You guys will be thanking Bill in the future....

Looking forward to Hoyer to Gronkowski. Thank you Bill for taking the foot off the gas and parking at the finish line.

ausbacker said:

How many 9-7 teams had won the Superbowl before this season?

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I think that might be a trick quesiton

Originally Posted by Free_Pacman
Screw that. I have a dirty little secret for you; once Brady is gone, we're not winning a Super Bowl anytime soon. Realistically, Brady has maybe three seasons left in him. If there ever was a time to go out and get a Wallace or a Jackson or a Williams it's this offseason. Carpe diem- seize the day. If it means being in salary cap hell in 2015 or 2016, then so be it.

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Thats the type of thinking that will get your franchise in trouble in a hurry and lead to a lot of empty seats, not a good business model. Ill take the model that has gotten us to 5 super bowls an AFC championship game and the playoffs almost every year, thank you very much.

cmasspatsfan said:

That's the type of thinking that will get your franchise in trouble in a hurry and lead to a lot of empty seats, not a good business model. Ill take the model that has gotten us to 5 super bowls an AFC championship game and the playoffs almost every year, thank you very much.

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Some people want us to be the NY Jets and load up in FA, only to implode a couple years later.

wcpatsfan said:

I think a lot of people are of the frame of mind that the Patriots are one big playmaker away from winning the Superbowl.

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I agree with that. His name is Rob Gronkowski and he's on the 2012 team. There's no question in my mind they would have won the SB if he was healthy.

Any big name player can be injured. Good teams win with depth. Depth is bought with a strong middle class and paid for with economical signings. If anything, the team struggled with a weak middle class in the secondary.

And I haven't forgotten that our big name players during the season had small names during free agency.

CheeseMonkeys said:

Some people want us to be the NY Jets and load up in FA, only to implode a couple years later.

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I disagree. I just think fans want to see the Pats, and BB, improve the team. At least attempt to fix some of the glaring weaknesses on this team. The Pats have had spotty defenses since 2005, and it cost them the 2006 Championship game and both SB's against the Giants. The Pats haven't had a dominating defense since their last SB win 7 years ago. Defense wins championships. Look at what the Giants did to, two of the top offenses ever, gave up 31 points total in 2 games, and sacked Brady 7 times. Hurried him constantly. The Pats need to be able to do that, attempt to fix the ******* defense already BB.

scott99 said:

I disagree. I just think fans want to see the Pats, and BB, improve the team. At least attempt to fix some of the glaring weaknesses on this team. The Pats have had spotty defenses since 2005, and it cost them the 2006 Championship game and both SB's against the Giants. The Pats haven't had a dominating defense since their last SB win 7 years ago. Defense wins championships. Look at what the Giants did to, two of the top offenses ever, gave up 31 points total in 2 games, and sacked Brady 7 times. Hurried him constantly. The Pats need to be able to do that, attempt to fix the ******* defense already BB.

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If at any given position (except QB, K, P) for the same price Bill could choose either 3 average veterans or 1 elite player/2 JAGs, I bet he'd go the first route every time.

CheeseMonkeys said:

If at any given position (except QB, K, P) for the same price Bill could choose either 3 average veterans or 1 elite player/2 JAGs, I bet he'd go the first route every time.

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And that route has won how many SB's the last 7 years. This team has had too many average to below average veterans AND draft choices the last 7 years that have cost this team 3 SB rings. I'll take that one elite defensive player (since we don't have ANY) and two JAGS over the average to below average veterans we've had the last 7 years.

scott99 said:

And that route has won how many SB's the last 7 years. This team has had too many average to below average veterans AND draft choices the last 7 years that have cost this team 3 SB rings. I'll take that one elite defensive player (since we don't have ANY) and two JAGS over the average to below average veterans we've had the last 7 years.

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Do you realize how selfish that sounds?! Cost us 3 rings? Most fans for other teams are dreaming of competing for 1 ring in a SB. Gotta think Bill's been doing something right to be SB contender nearly every season since he's been here.

While I agree with OP's statement...

draft me a pass rushah Billy boy! c'mon draft me a pass rushah!

I've been around long enough to know that you don't judge an offseason on Day Two of Free Agency.

There's free agency, the draft, trades, and pickups of cut players from other teams.

Each and every one of these categories has yielded valuable starters for the Patriots.

That being said I've been around long enough to know that while Belichick may have a plan, there's also 31 other teams and that plan doesn't always go the way he'd like.

Belichick also makes his fair share of "mistakes" as well... and while under-performing players truly deserve the bulk of the blame, as the guy making the personnel decisions Belichick knows better than anyone that he bears ultimate responsibilities for those mistakes in free agency, trades, and the draft.

What can't be argued is that there's a long way to go before the start of the season.

scott99 said:

And that route has won how many SB's the last 7 years. This team has had too many average to below average veterans AND draft choices the last 7 years that have cost this team 3 SB rings. I'll take that one elite defensive player (since we don't have ANY) and two JAGS over the average to below average veterans we've had the last 7 years.

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Please explain how those players cost the team 3 SBs.

It must be nice to be able to comment from a pov that if the team just listened to you they would win more SBs than anyone ever has in history.

CheeseMonkeys said:

If at any given position (except QB, K, P) for the same price Bill could choose either 3 average veterans or 1 elite player/2 JAGs, I bet he'd go the first route every time.

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That must be why he kept Seymour and Wilfork around for those many years.

What does Belichick know, hes a terrible GM, hes only built 5 Super Bowl teams.

Spoiled fans piss me off so much. I want the team to be smart and stay competive even after Brady look at the 2008 season (and yes i'll give that it was a weak schedule) they still just barely missed the playoffs with out Brady that's what I want a team that pushes the playoffs every year i'll take 10 wins a year any day of the week

I'm amused that people want to give BB the Schotty label and treatment. Yep. Run him out of town on the heels of a 13-3 season and SB appearance. Hire Norv Turner! Spend like the Redskins! Super Bowls guaranteed!

I'm thanking Bill that he didn't hire any of the armchair GMs here to do the real job.

Nikolai said:

I'm thanking Bill that he didn't hire any of the armchair GMs here to do the real job.

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He did it just to protect them. They would get eaten alive by the media if they made the kind of moronic comments in public that they spoil around here.

Deus Irae said:

That must be why he kept Seymour and Wilfork around for those many years.

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Dues, I'm talking about players through FA. And besides, they did get rid of Seymour when his contract was about to eat a hole in the cap. They also got rid of Samuel to avoid paying a huge contract. I'm just saying that it seems Bill likes to distribute cash a little bit more evenly throughout the roster. Of course there are the Wilforks and Bradys that get paid, but there's only so many players you can pay top dollar at the same time.

It seems like BB thinks there's more upside to signing Ellis, Carter, Anderson, Haynesworth to your Defensive line then signing Julius Peppers and JAGs for the same money. I'm not saying that it's a bad Idea to sign big name FAs but sometimes there are less "flashy" options that work just as good.

I'm happy the Pats aren't spending money on FA's like a drunken sailor at this point. If a Mario Williams contract suffocates all movement toward resigning players or signing lesser known FAs then no thanks.

Belichick has set up gameplans for decades in the NFL, he knows which players are difficult to plan for and why, when those players slip through the cracks in free agency, he is quick to scoop them up while everyone else has their eyes on a big target,He targets the best players who still want to play and have a chip on their shoulder, hell, its how Bill build the Dynasty, he put together a bunch of guys nobody else wanted.