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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Well the upside for me on this,is if he does have a big year.....and ILB is the place for him to sprout his wings....You guys dont have him locked up the following year.Maybe Arizona will come in and offer him the big bucks.It pains me to see any former NYJ playing for the Patriots cept maybe Doug Brien might look good in silver and blue.
I think to some degree it was lack of interest.Its not like teams were worried about paying him a huge contract.I realize free agents will move slower or faster depending on need so I will give ya that.
And to be honest I actually liked Victor as a player for the Jets,Just hoped he'd develop into something good,but he was just always average.Wish him luck.Dont wish you luck,Just him
The possibilities seem to be there, alright.
But i keep thinking that an ILB is the Patriots' signal-caller.
Tedy and Junior do that ...
but then leave exploitable holes due to aging athlete syndrome.
I'd love to have the fast, quick, young guys in there.
But can they call the game from behind the plate?
The possibilities seem to be there, alright.
But i keep thinking that an ILB is the Patriots' signal-caller.
Tedy and Junior do that ...
but then leave exploitable holes due to aging athlete syndrome.
I'd love to have the fast, quick, young guys in there.
But can they call the game from behind the plate?
You guys all seem to be pretty high on Hobson.He may work out for ya,Dunno.
Was never too overly impressed with him as a Jet.He sat on the FA bench for quite awhile so I guess other teams werent sold on him either.He had his moments but overall hes pretty darn average.*
* = the result of average coaching. He'll improve significantly under BB and Peas.
So what are your expectations of him for the upcoming season?
I expect him to play a significant, reliable role in the inside linebacker rotation.
I dont think it will take BB or Peas to get that out of him, thats honestly what I think he ultimately will be w/ less emphasis on significant
My interpretation of the one-year contract for Hobson is that the FO has been burned before with DEs and OLBs (Beisel and Brown) not making the transition to 3-4 ILB. Unlike Chad Brown, he's relatively young for a Pats LB, unlike Beisel, he's already got the perfect size. Like you said, he had the speed and strength to start and succeed as an OLB, even if he wasn't spectacular, and he knows the 3-4.He'll hopefully be the transition guy so they can play him and mayo. I really fear Bru and Seau going down together, we've been lucky they've taken turns.
Pretty scary, too, that 3 out of 4 are over 30 and 2 out of 4 are, by LB standards, well over 30 and no one's getting any younger. If you bring back Seau and he's first off the bench as many expect, then make that 3 out of 5 as well over 30.
Interesting points, but I wonder how come you guys seem to be the only ones who seem to have such success with so many old players, especially at a speed position like LB? (I agree that it's not much of a surprise for big guys like Teddy W. to stay in the League and play well up until 35 or so.) Out of curiosity I just checked quickly the AFC starters at LB for all the other teams and no one else is even close to the general age of your LB corps, and especially your starters (including here Seau as your main backup rotating in alot, which is likely). Is it the training techniques that the Pats use that means their LBs seem to be able to generally play effectively 3-4 years longer than everyone else's (or perhaps Rodney's Dr. does indeed make housecalls)?
Interesting points, but I wonder how come you guys seem to be the only ones who seem to have such success with so many old players, especially at a speed position like LB? (I agree that it's not much of a surprise for big guys like Teddy W. to stay in the League and play well up until 35 or so.) Out of curiosity I just checked quickly the AFC starters at LB for all the other teams and no one else is even close to the general age of your LB corps, and especially your starters (including here Seau as your main backup rotating in alot, which is likely). Is it the training techniques that the Pats use that means their LBs seem to be able to generally play effectively 3-4 years longer than everyone else's (or perhaps Rodney's Dr. does indeed make housecalls)?
Pretty scary, too, that 3 out of 4 are over 30 and 2 out of 4 are, by LB standards, well over 30 and no one's getting any younger. If you bring back Seau and he's first off the bench as many expect, then make that 3 out of 5 as well over 30.
Interesting article I read recently (I won't link here since it would probably get me banned--you all wouldn't like it, trust me) honed in on how the fact that the Pats almost always played from well ahead meant your LBs didn't need to chase folks down in the running game and (a) expend a lot of energy doing so and (b) take the constant hits that come from a grind it out attack. In games you did, the author says, like the SB, the LBs looked old and slow. Haven't gone back and watched other games, but I have watched the SB enough to think he was right about that one. Will be interesting to see if other coaches noticed the same thing. Of course, not playing from way behind may not be something other teams can control if your O plays like last year's......
When the Pats won the Super Bowl in the 2004 season, Roman Phifer was 35 years old and Willie McGinest was 34 years old. Both played significant roles in that season and the prior Super Bowl season before that. Correct me if my math is off, but that would mean that Phifer was 34 and McGinest was 33 in the 2003 Super Bowl season. Other than Bruschi who has clearly lost a step, the age thing is not an issue especially since Vrabel had a career year last year.
Also, don't forget that the Pats won Super Bowls with other players starting in their 30s on great defenses like Ted Washington (34 at the time of the Super Bowl,), Anthony Pleasant (32 at the time of a starter in a Super Bowl and 36 as a back up), Otis Smith (36 at the time of a starter at a Super Bowl), Keith Traylor (34 at the time of the Super Bowl), Tyrone Poole (31 at the time of the Super Bowl), and Rodney Harrison (32 at the time as a starter at his second Super Bowl with the Pats). Many of these players played on the same team.
The Patriots' defense has been labelled too old for most of the Belichick era. Somehow they always seem to be one of the better or one of the best defenses in the league. The 2003 defense was arguably one of the best all time and 5 starters were over 30 years of age (McGinest, Washington, Phifer, Poole, and Harrison).
Sure, some teams have one old guy in their LB corps--you forgot Donnie Edwards in KC who's 35, but no one has as many old guys as you do among the guys who start or play a lot (like Seau). If Seau comes back and plays the role he did last year of first guy off the bench or starter, 3 of your 5 main LBs are 33 or older and two are 35 and 39. Look around--you don't see anywhere near that anywhere else, at least not in the AFC (I got too lazy to do the whole NFL).
Lucky in player selection? Better training techniques? Better living through chemistry? Any of the three are possible. On the latter, additional circumstantial evidence includes (a) a fellow older player already being caught taking HGH (and caught only due to accident really, since the NFL doesn't test for HGH, meaning users can be free to use without fear of being caught, unless you're as dumb as Rodney and buy it in your own name online), (b) the gents in question all having melons the size of small moons---what do you know, as per some of my power lifter gym buddies a side effect of HGH called "the Bloat" causes head size to grow, (c) one of them had a stroke at age 32--how often does that occur to healthy young pro athletes? You make the call.....