LOL, Indy and New York media dog the Patriots

[MrTibbs]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/COLUMNISTS01/704300356/1247/SPORTS

"First things first: A hearty round of congratulations to the New England Patriots, your 2007 Summer Super Bowl champions.
For their remarkable accomplishment, they will be awarded the Dan Snyder Trophy, which has resided with the Washington Redskins the past five seasons."



http://www.nypost.com/seven/04302007/sports/pats_trade_up_sports_steve_serby.htm

"Belichick didn't win a Super Bowl these past two years and also can hear Eric Mangini's footsteps. It means he is more desperate than he has ever been. Desperate enough to draft Brandon Meriweather, a cover safety the Jets probably wouldn't have touched after a gun incident and a stomping incident at Miami. Desperate enough to believe Moss won't poison his locker room the way he has poisoned his previous two locker rooms."

 

[Bella*chick]

Those smack of two things:

Fear and frustration. Nothing more.

 

[DefenseRules]

JEALOUSY is an ugly thing. :blahblah:

 

[brdmaverick]

shouldn't the Dan Snyder Award be given to a team that overpays aging players in an attempt to win a Super Bowl?

The last I checked we had to trade for Randy Moss AND he comes at the great value of $3 mil.

It's jealousy.

 

[brdmaverick]

I suppose another way to look at it is.........

IF the Colts or Jets were to gain the services of Randy Moss, I'm sure we would try to put a negative spin on it as well.

So I guess I can't blame them for trying.

 

[Jimke]

The only way the Pats can stuff a sock in the mouths of these

guys is by beating the heck out of them when the season starts.

 

[All_Around_Brown]

There is only one Dan Snyder award and it goes to....get this...none other than the Dan Snyder Washington Redskins.

 

[cblesz]

It IS truly hilarious. "Pats overpaid free agents", "Pats pannicking". Puhlease. Thomas took LESS money to play for this organization. Moss was for a fourth round pick and he also gave up $20 odd million bucks. These guys are ridiculous. Not kidding, who is going to cover our receivers in Indy? In NY? Nobody. We ought to score 50 points on both of them...

 

[Boston Jay]

Cap Hits (courtesy of Miguel)

$3,406,720 - A. Thomas
$2,773,386 - D. Stallworth
$2,306,720 - K. Brady
$1,706,720 - W. Welker
$1,350,000 - T. James

Plus around 3 million for Moss. Somewhere in the ballpark of 14-15 mil on the cap for 6 guys? Damn. We sure overpaid for them.

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

I don't have much issue with the indystar column. They won and they can talk. It is also well disguised as a "different approaches of the two teams" discussion. Of course you could say that you'd expect this stuff from fans and not a reporter.

The "Mangini's footsteps" comment is downright hilarious. You'd think the Jets actually challenged NE last year. The Jets outperformed everyone's expectations going from 4-12 to 10-6 and Mangini did a wonderful job, but they lost the division by 2 games and got trounced in the playoffs. The Jets were clearly not in NE's class last year, and NE has done a remarkable job improving itself.

I feel sorry for any fans of an AFC team not in SD, Indy, or Denver. Those are the only 3 fanbases that should have any belief they can actually beat NE this year (and all 3 do). An up-and-comer with faults will be able to take the NFC, but the AFC looks off-limits.

 

[zippo59]

I can't believe how great NY already thinks Mangini is. He did a very good job his first year, but it wouldn't be the first time a coach has had a good first season with a team and then steadily declined since (Jim Mohra in Atlanta.) Pennington is a very solid QB when healthy, and the Jets had a piece of cake schedule. Let's hold pff before we start appointing Mangini Belichick's equal.

 

[MrTibbs]

I don't have much issue with the indystar column. They won and they can talk. It is also well disguised as a "different approaches of the two teams" discussion. Of course you could say that you'd expect this stuff from fans and not a reporter.

The "Mangini's footsteps" comment is downright hilarious. You'd think the Jets actually challenged NE last year. The Jets outperformed everyone's expectations going from 4-12 to 10-6 and Mangini did a wonderful job, but they lost the division by 2 games and got trounced in the playoffs. The Jets were clearly not in NE's class last year, and NE has done a remarkable job improving itself.

I feel sorry for any fans of an AFC team not in SD, Indy, or Denver. Those are the only 3 fanbases that should have any belief they can actually beat NE this year (and all 3 do). An up-and-comer with faults will be able to take the NFC, but the AFC looks off-limits.

Agreed......................

 

[skaIownsIyou]

Cap Hits (courtesy of Miguel)

$3,406,720 - A. Thomas
$2,773,386 - D. Stallworth
$2,306,720 - K. Brady
$1,706,720 - W. Welker
$1,350,000 - T. James

Plus around 3 million for Moss. Somewhere in the ballpark of 14-15 mil on the cap for 6 guys? Damn. We sure overpaid for them.

not to mention that 3 of the newly aquired 6 are high profile players....well maybe not stallworth YET, b/c of his nagging injuries....

usually 3 high profile players take up 15-16 million in cap

lol jets are just angry b/c they'll be in last place in the division

and the colts are just disapointed that they lost more players than gained...

