Rodney Holds the Pats Accountable

AzorianPats said:

That's cheap man, real cheap ....

Guy made countless of crucial plays for us, and you want to get at him for that?

How bout that 2 ints vs Philly in the SB, including a game closing one, that killed the game?

How bout the pick 6 AFC championship that same year vs Pittsburgh?

How bout making a tackle with a broken arm vs Carolina SB38?

How bout picking off Manning 03 AFC championship game, opening drive, in the end zone?

The guy was a big time player, he should be remembered for such more than that flukey Tyree catch.

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Sure.

And if the Brady-Welker pass in SB 46 was completed Rodney wouldn't have had another opportunity for this NBC soundbite about "they" not winning a SB in 10 years. Guess what Rodney? YOU were on the team for the first 4 years of that streak.

I love Rodney, but he never was good at absorbing what he dishes out to others.

Ivan said:

I agree, he has no business calling them out when he had a chance to put one away and failed. Winning Lombardi's is really really difficult and everything has to break your way, the Patriots have been coming close with some teams that really weren't championship caliber over the last 4 seasons, it will be interesting to see if they can get it done with one that is of that caliber this season.

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Not only that, but he was ON the team for 4 of the 10 seasons of the streak he is calling "them" out for. Those seasons were the ones closest to the "Glory Years" - - so they were the ones with the roster most stacked with the championship personnel. It's harder to keep winning with roster turnover.

That being said, I think Rodney knows better and is only trying to light a flame under the players.

To be honest with you our offense played well in those two SB losses to the Giants. The Giants D were really physical man, REALLY physical. The Giants won. They deserved to win, they made the plays when they needed to and we didn't, it's not rocket science.

Every year you have to look forward and what Rodney is saying maybe a bit of advice for players to take this year, for leaders to apply. It appears to me that this team is having a good training camp and they are competitive. I think we got a real good shot this year and that's all you can ask for as a fan...

Halifax_Pats_Fan said:

To be honest with you our offense played well in those two SB losses to the Giants. The Giants D were really physical man, REALLY physical. The Giants won. They deserved to win, they made the plays when they needed to and we didn't, it's not rocket science.

Every year you have to look forward and what Rodney is saying maybe a bit of advice for players to take this year, for leaders to apply. It appears to me that this team is having a good training camp and they are competitive. I think we got a real good shot this year and that's all you can ask for as a fan...

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I think his quote is very positive. At the same time, the whole "THEY" part of that 10 years includes 4 years of RODNEY HARRISON. Had he said "And I was part of 40% of that streak where we had the most championship roster personnel returning", then I could appreciate his critique.

He's always been great at criticizing others. Introspection? Not so good.

KontradictioN said:

I think what Rodney was basically saying is that in the dynasty years, you had guys that would get in each other's faces and hold one another accountable and they were missing that in these most recent teams. I agree that those teams were not the best in the NFL in those particular years (the 2011 defense was absolute trash and the 2010 version was not much better), but you could make the case that the 2001 team wasn't either and still took it home. I can accept Rodney's point. You have the GOAT QB and a GOAT canidate coach at your disposal and the job still hasn't gotten done in a decade in spite of numerous chances. Further, I would be fine seeing leaders corral players on the sidelines for "pep talks" the way Faulk, Rodney, Bruschi, etc. used to.

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I don't disagree with that at all, I would love to hear about them doing the extra work the way those teams did, and i am surprised we haven't heard it. My point, as I think you know by now, is that those teams got the most out of themselves and went about as far as they should have given their construction and the circumstances they were in. This is the first season since 2007 where they really have the pieces in place to be a favorite to win the SB. (2008) gets thrown out for obvious reasons.)

shmessy said:

Not only that, but he was ON the team for 4 of the 10 seasons of the streak he is calling "them" out for. Those seasons were the ones closest to the "Glory Years" - - so they were the ones with the roster most stacked with the championship personnel. It's harder to keep winning with roster turnover.

That being said, I think Rodney knows better and is only trying to light a flame under the players.

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I think what people are missing here is the rebuild they undertook and the fact that they were able to stay in contention throughout that rebuild, which is extremely rare in the NFL. If you look at their defense the only players who were on it were Wilfork and Mayo, who was a rookie, they have completely rebuilt the rest of it, and on offense only Brady and Mankins were there, so Belichick has replaced 49 of their 53 and still managed to go to a SB and 3 AFCCG's. Pretty impressive accomplishment imo, and I doubt you could find another team to undergo that kind of change and maintain that kind of success. People can look at them as failures iif they want but I think they have actually been overachievers and are only now complete enough to be considered a favorite for the Lombardi.

In the first Super Bowl loss to the Giants, in my opinion the most overlooked aspect was the early loss of Stephen Neal. If I recall correctly he went out after just the first or second series with a knee injury, and to me that was the tipping point in terms of defending the fort against the New York front seven. With Neal out of the lineup, the Giants were able to move Justin Tuck along the line and create mismatches, and then bring Kawika Mitchell with effective pressure up the middle.

While the 'what if' talk naturally centers around the two plays on defense, to me the better 'what if' question is what happens if Neal is not injured, forcing Russ Hochstein to play almost the entire game?

jmt57 said:

While the 'what if' talk naturally centers around the two plays on defense, to me the better 'what if' question is what happens if Neal is not injured, forcing Russ Hochstein to play almost the entire game?

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Neal was no HOFer and Hochstein wasn't exactly chopped liver - - after all they did win SB XXXVIII
with him as the starting RG.

PP2 said:

That wasn't the reason we lost that game.

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For sure, but it sure didn't help...