Another "stellar" column from Borges

[Rob0729]

Not that I would expect anything else from Borges, but his column today detailing how the Pats didn't go to the playoffs goes a little off the deep end. I figured I would pull out a few gems:

If you really want to know why your Patriots [team stats] aren’t in the playoffs, the reason was running down the sideline in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon with a football in his arm.

Really? So the loss of Brady, Adalius Thomas, Rodney Harrison, and the half dozen or so players who were IRed had nothing to do with it? It was all Asante Samuel leaving?

Since that time, Samuel signed with the Eagles, returned to the Pro Bowl, returned to the playoffs and returned a postseason pick for a touchdown for the fourth time in his career. The Patriots? They returned to their offseason homes in large part because they returned to the field with a string of sorry replacements for Samuel.

Borges does realize that the Pro Bowl is a popularity contest and the Pats won 2 more games this season than the Eagles? The Pats were 11-5 and the Eagles were 9-6-1. The Pats has a better record than four of the six NFC playoff teams. The reason the Eagles are in the playoffs and the Pats aren't is because the Eagles are in the NFC. The Eagles wouldn't even sniffed the playoffs in the AFC and would have been eliminated from playoff contention several weeks ago.

Samuel played 2007 for the $7.79 million franchise tag figure. Add to that the estimated $2,597,980 paid to Deltha O’Neal, Jason Webster (which includes an estimated injury settlement likely reducing his vested veteran’s pay of $730,000), Lewis Sanders, Mike Richardson, Jonathan Wilhite, Terrence Wheatley and an additional $46,270 paid to the long-departed Fernando Bryant and you total a two-year expenditure for Samuel’s position of roughly $10,387,980, or about $5.2 million a year.

All interesting numbers, but what the %#*@ does this have to do with the reality of football? Does Borges understand how the salary cap actually works? Maybe Miguel should give him a call and give him a primer. I don't even know where really to begin to show irrelevant this information is to the realities of the salary cap.

According to STATS, Inc., Patriots No. 1 cornerback Ellis Hobbs [stats] tied with Arizona’s Rod Hood for most touchdown passes allowed with nine. Not far behind was O’Neal, tied for third with seven, and he was benched after the loss to Pittsburgh that was one of four defeats directly attributable to shoddy pass coverage.

That two-man total of 16 touchdown passes allowed also tied with Hood and Cardinals teammate Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie for highest cornerback tandem in the league this season. Meanwhile, Samuel allowed about the same amount of completions as Hobbs (47 completions on 90 passes defended, to Hobbs’ 46 on 84 defended), gave up nearly 200 fewer yards (594 to 762) and more importantly allowed only a third as many touchdowns (three). Samuel also broke up 24 passes to Hobbs’ 11.

One really important thing Borges fails to address in these stats is pressuring the QB. The Eagles had one of the most dominant pass rushes in the league this year. They were third in sacks with 48. The Pats had a bad pass rush for most of the year and only had 31 sacks (14th). The pass rush makes a huge impact on the effectiveness of the CBs and pass coverage in general. Yes, Samuel had a better season than any of the Pats' CBs, but would he had as good of a season with the Pats' pass rush?

Would the Pats have been a better team with Samuel? Sure. Is his loss as big of an impact as Borges says? Not even close. Borges fails to realize that the Pats had a better season than the Eagles and the Eagles were lucky that the Cowboys and Bucs fell apart at the end of the season to let them back into the playoffs while the Pats weren't lucky enough to have the Dolphins fall apart a week earlier. That is the biggest advantage the Eagles had this year over the Patriots.

Loss of Asante Samuel costly to Patriots - BostonHerald.com

 

[Watson's IQ]

I agree Borges goes off the deep end. Would having Samuel on the roster have made the difference between the Pats winning 11 games and winning 12? Yeah, it very well might have. But so would a dozen or so other things that could have been different.

Pointing to not re-signing Samuel as the sole reason we weren't in the playoffs is pretty stupid.

