Personally, I've basically closed the door on Waters coming back. The only thing that still bugs me is this: Why didn't BB think of signing any additional O-linemen? Sure one could argue that he just assumed Waters could come back, but it seems extremely uncharacteristic of him to bank on one player being there without a plan B. Was it because there was a lack of good O-linemen to sign? If that's the case than couldn't he have looked for the best option available. I'm not quite knowledgeable about all this, so perhaps someone can clue me in on whether or not any good o-linemen were available. Anyway, in regards to the O-line, the Pats have their work cut out for them. I'm certainly not buying all this BS that every good D-line in the league will be sacking Brady 9000 times a game and tearing up both his ACL's, but Vollmer's back, Mankins coming off a torn ACL, along with the inexperience of Solder, isn't helping me sleep well at night. The best case scenario is this IMO, Mankins return is as smooth as Welker's was during the 2010 season, Vollmer stays relatively healthy (plays at least 10-11 games), and Solder settles into the LT position. I'm sure that by the end of the regular season, the O-line will be decent. But what worries me is that by that point, TB might have some nagging injuries to deal with that affect him during the playoffs and doom us.
