If you could bring back one former Patriot in their prime...

[RobertWeathers]

Just to add a bit of spice....


Since I was looking only at the 2014 SB game, I came up with what I considered to be 5 clear 'best' answers...

Gash
Tippett
Hannah
Dillon
Coates

Yeah, picks like Moss, Welker, Bruschi, et al are solid choices for a long haul, but I'm talking just that one game.

Gash - punishing blocks to test Chancellor, Thomas and those LBs
Tippett, - the greatest LB in Patriots history, adding to the pressure plays that can be called
Hannah, - because IOL....
Dillon - Pair him up with Blount and grind that Seahawks front down
Coates - Gronk + Coates v. a banged up Thomas and Chancellor = a whole lot of fun for NE fans

As an honorable mention and with the premise of picking the best fmr Patriot to play in this game....the BUF version of Ted Washington would be a nice addition. With Ted, Lynch goes nowhere in the middle.

With that said 2003 Seymour was almost as dominant.

 

[PP2]

On a related note, I really hate when someone bumps a thread from a year or more ago. If that happens there should be some way for everyone to know. Make any post older than say 6 months be flagged some way or all the text red or something. Anything at all to let us know quickly and easily that the post is old and the information included is likely outdated. Yeah, I know the dates are on there but it's easy to miss. I want something that you can't miss even if you try when dealing with posts which on first glance appear new but are actually so old as to be essentially worthless.

Not sure about this forum, but there are a handful of forums that will send you a pop-up window with a warning that the thread you are about to respond to is over X number of months or years old, with a "Proceed anyway?" option.

The poster who brought this thread up did apologize for doing that, though.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Hannah......

We need to control the trenches. Our O-line is the biggest concern. Take your pick - Hannah, Bruce Armstrong, Pete Brock, Matt Light

 

[Water Boy]

Its interesting to ponder who BB would choose for the Super Bowl. I'm sure it would be very matchup specific. I'd lean towards Tippet, Coates or Hannah.

For stuffing the run, I'll give honorable mention to '96-97 Ted Johnson who was a beast against the run and played his ass off.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Randy Moss. No doubt.

 

[pazrul72]

Just to add a bit of spice....


Since I was looking only at the 2014 SB game, I came up with what I considered to be 5 clear 'best' answers...

Gash
Tippett
Hannah
Dillon
Coates

Yeah, picks like Moss, Welker, Bruschi, et al are solid choices for a long haul, but I'm talking just that one game.

Gash - punishing blocks to test Chancellor, Thomas and those LBs
Tippett, - the greatest LB in Patriots history, adding to the pressure plays that can be called
Hannah, - because IOL....
Dillon - Pair him up with Blount and grind that Seahawks front down
Coates - Gronk + Coates v. a banged up Thomas and Chancellor = a whole lot of fun for NE fans

Not sure how those are the 5 clear best answers when for this game IMO you need to look at what is already there and how big an upgrade the "prime" player is over what's left. Gash was awesome no question, one of my favorite Pats of that era but Devlin has been pretty solid in his own right and the FB position is just not used the way it was back then, we can do better. Tippett means you are taking Chandler Jones, or Nink off the field. Again really good player doing one of the things we need the most, pass rushing, but is it the biggest difference in personal we can find? I'll grant you this one is intriguing and I could buy it as a valid arguement. Hannah was the best gaurd in NFL history so you would think adding him would be a no brainer... til you look at his wieght. No way would he hold up against a today NFL dline. I played Oline in high school and our starting center was a really smart guy with violent hands that was as sound tecnically as you will find. Which was great until the state championship and we ran into a team that had a NT that outwieghed him by 60 lbs. 5 yards in the backfield every play. It would be the same with Hannah despite how great he was. Clock killin Dillion is an interesting choice as I believe the key to victory is pounding the ball and making the hurt seahawk secondary tackle. However I believe Blount can do that on his own and when he needs a break Gray is not exactly small in his own right. Of course niether of them are a top 20 All time RB like Dillion but again I believe there is a bigger difference to be found. Coates, the original 87 would be called for OPI every other play in today's game. Big, strong crazy hands would make for an awesome 2 TE set but lets be real here, he made his living pushing off when that was ok because the DB's were allowed to push right back.
So who's left? For me, it has to be Moss in this game as the biggest jump in talent at an area of need. You are taking Amendola off the field and adding the greatest deep threat the game has ever known. You make Seattle get out of its bread and butter cover 3 cuz if they cover him with just sherman or Maxwell he would feast to the tune of 150 yards with 2-3 TD's. If they do double cover Moss then have a LB and Kam double gronk that leaves Edleman in the slot one on one against a LB, vereen coming out of the back field one on one, and Lafell one on one with the other DB. Someone will be open every play there are just too many weapons. Not to mention you have the two greatest redzone targets in NFL history so anytime you get in the 20 it will be a TD. Respectfully Deus, you are a great poster with your knowledge of the game but I think you aren't remembering just how unstoppable Moss in his prime was. He could be triple covered and it wouldn't matter he would just outrun and out jump them all. You add Gronk, Edleman, Lafell and Vereen to that? We put up 40 even against the legion of boom.

 

[mgteich]

When we started this before the season started the best answers were Hannah and Moss. I think they still are.

 

[Fencer]

Some thoughts on the just-for-the-upcoming-Super-Bowl version of the question:

• 1 or 2 of the worst guys we put on the field will be in the base defense Front 7. We have 5 very good to superb (depending on how easy a grader you are) guys in Collins, Hightower, Jones, Wilfork and Ninkovich, but after that things get more questionable.
  
• Another will be the blocking TE, whether Hooman or an OL masquerading as a TE, but of course only in formations when there is such a guy.
  
• Another will be Kline.
  
• If you want to upgrade the Front 7, there are a lot of guys from the past -- Tippett, McGinest, Seymour, Washington ...
• If you want to upgrade TE, with a blocking orientation, there isn't an obvious better choice than Grahambo. If you want more of a receiver, then wouldn't you just pick Moss instead of going 2-TE with Coates?
• If you want to upgrade the interior OL, the obvious choice is Hannah. If you want somebody of more modern size, go with Mankins or Koppen.

Based on that, my short list is Tippett, Seymour, Washington, Moss and Mankins. Picking one -- Seymour.