 

[SVN]

here is bsm pointing out the same thing
Boston Sports Media Watch

Ron Borges shows a bit of his old Patriots/Belichick hating ways when he mocks any ”apologists, bum kissers and FOBs” who might argue that the loss of Asante Samuel was huge this season. He says that it is in fact the sole reason that the Patriots are not in the playoffs, and makes it out like Samuel was a huge piece in pushing the Eagles over the top this season.

I’m not going to argue that the Patriots would’ve been a better defensive team with Samuel in the secondary this year. But a couple things about this Borges article are hilarious to me. First, is the fact that he makes the loss of Samuel out to be the sole reason the Patriots are not in the playoffs. I think the injury to Tom Brady might be worthy of mention, as should the loss of Adalius Thomas and Rodney Harrison. Second…the Eagles were 9-6-1 this season, while the Patriots were 11-5. The Eagles are one game (and a tie) better than they were a season ago. Third, in the past, Borges absolutely mocked anyone who believed Samuel could be anything other than a nickle back. When Ty Law left town, Borges brutally mocked anyone who suggested Samuel could step up and be a number one cornerback. Now, that’s forgotten and Samuel is irreplaceable.

Would I prefer to have Samuel here? Of course. Let’s not put the entire season on his departure, however.

 

[PatSunday]

He wasn't the only change in our starters, as others pointed out. However, the Patriots have only scored ONE touchdown not on the offense. And that was on special teams. We had zero defensive touchdowns, and we typically seem to have a lot!

 

[Rob0729]

I agree Borges goes off the deep end. Would having Samuel on the roster have made the difference between the Pats winning 11 games and winning 12? Yeah, it very well might have. But so would a dozen or so other things that could have been different.

Pointing to not re-signing Samuel as the sole reason we weren't in the playoffs is pretty stupid.

I mean if you look at the biggest negative plays in the losses this season, I don't know if you can point to CB in many of them. Miami killed the Pats on the ground. I don't think Samuel would have made a difference there. The Pats probably beat the Colts if Gaffney doesn't drop the ball and/or Dave Thomas doesn't get the personal foul. Meriweather was the one who gave up the 3rd and 15 in overtime against the Jets although Samuel might have helped to keep Favre in check. Samuel might have made a difference vs. the Chargers, but that was such a butt whipping that I don't think an upgrade at CB would have made enough of a difference to overcome that loss. The Steelers game was lost on offense.

If Samuel was with the Pats, they might have won one more game. But I really can't think of which one other than maybe the Jets' game. The Pats did win 11 game and any other year over the last 23 years, the Pats would have been a lock to get in with that record. They were victims of a fluke, not the loss of Samuel.

 

[Rob0729]

here is bsm pointing out the same thing
Boston Sports Media Watch

Wow! Great minds think alike. Or maybe I just pulled a Borges and stole BSMW's article.

 

[BradyManny]

46/84 vs 47/90. Its really not all that much apart, especially given the Pats propensity to play zone, specifically cover 3, which is going to allow completions in front of the CB.

I gotta be honest, whenever I watched Asante this season, I wasn't that impressed. I'm all for spending $$ on CBs, but I see no evidence that Hobbs isn't as effective as Asante. If we're going to spend, then it should be on a true difference maker, like Asomugha, not Asante.

The real drop off was the #2 spot, O'Neal sucks and was a huge drop off over Hobbs. A healthy Wheatley might've made the difference.

 

[Watson's IQ]

I mean if you look at the biggest negative plays in the losses this season, I don't know if you can point to CB in many of them. Miami killed the Pats on the ground. I don't think Samuel would have made a difference there. The Pats probably beat the Colts if Gaffney doesn't drop the ball and/or Dave Thomas doesn't get the personal foul. Meriweather was the one who gave up the 3rd and 15 in overtime against the Jets although Samuel might have helped to keep Favre in check. Samuel might have made a difference vs. the Chargers, but that was such a butt whipping that I don't think an upgrade at CB would have made enough of a difference to overcome that loss. The Steelers game was lost on offense.

If Samuel was with the Pats, they might have won one more game. But I really can't think of which one other than maybe the Jets' game. The Pats did win 11 game and any other year over the last 23 years, the Pats would have been a lock to get in with that record. They were victims of a fluke, not the loss of Samuel.

I agree with everything you said, I can't point to a specific play either, but I think we all agree that Samuel would have made this team at least marginally better.

