I never said it was about damning a player over one mistake. But the truth is that in order to become a "special" team, one must comprise their roster of "special" players. Players who possess what is commonly referred to as "it".
Then who do you want who is "special?" Tory Holt? Steve Smith?
You have to draw the line somewhere. And Reche Caldwell is easily the best #4/5 WR in the NFL.
Whether it was just one play or just one game is irrelevant. Everybody makes mistakes from time to time. The issue is WHY did they make the mistakes they made. Not all flaws are created equal. Off all the reasons to make a mistake, the one reason that can't be allowed or accepted is inability to handle pressure. Championship caliber teams play in pressure packed games. That's never going to change.
We've all been lucky enough to enjoy three championship seasons b/c the our roster has been comprised of money players. Players who look forward to the big moments in the big games.
Great. Let's bring Rick Lyle back. Maybe Charles Johnson would like an invite too. They were on a championship roster, so they must be "clutch," right?
The day we start settling or accepting players who are afraid or overwhelmed by those big moments is the day this dynasty ends.
What are you trying to get at here? That because Reche opens his eyes wider than most he must be overwhelmed by big moments? That because he dropped a pass when Brady didn't have the awareness to look over in time?
Again, like Keegs and others, you're trying to make a RIDICULOUS extrapolation here. Because Reche dropped a pass in the playoffs it means he is "afraid or overwhelmed by big moments?"
Give me a ******* break.
If you want to be a special team you've got to have special players. If you want your team to have "it", your players must have "it''.
You do a pretty good job of defining "it." I'm sure BB has the definition of "it" scrawled across his office wall. I'm sure that's why Reche was cut a long time ago, long before the 2006/7 playoffs.
Wait...
But I will tell you what Reche does have, straight from Belichick's mouth:
Bill Belichick, Patriots All-Access, WCVB, Week 5 of the 2006 NFL Season:
"That was one of the most vicious hits I've seen in my entire career. I was really concerned about him [Caldwell], but by the time I got out there, he had already started to come to, and boy, on the sideline, he was ready to go back in.
What a competitive, courageous player he is. I haven't seen too many hits like that.
I haven't seen anybody come back from anything close to that as quickly as he did, and boy, he was ready to go. He really wanted to get back in there, and he did, and caught the ball, and blocked.
Boy, he's got some real toughness.
Bill Belichick, press conference, Gillette Stadium, December 1, 2007:
"BB: Reche has worked hard. He's a
hard-working kid. There's no doubt about his
work ethic. It's very good. He's done a lot of things all year really. He's been, all the way through training camp, a
playmaker in camp on the field, whether it be in practice or in games. He's shown up making plays a lot and I think, obviously, the more that a quarterback and a receiver work together, the better it is. It isn't like it took months for it to happen. I can remember seeing it out there in training camp a lot of practices. We had a hard time defensively covering him."
Reche Caldwell doesn't have it and he most likely never will. He's a talented guy capable of many good things but he belongs on the Buffalo Bills or the Seattle Seahawks, not the New England Patriots.
That's exactly why Reche Caldwell has been on Patriots for 15 months now, courtesy of Belichick and Pioli - who I might just trust a bit more than "PYPER."
Good call.
That's my opinion. I don't wish anything but the best for Reche Caldwell but keeping him on this team is a bad recipe for a whole lot of heartache.
Oh and by the way, try not to skip your meds anymore.
);p
I'll leave it up to BB to make the decisions, thank you very much.
