long distance
Pro Bowl Player
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- Dec 14, 2015
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I wanted to write this yesterday but then the Collins bomb exploded all over.
With the wins @PIT and @BUF the Patriots are not only 7-1 halfway through the regular season and a safe bet to win the division but - looking at standings & schedules ahead - safely sailing towards a bye as well .. with homefield for them to loose.
With this great luxury at hand and the bye coming up at the best time - halfway through and just before trade deadline - BB has now a perfect time to put the final pieces together and fine tune the team that can go all the way. As he said himself he wouldn't know the 2016 team before the end of October and yesterday's shocking move clearly states that he wants to have a clear picture going forward.
Today is the last day of trading - 4PM - and rumours are BB is not finished. Of course everyone expects new additions but as I wrote before maybe trades out (or cuts afterwards) are more likely. Even after trades out of Derby and Collins there still might be some piece he would prefer to remove in order to have a clear picture and a better and homogeneous team. Logan Ryan f.e. was another guy that I thought his mind is not always on the field and in the present. And let's not forget there are still some solid FA's out there (remember Reece?)
BB would dearly like to go forward with a clearer picture @CB than it is now. What started as a quest to solidify #3 CB spot - with big investments in draft and trade plus loads of udfas - ended up in a ? for two CB positions. They did a lot of mixing and testing and benching and scratching with the 5 guys on the roster besides Butler but nothing stuck. That must be pretty disappointing for BB also because they had such a great support from safties in McCourty, Chung and Harmon.
I am interested to see what approach to solidify this position will he take. Trade out (Ryan), trade in (solid veteran CB), cut .. or keeping all 5 further competing for two spots?
Other positions seem solid but a couple look somewhat thin even for a halfway through team so they might address some of them:
RB - There are too many RBs on the team right now so with Lewis coming back in a couple of weeks it will be interesting to see what happens with Foster (IR?) and Gaffney (back to PS or cut).
TE - Once such a deep position is down to two big men. The bye will hopefully be enough for Bennett to shake his ankle injury. The ? here is is BB willing to go to the second part of the season with only two of them with out of position backups like Develin, Grissom (?). Will he wait and bring back Scruggs from IR in December? A third trade for this position would really be a disappointing outcome. Williams - who is out for the season IIRC - would come in handy now ..
OL - Somewhat surprisingly looks pretty solid and with Jackson possibly joining soon from PUP should be all set. Fleming was very solid when he needed to step up for both T positions. No words on Vollmer so he is probably not coming back.
DL - DT position looked exposed with VV and Hamilton's injuries but it looks like they are both coming back so it should be ok. Of course another veteran presence here would be more than welcome .. unfortunately no FA signing worked out. DE is deep and solid but hopefully can find a way to step up in pass rush.
LB - After Collins shock it seems all set. Lets hope others can step up and fill the void.
_
IR - Freeny and Williams are out for the season, so its gonna be between Brissett and Scruggs with the first looking more likely. Haven't heard anything about severity of Scruggs injury.
With the wins @PIT and @BUF the Patriots are not only 7-1 halfway through the regular season and a safe bet to win the division but - looking at standings & schedules ahead - safely sailing towards a bye as well .. with homefield for them to loose.
With this great luxury at hand and the bye coming up at the best time - halfway through and just before trade deadline - BB has now a perfect time to put the final pieces together and fine tune the team that can go all the way. As he said himself he wouldn't know the 2016 team before the end of October and yesterday's shocking move clearly states that he wants to have a clear picture going forward.
Today is the last day of trading - 4PM - and rumours are BB is not finished. Of course everyone expects new additions but as I wrote before maybe trades out (or cuts afterwards) are more likely. Even after trades out of Derby and Collins there still might be some piece he would prefer to remove in order to have a clear picture and a better and homogeneous team. Logan Ryan f.e. was another guy that I thought his mind is not always on the field and in the present. And let's not forget there are still some solid FA's out there (remember Reece?)
BB would dearly like to go forward with a clearer picture @CB than it is now. What started as a quest to solidify #3 CB spot - with big investments in draft and trade plus loads of udfas - ended up in a ? for two CB positions. They did a lot of mixing and testing and benching and scratching with the 5 guys on the roster besides Butler but nothing stuck. That must be pretty disappointing for BB also because they had such a great support from safties in McCourty, Chung and Harmon.
I am interested to see what approach to solidify this position will he take. Trade out (Ryan), trade in (solid veteran CB), cut .. or keeping all 5 further competing for two spots?
Other positions seem solid but a couple look somewhat thin even for a halfway through team so they might address some of them:
RB - There are too many RBs on the team right now so with Lewis coming back in a couple of weeks it will be interesting to see what happens with Foster (IR?) and Gaffney (back to PS or cut).
TE - Once such a deep position is down to two big men. The bye will hopefully be enough for Bennett to shake his ankle injury. The ? here is is BB willing to go to the second part of the season with only two of them with out of position backups like Develin, Grissom (?). Will he wait and bring back Scruggs from IR in December? A third trade for this position would really be a disappointing outcome. Williams - who is out for the season IIRC - would come in handy now ..
OL - Somewhat surprisingly looks pretty solid and with Jackson possibly joining soon from PUP should be all set. Fleming was very solid when he needed to step up for both T positions. No words on Vollmer so he is probably not coming back.
DL - DT position looked exposed with VV and Hamilton's injuries but it looks like they are both coming back so it should be ok. Of course another veteran presence here would be more than welcome .. unfortunately no FA signing worked out. DE is deep and solid but hopefully can find a way to step up in pass rush.
LB - After Collins shock it seems all set. Lets hope others can step up and fill the void.
_
IR - Freeny and Williams are out for the season, so its gonna be between Brissett and Scruggs with the first looking more likely. Haven't heard anything about severity of Scruggs injury.
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