Felger's "Biggest Disappointment = Maroney?!?" WTF.

[DaBruinz]

My dissapointments are:

Ellis Hobbs - He gets beat too many times. However, he does come up with big plays when it matters the most
Brandon Merriweather - I thought he would be starting at free safety from day 1. I hope he starts next year.
Adalius Thomas - I didn't like it that he played inside LB when he excelled at outside LB. You didn't hear his name very much until the very end of the year
Richard Seymour - I don't know if it's because he's not 100% healthy but I don't see him collapsing the pocket like he did in the past.

1) Hobbs - Ok... I saw Samuel get beat plenty too, but people ignore those.
2) Meriweather - I think it was unrealistic to expect Meriweather to be starting Day 1. Not with Harrison, Wilson, and Sanders already there.
3) Thomas - He was signed to play ILB and be a back-up outside. I heard his name PLENTY of times as an ILB.
4) Seymour - He missed the 1st 6 games of the season as well as all of pre-season. It takes a player time to get into the swing of things. Seymour was playing very well the last few games and I expect him to improve as the play-offs go on.

 

[MetalBleachers]

My biggest disappointments:

The injury to Sammy Morris
The injury to Rosie Colvin
The officiating in general
The reaction of some '72 Dolphins

and, of course, the losses to Baltimore, Philly and the Giants were all... wait... what?

 

[sieglo]

My biggest disappointment is the Patriots' front office and PR agency for not taking a much more aggressive approach early on when the Spygate thing happened.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

My biggest disappointments:

The injury to Sammy Morris
The injury to Rosie Colvin
The officiating in general
The reaction of some '72 Dolphins

and, of course, the losses to Baltimore, Philly and the Giants were all... wait... what?

Good one!

I have to say that Maroney and Meriweather where my biggest disappointments. I didn't expect much more from Stallworth than what we got, because we are loaded at WR. We are loaded at safety but Meriweather has not doing anything to really make me say 'wow'.

But I also don't have any reason to draw conclusions about them at this point, since at least they are both playing better as the season goes on.

I think the difference is that my disappointment is from the point of view that we will have to wait to see more out of them, while Felger's disappointment is more of the chicken little hater variety. He is a Packers fan, and clearly has never been a Pats fan. This is just a gig for him, nothing more.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

My biggest disappointment is the Patriots' front office and PR agency for not taking a much more aggressive approach early on when the Spygate thing happened.

My disappointment on that front is that Bob Kraft did not personally and publically pursue the Jets video taping incident that happened last month, or insist on finding out who leaked the Pats tape to the media.

I think he should have fought fire with fire. And if he did it all behind the scenes, I wish he did it in the spotlight so at least we get a sense that Goodell represents all teams fairly, or has to look like a hypocrite for not doing so.

Seems like we all just rolled over when the Jets did essentially the same thing.

 

[SaCaCh]

Vrabel had 12.5 sacks...who was the last Patriot to have over 10 sacks? I can't remember.

 

[Ring 6]

Yes but you like the poster above are a total homer. There is nothing wrong with that. You are Incapable of accepting any type of critasism towards the pats. Not everyone likes to talk about how great they are ALL the time.

Felger thought Maroney was a dissapointmet this year. A lot of people felt that way. They have just as much right to feel that way as you do to wave your 16 - 0 pom poms at any type of critasism.

I suspect the Maroney Mafia will be here soon.

I'm curious here.
This doesnt add up to me.
1) The poster rips Felger for his point.
2) You feel that is wrong because Felger has 'as much right to feel that way'
3) You insult the poster.

If your take is that it is wrong to criticize Felger because he is entitled to his opinion, why isn't the guy you disagree with entitled to his own, without you posting toward him in an insulting manner?

 

[brdmaverick]

let's face it, many here expected 12000 yards and 12 TDs

and many thought that was on the short end with the addition of Randy Moss

so to many that would be a disappointment

he is not the workhorse back that Addai is

 

[OhExaulted1]

When you patronize a writer, store, paper, etc... that you do nothing but complain about, you look foolish. You don't force change or improvement and you keep that person/company in business. The people who keep complaining about Felcher and the rest, be they PFT, Peter King or whomever, are just driving traffic towards those people.

