Ballard, Fletcher and Dowling

[NEPettyOfficer72]

1) If Ballard is healthy then we have a quick, fast, big and powerful but polished receiving tightend with good hands and very good route running in addition to a Superbowl ring, and experience.

2) Dowling - he has been touted by some including peers and analysts as having "Bailey" or "Revis" like shutdown qualities, honestly time will tell but I've heard too many good things form him not be to optimistic if he is healthy.

3) Fletcher - like everything about him as a linebacker, especially versus the run and his toughness and physical nature, sure hope he is healthy and can join Mayo, Hightower, Ninkovich, Spikes and Collins.

 

[supafly]

The waiving of Love and Deaderick bring a bit of a different perspective on DL depth. I always hoped for an addition at DE (Abraham perhaps). Now, it also seems reasonable for Belichick to look around for a veteran backup NT.

As we stand now, I think that we are much better than last year on the DL. However, that is before the inevitable injury or two or three.

A lot of people have concerns for the WR group, or maybe the secondary. Mine personally is with the defensive line.

I wish I could share your enthusiasm for the DL being improved upon from last season, but I just can't personally feel it quite yet. The addition of veteran Tommy Kelly will be very good to have as an added interior presence, but we'll have to hope that he works out, along with Armstead.

Either way, I'm just not seeing as much as an "improvement" as you are. I'm seeing more of a status quo to a group that had problems with both depth and talent, although the 2 probably go hand in hand to some level. Strangely enough, my concern isn't even with the cuts of Deaderick, Love, or Pryor--although the subtraction of those 3 players doesn't help to set my mind at ease much.

I think this concern will go away a bit with another addition, which is reasonable to expect over the course of the next couple of months. A guy like Israel Adonijae or Abraham (unlikely at this point in my opinion) would go a long way, I think. At any rate, it's never good to have concerns in the month of May, so I'll have to try and let them go

 

[supafly]

1) If Ballard is healthy then we have a quick, fast, big and powerful but polished receiving tightend with good hands and very good route running in addition to a Superbowl ring, and experience.

2) Dowling - he has been touted by some including peers and analysts as having "Bailey" or "Revis" like shutdown qualities, honestly time will tell but I've heard too many good things form him not be to optimistic if he is healthy.

3) Fletcher - like everything about him as a linebacker, especially versus the run and his toughness and physical nature, sure hope he is healthy and can join Mayo, Hightower, Ninkovich, Spikes and Collins.

As mgteich stated, it's not only about the 3 players themselves, it's also the importance of their positions, which were clear weaknesses at times for the squad last season.

A healthy Ballard, Dowling, and Fletcher would go a long way towards stablizing the depth of those respective positions.

 

[Pewsterbaby]

It's a testament to the depth of The Patriots to mention the upside of 3 guys that far down the depth chart staying healthy. (gez, that was a mouthful to explain)
Yeah, I see a really strong team with those 3 healthy.
I was lying in bed and mulling over Amendola tho. I just can't see an entire season with there not being a "The Patriots miss Welker" element. His body of work was leaned on so heavily in clutch situations. Guy was a bruiser. I see Amendola being rolled down that pinball machine and going through the flippers pretty quickly.

 

[flasox27]

It's a testament to the depth of The Patriots to mention the upside of 3 guys that far down the depth chart staying healthy. (gez, that was a mouthful to explain)
Yeah, I see a really strong team with those 3 healthy.
I was lying in bed and mulling over Amendola tho. I just can't see an entire season with there not being a "The Patriots miss Welker" element. His body of work was leaned on so heavily in clutch situations. Guy was a bruiser. I see Amendola being rolled down that pinball machine and going through the flippers pretty quickly.

Unfortunately when we leaned on Welker in the most important cluch situations he didn't deliver.

 

[NewFeep]

Unfortunately when we leaned on Welker in the most important cluch situations he didn't deliver.

I'm pretty sure Brady threw a bad ball to Welker and he almost came up with the catch. Why everyone blames Welker for a badly throw ball mystifies me.....

 

[BradyFTW!]

1) If Ballard is healthy then we have a quick, fast, big and powerful but polished receiving tightend with good hands and very good route running in addition to a Superbowl ring, and experience.

2) Dowling - he has been touted by some including peers and analysts as having "Bailey" or "Revis" like shutdown qualities, honestly time will tell but I've heard too many good things form him not be to optimistic if he is healthy.

3) Fletcher - like everything about him as a linebacker, especially versus the run and his toughness and physical nature, sure hope he is healthy and can join Mayo, Hightower, Ninkovich, Spikes and Collins.

Personally, I think you may be overstating the prospective contributions of all three, but hey, this is the time for optimism. IMO, I expect that Ballard will contribute. He's not an injury-prone guy so much as he suffered the injury that he did at a really bad time (during the SB), and as a result he's been off the field for more than enough time to make a full recovery.

Re: Dowling; the guy has a lot of talent at a position of need. If healthy, he's potentially a (very good) starter. If his hip is back to 100%, then I'm optimistic about him being an impact player, but I'm also taking an "I'll believe it when I see it" stance on his health and whether he's truly 100%. Even if he is, it's a shame that he missed basically a year and a half of football. That's valuable growing time.

Fletcher, OTOH, I don't expect to make the roster. Too many injuries, every year, and his ceiling is basically as a situational depth LB anyway. Combination of low ceiling and high injury risk = high likelihood of being cut, I think.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'm pretty sure Brady threw a bad ball to Welker and he almost came up with the catch. Why everyone blames Welker for a badly throw ball mystifies me.....

It wasn't a perfect throw, but he got both hands on it, and didn't have to do anything particularly acrobatic to get them there. Tha tdrop was definitely on Welker.

 

[Snake Eyes]

I'm pretty sure Brady threw a bad ball to Welker and he almost came up with the catch. Why everyone blames Welker for a badly throw ball mystifies me.....

Brady threw an imperfect pass to Welker, Welker dropped a perfectly catchable pass.

 

[nabwong]

Which was worse? Welker's drop of a bad pass or Asante's near interception on that last drive that sailed thru both hands?

I thought Asante's was wayyyyy worse.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Which was worse? Welker's drop of a bad pass or Asante's near interception on that last drive that sailed thru both hands?

I thought Asante's was wayyyyy worse.

Equally bad, IMO.

 

[resdubwhite]

And the self torture continues.

do we have to bring this all up again?

 

[Nehalem]

I'm pretty sure Brady threw a bad ball to Welker and he almost came up with the catch. Why everyone blames Welker for a badly throw ball mystifies me.....

Because it highlights how Welker was physically limited. An "elite" receiver needs to be able to make catches in the clutch even if the throw isn't perfect.

 

[IllegalContact]

Wow.....I'm glad I opened this thread.

 

[Mack Herron]

It wasn't a perfect throw, but he got both hands on it, and didn't have to do anything particularly acrobatic to get them there. Tha tdrop was definitely on Welker.

The ball was thrown over the wrong shoulder and Welker had to do a complete 360 to get his hands on it. He should have caught it, and had the HOF qb thrown it over his right shoulder, he would have. Just as much Brady's fault as Welker's.

 

[Snake Eyes]

The ball was thrown over the wrong shoulder and Welker had to do a complete 360 to get his hands on it. He should have caught it, and had the HOF qb thrown it over his right shoulder, he would have. Just as much Brady's fault as Welker's.

Yes, the pass was imperfect, that's been established, but plenty of WRs in the league make that catch, Welker didnt.

 

[Froob]

And the self torture continues.

do we have to bring this all up again?

As far as I'm concerned super bowls 42 & 46 were canceled.