Safety - How Bad Is It?

sbpatfan said:

Do you mind explaining Shaun Ellis and Chad Ochosucko then?

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hey, I've got nothing against sanders --- just don't find it so puzzling that they'd cut a guy making $3m to back up chung.
I think the rumor was they tried to re-negotiate with sanders and he wasn't having it, so they used that money for other guys --- like ocho and ellis, as you mentioned.

wr probably commands more of a premium, on average, and I'm sure they had higher hopes for ocho.
I know this entire board was crying pass rush at the time, so please don't ***** about ellis after the fact --- my guess is that he was more useful in a defense they had to migrate away from early in the year, but given the choice between a pass rusher and back up box safety, I think pass rusher is more useful, and harder to replace.

looking back on it from the safety of your current vantage point, maybe they made mistakes in overpaying these 2 guys, but how does that make overpaying a 3rd better than overpaying just 2?

edit: the falcons signed him to a one year deal for half of what the pats would've been on the hook for, to give you an idea about his market value, and they claimed at the time, which is probably bs, that he would compete to start.

so, please don't tell me any more about those 8 tackles he made, giving up 90+ yards and 5 first downs, in a game where houston ran the ball 42x.
he's just not worth 3m.

Dont forget -- apparently, Sanders showed up to camp out of shape too. BB must have decided that he had more value in the young guys at that point. A gamble indeed.

also, back to the OPs statement about Chung, Ihdigbo, Moore as competent safeties -- Moore is now GONE.

how much do you miss Sanders now?

-- FRITZ

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We should question DB coaching, how bad is it?

Has this staff developed a secondary player yet in last 7 years?? do you see year over year improvement from any player?

We spent a lot of resources on the secondary. We spent 2 #1 and 3 high 2s for DBs, signed Bodden to $20MM, and still have not developed one star player let alone a single playmaker; Meriwether (#1) and McCourty (high 2), seem to regress after very strong roolier years. Other 2nd rounders like Butler and Chung showed initial flashes of playmaking then tailed off; Butler to the extent of being cut.

The same trends with Bodden, Barret, Brown, and Sanders, even Sterling Moore; they all show promises early and then seem to regress (in our system). To the extent of being cut.

The problem IS lack of growth and continous learning in the system, with a sample of a dozen talented players; however they were taught and re-taught, the stuff was not working.

PS. don't count on the redzone lucky breaks to bail you out in playoff. Guys like Brees, Rogers, even Eli are going to stick in the endzone for TDs, like Manning learnt how to later in his career against us. Bank on it.

Funktopus said:

Ditto on that. Remember when McGowan was looking good early last season, then not so good by mid-season. Who did BB turn to to settle things down.

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shmessy said:

I still can't fathom the reasoning behind cutting James Sanders before the season.

That was the most unforgivable Belichick move in his entire tenure in New England. Was he slow? Yes. But he played the angles perfectly, made the big plays in crunch time and was lauded as a future leader by none other than Rodney Harrison in his rookie year.

Then there is that clip of a miked up Belichick last year congratulating him on the sidelines after he intercepted Manning to win the Colts game. "Now THAT'S a Champion! That's a TRUE champion!!!"

So, now he catches on with Atlanta Falcons and gains the starter's job there. Just perusing, I see he had 10 tackles and a forced fumble this week.

How do you cut that for Sergio Brown and Sterling Moore?

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It made no sense to me either. Was he injured? Did they have a tiff? Who knows?

Does anyone know how this year's draft is looking for safeties, because we sure as heck need one.

gomezcat said:

It made no sense to me either. Was he injured? Did they have a tiff? Who knows?

Does anyone know how this year's draft is looking for safeties, because we sure as heck need one.

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I sure would love to have LSU's pair of corners, Claybourn and Mathieu.

hey, I missed that falcons game --- anybody know how many tackles sanders had?

From my couch it seems that BB overestimated the quality of the D backfield, and coupled with injuries the whole group is not very good. Also seems that the philosophy that a Patriots Coach(Patricia in this instance) can coach up any "C-" player and make them into a "B+" player has failed in this instance.

Every week this group is exposed and makes on "any given Sunday" more and more real. This whole D makes me very nervous..

Also yesterday Idebeho(sp) and McCourty both seem to have ongoing shoulder issues, at one point looked like McCourt was playing with one arm.