They made him the highest paid kicker in the league.
He wanted more. F**k him.
I am more determined and psyched for the season than ever.
We have the toughest management team in football.
The salary cap makes it almost impossible to repeat for this reason. Everybody thinks if they sign your players, they'll get the "secret" so they overpay.
We forget BB and Co. won a superbowl with a 6th round pick replacing a legend, a bunch of vet minimums and an overpayed oft injured "core".
Respect is spelled Re$$$pect and we have to pay the stars whatever they want or they'll leave.
Forget that every dollar comes from the hardworking middle class player that is really the secret of a Belichick team.
Hate to bring this old chestnut out again, but we need to be reminded it ain't easy.
"The question posed to NFL insiders was: Which team had the least chance of making the playoffs or going to the Super Bowl in the next five years? The Patriots were a unanimous choice, but several other teams will have more than their share of obstacles to overcome as well.
Almost all the scouts we spoke to gave the following reasons for picking the Patriots.
1. The Patriots are in salary-cap hell because they spent money unwisely due to their inability to evaluate their own talent.
2. They got almost nothing out of the drafts during the Pete Carroll era, although in many of those years they had two first-round picks. One year, they even had double picks in all the higher rounds of the draft.
3. In this day and age when everyone wants a mobile quarterback who can make plays with his feet, buy time and improvise, Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe gets F’s in all these areas. To compound matters, he was the highest-paid player in the league in 2000.
4. At the other offensive skill positions, the Patriots have just one player who is of starting quality — WR Terry Glenn.
5. On the offensive line, the only lineman whom scouts like is C Damien Woody, and many say he is a superior talent who is always overweight and will not push himself hard enough. "After all this time in the league, he still can’t even make the shotgun snap," said one scout.
6. On defense, the only upper-echelon player the Pats can count on is SS Lawyer Milloy, and the defensive backfield is a disaster area aside from him.
7. The Boston media is one of the most negative in the nation, and when they have a bad team to cover, they will blame everyone, especially the coaches and management team. In the past, Bill Belichick had a hard time coping with a very negative press that treated him unfairly, and it remains to be seen if he has reached the point where he can overcome the negative assault he will be hit with. It also remains to be seen how much time owner Robert Kraft will give the coach once the vultures start swooping around."
http://archive.profootballweekly.com/content/archives/features_2000/nflist_030501.asp
