Patriot
regimes (Holovak, Fairbanks, Berry, Parcells) rise and fall. The
demise began when veteran players either retired or left for free
agency. The drafts were not good enough to replace the
veterans.

The last ten years have been amazing as compared to the 40
previous years. Four Superbowl appearances with three Superbowl
wins. I am greedy now and want another Superbowl win.

There are now only two defensive players remaining from the Superbowl winning teams and their replacements are inferior. The offense also
seems to be slipping. The offensive line problems that surfaced in their
most recent Superbowl have not been addressed.

To regain their position as an elite team, I feel that the Patriots have
to be agressive in free agency and have another good draft.

 

[SteveBsFan]

2002 sticks out in my head. People felt the Pats were a one hit wonder and were going back to nothingness.

Hopefully this wakes up the team, leaders step up, smart moves are made this off-season, and finally, solid coaching brought in (or promoted) to run the offense and defense imo.

 

[fair catch fryar]

I would like to know what you mean by bandwagon fans. I am bitterly disappointed with yesterdays game and want BB and the Patriots to make some serious changes including FO moves. I think BB had a terrible year and his personnel moves have been among the worst in the laegue recently. However tyehy are always my favorite team and want the best for them

I would classify a "bandwagon" fan as anyone that is quick to proclaim an end to winning and that they will "suck" from now on just because they stunk up the joint yesterday. "Real" fans have the right to justly criticize the players, coaches, and ownership for the play and supposed direction of the team based on past history. Up to this point, I think it BB had the right to pretty much run this team the way he envisioned it, but based on this year I would dare say this is the first time I'm beginning to have my doubts about some of his personnel moves. With that said, I also think he has had a fair amount of luck, like most great teams, to have achieved their past successes. If history has taught us anything, it is that most success is cyclical. In the beginning BB combined what he inherited(Bruschi, Brown) from the Parcells, Carroll years with some very nice JAGS(Harrison, Vrabel) and draft picks(Seymour, Wilfork, Warren) to produce SB winners. As the cycle continued, he had some poor choices(Starks, Jackson, etc..), but I believe he has the insight and ability to trust that he can still pick talent where others can't and will strike it rich again and hopefully build up another core of playmakers that can make another run because he still has the most important piece still there at the QB position.

While I am disappointed and frustrated with what I thought would be a memorable year and do believe that the Pats will have another 2-3 year run similar to 2003-2006 as long as BB and Brady remain.

 

[JAYHAWKS34]

I would classify a "bandwagon" fan as anyone that is quick to proclaim an end to winning and that they will "suck" from now on just because they stunk up the joint yesterday. "Real" fans have the right to justly criticize the players, coaches, and ownership for the play and supposed direction of the team based on past history. Up to this point, I think it BB had the right to pretty much run this team the way he envisioned it, but based on this year I would dare say this is the first time I'm beginning to have my doubts about some of his personnel moves. With that said, I also think he has had a fair amount of luck, like most great teams, to have achieved their past successes. If history has taught us anything, it is that most success is cyclical. In the beginning BB combined what he inherited(Bruschi, Brown) from the Parcells, Carroll years with some very nice JAGS(Harrison, Vrabel) and draft picks(Seymour, Wilfork, Warren) to produce SB winners. As the cycle continued, he had some poor choices(Starks, Jackson, etc..), but I believe he has the insight and ability to trust that he can still pick talent where others can't and will strike it rich again and hopefully build up another core of playmakers that can make another run because he still has the most important piece still there at the QB position.

While I am disappointed and frustrated with what I thought would be a memorable year and do believe that the Pats will have another 2-3 year run similar to 2003-2006 as long as BB and Brady remain.

oh god not these threads again of people calling other fans "bandwagon" fan

:spygate: