Crying over spilled milk: should've drafted DeMarco Murray over Ridley or Vereen

[Peter Pat]

I know I have written this before, and I know there is nothing the Pats can do about this now, and this is just bringing up the past.

But.....

How can the Pats scouting department and BB, look at Steven Ridley and Shane Vareen, and think either one was a better prospect than Demarco Murray. This screw up cannot be overlooked. can you imagine the dimension he would have brought to the Pats offense.

When you watch him run, and you watch Ridley run, I can't help but ask the Pats, what were you thinking!!!!, and saying that over and over again. There is no excuse for such a lapse in scouting judgement. I mean this was a no brainer, one guy is clearly superior to the other two guys in every facet of the game. he must of scored low on a Wonderlic test or something.

Can some reporter ask the Pats what they saw in the 2 backs they have chosen over Murray? ,and also outside of BB if the person or people who help make the call, were fired, or at least reprimanded by the team.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I'm definitely a bit 'jelly' when watching Murray but hey it happens. Curtis Martin was taken 3rd round. Terrell Davis was taken 5th round. Arian Foster was undrafted, and the list goes on and on. In each case there are several teams who drafted RB's who were far worse before those guys.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I know I have written this before, and I know there is nothing the Pats can do about this now, and this is just bringing up the past.

But.....

How can the Pats scouting department and BB, look at Steven Ridley and Shane Vareen, and think either one was a better prospect than Demarco Murray. This screw up cannot be overlooked. can you imagine the dimension he would have brought to the Pats offense.

DeMarco Murray 5.5 YPC, 7 runs of 20+ yds on 164 attempts, long 91T
Stevan Ridley 5.1 YPC, 5 runs of 20+ yds on 87 attempts, long 33T

 

[DocHoliday]

I know I have written this before, and I know there is nothing the Pats can do about this now, and this is just bringing up the past.

But.....

How can the Pats scouting department and BB, look at Steven Ridley and Shane Vareen, and think either one was a better prospect than Demarco Murray. This screw up cannot be overlooked. can you imagine the dimension he would have brought to the Pats offense.

When you watch him run, and you watch Ridley run, I can't help but ask the Pats, what were you thinking!!!!, and saying that over and over again. There is no excuse for such a lapse in scouting judgement. I mean this was a no brainer, one guy is clearly superior to the other two guys in every facet of the game. he must of scored low on a Wonderlic test or something.

Can some reporter ask the Pats what they saw in the 2 backs they have chosen over Murray? ,and also outside of BB if the person or people who help make the call, were fired, or at least reprimanded by the team.

One thing I always thought was that backs like DeMarco Murray demand a certain type of offense and offensive line that we simply don't have.

The NE system builds around Brady with a complementary run game, and has an OL built to protect him with short, dependable carries from the run game. Dallas to me appears to have an offensive line and SCHEMES that allow players like Murray to get huge gains often.

Not only that, would you feel more comfortable passing to the quicker, nimble Ridley or Vereen or big lumbering Murray?

There's a lot of factors.

EDIT: Well, looking at the stats posted above, it appears Ridley is every bit as efficient, so maybe I'm wrong.

All that said, I'd have preferred Murray as well.

 

[woolster22]

People make mistakes. How many teams passed on Brady repeatedly? Foster, TD, etc. The list goes on and on...

If coaches were as quick to act as you, scouting departments league wide would be turned over year after year.

That said, I think bb's mo is rb by committee. Grab a couple backs with complimentary skills, reduce the workload, and keep stats in check reducing the cost of resigning. Sure, a dominant, dangerous, play maker next to Brady would be nice but how do you pay him, gronkandez, field some decent wrs and still field a competent line? You don't, at least you don't without decimating your defense. And as we have all seen, defense wins the games that matter, offense simply gets you there.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

I know I have written this before, and I know there is nothing the Pats can do about this now, and this is just bringing up the past.

But.....

How can the Pats scouting department and BB, look at Steven Ridley and Shane Vareen, and think either one was a better prospect than Demarco Murray. This screw up cannot be overlooked. can you imagine the dimension he would have brought to the Pats offense.

When you watch him run, and you watch Ridley run, I can't help but ask the Pats, what were you thinking!!!!, and saying that over and over again. There is no excuse for such a lapse in scouting judgement. I mean this was a no brainer, one guy is clearly superior to the other two guys in every facet of the game. he must of scored low on a Wonderlic test or something.

Can some reporter ask the Pats what they saw in the 2 backs they have chosen over Murray? ,and also outside of BB if the person or people who help make the call, were fired, or at least reprimanded by the team.

Obviously, you have been thinking about this for a long time.

Not that anyone really cares.......then or now.

 

[shmessy]

I know I have written this before, and I know there is nothing the Pats can do about this now, and this is just bringing up the past.

But.....

How can the Pats scouting department and BB, look at Steven Ridley and Shane Vareen, and think either one was a better prospect than Demarco Murray. This screw up cannot be overlooked. can you imagine the dimension he would have brought to the Pats offense.

When you watch him run, and you watch Ridley run, I can't help but ask the Pats, what were you thinking!!!!, and saying that over and over again. There is no excuse for such a lapse in scouting judgement. I mean this was a no brainer, one guy is clearly superior to the other two guys in every facet of the game. he must of scored low on a Wonderlic test or something.

Can some reporter ask the Pats what they saw in the 2 backs they have chosen over Murray? ,and also outside of BB if the person or people who help make the call, were fired, or at least reprimanded by the team.

Let us take this moment to remind the OP of the patently obvious - - that even the Greatest QB in History could be passed over 198 times in a draft (including 6 times by the team that finally took him).

Now, what was it about DeMarco Murray is upsetting you today?

