Which player are you most excited about?

Joker said:

He was part of the problem allowing pressure because THE problem was Wendell the turnstile and Connelly the cripple allowing IMMEDIATE pressure by single interior D line players the last quarter of the season. Brady could not step up in the pocket because there was no pocket. It was three/five step drops, BAM!, he was hit by DT's beating Wendell outright. When THAT happens the entire O line looks like crap.

This board has over 25,000 members. A lot of members like to parrot articles they get from sources that quite frankly, are almost always speculative trolling pieces written to evoke negative reactions. How many articles have we seen the past four years trumpeting the demise of Brady, the end of Patriot dominance in the East and the Pats fading "old" players? It's ridiculous. All this crap is because the NFL is now a twitter driven fantasy gaa gaa entity in which only the latest flavor has any worth. I subscribe to none of it.

WATCH tape.Read the work of board members who break down games and explain why some plays succeed and others fail.I never fail to learn something new every season because of the astute NFL game breakdowns produced here. Before you go all bull goose looney about the Halapios and Storks, at least wait until training camp and REAL REPS against opposition in pads. This isn't fantasy football where you just plug in players you think are great and therefore they must play. It doesn't work that way. Forget Finley, too.There less than .01th of a per cent the Pats sign him.

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PatFanCraig said:

By old form I mean Logan had a down year. I read somewhere he was near bottom of guards allowing pressure and he was part of the problem last year with up the middle pressure on Brady. He is entering years 10. If this is what mankind is now I'm confident Fleming follows suit. Logan was a tackle in college as well. I just see Fleming as a smarter version of Carl nicks. He can play RT but he will be a special guard. 6'5 330lb very long arms and very powerful. He is a devastating drive blocker. The most powerful tackle this draft not named Robinson. I saw plays he blew up his whole side of the Dline couple yards off the ball. That's rare power and explosion. He may lack athleticism at RT but has some to spare at guard. I'm all for getting our best athletes on the field at OLine. Hopefully Vollmer and Solder remain injury free. LG Mankind hopefully returns to form and coaches up Fleming. At Center Stork and Halapio can compete since many scouts saw him as a center convert. RG can see Fleming Cannon compete. That is a big powerful athletic Oline capable of dominating even dominant defenses and giving them their own medicine. If Stork lacks power at center, Halapio can line up over the nose at center and battle man up. Reports out of camp said Halapio is strong,nasty and good technique for a rookie. Big nose tackles will know they are in a scrap with Halapio. Most centers can't man up a nose in the NFL. They look to help a guard combo block. If you can find a center who can neutralize the nose its a huge win for the online. I'm rooting for Stork to continue to develop and finish growing into his frame to handle a nose tackle. But I hear and read he needs to get stronger however by all accounts. If he doesn't develop however, I hear Halapio is NFL ready to crash with nose tackles. Its a huge advantage for the oline if its center can single up and occupy the wide body of the Defense. I read Halapio handled that 360 lb McCullers dude quite easily and frustrated him single handedly with a torn pec. If our center can do that and the Tackles can handle the edge with no help, that's the base of a destructive oline and a clean pocket. On top of that our RBs are good blockers and Gronk is one of the best blockers not that the online will need it. A dominant oline means more pass catching options, a big year for Gronk and Vereen if the online plays intact. I'm rooting for stork because he was our fourth rd pick, but Halapio sounds out of the box with batteries included to plug at center and amp up. When a center can neutralize a big NT, it crushes a defensive game plan!

Let's sign Jermichael Finley a feared pass catcher and capable blocker for the 2TE sets and our offense is deeper than the Broncos!! Finley was great but Brady makes everybody better. Rodgers is great but NOBODY makes pass catchers better than Brady and that includes him to.As awesome as Rodgers is hewouldn't put up 40TDs with welker and Branch! I bet Finleys YPC increases 2-3 yards with Tom Brady. He is typically almost 13, I fully expect that to increase to 14+ catching passes from Brady with his speed,size,length, and ball skills. He no doubt has a career best season as a patriot. If we bring in Jermichael he and Gronk surpasses Our old 2TE set. Not to mention Dobson and Thompkins on the outside now but Finley/Gronk are deep threats themselves. With a much improved oline the patriots score as many points as Denver or more. Jermichael makes it more special and if rookies make the leap we could rival 07. Gronk/Finley strikes fear in the NFL pass or run,they are mismatches! To big for DBs,to good for LBs . Throw in speed like a developed Dobson/Thompkins/Boyce and a breakout for Shane Vereen if he is injury free and WOW. I can see Vereen having nearly 1000 yards both catching and rushing. If he wins the starting job he rivals Shadys #'s. Edelman moves the chains setting up big plays from these guys. Im sure Bill really wants Jermichael Finley and he wants to be a patriot.

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Joker said:

....Before you go all bull goose looney about the Halapios and Storks...

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Brady6 said:

No, I think that Meyer had a fast one pulled on him by his players, and cascaded information to Belichick and other NFL coaches based on what he believed.

It was a **** class though –
- Cunningham – PED suspension
- Spikes – PED suspension, sex tape, snow shoveling issues
- Hernandez – 3 counts of first degree murder

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PatFanCraig said:

I hope mankins returns to old form. If Fleming lacks athleticism to play RT I personally would rather see him convert to guard. I would take an all pro guard over a liability Tackle every time. Besides Solder and Vollmer injury free sounds good and why leave an all pro guard on the bench while Conolly gets repeatedly ragdolled or if Mankins play declines and insist he is just a tackle. I'm for getting our best lineman on the field.

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KontradictioN said:

I stopped taking your post seriously when I read the bolded. Mankins was easily the best lineman on this team last year, both in pass protection and in the run game. Vollmer was a distant second, mostly due to injuries.

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mgteich said:

1) Fleming is not a guard.
2) We need a top backup OT, given the injury history of Vollmer and Solder.
3) Cannon is an OG/OT in his contract year.
CONCLUSION: I hope that Fleming will be good enough to replace Cannon if he is not our backup OT in 2015.

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