Bad off season moves were evident today

[hallfamebrady]

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come. I know posters often get ripped for venturing into negative areas. I am glad they pulled out the win. Keep in mind Buffalo is awful and this performance will not cut it against even .500 level teams

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season. There were Pats players on the field today in certain positions (WR and LB) that have no business starting in a NFL game. I understand why they let go Willie, Givens, and Adam V (Adam stunk two of the three last seasons. I do not think we lost much). There were plenty of players available that would have better filled these loses.

The fact they have a boat load of money under the cap is even more baffling. The Pats have always spent up to the cap while maintaining fiscal sanity. They could have brought in many serviceable players without killing the cap. Although Seau played well, we could have got a ILB with much more in the tank. TBC, Caldwell, and Brown are not NFL starters.

The Pats also screwed up the Deion situation. This could have been resolved without being full blown war. They should have considered giving him a one time bump in salary like they did with Seymour last year.

 

[kptmorgan04]

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come. I know posters often get ripped for venturing into negative areas. I am glad they pulled out the win. Keep in mind Buffalo is awful and this performance will not cut it against even .500 level teams

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season. There were Pats players on the field today in certain positions (WR and LB) that have no business starting in a NFL game. I understand why they let go Willie, Givens, and Adam V (Adam stunk two of the three last seasons. I do not think we lost much). There were plenty of players available that would have better filled these loses.

The fact they have a boat load of money under the cap is even more baffling. The Pats have always spent up to the cap while maintaining fiscal sanity. They could have brought in many serviceable players without killing the cap. Although Seau played well, we could have got a ILB with much more in the tank. TBC, Caldwell, and Brown are not NFL starters.

The Pats also screwed up the Deion situation. This could have been resolved without being full blown war. They should have considered giving him a one time bump in salary like they did with Seymour last year.

So how did we fair against buffalo last year at home? I was at that game and we barely pulled it out midseason, let alone game one which is a crapshoot. As far as free agents, I would love to still have givens here and branch in camp, but willie and adam are both overpaid older vets and it was a smart business decescion. they WILL spend the money, which has been discected and discussed every which way. The Deion situation blows, but dont you think if it was as easy as a one time bump it would have been done. Deion and his agent have made this a horrible situation (and deion does not deserve to be treated like Seymour becuase he is not in his class of player). I would take Troy Brown over any 3rd WR in the NFL right now, and because of injuries and new receivers that just came in he has stepped it up to be the #1 or 2. It has been one game and you are already writing off Caldwell (who had more yards this week than Givens) and TBC who helped seal the win?!?!?
you can discuss areas that need improvement from week to week, but to doubt every move or non move that has been made this offseason by a team who has shown results is not intelligent

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come. I know posters often get ripped for venturing into negative areas. I am glad they pulled out the win. Keep in mind Buffalo is awful and this performance will not cut it against even .500 level teams

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season. There were Pats players on the field today in certain positions (WR and LB) that have no business starting in a NFL game. I understand why they let go Willie, Givens, and Adam V (Adam stunk two of the three last seasons. I do not think we lost much). There were plenty of players available that would have better filled these loses.

The fact they have a boat load of money under the cap is even more baffling. The Pats have always spent up to the cap while maintaining fiscal sanity. They could have brought in many serviceable players without killing the cap. Although Seau played well, we could have got a ILB with much more in the tank. TBC, Caldwell, and Brown are not NFL starters.

The Pats also screwed up the Deion situation. This could have been resolved without being full blown war. They should have considered giving him a one time bump in salary like they did with Seymour last year.

Who are these "many serviceable players" you refer to? I agree that there were some but look at who they were, where they signed, what they signed for, and if the Pats were interested and/or vice versa.

As for Deion, if his agent were willing to negotiate with the Pats, perhaps they would have been able to give him that one time bump. However, he was not willing to negotiate, thus the "full blown war".

 

[patriotspride]

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come. I know posters often get ripped for venturing into negative areas. I am glad they pulled out the win. Keep in mind Buffalo is awful and this performance will not cut it against even .500 level teams

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season. There were Pats players on the field today in certain positions (WR and LB) that have no business starting in a NFL game. I understand why they let go Willie, Givens, and Adam V (Adam stunk two of the three last seasons. I do not think we lost much). There were plenty of players available that would have better filled these loses.

The fact they have a boat load of money under the cap is even more baffling. The Pats have always spent up to the cap while maintaining fiscal sanity. They could have brought in many serviceable players without killing the cap. Although Seau played well, we could have got a ILB with much more in the tank. TBC, Caldwell, and Brown are not NFL starters.

The Pats also screwed up the Deion situation. This could have been resolved without being full blown war. They should have considered giving him a one time bump in salary like they did with Seymour last year.

the only person who screwed up the deion situation is deions agent .deion is under contract and hes no richard seymore .screw him.

 

[brady2brown]

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come.

And I am the first female president of the United States.

