Wall of text warning: I usually only write posts this long when I'm on forums about politics, philosophy, history or economics. Those are all passions of mine that I study intensely and like to write about. Obviously another passion of mine is the New England Patriots.
The bottom line with this team is if Brady plays below his elite QB status then the team usually loses. They don't have anything reliable enough to compensate for his underperformances... the running game isn't good enough... the defense certainly isn't good enough (as they prove literally every single failed opportunity to close out a game late)... and no, Belichick is not good enough, not a good enough head coach, and unequivocally not a good enough GM. This is after all Belichick's lousy defense that he put together schematically and personnel-wise. The astonishing amount of putrid defensive back draft picks has especially become a huge stain on his legacy.
To be fair they closed out Denver last week. One of the TDs the D gave up near the end was on relatively short field position, and even the best D might not be able to stop a charging 4th quarter Peyton Manning on every drive. It may not be much, but for a defense still trying to find its identity like ours it is something.
BB's last defensive draft was, to this point, a major success. The Jones pick was a masterpiece. Hightower looks like a gem too. Wilson got burned today but to me it still looks like he was a good 2nd round pick because he is already competing with Chung and Gregory (not great veterans, but veterans none-the-less). Dennard also got burned, but in only his 2nd or 3rd active game he was already taking snaps from Arrington. Ebner was never meant to playing in this critical a position this early in his career, and when Chung, Gregory, and Moore were down he had to step up, we shouldn't be surprised that it didn't work out.
Lets just look at the gems BB brought in (drafted and undrafted) who were first thought of as risks or players who were very far from being sure things, basically players who are contributing a lot right now because of BB's ability as a talent evaluator. Gronk, Hernandez, Welker, Vollmer, Woodhead, Ridley, Bolden; Jones, Spikes, Ninkovich, Love. BB also picked Wilfork and Mayo, and was aggressive in getting Hightower.
We all know the failures at picking DB's. It just simply doesn't overshadow the brilliance of BB over the last few years. Any other coach could have picked the players I mentioned, BB was the only one who made it happen.
So basically if McCourtey turns his game around (he's been up and down this season), or one or two of the recent crop of DB's like Dennard, Wilson, Dowling, or Ebner can become a solid contributor then BB will have built a SB contending foundation at basically every position.
So sure, as of now the DB position is the single dark spot in BB's history personnel decisions. But he is clearly learning, and personnel is always a game of chance. Dowling was clearly picked because BB was tired of seeing his smaller DB's get jumped over. Wilson is BB trying to draft a player specifically designed to confront the NFL TE revolution. Ebner could be another LB/SS hybrid designed for the new sub-package NFL. Dennard sort of fell into BB's lap, but a pick is a pick. None of these guys look like pro-bowlers, but they have a legitimate chance of replacing Chung, Arrington, and Gregory. If they can stick together and learn how to gel it is pretty easy to see how they might end up becoming a respectable secondary.
In the end, how many other coaches have been able to build a team from the ground up like this? BB coached a D that had no right talent-wise to be in a SB into the SB last year. If it turns out that BB got this draft right, and our secondary and front 7 have no glaring weakness, then we are not just set up to win this year, we are plausibly (not certainly at all) set up to compete for a dynasty.
Sure, they could all be busts and this goes down the drain. But in the free agent era that is always a possibility. What BB has done is bring us only a few lucky picks in the draft or a few lucky bounces of the ball away from dominance and super-bowl contention
almost every single year. It is straight up absurd that some fans can barely appreciate that.
Go try to be a fan of the Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, Chiefs, Texans, Colts, Titans, Jaguars, Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Jets, Bills, Dolphins, Cardinals, 49ers, Rams, Falcons, Buccaneers, Panthers, Bears, Vikings, Lions, Eagles, Redskins, or Cowboys over the past 12 years and tell me how much better it is than being a patriots fan. I've excluded some teams over the past 5 years or so, they won over the period of the patriots decline/rebuilding period. The Steelers, Packers, Giants, and Saints all won over that time. Importantly, none of them during BB's reign were better in the years before our rebuilding period and none of them are
clearly positioned to be better than us going forward.
For a moment everyone needs to step back and realize the context of the things we are discussing. BB is obviously the best coach of recent times. He has coached great, good, mediocre, and bad players into being Super Bowl contenders. He has done this despite only having 3 picks in the top 15 of the draft throughout his entire career in New England. Meaning BB has almost never had the ability to draft sure-fire players without risking the future through trading picks up. BB has been so successful as to handicap himself in a way that few, if any, organizations have during his time in New England. Yet he is still successful. We are 4 points away from being 6-0 while in the middle of reshaping the personnel and schemes of our Offense and Defense. That is, right now we are still as difficult as almost any team in the NFL to beat despite our focus on the long term.
If you find yourself criticizing BB more than appreciating him you are delusional, and wrong, and need to ask yourself if you are a fan and supporter of the New England Patriots or a crybaby wannabe know-it-all masked in flying Elvis merchandize.
