BB - two strikes this year

[BlitzFritz]

I thought he did a great job of building depth thru the draft on the defensive side of the ball, especially secondary. And he brought in some high potential free agents on both sides of the ball eg shawn springs, fred taylor.

For me, he struck out in two critical moves.

1. Burgess. He was supposed to be a beast pass rusher, added late in the game to fill the one missing piece. A 3rd and a 5th. The perfect complement to TBC and AD. Unfortunately, Burgess made very few plays, and our pass rush was a real liability all year long. I give BB an A for effort (I was thrilled when he made the move) and a C- for impact.

2. Galloway. He was supposed to be this years Stallworth (or Gaffney). Raw speed to complement Moss and Welker. Again, he didnt pan out, wasnt able to adjust or run routes consistently.

If those two had been as billed, we would have been an elite team.

agree?

 

[Jangles]

Does anyone agree with me that when the Pats approaced Galloway he had visions of being this years Randy Moss from 2007?

Then when it didn't happen he just said to hell with it

 

[Mogamedogz]

Not taking Clay Matthews was a pretty solid WIFF imo.

 

[The_Riddler]

Not taking Clay Matthews was a pretty solid WIFF imo.

We all saw Clay's impact already and we'll have to watch it for the next 8-10 years and we'll always say "What If?" After dealing Vrabel, it seemed like such a lock, Clay Matthews to replace Vrabel and all is well. Nope, we get a Patrick Chung who hardly saw the field as Clay was making plays game after game for the Packers. Hard to believe and it will haunt us for years. C'mon BB, we need better than that.

 

[R_T26]

The problem with the "high potential" free agents last year, is that they were mostly coming off unproductive years. We also talked ourselves into being positive.

Springs- not bad, not sure why he was ever benched for Whilhite but...
Taylor- Guy has always been injury prone, BB showed too much patience in wasting a roster spot waiting for Taylor to get healthy, just to sit him in the Playoffs.

Galloway- 37 years old who was coming off an injury and unproductive year.

Burgess-this was wishful thinking considering his numbers have declined steadily and people were saying he already lost a step.

These things make me a little nervous along with the
draft.

 

[bigfandan]

It is obvious Pats organization is a one-man show. But it is hard for Bill to be brilliant at everything. Quality of decision making starts to suffer.

Colts' strength comes from collective brian trust: Polian - personel, Moore/Caldwell - offense, Dungy/Coyer - defense.

Can you honestly think Bill can beat Polian at personel, AND beat Moore/Coldwell at offense, AND beat Coyer at defense? No way. Now Colts are flat out better in all three phases. That's why Bill needs help; however he is not operating like he needs any help. All he wants are assistants who obey 100% of his wishes (despite of him saying the opposite to media, he really seemes to dislike dissention). He has been a great coach but seems to be taking on way too much. I can't think of another coach with complete control of personel and coaching staff (and refusing to bring outside assistats) being successful. Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan are two recent failures. I hope Bill does not follow footsteps of these two.

We all saw Clay's impact already and we'll have to watch it for the next 8-10 years and we'll always say "What If?" After dealing Vrabel, it seemed like such a lock, Clay Matthews to replace Vrabel and all is well. Nope, we get a Patrick Chung who hardly saw the field as Clay was making plays game after game for the Packers. Hard to believe and it will haunt us for years. C'mon BB, we need better than that.

 

[The Dynasty]

To Burgess' defense ever since he got sent home from practice I thought his play stepped up and he played much better. He was essentially replacing Vrabel. Burgess had 5 sacks Vrabel had 2. I am not saying that we couldnt have got a better replacement for Vrabel than Burgess because we could have, but Burgess didnt really have that bad of a season. He strugged early on but got his act together.

Galloway just didnt work out. You cannot expect every FA signing to work out. Even with the WR's that we had I feel like we could have been a contender. We had the best 1-2 WR combo in the game in Moss and Welker. The main issue for me this season was the lack of an OC. This played a much bigger factor than people think. It effected the entire offensive and the way it flowed.

I dont think you can say that Galloway and Burgess not working out to their full potential made the Pats not be an elite team

 

[StraightCashHomey81]

I agree with this post.

Having any live body 3rd WR who could play on the outside and this team would have had two more wins in the regular season. Aiken and Stanback both proved this they are just not NFL caliber WRs. Gaffney or even Reche Caldwell (yup, I said it) would have been infintely better.

Burgess not working out was a killer, but it was the only move that could have been made at that point, save for the extreme meausure of trading for Peppers. Looking back in August, and even the onset of Free Agency, I don't see any better move BB could have made to remedy the pass rush. Did anyone of the rookie binky OLBs play that well this year, save for Orakpo?