 

[Willie55]

Once the Pats figured out what the Bills were doing and they made adjustments to slow down the speed of their pass rush, the Pats controlled the game.

Have faith my fellow Patriot bretheren, there will be many more W's.

 

[hallfamebrady]

And I am the first female president of the United States.

Read my posts and you will see I am a die hard.

There were many players they could have signed / traded for in the off season that would have made sense.

Wpuld you have liked to seen any of these guys at WR:
Eric Moulds
Javon Walker
Ashlee Lelie
Dante Stallworth

Adding Deion would be a plus but they are still thin at receiver. Letting try to find a deal only to find he has market value clearly back fired.

LB: signing a LaVar Arrington would have made a lot of sense. TBC does not cut it. Our LB group will be signing up for AARP soon.

 

[mgteich]

I expect that you are talking about the three starters who are starting because of injuries to our starters:

1) Banta-Cain is not a starter. He will not be starting when Bruschi is back. He is a solid backup, as is Chad Brown who will be back when he is healthy.

2) Seau, Colvin, Bruschi, Vrabel, Seymour, Wilfork, and Warren will constitute on the best fron sevens in the league. After all, Seau is the #2 ILB back, and will play about 40% of the downs. Do you disagree?

3) Caldwell could be a #2 for several teams. Brown is Brown and plays in whatever role the patriots have need. I agree that he is no longer an NFL quality starter.

We don't have a true #1 and haven't had one for several years. That is just the way we play the game. Gabriel and Jackson are likely to be our starters after the bye. I think both have business starting in an NFL game. And, yes, I believe that if a first round rookie receiver has business starting in this league if the need is there.

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come. I know posters often get ripped for venturing into negative areas. I am glad they pulled out the win. Keep in mind Buffalo is awful and this performance will not cut it against even .500 level teams

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season. There were Pats players on the field today in certain positions (WR and LB) that have no business starting in a NFL game. I understand why they let go Willie, Givens, and Adam V (Adam stunk two of the three last seasons. I do not think we lost much). There were plenty of players available that would have better filled these loses.

The fact they have a boat load of money under the cap is even more baffling. The Pats have always spent up to the cap while maintaining fiscal sanity. They could have brought in many serviceable players without killing the cap. Although Seau played well, we could have got a ILB with much more in the tank. TBC, Caldwell, and Brown are not NFL starters.

The Pats also screwed up the Deion situation. This could have been resolved without being full blown war. They should have considered giving him a one time bump in salary like they did with Seymour last year.

 

[JackBauer]

Brown won't be back with the team, because he was cut. I think Caldwell is a perfectly viable #2 WR.

As cool as it would seem to sign players like Arrington and Moulds, this is not Madden, unfortunately.

 

[dante828]

Once the Pats figured out what the Bills were doing and they made adjustments to slow down the speed of their pass rush, the Pats controlled the game.

Have faith my fellow Patriot bretheren, there will be many more W's.

I read a story before the game that the Patriots did not have much to go on as far as film goes with regards to Buffalo. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I think this was the main problem today. I really don't think the Pats were prepared for everything Buffalo threw at them. Once they were able to make adjustments they controlled the game from there on out.

This was a problem of Buffalo having more talent then the Patriots expected, and more innovative schemes that threw the Patriots completely off balance in the first half. As time goes on, I doubt the Patriots will have the same scheming problems they had today and would expect them to play more like the second half then the first.

The talent is there, remember Jackson and Gabriel were both hurt, and Bruschi was not in either. And they still dominated the second half. This was a coaching problem (an understandable one under the circumstances), not a talent problem.

Also, one of the players who played the worse was Brady, maybe the Pats should have done a better job getting someone at QB as well

 

[Kdo5]

Yeah AV was missing when Gostkowski made the crucial game tying field goal.

Givens loss was crucial when he came off looking barely as good as Caldwell who has gotten lots of negativity recently.

Willies loss was horrible because Seau was a beast today and performed great.

Branchs loss today hurt because Bradys passes were being deflected by the D-Line many times. I'm sure Branch could do something amazing when Brady cant get a pass over the linemans hands.

 

[emoney_33]

Let me first by saying I am as big a Pats fan as they come. I know posters often get ripped for venturing into negative areas. I am glad they pulled out the win. Keep in mind Buffalo is awful and this performance will not cut it against even .500 level teams

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season. There were Pats players on the field today in certain positions (WR and LB) that have no business starting in a NFL game. I understand why they let go Willie, Givens, and Adam V (Adam stunk two of the three last seasons. I do not think we lost much). There were plenty of players available that would have better filled these loses.

The fact they have a boat load of money under the cap is even more baffling. The Pats have always spent up to the cap while maintaining fiscal sanity. They could have brought in many serviceable players without killing the cap. Although Seau played well, we could have got a ILB with much more in the tank. TBC, Caldwell, and Brown are not NFL starters.

