Top 10 most important Patriots for the 2012 season (AFTER Brady)

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Boston.com wrote an article today and ranked the top 10 players that hold pieces of the puzzle that will decide the Patriots fate in 2012....Tom Brady was omitted as its pure foolish to put TB anywhere but on top.

The higher they rank,the more important they are to the team....

The rankings at Boston.com went as follows...

1) Vince Wilfork
2) Jerod Mayo
3) Rob Gronkowski
4) Wes Welker
5) Nate Solder
6) Logan Mankins
7) Stevan Ridley
8) Brandon Lloyd
9) Brandon Spikes
10)Patrick Chung

Do you agree with the order?,should a player be moved up or down or off the list?,is there someone else more deserving to crack the top 10?

IMO Numbers 1,2,3 are correct...I would put Ridley up to 4 and Welker at 5 because to have a complete offense and not one dementional,you are going to need a decent running game to make defenses think and Ridley could make or break that area.

I would put Mccourty at 6 since he needs to get back to his rookie year because there is a lack of depth there and Chung at 7 since the safety position was filled with different bodies a lot in 2011 and need stability there.

Mankins at 8,Spikes at 9 and Lloyd at 10 round it off for my top 10

 

[Kontradiction]

Wilfork is the second most important guy on the team so they have that right. I would put it as follows...

1. Wilfork
2. Gronk
3. Welker
4. Mayo
5. Lloyd
6. Arrington (best current CB)
7. Solder
9. Mankins
10. Chung

Wilfork because he's the anchor. Gronk because he's the best TE in the game. Welker because he's the best slot WR in the game and makes so much of what we do on offense work. Mayo because he anchors the middle of the field on defense, calls the plays, and is our captain. Lloyd next because he has to provide that intermediate and deep threat necessary to keep defenses honest and prevent them from flooding the middle of the field. Arrington because, as sad as it is, he is currently the best CB on the team. Solder and Mankins because they anchor the OL and keep pressure out of The Franchise's face and blind side. Chung is at 10 because, for better or worse, he's the captain of the defensive backfield and is also good at helping in run support.

 

[signbabybrady]

I am going to go offensive because if this offense falls right and stays healthy almost nothing else will matter.

1)Solder - Give Brady time
2)Lloyd - Add Lloyd to this offense is what makes my above statement true
3,4,5,6) Mankins, Welker, Hernandez, and Gronk need to play at the top of their game (maybe this should be higher but I dont really question this one bit.
7, 8, 9) The same can be said for Vollmer, Waters and Connolly
10) Vince - Well ok you need at least one stud on the D

I am not saying the D can just fall apart but based on last years performance and the potential for this O to be better I just dont see it as the tp of the list to success right now based on the roster and the make up of todays NFL.

Basically what I am saying is that If you tell me Lloyd will actually make this Offense better then last year then there is little priority on D other then status quo from last year which while vastly under rated most of the year was still nothing special.

Dont get me wrong this would not be the way I build a team from scratch but given what is in place on this team I would say that at least 9 of the top 10 priorities to success this year are related to the Passing Attack. And really 10 out of 10 if you actually include Tom.

 

[BradyFTW!]

1) Wilfork
2) Gronk
3) Welker
4) Lloyd
5) Mayo
6) Solder
7) McCourty
8) Mankins
9) Jones
10) Vollmer

1 defensive lineman
2 linebackers
1 defensive back
1 tight end
2 wide receivers
3 offensive linemen

Didn't intend for it to shake out that way, tbh, but it sorta makes sense, mostly because three of the four are in flux for some reason or another.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

IMO Sooner rather than later we will need to have a running game to compliment the passing attack unless the offensive line is a supreme juggernaut and allows only rare sacks....I am surprised most people don't think a RB should be in the top 10 of importance.

I do think that if Ridley can rush for 1,000 yards,this offense will be nearly impossible to figure out on a weekly basis.

 

[jsull87]

As far as importance to this team i am going to look at it 2 ways 1st if this person went down the impact it would have on the team... 2nd if this person plays to a PB standard the impact it has on the team.

List 1 (if this person went down)

1. Wilfork
2. Gronk
3. Mayo
4. Mankins
5. Solder
6. Welker
7. Waters
8. Chung
9. Lloyd
10. Vollmer

List of if this person who if they play 16 games at a high level (i.e play as we want them to) would have the most importance to the team:

1. Wilfork
2. Solder
3. McCourty
4. Mayo
5. Gronk
6. Chung
7. Ridley/Vereen (who ever is number 1)
8. Jones
9. Welker
10. Mankins

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

List of if this person who if they play 16 games at a high level (i.e play as we want them to) would have the most importance to the team:

1. Wilfork
2. Solder
3. McCourty
4. Mayo
5. Gronk
6. Chung
7. Ridley/Vereen (who ever is number 1)
8. Jones
9. Welker
10. Mankins

This is a good point, I was just going to highlight the McCourty factor. If he plays at the 2010 level, he would be as high as 3 or 4. If he has a repeat of last season, he's nowhere on the list IMO. Dowling could be as vital, but he's completely unproven thus far. I'd imagine everything else is relatively stable on the list.

