Are the Patriots fading?

[Brady_to_Moss]

Shaughnessy: Fading Patriots are lucky Broncos didn't beat them much worse - The Denver Post

Came across this article by Shaughnessy,he made a lot of good points on losing back to back AFC Championship, on Brady running out of time, on this team being vulnerable, and last, the whole Welker situation where it appears that we messed up.

He may not be liked here but it's hard to disagree when we keep losing big games.

 

[Marqui]

Absolutely. Anyone paying attention knows this is true. They really should just cancel the Patriots as a franchise because there's no hope in future success if you don't come off a SB appearance every year.

 

[Ivan]

Shaughnessy: Fading Patriots are lucky Broncos didn't beat them much worse - The Denver Post

Came across this article by Shaughnessy,he made a lot of good points on losing back to back AFC Championship, on Brady running out of time, on this team being vulnerable, and last, the whole Welker situation where it appears that we messed up.

He may not be liked here but it's hard to disagree when we keep losing big games.

Shaugnessy is an a-hole. The Patriots made it to the AFC Championship missing 7-8 of their best players and with the 2nd youngest team in football, and the quarterback going to the Super Bowl from the AFC is older than he is. I'm sure Shaugnessy and Borges and the other db's have been doing backflips over the patriots loss for the last day and a half. Can't wait until he is no longer writing for any of Boston's crappy papers.

 

[Froob]

3 straight AFC championships is fading? I think the writer might be the one who is fading...

 

[SVN]

Shaughnessy: Fading Patriots are lucky Broncos didn't beat them much worse - The Denver Post

Came across this article by Shaughnessy,he made a lot of good points on losing back to back AFC Championship, on Brady running out of time, on this team being vulnerable, and last, the whole Welker situation where it appears that we messed up.

He may not be liked here but it's hard to disagree when we keep losing big games.

I didnt read it and I dont need to .CHB can go **** himself. He has this crap written in september to pull it out if the pats lost. What an idiot. Our local media has to be the worst media in the country. Denver post people kill the pats and our own paper also kills the pats.
Sorry for the rant.

 

[Gronkandez]

Please clarify how they messed up the Welker situation? The guy is done and is a candidate to be cut next year by the Broncos ($6M cap hit I believe). The Pats replaced his production with mini-me who only made $1M only because he hit all his incentives. Amendola played with an injured groin all year. I'm speculating that explains his lack of prodcution so perhaps I'm wrong.

Is Brady's time running out? Um yeah. We've known that for a while now.

It's tough when you lose the likes of Hernandez, Gronk, Wilfolk, Mayo, Harris, Vollmer etc. They still need to add a few more chips but it's not like they fell off a cliff talent wise.

 

[Rob0729]

I am willing to bet that going into next season, the Pats will be the favorites of the AFC. The Patriots were decimated with injuries this year and made it to the final four.

Mayo and Vollmer will definitely be back. Wilfork and Kelly may be back. Right there it is a big improvement to the front seven of the defense and offensive line.

Other things that to consider:

• Other than Brady, Mankins, Gregory, Connolly, Wilfork, and Kelly; the Pats have no starters or key role players north of 30 on the roster next year right now. This is a relatively young roster.
• Collins came on during the tail end of the season. Historically, defenders that the Pats ease into the line up and come on at the end of their rookie season tend to have big jumps their second season (see Seymour and Ty Warren for examples)
• Dobson will be healthy and he and Thompkins will have a complete offseason. Typically, WRs make huge jumps from year one to year two (which is relative because many WRs never become good).
• Amendola will be back and healthy (yes, I know. For how long?)
• Gronk should be back and healthy (Ditto)
• Hightower should benefit from the return of Mayo since he will move back to his natural position which he did after Spikes went down and his play improved.

The only wild card the Pats have are whether Edelman or Talib come back. Both leaving would leave significant holes. I think they can fill the other bigger holes through free agency and the draft.

 

[mosi]

Honestly, with a healthy Gronk, I believe the Pats would have won in 2011 and in 2012. Heck, I think we could have even won this year.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Please clarify how they messed up the Welker situation? The guy is done and is a candidate to be cut next year by the Broncos ($6M cap hit I believe). The Pats replaced his production with mini-me who only made $1M only because he hit all his incentives. Amendola played with an injured groin all year. I'm speculating that explains his lack of prodcution so perhaps I'm wrong.