The Pats also screwed up the Deion situation. This could have been resolved without being full blown war. They should have considered giving him a one time bump in salary like they did with Seymour last year.

Deossie just shut felger the hell up trying to make the same point about deion being missed... Brady and the o-line had a bad game. He/they have had bad games with branch/givens in the game. You can't use this one game when we have 3 active receivers (limits the formations) to prove that we NEED deion or another receiver. Let's see how things play out, one game does not a season make

 

[QuiGon]

The Pats struggles today were a result of bad decisions during the off season.

Bullcrap. The LB's played well and the K played well. The only questionable part is the WR corps did not do as well as should be expected - and even that can be traced to a bunch of other reasons like missed blocking assignements.

The QB did not play as well as he normally does, but I don't think Deion Branch is the difference between a good day and a bad one for Brady.

 

[Patriotic Fervor]

...
Wpuld you have liked to seen any of these guys at WR:
Eric Moulds - No, although the Pats did have some interest, I believe, but not at the price he eventually went for.
Javon Walker - No, coming off major knee surgery, possessed of one decent season, a cantankerous malcontent who refers to himself in the 3rd person. Put on a brilliant show today! What do you see in him?
Ashlee Lelie - No, most emphatically NO!
Dante Stallworth - No. Working elsewhere now, I believe the Pats could have tried to do something about him around the time of the Sullivan-Bethel Johnson deal, but apparently felt he wasn't worth it.

Adding Deion would be a plus but they are still thin at receiver. Letting try to find a deal only to find he has market value clearly back fired. - Ahhh. That must be why he's gainfully employed today!

LB: signing a LaVar Arrington would have made a lot of sense. TBC does not cut it. Our LB group will be signing up for AARP soon. - LeVar Arrington? The great freelancer? The LB who apparently has never seen a defensive game plan he ever liked? The one who so thrilled Joe Gibbs with his exploits? That one? Mmmm, he would have been a good fit on this defense, huh?!?

Ten characters!

 

[ghostPatsfan]

...Keep in mind Buffalo is awful...

Really? Why? Because some pundits said they are? Because they just should be awful? They hadn't played a single game yet (preseason notwithstanding, of course). I mean, I know conventional wisdom would indicate they aren't very good, but the team I saw today suggests otherwise. It wasn't just the Pats playing poorly in the first half, Buffalo also played very well.

Teams rise up in this modern NFL all the time. Who's to say Buffalo isn't one of those teams this year?

Frankly I was much more impressed with Buffalo's play than I was disappointed in New England's.

 

[hwc]

1) Banta-Cain is not a starter. He will not be starting when Bruschi is back. He is a solid backup, as is Chad Brown who will be back when he is healthy.

Don't you just love all the fans who complain about the linebackers getting too old and then turn around and rip on Banta-Cain?

You don't get wily old veteran performances from a young linebacker, but they've got to start somewhere. I thought Banta-Cain did some nice things out there today. I believe our coach would probably say that he made some plays and has some things to work on.

Bruschi wasn't a world-beater his first few seasons in the league, either.

 

[ctpatsfan1]

Don't you just love all the fans who complain about the linebackers getting too old and then turn around and rip on Banta-Cain?

You don't get wily old veteran performances from a young linebacker, but they've got to start somewhere. I thought Banta-Cain did some nice things out there today. I believe our coach would probably say that he made some plays and has some things to work on.

Bruschi wasn't a world-beater his first few seasons in the league, either.

bingo. TBC was the player to force Losman to duck on the safety which gave Warren the time to get there and make the tackle for the safety. I thought overall his performance was as good as anything you would have gotten from McGuinest this or last year.

 

[mgteich]

Banta-Cain is in his 4th year, his contract year. He is not Pierre Woods. I indicated that I didn't think his best role was a starter. Do you prefer him to Seau when Bruschi is back?

Don't you just love all the fans who complain about the linebackers getting too old and then turn around and rip on Banta-Cain?

You don't get wily old veteran performances from a young linebacker, but they've got to start somewhere. I thought Banta-Cain did some nice things out there today. I believe our coach would probably say that he made some plays and has some things to work on.

Bruschi wasn't a world-beater his first few seasons in the league, either.

 

[14thDragon]

Maybe I missed something, but where is all the Tully hate coming from?

It was not as if the Bills picked on him all day and he was constantly missing tackles and letting guys burn him in coverage. Perhaps there was something missing in my lowly TV watching that I did not see him getting abused.

The only thing I can really rember is the Thomas touchdown where Wilfork and Harrison were both unable to finish the tackle either.

I did see him make a critcle pressure on Losman at the right time to allow Warren to finish him off.

Maybe I just have lower expectations of the guy.

 

[CrazyDave]

Wow, another winner of a thread. Holy Crap, imagine if we lost?
This place is looking a bit like the "free agent period".
You know, when everyones brains are twisted about who we did't sign?