Since you didn't bother to respond to my other post.
Where to begin?
1) First, where do you buy one of those newfangled chemistry-o-meters? Absolutely no one talked about chemistry as a problem for NY until they started poorly. How do you measure it in a team that you don't even follow?
2) How do you know Thomas isn't great on his own. You do realize that Lewis was the 3rd best LB on his own team, right? Lewis hasn't been in the top 10 in the league at LB since 2003. I will grant you that Baltimore has a lot of talent on the D side of the ball, but I seem to recall another team that allowed less than 15 ppg last year that has some talent as well. d%#*!@t, who were they again? BTW, Rolle sucked last year and has for two years now. NE has two guys that are better than him. You are really out there if you want to prop up Rolle as an eample of Balt's talent edge.
3) As I said in the above post, NE allowed 2 more ppg than Baltimore and 1 less than Chicago. They were 5th in rushing ypg and 10th in ypc allowed. They allowed the fewest passing TDs in the league - despite three complete flukes coming in weeks 2 and 3. They did this with one ILB playing out of position with a broken hand, one ILB on IR, one OLB playing ILB with back issues and without the two top safeties for most of the year. Even if you want to say that Baltimore is *that* much better than NE, then you have to say that NE is easily one of the top 2-3 remaining defenses.
4) For some reason, I can't quite get my head around why Stalworth/Moss/Welker will have that much a harder time building chemistry than Caldwell/Jackson/Gabriel.
5) The "money can buy" is complete garbage. Do you even realize that Thomas was the only signing with significant $ involved?
I have no problem with other fans' opinions. I just can't stand it when people pass of utter crap like this. There is not one correct statement in that entire post other than McAlister and Suggs are excellent players.
6) Your draft comment is idiotic. There are three ways to garner players, FA, trades and the draft. All three are viable in and of themselves as long as you select good players. What makes the draft more important is that it is the easiest way to get more value than you pay for, thus keeping cap numbers low for the talent. But even the draft doesn't work if you pick bad players. That is what it all comes down to, the quality of the players brought it and the money that you give them. Do you really believe that Mangin wouldn't have jumped at the chance to bring in Moss for only a 4th and $3mm? Or Stallworth for only $3.6mm? Or Thomas at 20% *more* than NE gave him? Please.
That said, NE will start this Sunday with 8 of 11 defensive draftees and 7 of 11 offensive draftees. Does that really sound like a team that doesn't draft? Come on, man. Think a little.