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

Cap Hits (courtesy of Miguel)

$3,406,720 - A. Thomas
$2,773,386 - D. Stallworth
$2,306,720 - K. Brady
$1,706,720 - W. Welker
$1,350,000 - T. James

Plus around 3 million for Moss. Somewhere in the ballpark of 14-15 mil on the cap for 6 guys? Damn. We sure overpaid for them.

that's a little disingenuous. The AAV of Thomas and Welker's deals are both twice as much (and in Thomas's case more than double) their projected cap hits for this year. Even when looking at AAV they got a very good deal for Thomas, but arguements like this cloud that fact because they give the opposition something to argue against.

Any fool can sign guys to backloaded deals and say they didn't overpay by looking at year 1. Where NE excelled was in getting Stallworth to agree to an inexpensive one year lease (with an option to buy at full price) and getting Thomas to agree to a good (for the team) deal. Add Moss at 1 year $3-5M depending on incentives and they only look better.

 

[Boston Jay]

Ok gotcha. We didn't bust the cap for mediocre players like the Redskins do. Just trying to get that across.

 

[spacecrime]

Don't forget Boston:

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=197592

"FOXBORO - While the NFL has worked hard recently to distance itself from the thug culture and questionable attitudes nagging pro sports, the Patriots [team stats] chose to embrace them this weekend."

"As for Meriweather, Belichick said he’s a player who cares about football, works hard, has matured and learned from his mistakes. Blah, blah, blah. "

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/COLUMNISTS01/704300356/1247/SPORTS

"First things first: A hearty round of congratulations to the New England Patriots, your 2007 Summer Super Bowl champions.
For their remarkable accomplishment, they will be awarded the Dan Snyder Trophy, which has resided with the Washington Redskins the past five seasons."



http://www.nypost.com/seven/04302007/sports/pats_trade_up_sports_steve_serby.htm

"Belichick didn't win a Super Bowl these past two years and also can hear Eric Mangini's footsteps. It means he is more desperate than he has ever been. Desperate enough to draft Brandon Meriweather, a cover safety the Jets probably wouldn't have touched after a gun incident and a stomping incident at Miami. Desperate enough to believe Moss won't poison his locker room the way he has poisoned his previous two locker rooms."

 

[cringelyindy]

JEALOUSY is an ugly thing. :blahblah:

No, not jealous at all... more over fear. You guys reloaded well. The fact that character questions didn't come into play is even more scarier. FA pickups have been wise ones.

We have been leaking players due to FA and have a questinable O line at best. Why we would pick up Gonzo with a first round pick is startling and shocking. I have been beating the Alan Branch /David Harris drum for a long time and am pissed that Branch fell to us and we pickup Gonzalez. WTF.

I could be wrong, been wrong before: I was the one that threw popcorn at the stage when they took Manning over Leif and swore I would give away my season tickets. But then again I did the same when the Pacers chose Reginald Miller ( WHO??) over Steve Alford...I also thought compact discs would go the way of laser discs and beta so wtf do I know.. just saying....you have a lot to huff about this off season while I worry we are going the way of the Steelers last year.... thank God they don't play the game on paper or you could have your 4th ring right about now.

 

[lutontown_fc]

Wow I would expect better from Indystar.

Unless im mistaken Indy has been throwing some pretty large contracts at Manning and Wayne recently?

The Red Sox comparison is beyond lame and a real reach - we've already been over the differences in the salary cap between baseball and football.

Its the same tired stuff i've read on forums from too many jealous fans - desperation, BB's last shot etc etc ad infinitum.

Its a cheap, desperate article the qulaity of which is simoilar to the nonsense you read on sportline troll-fests.

I like it that the Champs are so insecure that they have to write stuff like this.

Im going to have fun laughing at their D next year.

 

[spacecrime]

Both articles are hilarious. THe NY one because it is so unintentionally stupid, but the Indy one is genuinely funny, and one I would laugh at it the situation was reversed (we won the SB, and the Colts signed a bunch of top FAs).

No, we didn't do it like Snyder, paying out gazillions of dollars, but it is still funny. "Parade plans have not been finalized." Gotta like it.

 

[spacecrime]

We have been leaking players due to FA

It won't get any better, trust me. Other teams will over-value your players. Your good players will look great, and your great players look like supermen, to aspiring teams. They will pay big bucks to steal your players only to find that the player isn't as good when taken away from your team with good players around them and placed in theirs surounded by JAGs.

That's the beauty of cap, and the parity it creates. You can't afford to keep all your players. You must be selective in keeping who you keep (which the COlts have done, IMO) and not get into cap trouble with huge future expenses waiting like a time bomb (an area which will stomp on you hard in a couple years, IMO).

Watch out when you offensive guys all come up for contracts. The bloodshed will be worse than this year's defensive pillaging.