- Joined
- Oct 10, 2006
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The OP is a trash article that cherry picks things like the Panthers superbowl, completely ignoring the divisional round against the titans that was a knock-down-drag-out defensive battle. We scored 3 total points in the second half, and Bethel friggin Johnson was our leading receiver. So yeah where were the "clutch" spectacular leaping catches from Givens (26 yards) and Branch (10 yards)? If the defense plays slightly worse, we don't move on and there is no superbowl.
See, I'm not buying this. The article is flawed, as most things are. However, your arguments don't prove this flaw. Had the Patriots won in 2006, that team still would not have been as good as the teams in 2001, 2003 or 2004. The same is true of every team OTHER THAN 2007, since the end of the 2004 season. That's just the reality of what's happened.
Instead of equating "Decline" and "not as good" with "Worst damned team in NFL history", perhaps you could contribute something positive to the discussion by bringing some actual insight to the table. For example, which player in the defensive back 8 from 2009 would be a starter on that 2004 team? Did the platoon of players replacing Seymour even approach 2004 Seymour?
After looking at the defense, one could look at the offense. Will Brady fully recover next season and become Brady again, or did the injury rob us of the rest of Brady's prime years? Moss is better than any receiver on that 2004 team, but can the team replace Welker, or will the WR spots also begin to lag behind those championship squads? Can Koppen regain his top form, or are his best years behind him? Can Light get it done for another year, or will Vollmer move to LT and open up the RT question yet again? How can the team get the tight end position back to its 2003-2004 strength? Can the team find a way to improve the running game, or will it remain the poor stepchild? With Neal having more physical problems, how do you solve the guard problems even if you manage to keep Mankins? All this is valid stuff to discuss, regardless of your take on specific aspects of it, and it's all what's gone into the team's decline.
I'm not one to blame everything on the front office. I think it's unfair to blame the front office for Bruschi's stroke, Colvin's injury, Thomas' first two injury plagued seasons, Mayo's injury last year, Harrison and Wilson both suffering multiple injuries robbing them of effectiveness earlier than might have been planned on (especially in Wilson's case), etc... Nonetheless, that's the situation at hand, and there's clearly been a decline from the first half of the decade. One can discuss it reasonably and look at reasons and solutions, the way a message board should be used, or one can stick fingers in the ear and ignore the reality for as long as possible while trying to make the message board into something that's little more than a company blog for the Patriots. I prefer the first approach.