I have one small piece of advice for the Patriots front office

[muzz]

Trenches!!
Fill the trenches with young and hungry studs!!

Win and Lose in the trenches.

 

[patsfan-1982]

Yeah, averaging 8.8 yards a catch as a rookie transitioning from QB to WR means he's just another guy.

i agree with you just the fact that he made the team as a 7th round pick is a big deal and everthing after that is just gravy

 

[RIP#40]

When you trade this year's 3rd rounder for next years 2nd rounder... that is clearly a better value and I see no reason to turn down trades like that.

How about because we need good players NOW.

 

[stcjones]

You have 4 picks in the first 2 rounds, USE THEM ALL AND DO NOT TRADE INTO NEXT YEAR.

You are right ...and you use the majority on defense and primarily secondary......and then OL from there on out......we need to also spend some dough on some younger seasoned vet D players........and lastly....IF we ever get another shut down corner....or a few REALLY good secondary players......PLEASE DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY......It is obvious to me that these all pro/outstanding secondary personnel are VITAL to the D.......we need to get back to making our D the top priority.......blitzing.....vicious.......put the shovel in the ground Al Groh.....man I miss those days sometimes........

 

[stcjones]

We need a pash rusher in the worst way.

Yes.....and a good DC who knows how to use him/them........Crennel comes to mind.....I remember in 2001....watching tape of what Romeo had them doing.....everything was like a well oiled machine......offenses didn't know what the f"ck to do.......Now.....we play prevent on everything with NO F'in pressure whatsoever......You know something? I would rather BRING THE HOUSE every freaking play on defense....than to let the QB sit there all day(especially Henne for gawds sake) pick u apart!!!!! Seriously, I think BB is losing it......after all it all has to start with him......but to keep running this pansy a## defense week after week is embarrassing......

 

[DaBruinz]

I agree with you on trying to sign a solid WR. There are options out there I like such as Chris Herny and Lance Moore, who would be a very good option as a 3rd option for us.

I'd love if the Pats added Lance Moore.. He's a good player.. .

Chris Henry is a loser, not to mention a head case and can't stay healthy..

Unless a miracle happens, the Pats won't have to worry about not being able to sign other team's free agents.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Why not trade if you can get a better value later on?

Don't we have like 10 rookies on the roster anyways how much more do you want???

of those ten rookies, pryor, butler, vollmer, and edleman have proven themselves as worthy picks. I havnt seen **** from chung but guys like
Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, Clay Matthews are making plays and impacting the game. Merriweather and McGowan are playing well so that essentially relegates Chung to a third down/nickle back player. One of the Knocks on lets say Maualuga was that he wasnt a third down backer, now tell me who would you rather have right now. People didnt want Vontae Davis because of his personal issues but look at him now, hes impacting his team. We had plenty of ammo to trade up and try to improve this years team but we decided to trade back and into next year. Now lets see, a guy like Sergio Kindle or a Carlos dunlap should be able to impact this team next year but well see if we pass on them because of the personal issues.

 

[SidelineSid]

Yes.....and a good DC who knows how to use him/them........Crennel comes to mind.....I remember in 2001....watching tape of what Romeo had them doing.....everything was like a well oiled machine......offenses didn't know what the f"ck to do.......Now.....we play prevent on everything with NO F'in pressure whatsoever......You know something? I would rather BRING THE HOUSE every freaking play on defense....than to let the QB sit there all day(especially Henne for gawds sake) pick u apart!!!!! Seriously, I think BB is losing it......after all it all has to start with him......but to keep running this pansy a## defense week after week is embarrassing......

Did anyone else get mad when we were basically in the prevent defense right before the end of the first half? Henne drove down the field like John Elway. He has average wide receivers. His team is basically designed to run the ball and conservatively move the ball down the field. Where was the bump and run? Where were the exotic blitzes? What we saw on defense was boring, predictable, sub-par, and sad. Pees really should be demoted or removed by the end of the season. This is really unacceptable.

 

[JMarr]

Also, there wasn't a LB or DE who the Pats could have added that would have addressed their issues on defense, directly.

lmao. My sides are hurting....please just stop

 

[mgteich]

And why is that Hobbs is not #3 on the 2009 corner depth chart?

Banta-Cain is this year's Ellis Hobbs. A solid player who would be excellent at 3rd on his depth chart, but should not be a starter.

 

[DaBruinz]

lmao. My sides are hurting....please just stop

Laugh all you want. You can not list a player in the draft who you could definitely say would be able to have come in and been what the Pats needed at 3-4 OLB or at 4-3 DE. Sorry. You can't. Most had glaring holes in their game. Such as they couldn't stand up at the point of attack or had issues setting the edge on the run or dropping into coverage.

This has been talked about ad naseum by MANY people in the draft forum prior to the draft.

 

[mgteich]

We had a severe need at ILB as we have had since 2005. There were no players that could "definitely improved our defense". There rarely are. Given this need and uncertainty, one would think that a team might choose a player who was most likely to contribute this year. The patriots took another tack. They chose instead to pass on many linebackers at 23, 26, 24, 40, and 41 who might have been solid contributers.