Bottom line: If you don't like someone in their job, look elsewhere for your satisfaction.

Bottom Line: I take much satisfaction in watching those people doing a crappy job and, by pointing it out to other people is, in fact, doing something about it.

Ask Wrong Borges.

Mike Felger is a tabloid journalist masquerading as a sports journalist. It's only a matter of time before he gets run out of town.

 

[DaBruinz]

Yes but you like the poster above are a total homer. There is nothing wrong with that. You are Incapable of accepting any type of critasism towards the pats. Not everyone likes to talk about how great they are ALL the time.

Felger thought Maroney was a dissapointmet this year. A lot of people felt that way. They have just as much right to feel that way as you do to wave your 16 - 0 pom poms at any type of critasism.

I suspect the Maroney Mafia will be here soon.

Constructive Criticism is one thing. Spewing idiocy like you, F7, VJC and NSA did about Maroney is another.

But, like always, you don't let the facts get in the way of your ramblings.

OH, btw, only SOME people felt that Maroney was a dissappointment. NOT MANY. But, again, don't let the facts get in the way.

 

[spacecrime]

Playing devils advocate here, who would you select as biggest disappointment?

I would suggest that looking for disappointments on an undefeated team is a a sign of someone who wallows in negativity.

Remember to ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

words and music by Eric Idle

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of ****
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

 

[Oswlek]

I have no problem with people saying that Maroney has been a disappointment. When Dillon was released it seemed the perfect scenerio for a 2nd year player with potential to take the next step. I just take issue with those that ignored the obvious factors impacting his season and claiming that he would never get better.

let's face it, many here expected 12000 yards and 12 TDs

and many thought that was on the short end with the addition of Randy Moss

so to many that would be a disappointment

he is not the workhorse back that Addai is

"Workhorse" Addai ran for only 240 more yards on the season than "Disappointing" Maroney.

Here are some interesting numbers since the Indy/NE game:

Carries

Addai - 108
Maroney - 96

since they played the same number of games (NE had a bye and Indy just took one themselves) that amounts to.....

Carries per game

Addai - 15.4
Maroney - 13.7

Is that really that much of a difference? And if you say something like, "Well, Indy has been resting him for the playoffs" why is that any more reasonable than the earlier talk of NE resting Maroney for the final stretch? Besides, let's take a look at how effective those carries were.

Total rushing yards

Addai - 341
Maroney - 430

Rushing yards per game

Addai - 48
Maroney - 61

Less carries and more yards. Isn't that doing better? What is interesting is that NE actually faced the more difficult run defenses over that time as well. Indy faced teams allowing an average ypc of 4.1 why NE's opponents averaged 3.9.

Now, just to be fair, NE didn't run Maroney that much against the better run stopping teams (although both him and Addai ran 13 times against Baltimore) so I went through and calculated how many yards each would have gotten if they just ran for the defense's average for each rush. (for example, both guys would be expected to have run for 36.4 yards against Baltimore since 13 x 2.8 = 36.4) That way, Maroney would lose some credit because his largest attempt total was against one of the worst rush D's. Here are those numbers along with what they actually ran (from above)

Addai - 443.4 (341)
Maroney - 377.2 (430)

So Addai ran for over 100 yards less than the average while Maroney was about 50 over. One a ypc rate that looks like

Addai - 4.1 (3.2 actual)
Maroney - 3.9 (4.5 actual)

Again, Addai averaged nearly a full yard per rush less than the mean while Maroney was half a yard over. This isn't just because of the Miami game either, in those seven games Addai has only run for more ypc than the opponent typically allowed one time - and that was only by 0.2 ypc! 4 other times he was under with two essential draws. Maroney split it right down the middle with three over, three under and one draw.

