Score One For BB the GM
 

In today's ESPN Boston, Field Yates looks at the total season's productivity for ex-Patriots. One can't help but notice the low productivity of Mark Anderson (12 tackles, 1 sack) and Andre Carter (19 tackles, 2.5 sacks). Even considering Anderson's injury and Carter's late start, their prorated numbers don't come close to what they did here last season (Anderson with 29 tackles and 10 sacks, Carter with 52 tackles and 10 sacks). Ninkovich and Jones clearly outperformed them this year.

At the start of the season, some wondered about how the Patriots were going to make up for the twenty lost sacks, but they came within three of the 2011 total and are not burdened with large contracts to two aging players. Kudos to Bill Belichick the GM.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

of course the mediots from ESPN will never give BB credit for anything he does positive.

So glad he is our coach!

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

Will we be having similar conversations about Talib a year from now?

I'm actually guessing not. Rather -- and again I stress this is just a guess -- I think he's a young man who has gotten scared of his own wildness, and will be pleased to buy into the team structure and play for a reasonable (but still huge) amount of money.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

You are right about his age. He is 26, Anderson is 29, and Carter is 33.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

I hope we won't. But much will depend on Talib, and whether he wants to be part of something bigger than himself, instead of going for the money.

Remember all the threads 9 months ago about how foolish BB was not to have locked up Carter and Anderson for the long term? About how he left the Pats exposed without any pass rush for 2012? About how we desperately needed to land a veteran FA such as Manny Lawson (2 sacks in 2012)?

We should be grateful to Anderson and Carter for their contributions to the Pats in 2011. Both were fine players for us last year, and both might have contributed this year. But Anderson had had 1 good season prior to signing with the Pats, so a longer term deal really wasn't warranted at the time, and after last year he had only had 2 good seasons out of 6, and his value outside of his sack production simply didn't warrant a 4 year $19.5M contract with $8M guaranteed. I don't blame him for wanting to get paid, but he just wasn't worth it. As for Carter, he was 32 and coming off a 2.5 sack year when the Pats signed him, so a multi-year deal really wasn't an option, and coming off of his injury he simply wasn't healthy or ready until the Pats had other options lined up.

Looking at the projected salary cap for 2013 and how difficult it may be to keep some of our key players, imagine how much harder it would be if the FO had overspent on other guys?

And it was only 9 months ago that Buffalo awaited the news of signing of Mario Williams much like the announcement of a new Pope from the Vatican. They went from a 6-10 team to a 6-10 team.

Of course, none of this will stop people from bashing the FO in a few months when they are forced to make some hard, and potentially unpopular, decisions. And some may indeed turn out to be wrong.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

I wanted Carter back but there was no way they should have gone anywhere near what Anderson got.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

Most people were fine with Anderson leaving because he was overpaid

Many/Most people were fine with BB waiting on Carter to see if he'd be ready to go

Where people splintered off was with the Patriots not pulling in Carter once he was ready to return to the league, even if it meant carrying him while he improved. I think that's still a legitimate point of disagreement, particularly when you look at the waste of roster space the team had in Brace.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

I don't think many people wanted to pay him what Buffalo offered. But a lot of people questioned whether the FO should have tried to lock him up to a long term deal during the season once he appeared to be productive. Just the usual second-guessing.

Maybe, though it's unclear where Carter would have fit in the depth chart, and he would have taken another million off the cap (he signed a 1 year $925K deal with Oakland). We'd already paid similar money to Trevor Scott, who had similar production to Carter (14 tackles, 3 sacks vs. 19 tackles, 2.5 sacks). With Jones emerging as an impact player out of the gate, Francis emerging during training camp and making the roster and Cunningham showing significant improvement from 2011, there didn't seem to be a pressing need to re-sign Carter. The FO seemed to take a "wait and see" approach with Carter all along, and never reached a point where they felt compelled to make a move. In retrospect, it's not clear that there would have been enough impact to justify the cap hit, regardless of Brace's lack of impact.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

I hear you. I just don't think it was as cut and dry a "win" for BB as the OP seemed to think it was, because I don't think there was any "Pay Anderson!" contingent and most of the people wanting Carter weren't suggesting a big money, long-term deal for him.

I don't know about you, but I still would like having Andre Carter as a 3rd down option in the playoffs.

Re: Score One For BB the GM
 

I was someone who really wanted Carter back, as much for his veteran experience and professional approach to the game as for his pass rush ability. With such a young defense I thought his presence would have been invaluable. Carter was our best defensive player last season, and his loss hurt us a lot. In fact when Minko went down, and I thought he was done for the season, immediately thought, is Carter available?.

Anderson I knew were be looking for more than what we'd be willing to pay him, let alone what Buffalo offered. He hit the jackpot there. I was hoping the Pats would bring back Carter, but given the draft, and Francis, their dance card was full.

BTW- hypothetically if Ninko was IRed, would it be legal for the Pats to sign Carter for the playoffs, now that the Oakland season is over, or is he still Oakland property?