BB's toughest coaching call

[Ivan]

I really REALLY hate the offseason

I think it should be a really interesting offseason with many things to talk about but having to wade through the insanity makes that much more difficult.

The patriots have some real decisions to make about their own free agents and I will be really interested to see what they ultimately do.

I don't think they will be serious players in free agency but we will see?

I think a Mallett trade is a serious possibility and that topic will get real traction.


The Patriots are going to have to do some restructuring so following that will also be really interesting.

They are going to have to replace some assistants but hopefully Caserio goes nowhere.


And the draft will be interesting as always, at least imo.




I really hope the batsh.t crazy talk ends but I don't suffer any delusions that it will.


A poorly written post but you get the idea.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

The problem with off season is "noise". It's tedious to wade thru the bat***t crazy posts to focus on the thoughtful analysis. Yeah, that happens in season too but it goes exponential off season. Every hint or nuance gets blown out of proportion because sadly there's less of substance happening to focus on. Idle minds seek trouble.

I actually enjoy the whimsical topics. It's the straight faced totally oblivious of reality posts & topics (cut Amendola ignoring cap reality) that seem to proliferate.

But then why complain? I just remembered we have the Thread Ignore feature & life is good!

 

[upstater1]

Brady was bad in the championship game. His deep ball is atrocious. Just floats it up there. Huge overthrows that other QBs don't make. Other good qbs. I think he's gotten worse lately too. Maybe it was the injury. There's always next year. But he'll be here for at least next year.

Ball to Matthew Slater was right on the money.

 

[Ivan]

The problem with off season is "noise". It's tedious to wade thru the bat***t crazy posts to focus on the thoughtful analysis. Yeah, that happens in season too but it goes exponential off season. Every hint or nuance gets blown out of proportion because sadly there's less of substance happening to focus on. Idle minds seek trouble.

I actually enjoy the whimsical topics. It's the straight faced totally oblivious of reality posts & topics (cut Amendola ignoring cap reality) that seem to proliferate.

But then why complain? I just remembered we have the Thread Ignore feature & life is good!

Agree completely. Unfortunately my ignore list is growing and growing and growing.

 

[Ivan]

I really thought it was beyond obvious that the problem this season was the lack of experience Brady had with his receivers, and when Gronkowski came back things started returning to normal. Imo Brady's arm strength is every bit as good as it has ever been and i saw no sign at all that it was diminishing. The problem wasn't with his accuracy on deep balls it was not having any receivers who are that good deep downfield. As good a season as Edelman had that is and always has been the weakest aspect of his game, and Dobson was hurt to often for them to really get on the same page. We heard the exact same criticism of Brady prior to the patriots getting Moss and as soon as they did it was very clear that his deep ball was never the problem.

Brady takes exceptional care of himself and is always in shape and ready for the season, and while he gets banged up that is no different than any other QB and short of his major knee injury he has always been able to play through the dings. Next season he will have Vereen and Gronk as well as Amendola, Dobson, Boyce, and Thompkins with much more experience in the offense and with Brady, they need to add another TE and WR but if they do i would bet anyone that Brady has a significantly better 2014 than he did 2013, and all talk of him being done will evaporate.


I don't think the comparisons to QB's of the past is accurate because of the way the game has changed to protect QB's and because of the way they have been taking care of themselves since coming into the league, and I think that physically Brady is going to be able to play for at least 3-4 more years before we really see his age starting to catch up with him.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

Brady isn't going anywhere. He is fine, just needs to have a consistent receiving core and a o line that protects him.

 

[Gumby]

kind of pointless arguing this as it was a silly OP supposition; but here goes anyway...

the argument that TB has lost his touch on the deep ball seems predicated solely on his performance in the AFCCG. That seems pretty silly:

A. single data point statistics are rarely worthwhile;
B. the rest of his season does not seem to reflect that he missed deep throws anywhere near as often or as bad as in the AFCCG
C. Did you possiblly think that the ALTITUDE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A FACTOR
(1) Ball travels further
(2) runners (that is his wr) get winded quicker and --->RUN SLOWER.

