BB - two strikes this year

[nashvillepatsfan]

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

You're right Bucky.

If Kraft had only moved quicker, we couldve had Gailey before the Bills.

 

[The Dynasty]

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

There is no question that WR is definitely a need on this team for 2010. I think it is the 2nd biggest need besides a pass rusher. You are right we are starting 2010 as of now, with only 1 proven quality NFL receiver. There is no question that Edelman can be successful, but hes only played half an NFL season, his first as a WR. Even if you concider Edelman quality thats only 2. As we saw this past season you really need 3 quality WR's in this league to be successful.

Tate could be in the mix, but you cannot really count on him since he is injury prone and hasnt proven anything. The Pats definitely need to look at a WR in FA, specifically one that has proven himself in the league. Names that come to mind as guys I could see the Pats taking a look at are Malcolm Floyd and Antonio Bryant. I would also expect the Pats to potentially draft a WR with one of their top picks, not in the 1st round but probably with one of their 2nd rounders. Names I see the Pats wanting to take a good look at are Jordan Shipley, Dezmon Briscoe and Eric Decker.

 

[chevss454]

Names I see the Pats wanting to take a good look at are Jordan Shipley, Dezmon Briscoe and Eric Decker.

I would add a few more WR's:
Damian Williams, USC
Arrelious Benn, ILL
Freddy Barnes, FL

 

[oldskool138]

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

More like Polian - rules changer.

 

[DEVIOUS 1]

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.


And we can't keep a consistent brain trust together year in and year out like your beloved Colts Dan.

Seriously, I wrote about this in another thread but it bares mentioning again. It seems short sighted and ignorant to me to compare recent draft success between 2 teams where 1 (Patriots) are getting personal raped over the past few years, and 1 (Colts) who never get touched.

Colts have a consistent pro personal team, scouting team, coaching team.

Patriots have lost coaches, talented ones by the boat load, and those coaches then hire other coaches on the Patriots.

Pioli, Dimitroff? Nah! No big losses there. Nevermind the fact that when they get other jobs there also taking some of our scouts with them. Constantly having to reshuffle there pro personal, and scouting staff? No big deal I guess http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Lets see the Colts go through those transitions and keep there talent level static. We don't know if it will happen because it hasn't EVER happened to them.

 

[The Dynasty]

I would add a few more WR's:
Damian Williams, USC
Arrelious Benn, ILL
Freddy Barnes, FL

Williams- Will probably be gone by the time the Pats have a pick in the 2nd, I cant see the Pats using their first on a WR

Benn- Same as Williams, will probably be gone

Barnes- He went to Bowling Green, not Florida. He could be a good value pick in the later rounds (4th-5th). If the Pats dont get a WR in day 1, I could see them look his way for day 2.

 

[mgteich]

Lewis

Galloway

Aiken as a receiver

3 strikes and we're one and out

 

[The Dynasty]

Lewis

Galloway

Aiken as a receiver

3 strikes and we're one and out

Just throwing this out there...

If these guys played for the Colts this season with Manning as their QB and Tom Moore as their OC, I think they would have had more protective years because Moore gets the most out of his players and Manning makes his WR's better. This isnt a bashing of Brady, it is more a bash on the Pats lack of an OC this season.

 

[TheComeback]

Just throwing this out there...

If these guys played for the Colts this season with Manning as their QB and Tom Moore as their OC, I think they would have had more protective years because Moore gets the most out of his players and Manning makes his WR's better. This isnt a bashing of Brady, it is more a bash on the Pats lack of an OC this season.

Garcon and Collie are simply more talented than Aiken or Lewis. Especially Garcon. Moore is a great OC but he isn't a magician. No one is going to turn career-long scrubs like Sam Aiken or Greg Lewis into playmakers who show up on a regular basis.

Can you see Aiken ever having a game like Garcon did on Sunday?

 

[SanAngeloState]

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

They will unleash the dogs of war on you for your insolence.

Alex Smith? Lewis?

you forgot 3rd and 5th for b-b-b-Burgess? Are you kidding me?

We got smoked in the 2nd half of the colts game and crapped out in the NO game, so yeah, you have a point. Don't let them tell you otherwise. We used to be a strong "2nd half adjustment team". No longer.

How about no OC and DC at all? Relying on a playbook that the average 5th grade team would find simplistic. How many draws to Faulk are we going to see?

Thomas was a great player in Texas, we just didn't use him at all. So why'd we waste a 3rd in drafting him? If he didn't fit our system, then why draft him?

 

[JoeShmoe]

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.

Great points. Clearly Manning is a long way ahead of TB right now for whatever reasons but as an organisation they have moved ahead of us. I think Kraft and BB need to step back and get some new ideas and creative thinking throughout the team because we are in dangrer of becoming a very predictable team overly reliant on 4 or 5 players. The great teams are those that evolve and change and every great coach needs great assistants

 

[bucky]

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?

Doofus, did you only see the Titans game? Here's a stat from Mike Reiss:

Patriots' record after leading at halftime:
2001 through 2008 (I'll add it up cause you seem like you might be math-challenged) - 76-2
2009 - 6-4.

Also, the Patriots outscored their opponents after halftime in only 6 of the 17 games.

If that kind of statistic falls on anyone, it's the coaching staff.

Patriots and closing games - Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

 

[bucky]

You're right Bucky.

If Kraft had only moved quicker, we couldve had Gailey before the Bills.

I'm not saying we should get rid of him. He's one of the handful of all-time greatest coaches and we're lucky to have him. But everyone is entitled to a mulligan and he certainly used his up this season in a big way. Let's just get that straight - he had an awful season by his standards.

Look at it this way, if BB had quit last January and was replaced by McDaniels, who then proceeded to make the exact same moves and got the same exact result - accentuated by an ass-whooping on our home field in the playoffs - a lot of people would be calling for his head.

 

[patriotsdynasty12189]

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.

Same can be said about Chung though. We lost Rodney Harrison so we drafted Chung to eventually take his place. Plus Vrabel had about 25 pounds on Matthews and Clay plays the WOLB Vrabel played the SOLB. Matthews is a play maker in the Packers system but what makes you say he would be the same here?

I think Chung is going to complement Meriweather very well. I figure Meriweather will become a better cover, ballhawk kind of player, while Chung will be that guy who lays the wood on receivers and becomes an absolute great tackler who can blitz the quarterback, just like Harrison did. He definatley has to improve in coverage though. Plus I have his jersey so he better come through.

 

[carolinatony]

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.

Than he needs more help. Their's only 24 hrs in a day and god knows how many hrs he must put in!

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Burgess was the only real costly mistake this offseason. It was a rebuilding year defensively so the Seymour trade made sense even though it did hurt, but I don't think it necessarily cost us anything in the grand scheme of where we finished. The lack of a 3rd WR was largely due to injuries to Tate/Edelman and Galloway not panning out, but he was what a $1 M hit? Can't say the FO didn't try there. The rest of your list is laughable at best except for the playcalling I guess. Definitely agree the team needs a real OC.

 

[Brady to Brown]

Than he needs more help. Their's only 24 hrs in a day and god knows how many hrs he must put in!

Someone who is far funnier than I should put together a list of Bill's daily activities and all of the hats he wears. Like would his OC duties be done over breakfast? His drafting duties during a bathroon break?

As you say there are only so many hours in a day

Come on, someone funny take up this challange