Have Chung, Butler and Brace really come in and give us the help on defense that we needed this year and in the future? Were they expected to "definitely" help the 2009 defense? Perhaps trading Hobbs and Seymour were indeed definite helps to the 2009 defense.

Belichick made his choices, almost all were good choices. However I think it is unreasonable to suggest that we shouldn't draft any players with our three top picks because we didn't think that they were a sure-fire fix to the need at hand. The draft is a crapshoot. IMHO, drafting Laurinitis at 23 would have been a less risky choice that most of the choices that Belichick has made in the last three year drafts. And just BTW, I STRONGLY agree with your analyses of the last three drafts.

Laugh all you want. You can not list a player in the draft who you could definitely say would be able to have come in and been what the Pats needed at 3-4 OLB or at 4-3 DE. Sorry. You can't. Most had glaring holes in their game. Such as they couldn't stand up at the point of attack or had issues setting the edge on the run or dropping into coverage.

This has been talked about ad naseum by MANY people in the draft forum prior to the draft.

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

No we don't. We need quality 3-4 LBers/4-3 DEs who can put pressure on the QB while not slacking in coverage or in the running game. Getting a pure pass rusher would do NOTHING to help this team..

The Pats have very few of these players... so yeah, the Pats DO need pressure on the qb. Obviously, without slacking in other elements.

Trading for value isn't a bad thing, but, when you see a player that will fill your need and is the best player on your board... unless you get a killer trade proposal, draft the player.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

You have 4 picks in the first 2 rounds, USE THEM ALL AND DO NOT TRADE INTO NEXT YEAR.

I agree. Our team is getting pretty bad now. It's at a point where we no longer have the LUXURY of trading picks into the future drafts. We need more players NOW.

2 OLBS
1 LG if Mankins leaves
1 ILB
1 RDE
1 RG since Neal is always hurt
1 WR
1 TE if Watson leaves

 

[patriotscpfc]

Maybe we can also get a competent runningback under the age of 32.

Did I miss the part where Maroney lost us the game?

Morris was worse than Maroney, but i'd blame the Calling for that.

 

[sieglo]

What happened to Maroney? Did he get hurt? After starting strong, he just disappeared, leaving us with Morris.

 

[thodoks]

L-O-Freaking-L at the revisionist idiocy in this thread. The hyperventilating contingent on this board really needs to come in off the ledge and incorporate a bit of perspective into their thinking.

This is a good team with a few fatal flaws that are, ultimately, correctable. Can they be corrected in the next four games? Clearly not. But the calls for Belichick to abandon the principles of his system - specifically, value-based assessment and system-specific scouting - because this team isn't 10-2 or 11-1 are short-sighted to the point of absurdity. Has Belichick whiffed on evaluation in the past? Sure. Has he made mistakes on gameday? Absolutely. But, by and large, the flaws with this year's team do NOT impugn Bill Belichick's overarching philosophy regarding building an organization. Rather, they're the predictable results of success (poached front office and coaching talent) and cyclically inevitable long-term attrition (Harrison and Seymour weren't going to play forever, folks). Turnover isn't seamless.

So to all the reactionaries who think they know more about football than Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft: get a grip. Invest a bit of time acquainting yourself with all the relevant facts and information (it's amazing how far just a bit of context can go). And until you do that, read more and post much, much less.

 

[TruthSeeker]

That's the effin problem, BB thinks he's smarter than everyone else and deals down and out of drafts and gets praised for it and instead of drafting the Clay Matthews or Rey Maualuga's or Brian Cushings or Michael Oher's of the world he deals down and out of drafts and picks up guys like Ron Brace, Kevin O'Connell and Terrence Wheatey. It's horrible strategy and we clearly need a personnel guy in this FO, BB has proven the he isn't that guy.

I have to agree with this wholeheartedly. BB tries to outsmart the world by doing outrageous things during the draft, and the morons on ESPN kiss his butt saying, that's why the Pats are the elite franchise. Well, that hasn't been true for years. The mad scientist that was once BB, is no longer smarter than everyone else. His drafting has been spotty at best the last 5 years. There has been only one Pro Bowler from the last 4 drafts (Actual Patriot draftees, not Moss and Welker), Logan Mankins. I'd love to see every other teams record when it comes to that category. There have been way more busts than home runs the last 5 years. Maybe, just maybe, taking the elite player might just happen to be the smart thing.

People are always drinking the Koolaid, and saying things like, "Clay Matthews probably doesn't fit BB's system, that's why he wasn't chosen", well, to be honest, how do we know he wouldn't fit that system. Right now, I'd take him over any Linebacker/DE we have, except for Mayo. Same goes for Rey Maualuga.

 

[thodoks]

Right now, I'd take him over any Linebacker/DE we have, except for Mayo. Same goes for Rey Maualuga.

Resumes should be sent to:

Gillette Stadium
One Patriot Place
Attn: Bill Belichick
Foxborough, MA 02035-1388

Just tell Bill that you're the one and only scott99 from the internet, and that you think the key to success in the NFL is conformity.

 

[Wolfpack]

This year's draft is going to be pretty deep, so there will be a lot of talent available. However, all those rookies are also going to be very expensive in what will likely be the final draft without a rookie salary cap.