 

[Deus Irae]

1) Vince Wilfork
2) Wes Welker
3) Rob Gronkowski
4) Jerod Mayo
5) Nate Solder
6) Hightower
7) Brandon Lloyd
8) Carter
9) Jones
10) Logan Mankins


If Mankins wasn't coming off the injury, he wouldn't be on the list, because I'd just assume him as a given. I'd have gone with Dowling.

 

[sly24]

1) Vince Wilfork
2) Wes Welker
3) Rob Gronkowski
4) Jerod Mayo
5) Nate Solder
6) Hightower
7) Brandon Lloyd
8) Carter
9) Jones
10) Logan Mankins


If Mankins wasn't coming off the injury, he wouldn't be on the list, because I'd just assume him as a given. I'd have gone with Dowling.

Sound about right, but I would put Lloyd ahead of Hightower.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

I don't think Mayo is that important. Especially with Hightower and Spikes on the team..... He's still top 10, but not #2.

 

[Fencer]

Scary that there's (rightly) no pass rusher on anybody's list.

 

[Joker]

pass rusher?? what is this "pass rusher" of whom you speak?...I have no idea...

 

[patfanken]

McCourty, Dowling and Volmer all SHOULD be on that list ahead of Spikes, Mankins, and Lloyd. Spikes is a limited to run defense. Mankins is an OG who might miss the first quarter of the season, and Lloyd is still going to be just the #3 or 4th option on most pass plays. (though he'd be #11 on my list.

Volmer is key to the OL and its depth. If he's healthy and playing to his 2010 level, it means that Cannon can get some OG reps and rest Waters and be better prepared to take over next season. We can keep Gallery playing OG where he is better suited

If Dowling and McCourty play even close to their potentials, the secondary will take a quantum leap forward and could actually go from being a liability to an asset.

 

[Deus Irae]

Scary that there's (rightly) no pass rusher on anybody's list.

Carter and Jones (#8 and #9) on mine...

 

[brdmaverick]

The shocking thing for me is the amount of lists that do NOT include Aaron Hernandez. This TE/WR hybrid causes matchup nightmares and big play capability.

 

[signbabybrady]

The shocking thing for me is the amount of lists that do NOT include Aaron Hernandez. This TE/WR hybrid causes matchup nightmares and big play capability.

I included him in my list but I think his being overlooked can easily be attributed to the Gronk. Lets face it most teams dont even have one TE that causes trouble like these 2 and since Gronk is the better of the 2 Hernandez can get overlooked slightly. Not to say no one realizes Hernandez's skill but that on a list like this Gronk will come first and a lot of other positions will be considered more crucial than TE2.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Scary that there's (rightly) no pass rusher on anybody's list.

Probably because nobody's really sure where the pass rush will come from. It'll come from somewhere, but that could be Carter, Jones, Scott, Bequette, Ninkovich, Hightower... we just don't really know. I don't think that it's scary as much as a reflection of the fact that the situation is somewhat in flux. In any case, there's enough talent among the players listed that I'm not overly worried about it. I did end up putting Jones on my list, though, since he's the one with the highest ceiling.

The shocking thing for me is the amount of lists that do NOT include Aaron Hernandez. This TE/WR hybrid causes matchup nightmares and big play capability.

Hernandez was my last cut, unfortunately. Wanted to put him on there, but ended up deciding on Vollmer since, when healthy, he's a hell of a tackle, and tackles are harder to find than tight ends. I think most people would agree that he comes after Welker, Gronk, Mankins, and Solder, so he's at best the fifth most important player on the offense.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I am going to go offensive because if this offense falls right and stays healthy almost nothing else will matter.

I see it almost exactly the opposite; the team will go as far as the defense allows them to. There are too many weapons on offense for the offense to fall far off if they lose 1 or 2.

 

[TruthSeeker]

IMO Sooner rather than later we will need to have a running game to compliment the passing attack unless the offensive line is a supreme juggernaut and allows only rare sacks....I am surprised most people don't think a RB should be in the top 10 of importance.

Running back by committee is fine. The Patriots don't need a specific individual to step up and be a star; they just need each of a group of guys to do their job reasonably well.

 

[mgteich]

Our #31 2011 defense allowed the team to go far indeed.

Gronkowski's injury showed how important one player was on OFFENSE. Brady and Welker and THE PASS showed the importance of one executed play on OFFENSE. And Branch showed that we needed a more effective #2 wide receiver. One of the top 3 offenses in the nfl couldn't score 21 points.

I see it almost exactly the opposite; the team will go as far as the defense allows them to. There are too many weapons on offense for the offense to fall far off if they lose 1 or 2.