D TB always had trouble when the OL doesnt protect up the middle. Last SB it was the RG, this time was the C. Regardless the whole OL got dominated game long - but go ahead blame that on TB
E. WHO again was he throwing TO??? M Slater :bricks:GIVE ME A BREAK.

 

[chasa]

something Az left out of his comparison is that they dumped farve after his second offseason of "im retired, im done playing football, done." OTA's end, trainingcamp starts "guys, i've been mowing this lawn a bit, and i think im going to play"


Farve was yoyoing his ass off for 2 years and the packers just said, nah bro were good.

 

[Jackson 2]

The problem with off season is "noise". It's tedious to wade thru the bat***t crazy posts to focus on the thoughtful analysis. Yeah, that happens in season too but it goes exponential off season. Every hint or nuance gets blown out of proportion because sadly there's less of substance happening to focus on. Idle minds seek trouble.

I actually enjoy the whimsical topics. It's the straight faced totally oblivious of reality posts & topics (cut Amendola ignoring cap reality) that seem to proliferate.

But then why complain? I just remembered we have the Thread Ignore feature & life is good!

PWP, I'm with you. 8 days ago we were inundated with the "Is this Belichick's best coaching job ever?" stories and now on CSNNE the headline is "How much of this is Belichick's fault?". Huh??? After they lost a road game as underdogs. I swear, even the few mediots who are usually rational have lost their minds. The off-season will be filled with the usual "Brady's not been here for workouts, he's lost his mojo", Wilfork's fat and done", "All of the coaches have jumped the ship like rats", blah, blah, blah and on ad infinitum. Eff everyone.

 

[ddanny1992]

Knowing this forum. The in BB we trust would be thrown out the window and as always we would probably be against any decision BB makes regarding if such a Brady event were to happen.

 

[Peachhead]

I guess I never gave Mike McCarthy the credit he deserves in handling the Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers transition. Recall that that Brett Favre, certain future HOF and SB winning QB, led the Packers to a 13-3 season. Nonetheless McCarthy chose to sit him down and transition to Rodgers.

It didn't go easily. Favre was a raging bull about it, and Rodgers and the Pack fell off to a 6-10 first season under Rodgers.

But McCarthy had the intestinal fortitude to continue in spite of it all. In retrospect he was very right.

Bill Belichick now faces a similar quandry. The team went 12-4 but Brady had his worst statistical year in ages. Some of it can be attributed to the rookies and injuries, but the first signs are there.

1) TFB has lost accuracy in his deep throws.

2) TFB was sometimes inaccurate in his bread and butter short /midrange throws.

3) TFB was never a running QB, but he used to shuffle around and avoid the pass rush. Now, many times he just seems to secure the ball, and then simply gets buried by the sackers.

4) TFB was tackled 40 times this season and double what he used to do.


Does Bill Belichick handle this transition well, or even have the guts to do so when it becomes necessary, this next season or the one after that?

Recall that doing that to Kosar earned him the hatred of myriads of Brown's fans that haven't dissipated to this day, and contributed to getting him fired.

5) Will Kraft have the guts to handle the Fan and Media pressure too, to allow BB to do so?

Fix the interior Oline and most of the problems go away*.

Then rely a little more on the running game that emerged late in the season. Plus Tompkins and Dobson should benefit greatly from another offseason in the system, and Gronk will be back.

Those things should add several stellar years to Brady's career. This team had problems this year. But Brady wasn't even in the top ten of the problems. He's not in the same galaxy as Farve was near the end.


(*except for the long ball, that's been an issue for years).

 

[Mark Morse]

Ball to Matthew Slater was right on the money.

The ball to Slater was thrown so high it allowed the defender to get back and make a play! Brady CANNOT throw anything over 20 yards downfield. The Broncos and every other decent defense plays a 20 yard box from the line of scrimmage. Its easy to defend that 20 yard box. Brady's passing percentage downfield is 20%!

WE need to start looking for a new QB (draft or FA), Can Mallett do the job ... I don't know?