Addai does have Maroney beaten hands down as a receiver and that is irrefutible, but it is my contention that Faulk's excellence on that role steals many of Maroney's opportunities. I would bet a large sum of money that Laurence would have comparable numbers to Addai if Faulk were not on the team.

As much as Addai clearly outperformed Maroney in the first half, Maroney has done nearly the same thing since then to significantly less fanfare.

 

[Ring 6]

This thread makes no sense. If we cannot be disappointed, how can we improve?

I am glad for all for whom every player on the roster this year met their expectations before the year started. May they wear such rose colored glasses forever.

For the rest of us, they were many, many players who produced MORE than we expected. Some produced less. Some were disappointing to us in their output.

For example, I could understand many hero being disappointed with the output of Stallworth and Washington. That is not necessarily a knock on their performance. It simply means that someone might have expected more and are disappointed.

MY DISAPPOINTMENTS
I am disapppointed in Maroney and Meriweather. That's it, a short list.

I didn't expect to see another back on the team to look better than Maroney. It is NOT a matter of us being a passing team. Curtis Martin, Edge and lost of others have had awesome production while playing for passing teams.

I expected that Meriweather would at least be higher than Wilson on the safety depth chart, and based on the preseason, I thought that he would gets lots of work as our dime back.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND
I expect both these players to have important roles and contribute greatly in the future. Personally, I expected more this year.

AND BE HONEST
Look back, BEFORE the season started. What were your expectations for Maroney? Weren't your expectations for more than was produced?

I think its a matter of expectations. The average fan has expectations that are beyond reasonable. 'The board' has expectations that are beyond sanity. By "The Board" I mean the combined expectations, or in other words, what would have to happen for no players to get ripped. In a 16-0 season, there have been numerous criticisms of numerous players and units.

My expectations have been, for many years now simply winning the SB. I know that some things go better than others, and reasonable expectations are that when you look at individual players, half will do better, and half will do worse.
I know that before each season if I guess at stats for each individual then add them up we break team records all over the place.
As far as Maroney, what I expected from him this year was more than he did, but that includes a HUGE variable...how much he was used. I expected 250-300 carries. But given how our offense was run this season, Maroney met my true expectations.

I think when you are 16-0 it is very hard to find disappointments. But, I'll list some however minor they may have been.
RT- While Kaczur certainly can't be considered disappointing for having earned the job, he was the weak link in what was overall a tremendous OL. I think I am more disappointed that OCallahan didn't progress to earn the job. There were high hopes for him during the off-season, and it seems that if he could handle pass blocking better, we'd be stronger in run blocking with him in there.
Watson. Not that he wasn't good, and with all the weapons around him, he may have unoticably improved, but I had visions of a breakout season.
Thomas and Brady's injuires at the TE spot also were disappointing.

Seymour's injury was disappointing, but given that he didn't see the field for over half the season, expectations should be tempered anyway.
I do not put Thomas on this list,because unlike some fans, I never expected him to stand out. I dont think he was brought here to standout, but to play team defense, which he has done.
Wilson certainly qualifies as a major disappointment. I do not consider Meriwhether a disappointment, because as a rookie, my expectations were that it was very likely he would be what he was, a sprecial teamer, sometimes player on D who learns how to be a safety in the NFL, on THIS team.
I also do not buy that Hobbs is a disappointment. I may be biased,because I get frustrated by the unreasonable expectations most fans have of corners. There were something like 110,000 passing yardsin the NFL this season, yet any time any of them are gained on one of our corners, he gets ripped. Corner is worse than almost any position (we wont count OC) in unrealistic expectations. A corner can cover perfectly 40 times but let up 2 3rd down catches (perhaps even in front of his zone area) and the next day 'he sucks'.

I think if your expectations were realistic before the season its hard to find disappointments. I think anyone who considers Maroney a disappointment is not looking at the job he did, but the job they wish he was asked to do.
Look at it this way. If we were a run oriented offense this year, and Brady threw only half as many passes, for half as many yards and TDs, but exactly the same per play, would he be a disappointment? I think many people would believe that because of an overinfatuation with statistics.