I also felt the secondary this year was quite solid considering the anemic pass rush, and Burgess' dissapoint left them hanging out to dry far too often this year.

I also don't get all the hype about Clay Matthews this year. Did he "flash" at times as a pass rusher? Sure. But I started watching some of NFLN replays of Packers games, and they guy couldn't set the edge in the run game at all. He lacks the lower body strength and length to do so. So pump the brakes on comparing "Chung over Matthews" to "Bowie over Jordan". I know people are still bristling at BB's "6'4 w/ 4.6 speed" requirement after the 09 Draft, but I think it has some merit, especially when it comes to setting the edge in the run game.

 

[onegr8om]

It is obvious Pats organization is a one-man show. But it is hard for Bill to be brilliant at everything. Quality of decision making starts to suffer.

Colts' strength comes from collective brian trust: Polian - personel, Moore/Caldwell - offense, Dungy/Coyer - defense.

Can you honestly think Bill can beat Polian at personel, AND beat Moore/Coldwell at offense, AND beat Coyer at defense? No way. Now Colts are flat out better in all three phases. That's why Bill needs help; however he is not operating like he needs any help. All he wants are assistants who obey 100% of his wishes (despite of him saying the opposite to media, he really seemes to dislike dissention). He has been a great coach but seems to be taking on way too much. I can't think of another coach with complete control of personel and coaching staff (and refusing to bring outside assistats) being successful. Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan are two recent failures. I hope Bill does not follow footsteps of these two.

I couldn't agree with you MORE!! Well written.

 

[upstater1]

Not taking Clay Matthews was a pretty solid WIFF imo.

Matthews = Darius Butler, Brandon Tate, Edelman and this year's #2 from the Titans or Jags (I forget which one)

If Edelman becomes our slot guy, Tate our #4 WR, Darius Butler a lockdown corner, and we land say OLB Eric Norwood with this year's pick, you'll be very hard pressed to say they should have taken Matthews. It's still too early to make those suggestions.

 

[supafly]

Matthews = Darius Butler, Brandon Tate, Edelman and this year's #2 from the Titans or Jags (I forget which one)

If Edelman becomes our slot guy, Tate our #4 WR, Darius Butler a lockdown corner, and we land say OLB Eric Norwood with this year's pick, you'll be very hard pressed to say they should have taken Matthews. It's still too early to make those suggestions.

Great point, and a good way of looking at it, especially in terms of the future.

 

[Bledsoe11]

It is obvious Pats organization is a one-man show. But it is hard for Bill to be brilliant at everything. Quality of decision making starts to suffer.

Colts' strength comes from collective brian trust: Polian - personel, Moore/Caldwell - offense, Dungy/Coyer - defense.

Can you honestly think Bill can beat Polian at personel, AND beat Moore/Coldwell at offense, AND beat Coyer at defense? No way. Now Colts are flat out better in all three phases. That's why Bill needs help; however he is not operating like he needs any help. All he wants are assistants who obey 100% of his wishes (despite of him saying the opposite to media, he really seemes to dislike dissention). He has been a great coach but seems to be taking on way too much. I can't think of another coach with complete control of personel and coaching staff (and refusing to bring outside assistats) being successful. Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan are two recent failures. I hope Bill does not follow footsteps of these two.

I was just thinking that exact same thing last night while I was lying in bed...Though BB is a hell of a coach, he obviously needs some help from the front office with personnel.

 

[Disco Volante]

Does anyone agree with me that when the Pats approaced Galloway he had visions of being this years Randy Moss from 2007?

Galloway had visions of having the greatest season in NFL history?

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I thought he did a great job of building depth thru the draft on the defensive side of the ball, especially secondary. And he brought in some high potential free agents on both sides of the ball eg shawn springs, fred taylor.

For me, he struck out in two critical moves.

1. Burgess. He was supposed to be a beast pass rusher, added late in the game to fill the one missing piece. A 3rd and a 5th. The perfect complement to TBC and AD. Unfortunately, Burgess made very few plays, and our pass rush was a real liability all year long. I give BB an A for effort (I was thrilled when he made the move) and a C- for impact.

2. Galloway. He was supposed to be this years Stallworth (or Gaffney). Raw speed to complement Moss and Welker. Again, he didnt pan out, wasnt able to adjust or run routes consistently.

If those two had been as billed, we would have been an elite team.

agree?

