VJCPatriot
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2006
- Messages
- 16,654
- Reaction score
- 5,221
I see all this moaning and complaining not just through Day 1, but now Day 2 of the draft. And I have no doubt it will continue into Day 3 and beyond.
I think that nobody will EVER be satisfied with a BB draft. Everyone has an opinion of what would make good picks for the Patriots. But those rarely jibe with Mr. Belichick's evaluation of the draft nor his picks.
So what have we learned over the years? I think there's a few things that people haven't learned yet. Let's review.
1. It's unhealthy to pin your hopes on any PARTICULAR player being taken by the Patriots. The odds of that happening are astronomically bad. Like a 1/9 chance if you're lucky. A 2/10 chance if you're really lucky. And a 3/10 chance if you're the blood relative of Nostradamus.
2. BB TRADES DOWN when he can acquire value. Why is this hard to understand? It's an economic principal. BB is an economics major. That is why BB has harvested so many MORE picks than any other team over the past decade and why the Pats tend to have more 'lateral' talent than any other team in the NFL. BB's team philosophy is to beat you with his best '53' not with his best '10' players or so.
3. Our ATTACHMENT to specific players through the draft process, draft research, mock drafts, draft parties etc. UNREALISTICALLY builds up hype and expectations that the Pats will draft particular players or even positions that we have concluded are 'team needs'. No doubt by reading Lindsay's, by listening to the Kipers and the McShays, by tuning into PFW, etc.
4. When BB doesn't address what we have 'worked ourselves up' to believing are the NEEDS over the months leading up to the draft. When our above built-up EXPECTATIONS are NOT MET -- inevitably this leads to rage-like, angry, bitter reactions. Like spurned lovers we who are denied our 'binkies' of choice, we turn immediately on the object of our IRE, that BB, he's trying to OUTSMART us! He's making us look DUMB! How dare he REFUSE to address OUR NEEDS?
Well the grim facts are that neither us, nor the talking heads, nor the 'draft experts' really know what BB considers the team's actual NEEDS except through the results of his actions. Therefore OUR NEEDS are not necessarily what BB considers the team's primary needs.
And perhaps even if he considers those NEEDS as important, he might choose to address them in a different order, for example how he usually turns to Linebackers via Free Agent Veterans rather than through the draft.
OR, perhaps he may wait a year longer than we expected to address the need. Such as in 2006, the Pats had to rely on receivers so awful that Reche 'Bugeyes' Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney were our #1 and #2 options respectively. The situation wasn't addressed until a terrible 2006 playoff loss where Caldwell dropped a wide open, possibly game-clinching reception. We obtained Randy Moss and Wes Welker the next year in 2007 and the rest is history.
OR, consider that after the failure of the Maroney Experiment became clear, and our RBs became old, brittle, and injury prone. Many including yours truly, believed RB was a need. Yet the Pats did not draft any RBs in 2010 but relied on a pair of UDFAs in Ben Jarvis Green Ellis and Danny Woodhead instead. And those players did rather well in the regular season but were shut down by the Jets in the Pats latest playoff loss. Meanwhile Matt Light became a free agent, Neal retired, and Kaczur's retention was put in doubt. Enter the draft and we get - a franchise LT drafted in round 1. TWO RBs drafted in rounds 2 and 3 respectively.
5. Are the people SHOCKED? Yes. But was there a Need there. Absolutely. In the END the reason why we didn't foresee all these moves coming? NOT because we're Dumb. Far from it. In fact the Patsfans forum is full of some of the most intelligent football posters you will find across the country. And certainly well above the level of many of the other team forums I've frequented by chance. NO what HAPPENED HERE is that we became VICTIMS of GROUPTHINK. By establishing a CONSENSUS of NEEDS, and a POOL of draftable PLAYERS we convinced OURSELVES what the Pats Needs and moves should be in this year's draft.
6. And we so INVESTED ourselves in this process that when the reality of BB's actual plan became apparent, that so CLASHED with the one that we had carefully built up over the months leading to the draft. The INEVITABLE FALLOUT occurs. And this has been a RECURRING EVENT over the past 11 years that BB has held a DRAFT.
So why, I wonder, when there are evidently so many intelligent and PASSIONATE fans here do we repeatedly become victims of this process? Perhaps the Passion and the Investment and the 'Groupthink' process will inevitably lead to this result. Because we aren't actually in BB's Inner Circle, we are not part of his 'Groupthink' and therefore that will lead to Invariably Different Results which will thus result in Disappointment, Anger, Bitterness, and even Rage.
7. My thoughts on the best Approach to a Patriots Draft?
Don't Invest yourself too heavily on any Particular Outcome or any Particular Player. And by goodness, above all else DON'T fall into the TRAP of listening to the Mediots, Pundits, or Draft Experts.
Expect the Unexpected, and learn to Roll with the Blows.
"It is what it Is." It's a BB draft. So have a brew, Chill Out, and go to bed. There's always tomorrow. And of course there's always free agency. That is IF the entire season doesn't end up getting locked out that is! I hope reading through some of this will help Soothe the Savage Beast that has been awakened in Some by this year's 2011 Patriots Draft.