 

[RayClay]

I don't think any other QB even makes the playoffs with this team. Brady won multiple games on his own this year including New Orleans and Denver. Anyone watching the actual games this season with injuries and receivers that were available knows he made chicken salad out of chicken stuff and turned a punt returner into a top receiver because there was no other choice.

He missed a couple throws, wow. How many interceptions did he throw? Favre used to throw one before he got warmed up.

Brady will retire someday, I doubt he will wait until he's declined, which he hasn't.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Brady will retire someday, I doubt he will wait until he's declined, which he hasn't.

Unfortunately, Tom's competiveness will keep him trying to play long after his time has come....and gone. Just like Montana and Favre.

 

[Ivan]

If Brady was fading why did he get so much better as soon as Gronkowski returned?



He got a team devastated by injury and incarceration to within a game of the Super bowl. He's got 3-4 more years of high quality play before he hangs them up.

Do you honestly believe that Brady is going to have a worse season in 2014 AZ?

 

[AzPatsFan]

Does no one want to discuss the subject of this post? If you are correct and it happens later, it still must happen eventually.

What will Kraft do? What will Belichick do? What will Brady do?

You all sound like the Baltimore fans who denied the end was coming, still say Johnny U could suit up and do it. The end comes for everyone, sooner or later.

 

[ausbacker]

I really thought it was beyond obvious that the problem this season was the lack of experience Brady had with his receivers, and when Gronkowski came back things started returning to normal. Imo Brady's arm strength is every bit as good as it has ever been and i saw no sign at all that it was diminishing. The problem wasn't with his accuracy on deep balls it was not having any receivers who are that good deep downfield. As good a season as Edelman had that is and always has been the weakest aspect of his game, and Dobson was hurt to often for them to really get on the same page. We heard the exact same criticism of Brady prior to the patriots getting Moss and as soon as they did it was very clear that his deep ball was never the problem.

Brady takes exceptional care of himself and is always in shape and ready for the season, and while he gets banged up that is no different than any other QB and short of his major knee injury he has always been able to play through the dings. Next season he will have Vereen and Gronk as well as Amendola, Dobson, Boyce, and Thompkins with much more experience in the offense and with Brady, they need to add another TE and WR but if they do i would bet anyone that Brady has a significantly better 2014 than he did 2013, and all talk of him being done will evaporate.


I don't think the comparisons to QB's of the past is accurate because of the way the game has changed to protect QB's and because of the way they have been taking care of themselves since coming into the league, and I think that physically Brady is going to be able to play for at least 3-4 more years before we really see his age starting to catch up with him.

I don't believe Brady's arm strength is in decline more his throws seemed a little inaccurate at times this season. Whether or not that's a disconnect with the receivers, perceived pressure or Brady is anyone's guess. Truthfully, it's probably a combination of all.

 

[Deus Irae]

Does no one want to discuss the subject of this post? If you are correct and it happens later, it still must happen eventually.

What will Kraft do? What will Belichick do? What will Brady do?

You all sound like the Baltimore fans who denied the end was coming, still say Johnny U could suit up and do it. The end comes for everyone, sooner or later.

This topic will be very important, and well worth discussion, in 2016-2017. Ryan Mallett will not be the QB-in-waiting.

 

[Ivan]

Does no one want to discuss the subject of this post? If you are correct and it happens later, it still must happen eventually.

What will Kraft do? What will Belichick do? What will Brady do?

You all sound like the Baltimore fans who denied the end was coming, still say Johnny U could suit up and do it. The end comes for everyone, sooner or later.

When Brady has a down season because of his play then it will be time to discuss it right now he's coming off a season where he got the absolute most out of his team.

And you didn't answer my question AZ, do you honestly believe that Brady is going to have a worse season statistically in 2014?

 

[raduray]

What hasn't been mentioned so far in this thread is that Belichick has already demonstrated his ability to pull the trigger when he sat Bledsoe in favor of Brady. The challenge now is to identify and procure a new Brady.