RDS11
On the Game Day Roster
- Joined
- May 11, 2008
- Messages
- 428
- Reaction score
- 248
Since the Mankins trade, I've noticed a few things that reminded me of the 2009 season :
1) Trade of an impact player a few weeks before the season (Seymour in 2009, Mankins in 2014)
2) The retirement of some of the leaders (Bruschi & Harrison in 2009, Scar in 2014)
3) Inability to adjust at halftime
4) The team doesn't play well on the road
and to a lesser degree (the season is still early) :
5) un-impactful draft class
We all know how that season ended up, with a stinker against the Ravens in which Flacco only needed to attempt 10 passes. Given our inability to stop the run so far, that's also seem to be a recurring trend.
In 2009, neither McDaniels nor Patricia were coordinators, so I'm not inclined on blaming these 2 for the lack of success so far (the coaching staff as a whole hasn't been great, but I don't think the blame should be attributed to the coordinators only). In 2009, the team lacked leaders and it allowed some bad apples like Adelius Thomas to wreck the team chemistry some more. And frankly with Mankins gone, I don't know who are the leaders on this 2014 team.
Listening to the opening ESPN's pregame show on Monday, and Dilfer said something to the effect that it's well known within the NFL that some team do not play to win a Super Bowl, they are just happy to contend for a spot in the tournament. At first, I thought he was thinking about teams like the Bengals and the Cards. But then he mentioned the Mankins trade, and that it might help the Pats in the long run, but it's impossible they are a better team now without Mankins than with him in the lineup. I don't think Mankins would make such a difference (the team wouldn't be 3-1 with him) but I wonder if this will have an impact on future UFA...would Revis have selected the Pats knowing that the team was okay with pushing some chips in the future, and not trying to field the best possible team this year ?
1) Trade of an impact player a few weeks before the season (Seymour in 2009, Mankins in 2014)
2) The retirement of some of the leaders (Bruschi & Harrison in 2009, Scar in 2014)
3) Inability to adjust at halftime
4) The team doesn't play well on the road
and to a lesser degree (the season is still early) :
5) un-impactful draft class
We all know how that season ended up, with a stinker against the Ravens in which Flacco only needed to attempt 10 passes. Given our inability to stop the run so far, that's also seem to be a recurring trend.
In 2009, neither McDaniels nor Patricia were coordinators, so I'm not inclined on blaming these 2 for the lack of success so far (the coaching staff as a whole hasn't been great, but I don't think the blame should be attributed to the coordinators only). In 2009, the team lacked leaders and it allowed some bad apples like Adelius Thomas to wreck the team chemistry some more. And frankly with Mankins gone, I don't know who are the leaders on this 2014 team.
Listening to the opening ESPN's pregame show on Monday, and Dilfer said something to the effect that it's well known within the NFL that some team do not play to win a Super Bowl, they are just happy to contend for a spot in the tournament. At first, I thought he was thinking about teams like the Bengals and the Cards. But then he mentioned the Mankins trade, and that it might help the Pats in the long run, but it's impossible they are a better team now without Mankins than with him in the lineup. I don't think Mankins would make such a difference (the team wouldn't be 3-1 with him) but I wonder if this will have an impact on future UFA...would Revis have selected the Pats knowing that the team was okay with pushing some chips in the future, and not trying to field the best possible team this year ?