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

Look, I know at some point you just have to a) ignore Felger b/c he's an attention-whore b) acknowledge that sometimes media members have to bring up certain things just to fill an article/write something, but Maroney as a "disappointment"?

Felger has been anti-Maroney for a while at this point, but even folks on this board who have been hating on Maroney have to look at his overall season (835 yards, 4.5 YPC, 6 TDs, 116 REC yds in 13 games) and think he's had a very solid second season.

I start this thread b/c I was just about to start a thread with the idea that if you look at Maroney's entire body of work for the season, you have to be happy, and you have to be excited about the rest of his career. Folks might come back with "but if you look at what he did against good run defenses" blah blah blah, if you did that for every RB, you'd still see it.

Bottom line - 800+ yards, 4.5 YPC, sharing time, missed a few games - I think Maroney had a very promising regular season, and for all the crap he took from here and in the media, it's definitely worth acknowledging.

Specifically, to breakdown Felger's stupid argument:

STUPID POINT #1: The notion that it's easier to run on a team that is respecting the run isn't entirely true. First, we ran 3 or 4 wide spreads a lot, there wasn't even an RB on the field a decent portion, if there was, it was Faulk. You can't fault Maroney for not being on the field and you can't fault him for the style of offense and play-calling they play. Second, while nobody was up stuffing the box or anything, plenty of teams chose to blitz against Brady, and if you line up and run, you'll run right into the blitz. So in the end, guess what, the teams with good run defenses, we didn't run against them. Is that a surprise considering we have the best passing offense in history?

STUPID POINT #2: Again, for those weeks Maroney was getting criticized, we were playing teams where run defense was a STRENGTH for them. BB has made it clear over the years he won't bother running against teams that are stout against the run.

STUPID POINT #3: He missed 3 games, and at times, they were just being extra-cautious. Makes sense considering the real season is just beginning and it's these 3 games we need him healthy for.

Sammy Morris was the running back that was impressive.

Maroney didn't show me much... I hope he is much better in the future, because so far he isn't worth the 1st round pick that he was selected at.

Just telling the truth...

 

[BHSL2]

Terry Glenn is a Cowgirl, Maroney was one of the top backs in terms of rushing yardge before the injury.

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

let's face it, many here expected 12000 yards

No. I didn't expect those kind of stats.

That would have been done by an out of this world superhero...

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

Terry Glenn is a Cowgirl, Maroney was one of the top backs in terms of rushing yardge before the injury.

Injured????

EXACTLY MY POINT...

WILL HE EVER BE HEALTHY??????

I certainly hope so.

He seems like a nice enough guy.

Just hope he starts playing HEALTHY.

 

[DaBruinz]

Sammy Morris was the running back that was impressive.

Maroney didn't show me much... I hope he is much better in the future, because so far he isn't worth the 1st round pick that he was selected at.

Just telling the truth...

How did Maroney, who ran better than Morris in each of the 1st three games, not show you as much as Morris?

What criteria are you using to say that Maroney isn't worth the 1st round pick that was used on him?

 

[Oswlek]

How did Maroney, who ran better than Morris in each of the 1st three games, not show you as much as Morris?

What criteria are you using to say that Maroney isn't worth the 1st round pick that was used on him?

Morris did run better, but Maroney was always much better than people seem to think.

 

[DaBruinz]

Injured????

EXACTLY MY POINT...

WILL HE EVER BE HEALTHY??????

I certainly hope so.

He seems like a nice enough guy.

Just hope he starts playing HEALTHY.

TGICG - I've asked the following of every Maroney detractor who has mentioned Maroney's injuries. Please tell me what exercises you do to prevent your ribs from being dislocated and tearing shoulder muscle.

If you can't, then that would fall into the catastrophic injury category. And you can't hold that against him.

You can hold this year's injury against him since it was muscular (groin) in nature.

Maroney did NOT have injury issues in college.

Also, please define what it means to PLAY HEALTHY.