I don't know if victims is the right word though, after all when the season starts every team controls their own destiny, and if we beat Miami twice this is a moot point. Bad luck, yes, but victims is not really apt.

 

[xmarkd400x]

If you add Samuel to this roster, the Pats may have won 12 games this year, but (probably) would have been exposed in the playoffs.

If TFB doesn't get injured, this is a 13-14 win team with a legit shot at the title.

[sarcasm] Asante is clearly the more important part [/sarcasm]

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Wheatley will be better than Samuel.

If I'm going to spend $57 million over 6 years, I'll wait for a beast pass rusher.

 

[Rob0729]

I agree with everything you said, I can't point to a specific play either, but I think we all agree that Samuel would have made this team at least marginally better.

I don't know if victims is the right word though, after all when the season starts every team controls their own destiny, and if we beat Miami twice this is a moot point. Bad luck, yes, but victims is not really apt.

I say victims because it has been 23 years since a 11 win team hadn't gotten into the playoffs and it was another 18 years before that since a 11 win team has not gotten into the playoffs. The Pats are the only team ever not to get into the playoffs with 11 wins since they changed to a 12 team format. So the Pats should have more than plenty wins to get into the playoffs. It was just a fluke that may not happen again for another 20 years.

I do agree that Samuel would have been an upgrade, but I still don't know if he is worth the money he got.

 

[RayClay]

Outside of whatever boneheaded agena Wrong Borges has, he always sees himself as a defacto representative of any player looking for a huge contract.

It was particularly funny when it was Seymour, considering Wrong's most famous quote...

“On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson or the second-best tackle in the draft in Kenyatta Walker, they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sack last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end.

LOL

 

[Rob0729]

Outside of whatever boneheaded agena Wrong Borges has, he always sees himself as a defacto representative of any player looking for a huge contract.

It was particularly funny when it was Seymour, considering Wrong's most famous quote...

LOL

At least he was right about Terrell and Robinson being impact players. They were negative impact players, but impact players none-the-less.

 

[DarrylS]

Borges is the resident ass clown of the press... and his vehement hatred for all things BB is obvious.. he must have some nudie pix of the editor of the Herald, either that or he is sharing a cubicle with Thomase...

 

[Richter]

Samuel sucked a good portion of the year, which is what gets overlooked a lot. He was burned up and down the field in a couple of the Eagles earlier games, especially against the Cowboys. He's still a very solid corner, but his value is in big plays, not lock-down coverage, which is what the Patriots need more of. Asomaugh in Patriot blue, and it's Asante who?

 

[RayClay]

I always liked Samuel, but remember he was a 4th round pick. I don't think he was worth that big a slice of the pie and that's what counts. Wheatley and Harrison got hurt, so naturally their pass defense would suffer some.

People want to say he would have helped. Sure he would. that doesn't mean they won't be able to cover the position by drafting/signing and training four or five CBs and safeties and spending the millions in savings elsewhere.

 

[dtbrks]

yeah.. true, that great super bowl INT really sealed the game for the pats last season..

Oh wait..

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Borges is the resident ass clown of the press... and his vehement hatred for all things BB is obvious.. he must have some nudie pix of the editor of the Herald, either that or he is sharing a cubicle with Thomase...

I cant for the life of me see how this guy gets the respect he does, he's bigger than as Ass Clown. I stopped reading this Ass Clown 4-5 years ago and apparently I havent missed much.

 

[CrazyDave]

This just in - Borges is a f*cking Tool.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Since that time, Samuel signed with the Eagles, returned to the Pro Bowl, returned to the playoffs and returned a postseason pick for a touchdown for the fourth time in his career. The Patriots? They returned to their offseason homes in large part because they returned to the field with a string of sorry replacements for Samuel.

Love the implied cause-and-effect Samuel had on the Eagles' playoff appearance. The Eagles made the playoffs because Oakland pulled off a miracle and beat Tampa in Tampa in week 17. The Pats couldn't get the same help from NY or Jacksonville the same week. Congrats to the Eagles for doing their part and dispatching Dallas, but Oakland did the hard part getting the Eagles into January.

Regards,
Chris