Fans and pundits proclaimed Burgess a patch & plug replacement as a pass rusher, what BB had in mind isn't necessarily the same when you consider Burgess was statistically on the decline in that area. He needed time to learn and adapt to the NE defense, as people have noted he began showing up in the stat lines as the season wound down. If BB can re-sign him for reasonable money, I can't call him a failure. :confused2:

Galloway was a bust, BB was unable to build the depth behind him with one person, but between Edelman, Aiken, and Stanback, they caught just as many passes as Gaffney...when that QB fellow remembered they were there. I have developing #3 and #4 WRs as a priority for this offseason - I'd love to read about Brady & Hoyer working in some California park with Edelman, Tate, Stanback, and Jenkins this offseason. I also wonder if BB is trying to convert Myers to H-back/FB or is looking to use him like Indy with Dallas Clark as a large receiver? Whichever way things go, the one thing I'm looking for before a died in the wool edge rusher is a WR depth chart that is wired into Brady.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Fans and pundits proclaimed Burgess a patch & plug replacement as a pass rusher, what BB had in mind isn't necessarily the same when you consider Burgess was statistically on the decline in that area. He needed time to learn and adapt to the NE defense, as people have noted he began showing up in the stat lines as the season wound down. If BB can re-sign him for reasonable money, I can't call him a failure. :confused2:

Galloway was a bust, BB was unable to build the depth behind him with one person, but between Edelman, Aiken, and Stanback, they caught just as many passes as Gaffney...when that QB fellow remembered they were there. I have developing #3 and #4 WRs as a priority for this offseason - I'd love to read about Brady & Hoyer working in some California park with Edelman, Tate, Stanback, and Jenkins this offseason. I also wonder if BB is trying to convert Myers to H-back/FB or is looking to use him like Indy with Dallas Clark as a large receiver? Whichever way things go, the one thing I'm looking for before a died in the wool edge rusher is a WR depth chart that is wired into Brady.

It's a common point that three years is required for a passing offense to reach max efficiency. That's why Polian has always spent top dollar keeping Goober's receivers on their team.

2007 was simply not ordinary in that a team can take in all new receivers and put up historic numbers. In 2009, TB had limited time to work with this receiver corps. Therefore, passing judgement on these guys is premature.

 

[Nunchucks]

The problem with Aiken and Stanback is that they aren't nfl receivers. Sure, they can occasionally get open an make a catch, but they aren't consistent, they can't beat DBs ith great routes, quick moves or trickery. They just have to hope the DB makes a dumb mistake.

Patriots had a total of two nfl quality receivers last season, Moss and Welker and Moss seemed to get hurt or lose 4 steps and Welker blew out his knee.

In 2010 the patriots will have 1 quality receiver who may or may not play up to expectations and that is Moss. After that, they have Edleman who is still a ???? despite his excellent play in the wildcard game. Then they have Tate, who blew out his other knee and may or may not be a factor.

The Patriots desperatly need 2-3 receivers that can play

 

[bucky]

I would have to say that this was by far BB's worst year, not only from a player personnel perspective, but also from a coaching perspective. I'd say that putting 2 strikes on him is extremely lenient. I can add a few more:

1) Trading Vrabel
2) Trading David Thomas
3) Trading Seymour - this one technically can't be finalized yet, but there's no question how negatively it impacted the '09 team.
4) Resigning James Sanders
5) Letting Welker, Moss, Brady, Mayo play on a crappy field in a totally meaningless game.
6) Issues with play calling all year long.
7) Trading for Alex Smith
8) Releasing Greg Lewis before Galloway had settled in as the #3 WR.
9) Mess up of the TBC extension
10) All those 4th down decisions.
11) Being outplayed in the 2nd half of every game

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

I would have to say that this was by far BB's worst year, not only from a player personnel perspective, but also from a coaching perspective. I'd say that putting 2 strikes on him is extremely lenient. I can add a few more:

1) Trading Vrabel
2) Trading David Thomas
3) Trading Seymour - this one technically can't be finalized yet, but there's no question how negatively it impacted the '09 team.
4) Resigning James Sanders
5) Letting Welker, Moss, Brady, Mayo play on a crappy field in a totally meaningless game.
6) Issues with play calling all year long.
7) Trading for Alex Smith
8) Releasing Greg Lewis before Galloway had settled in as the #3 WR.
9) Mess up of the TBC extension
10) All those 4th down decisions.
11) Being outplayed in the 2nd half of every game

Uhhh outplayed in every game? So they were outplayed in the Titans game?

Uhhh, what exactly did David Thomas do to get that point?

Is this offseason going to be filled with idiot posts like this?

 

[Nunchucks]

resigning James Sanders was a good move, once they put him in there, the defense actually go better.

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

Is this offseason going to be filled with idiot posts like this?

simple answer,,,,,,YES