I think that nobody will EVER be satisfied with a BB draft. Everyone has an opinion of what would make good picks for the Patriots. But those rarely jibe with Mr. Belichick's evaluation of the draft nor his picks.
So what have we learned over the years? I think there's a few things that people haven't learned yet. Let's review.
1. It's unhealthy to pin your hopes on any PARTICULAR player being taken by the Patriots. The odds of that happening are astronomically bad. Like a 1/9 chance if you're lucky. A 2/10 chance if you're really lucky. And a 3/10 chance if you're the blood relative of Nostradamus.
2. BB TRADES DOWN when he can acquire value. Why is this hard to understand? It's an economic principal. BB is an economics major. That is why BB has harvested so many MORE picks than any other team over the past decade and why the Pats tend to have more 'lateral' talent than any other team in the NFL. BB's team philosophy is to beat you with his best '53' not with his best '10' players or so.
3. Our ATTACHMENT to specific players through the draft process, draft research, mock drafts, draft parties etc. UNREALISTICALLY builds up hype and expectations that the Pats will draft particular players or even positions that we have concluded are 'team needs'. No doubt by reading Lindsay's, by listening to the Kipers and the McShays, by tuning into PFW, etc.
4. When BB doesn't address what we have 'worked ourselves up' to believing are the NEEDS over the months leading up to the draft. When our above built-up EXPECTATIONS are NOT MET -- inevitably this leads to rage-like, angry, bitter reactions. Like spurned lovers we who are denied our 'binkies' of choice, we turn immediately on the object of our IRE, that BB, he's trying to OUTSMART us! He's making us look DUMB! How dare he REFUSE to address OUR NEEDS?
Well the grim facts are that neither us, nor the talking heads, nor the 'draft experts' really know what BB considers the team's actual NEEDS except through the results of his actions. Therefore OUR NEEDS are not necessarily what BB considers the team's primary needs.
And perhaps even if he considers those NEEDS as important, he might choose to address them in a different order, for example how he usually turns to Linebackers via Free Agent Veterans rather than through the draft.
OR, perhaps he may wait a year longer than we expected to address the need. Such as in 2006, the Pats had to rely on receivers so awful that Reche 'Bugeyes' Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney were our #1 and #2 options respectively. The situation wasn't addressed until a terrible 2006 playoff loss where Caldwell dropped a wide open, possibly game-clinching reception. We obtained Randy Moss and Wes Welker the next year in 2007 and the rest is history.
OR, consider that after the failure of the Maroney Experiment became clear, and our RBs became old, brittle, and injury prone. Many including yours truly, believed RB was a need. Yet the Pats did not draft any RBs in 2010 but relied on a pair of UDFAs in Ben Jarvis Green Ellis and Danny Woodhead instead. And those players did rather well in the regular season but were shut down by the Jets in the Pats latest playoff loss. Meanwhile Matt Light became a free agent, Neal retired, and Kaczur's retention was put in doubt. Enter the draft and we get - a franchise LT drafted in round 1. TWO RBs drafted in rounds 2 and 3 respectively.
5. Are the people SHOCKED? Yes. But was there a Need there. Absolutely. In the END the reason why we didn't foresee all these moves coming? NOT because we're Dumb. Far from it. In fact the Patsfans forum is full of some of the most intelligent football posters you will find across the country. And certainly well above the level of many of the other team forums I've frequented by chance. NO what HAPPENED HERE is that we became VICTIMS of GROUPTHINK. By establishing a CONSENSUS of NEEDS, and a POOL of draftable PLAYERS we convinced OURSELVES what the Pats Needs and moves should be in this year's draft.
6. And we so INVESTED ourselves in this process that when the reality of BB's actual plan became apparent, that so CLASHED with the one that we had carefully built up over the months leading to the draft. The INEVITABLE FALLOUT occurs. And this has been a RECURRING EVENT over the past 11 years that BB has held a DRAFT.
So why, I wonder, when there are evidently so many intelligent and PASSIONATE fans here do we repeatedly become victims of this process? Perhaps the Passion and the Investment and the 'Groupthink' process will inevitably lead to this result. Because we aren't actually in BB's Inner Circle, we are not part of his 'Groupthink' and therefore that will lead to Invariably Different Results which will thus result in Disappointment, Anger, Bitterness, and even Rage.
7. My thoughts on the best Approach to a Patriots Draft?
Don't Invest yourself too heavily on any Particular Outcome or any Particular Player. And by goodness, above all else DON'T fall into the TRAP of listening to the Mediots, Pundits, or Draft Experts.
Expect the Unexpected, and learn to Roll with the Blows.
"It is what it Is." It's a BB draft. So have a brew, Chill Out, and go to bed. There's always tomorrow. And of course there's always free agency. That is IF the entire season doesn't end up getting locked out that is! I hope reading through some of this will help Soothe the Savage Beast that has been awakened in Some by this year's 2011 Patriots Draft.
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