 

[Patsrock]

Before you can say it is a bad move. let them have more than 1 season.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Let us take this moment to remind the OP of the patently obvious - - that even the Greatest QB in History could be passed over 198 times in a draft (including 6 times by the team that finally took him).

Now, what was it about DeMarco Murray is upsetting you today?

He seems to have convinced himself that Demarco Murray has mystical powers that duped the Giants defense into some truly horrendous tackling.

 

[jmt57]

This screw up cannot be overlooked.

There is no excuse for such a lapse in scouting judgement. I mean this was a no brainer, one guy is clearly superior to the other two guys in every facet of the game.

Sorry, but I'm going to disagree here. If there is one thing that has become apparent over the years it is that there is no such absolute in future results as you described when it comes to predicting a player's future, or his future relative to that of another player.

If I am incorrect and you are indeed such an accurate evaluator of college talent, hopefully the Pats will hire you in the near future.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Ha ha. Every team whiffs on superstars every year. Tom Brady- 199th overall? Do you think the Pats really thought he'd be an NFL quarterback? They were just as guilty as the next team of undervaluing him.

Arian Foster, Terrell Owens, Wes Welker, Adam Vinatieri, Tony Romo, Terrell Suggs, Cameron Wake, James Harrison, Mike Wallace. You could make an encyclopedia or star players that every team overlooked or undervalued. How did Darrelle Revis last to 14? Aaron Rodgers- do you remember the freefall of about 20 teams passing on him?

Hey, you can even make a case that our entire superstar corps were drafted really low and therefore 31 teams struck out: Brady, Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez.

All I can say is, really?

 

[bunuel]

The major knock on Murray coming out was his lengthy history of injuries. He was injured every year at Oklahoma and he was injured his first year in the NFL. He's an amazing talent but is it worth it if you can only count on him being available for 8-12 games per year?

 

[Peter Pat]

Let us take this moment to remind the OP that even the Greatest QB in History could be passed over 198 times in a draft (including 6 times by the team that finally took him).

Now, what was it about DeMarco Murray is upsetting you today?

Listen I know the draft is a crap shoot, and guys like Brady, Warner, etc. fall through the cracks every year. But the Pats were clearly targeting Rbs in 2011, and spent two straight picks on them, (I guess in theory Murray was taken two picks ahead of Ridley, so they didnt pass over him twice), I am sure Murray was on their board, and they whiffed. But if you are targeting a position, and take two RBs in a row, you have to take the best rb in the draft with at least one of those picks, if he is available. This is not a case of teams passing on Brady etc.

Listen, nothing they can do about this now, but when BB watches this guy run all over a defense they he couldn't sniff a running game against in the Super Bowl, it has to make him regret the 2011 draft. I understand systems make players, a lot of the time, and maybe if he was in NE he would be producing similarly to the guys the Pats have, but I somehow doubt that BB would see this kids talent, and not find a way to give him the ball 15-20 times a game.

 

[Deus Irae]

....There is no excuse for such a lapse in scouting judgement. I mean this was a no brainer, one guy is clearly superior to the other two guys in every facet of the game...

If he was such a clear winner, why wasn't he a higher pick?

 

[letekro]

I like him when he's healthy, but Murray runs way too upright and is not big enough to withstand the pounding that he takes because of his running style. Ridley has had similar production on a per carry basis and isn't such a lightning rod for punishment. Vereen hasn't been able to stay healthy. There are far worse draft "blunders", if you can call them that, to cry over.

 

[everlong]

I was one of the lone voices in the draft forum who wanted him coming out and I wanted him as a kick returner and 3rd down specialist to replace Faulk and thought he might develop into a full time back in a few years. I don't think anybody saw this production coming.

It's easy to re-draft.

 

[PlainOldEd]

He seems to have convinced himself that Demarco Murray has mystical powers that duped the Giants defense into some truly horrendous tackling.

Right. If you take out the one play in the 3rd where he should have been tackeled for a loss his numbers would be rather pedestrian. (and yes, I know you can't do that) Or at least good but not great.

I am happy with Ridley.

 

[Wilfork#75]

The simple answer is durability. There is no doubt that Demarco Murray is an extremely talented player and skill wise he was probably worth a 1st round pick. But as bunuel said, he was constantly injured at Oklahoma and that really hurt his draft stock. I was personally for drafting him, but I'm not paying the guy millions of dollars so its easy for me to say to take a risk on the guy. This is a case where you have to wait a few seasons to really judge the pick, especially considering he has already been injured once in his NFL career.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Listen I know the draft is a crap shoot, and guys like Brady, Warner, etc. fall through the cracks every year. But the Pats were clearly targeting Rbs in 2011, and spent two straight picks on them, (I guess in theory Murray was taken two picks ahead of Ridley, so they didnt pass over him twice), I am sure Murray was on their board, and they whiffed. But if you are targeting a position, and take two RBs in a row, you have to take the best rb in the draft with at least one of those picks, if he is available. This is not a case of teams passing on Brady etc.

Listen, nothing they can do about this now, but when BB watches this guy run all over a defense they he couldn't sniff a running game against in the Super Bowl, it has to make him regret the 2011 draft. I understand systems make players, a lot of the time, and maybe if he was in NE he would be producing similarly to the guys the Pats have, but I somehow doubt that BB would see this kids talent, and not find a way to give him the ball 15-20 times a game.

Yeah, a player that goes on IR week 12 would have made all the difference in the Super Bowl!!!!

What planet have you been smoking?

Sometimes it's hard to comprehend that Ian isn't doing some of this posting purely for shock value.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Obviously, you have been thinking about this for a long time.

Not that anyone really cares.......then or now.

I happened to read this while scrolling through the thread without seeing the name of the poster and i knew, i just KNEW, that pfip was the one who posted it. So I scroll back up a little bit to see who it really was and bam lol