[1] Personally, I've always felt the move to let Adam walk was a stroke of genius that will only be fully appreciated next year when (1) the Colts, under the weight of their cap situation, begin to implode their team and (2) Gost shifts into his new life as a blooded NFL sophomore. (Note: People will appreciate the genius faster if Adam's back starts acting up again...)
This has been my view, too. Sentimentally tough, but the right move. Plus, now I don't have to worry about him blemishing his Patriots postseason resume.
[2] Watching Gaffney catch balls, getting in and out of his cuts, makes me wonder how much of Deon Branch's SB MVP was him and how much was his quarterback. Now, I do not doubt that Branch is an excellent player, but the distance between Branch (traded for a first round pick) and Gaffney (signed off the street, desperate for a job) is very, very small. Buy low, sell high
It's true that BB knows how to get by with less expensive WRs, but that's only after the learning curve has kicked in. It has progressed with Gaffney and Caldwell, but isn't yet where it was with Branch, or where it will be next year.
[3] The compensatory picks for Adam, Givens, Chatham and Ashworth seemed like small compensation (esp since most of them'll probably be Day Two picks) this past Summer. Now that we've proved that the team can win in the postseason without those guys, it feels like a draft windfall.
We had crappy luck that Givens got injured, because we're going to end up with less compensation than it appeared in July.
[4] Caldwell has slowly filled a leadership role on this team which is entirely underappreciated. Honestly, when I compare Caldwell and Givens, I wonder if we haven't upgraded the position.
Givens definitely had his limitations. Caldwell too, but maybe by next year they will be less apparent?
[5] Junior Seau was such a great signing-- I wish he hadn't gotten hurt. The team was much much better with him in the lineup. Did anyone else notice that San Diego attacked the Tully Banta-Cain side of the field with the running attack, and basically ran right around TBC each time. Even with Seymour at his side, I think TBC is completely outclassed in the running game. We need a solution that puts Vrable back at the spot. Paul Posluszny might be a solution, plus hopefully we can get one more year out of Seau.
I was going to post a whole thread about Tully, and you just saved me the effort. Tomlinson ran left almost exclusively for his big runs. TBC was there. How much was that Tully's fault? With Seau in the middle and Vrabel on the wing (or Colvin on the R and Vrabel the L), would it have been different?