Is Brady's time running out? Um yeah. We've known that for a while now.

It's tough when you lose the likes of Hernandez, Gronk, Wilfolk, Mayo, Harris, Vollmer etc. They still need to add a few more chips but it's not like they fell off a cliff talent wise.

Just saying as of now we are definitely not having the last laugh.

 

[fnordcircle]

One of the youngest teams in the league made the AFCCG 3 years in a row.

If that's fading not sure what the other 31 teams in the league are about.

 

[50-yard-line]

One of the youngest teams in the league made the AFCCG 3 years in a row.

If that's fading not sure what the other 31 teams in the league are about.

A thousand times THIS. If it were any team but the Patriots, 2nd youngest, more than half their decent defense asa 1st or 2nd year, cost-controlled guys, the talking heads would be calling them "up and coming."

Want to see a fade? Baltimore when they had to pay Flacco.

Watch SF and Seattle now that their star rookie deals are ending.

That a team like the Patriots can pick in the bottom of the heap and remain so competitive year after year is stunning - and it isn't just Brady. It really isn't, and not even close. It starts with the owner and goes all the way down the system.

They've had 13 winning seasons in a row. The next closest franchise has...4.

 

[Kontradiction]

The Patriots will fade when Brady does. It's impossible to tell whether or not that's happening right now, though. He badly missed on some throws down the stretch on Sunday but, with that being said, he also had one of the worst WR corps in the league to work with as well. Get him some weapons to go along with (what will be then) the second year guys and get some pieces on defense and we should be right back there again.

 

[JMC00]

Please clarify how they messed up the Welker situation? The guy is done and is a candidate to be cut next year by the Broncos ($6M cap hit I believe).

It's actually an $8 million cap hit. Which unless they redo it there is no way they are taking that hit for their 4th receiving option when they have to pay Decker.

Also they didn't mess up the Welker situation. Welker and his agent thought there would be multiple offers after the Pats offered him their deal. There was only one team who offered him a better deal and it was the Titans. But Welker told the Patriots no, so they moved on. Then Welker had to beg Denver to make that deal which it was a 1 year $6 million deal made to look like a 2 year deal $12 million.

If Welker truly wanted to be here he would have been here.

 

[SVN]

Hearing dan patrick calling out the boston media and CHB at the 30 min mark

Home » The Dan Patrick Show | Official Home

calling the media in boston spoiled and how this pats season would be a great story in any other city.

 

[trippyime]

If this team was even remotely healthy then the AFCCG is played at Foxboro and they wipe the floor with the Forehead. They're not fading. Not yet. Just need to find a way to stay healthy (if that's at all possible).

 

[Whitt25]

Right... We should be like the Jaguars or Raiders instead. Because not making playoffs, not going to 3 AFC championships, and a Super Bowl is so, so much better.

You make some of the worst posts on here. Now you've made one of the worst threads. You sure you're a fan? You can always jump on someone else's bandwagon, since, you know, losing several key players, starting a bunch of rookies, and still somehow making it to the AFC championship is nothing to be proud of, right?

 

[primetime]

It's hard to win Super Bowls because there's such a great deal of randomness in every NFL game, and in the NFL format where you lose once and go home, a single drop or missed throw or bad flag can mean the difference between the end of the season and a Super Bowl. The fact that the Patriots are good enough to minimize randomness to the point where they've made it to the Super Bowl or AFCCG in the last three years is a huge testament to the team.

 

[The Brandon Five]

If this team was even remotely healthy then the AFCCG is played at Foxboro and they wipe the floor with the Forehead. They're not fading. Not yet. Just need to find a way to stay healthy (if that's at all possible).

Never mind if they were healthy. What about "if the league was competently officiated"?

 

[patsinthesnow]

The most important piece of the team is "fading" age wise. The Brady/BB window has two more years to try to get #4 IMO.

 

[50-yard-line]

The Patriots will fade when Brady does. It's impossible to tell whether or not that's happening right now, though. He badly missed on some throws down the stretch on Sunday but, with that being said, he also had one of the worst WR corps in the league to work with as well. Get him some weapons to go along with (what will be then) the second year guys and get some pieces on defense and we should be right back there again.

I think Brady is right there with Marino, Montana, and Manning as the greatest ever.

I also think you're wrong. I've never thought of Brady as a great long-ball thrower, and that's been a missing ingredient the last couple of years when the middle of the field (Gronkowski) fell apart.