That's a gloomy interpretation of my post, MG. Let me try to briefly expand on the concept I was trying for.
People tend to look at individuals to rate how good or bad a team might be. And while having good "individuals" is important, its not everything. The Pats have garnered their great success over the last 15 years by exemplifying the principal that the SUM can often be greater than the individual parts.
Another important principal to keep in mind is that in reality, around 90% of NFL players have pretty much the same athletic ability, so when you are talking about how good or bad a team is, EVERY team is pretty much equal, with most having those 4 or 5 "special guys" sprinkled through the roster. What really differentiates a team's success in such an equal environment where the margin between winning and losing are so incredibly small, are the following.
1. Coaching - more than in any other team sport, in football, coaching can have a bigger effect on a team's success or failure.
2. How well your team plays together as a unit. This involves communication, semantics, leadership, and how much fun the group is having.....as a group. The mediots call this "chemistry", but in the end its more about can you trust the guy next to you to have our back. The belief that your teammate is doing all he can to be the best he can be for this week. And again, in football, good "chemistry" is a bigger factor than in the other team sports.
3. If one of your "special" players happens to be a QB. In a game dominated by TEAM play, the anomaly is that the QB position has evolved into the one position that can make or break an offense. And finding a "special" one is not only rare, its exceedingly hard to predict. The Pats don't have an excess of "special" players, but we did manage to luck out that one of them turned out to be a QB.
So if you are rating the division's DL's for this upcoming season based on individual players, I don't think there is any question that ours would be rated #4, but that doesn't mean that it won't be a good DL. The same goes for the secondary. Remember that those "ratings" are based on what players have done in the PAST. Given the reality that the "talent" levels are all pretty close, how our team does will be more a function of the quality of the coaching, how the team takes to the coaching, and how good the QB is.
I believe that due to the quality of the depth, coaching, and the youth of some of the key players, our DL could be a lot better then they are currently rated now. I believe that the fact that along with our strength at LB, we can overcome the losses we suffered in the secondary, and end up with a defense that will be just as good as what we had last season.
So, MG, even though I lied about being brief,
, I didn't lie about my assessment of what this DL can be. I know for a fact it can be solid with players like Siliga, Chris Jones, Branch, Chandler Jones, and Ninko. But who knows what Easley and Brown can bring to the table. Both have the potential to become "special" players. Also we have to see what effect a LB crew of Hightower, Mayo and Collins has on the DL, because I think that LB group has a chance to be extraordinary this season
