My take on Kraft’s statement at the ownership meetings.

[Redman443]

I think This statement makes it clear that Kraft isn’t interested in being in rebuild mode like the jaguars, falcons and Texans. He wants us to get back to the playoffs and at the very least make a deep playoff run. Basically being in the conversation.

They went out and got their guy at QB. Hopefully I think mac will be our qb for years to come. They spent 120 million in free agency last year and got hunter henry, aghlor, Kendrick Bourne, Judon. That makes it clear to me also that they’re not trying to just rebuild.


Just think about other teams who have historic successes. The 49ers have 5 Super Bowls, they haven’t won a title since 1994, the cowboys have 5 Super Bowls, they haven’t won a title since 1995. The Steelers have won 6 Super Bowls and haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. They haven’t won a super bowl in 13 years. I don’t want us to end up like that either.

 

[Guts]

We shall see.

Remember after the 04 season it took us 10 more years to win another one with the GOAT at QB

I hope we get 1 in the Mac Jones era.

 

[VectorPrime]

Literally every franchise that’s not the Brady /Belichick Patriots will run into a title drought with seemingly little hope of escape. Even that decade of no super bowl victories included two super bowl appearances and a bunch of AFC Championship appearances. Literally every season aside from 2008 was Super Bowl or bust. But that’s over and regression is inevitable no matter how much good money you throw after bad. Trying to middle things by not allowing for any steps backwards is dangerous.

 

[signbabybrady]

I think people are reading too much into his comments. All it was was a sales pitch to his customers. He believes this team is ready now to take another step forward so come out in droves.

 

[holyredeemer]

I think This statement makes it clear that Kraft isn’t interested in being in rebuild mode like the jaguars, falcons and Texans. He wants us to get back to the playoffs and at the very least make a deep playoff run. Basically being in the conversation.

They went out and got their guy at QB. Hopefully I think mac will be our qb for years to come. They spent 120 million in free agency last year and got hunter henry, aghlor, Kendrick Bourne, Judon. That makes it clear to me also that they’re not trying to just rebuild.


Just think about other teams who have historic successes. The 49ers have 5 Super Bowls, they haven’t won a title since 1994, the cowboys have 5 Super Bowls, they haven’t won a title since 1995. The Steelers have won 6 Super Bowls and haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. They haven’t won a super bowl in 13 years. I don’t want us to end up like that either.

Good thing the Pats aren’t at the level of rebuild the Jags, Texans and Falcons are in. They just went to the playoffs. Yes, they got trounced but they made it to the semi-formal dance. If Kraft fires Bill, who is he going to bring in to overhaul that entire organization and give him fast results? In regards to last year, they had the cap space and spent it. This year they don’t have much cap space, and so they’re not sacrificing the future for today. It’s really that simple. Kraft was just giving his “I’m a fan. Don’t believe the rumors that I’ve closed my pocket book” rah-rah speech.

I’m not saying this is what you’re alluding to, but there’s been a lot of talk around his statements and how Bill is on the hot seat. He could be. What do I know? Again though, who else can he bring in? He’d need to rebuild the entire organization. That’s not even getting into turning over the roster for whomever the new guy is that wants to call the shots. The team isn’t tanking, but they’re definitely in the middle of a rebuild. Niners, Cowboys, and Steelers have had some great teams over the years, but managing to the salary cap is an absolute *****. Most teams have to catch lightning in a bottle and get hot at just the right time.

Brady was our superhero, but Bill has managed the salary cap better than anyone else these past 20 years and put some really solid teams around him. After what the rest of the AFC has done, Mr. Kraft AND the fan base are gonna have to be patient and enjoy the process.

Warts and all.

 

[lancerman]

The Pats aren’t as depleted as the Jags and Texans but they are in rebuild. You can avoid rebuilds when your team has a a strong core. We are still developing that now as we obviously lost the core player at the biggest position and are seeing if the replacement can develop into something reliable while also having former core guys like McCourty and Hightower age out.

We avoided rebuilds the last 20 years because of consistency at the hardest position to lock down and the quickly finding gems to replace older stars. We have struggled a lot on the offensive skill side. Going from Brown to Branch to Welker to Edelman along with dynamic players like Moss and Gronk kept that in check. We haven’t been able to take care of that part of the game. Also the line hasn’t been as stable as it was with Dante. More importantly we did always have key secondary guys like Law, Samuels, then some dark days, then Talib, Revis, Butler, and Gilmore. That is an issue now.

 

[RobertWeathers]

My interp is nothing has changed.

The Krafts want to win badly and expect Bill to deliver.

Fans forget from 2008-2010 the team was 0-2 in the playoffs as they were rebuilding back to championship-contending status.

 

[amfootball]

Kraft keeps mentioning the bad drafts. That is no accident. Bill and company need to hit it out of the park this year. Kraft is not shelling out the type of money he did last year again.

 

[VectorPrime]

My interp is nothing has changed.

The Krafts want to win badly and expect Bill to deliver.

Fans forget from 2008-2010 the team was 0-2 in the playoffs as they were rebuilding back to championship-contending status.

11-5 with essentially the entire 16-0 2007 team minus Brady, 10-6 where week 17 was a throwaway where Welker went down, and 14-2 after one of the best drafts in team history and Tom Brady was the first unanimous MVP ever.

There are zero similarities to now.

 

[RobertWeathers]

11-5 with essentially the entire 16-0 2007 team minus Brady, 10-6 where week 17 was a throwaway where Welker went down, and 14-2 after one of the best drafts in team history and Tom Brady was the first unanimous MVP ever.

There are zero similarities to now.

The similarity is they haven't won in the playoffs in 3 years and are rebuilding/reloading.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Kraft keeps mentioning the bad drafts. That is no accident. Bill and company need to hit it out of the park this year. Kraft is not shelling out the type of money he did last year again.

So? Who cares if Bob mentions bad drafts?

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Kraft is doing what any manager would do by publicly reiterating that there are high expectations even though privately he may have more realistic goals. It is important that the fans and team feel as if there is urgency to succeed. The only thing that I don't like is that he did it in a way to make himself look good to the fans without taking any accountability. In other words he acted like a typical boss.

 

[Steve102]

Kraft is doing what any manager would do by publicly reiterating that there are high expectations even though privately he may have more realistic goals. It is important that the fans and team feel as if there is urgency to succeed. The only thing that I don't like is that he did it in a way to make himself look good to the fans without taking any accountability. In other words he acted like a typical boss.

Agreed. Public optics that we only care about winning.

 

[Ring 6]

I think This statement makes it clear that Kraft isn’t interested in being in rebuild mode like the jaguars, falcons and Texans. He wants us to get back to the playoffs and at the very least make a deep playoff run. Basically being in the conversation.

They went out and got their guy at QB. Hopefully I think mac will be our qb for years to come. They spent 120 million in free agency last year and got hunter henry, aghlor, Kendrick Bourne, Judon. That makes it clear to me also that they’re not trying to just rebuild.


Just think about other teams who have historic successes. The 49ers have 5 Super Bowls, they haven’t won a title since 1994, the cowboys have 5 Super Bowls, they haven’t won a title since 1995. The Steelers have won 6 Super Bowls and haven’t won a playoff game since 2016. They haven’t won a super bowl in 13 years. I don’t want us to end up like that either.

It took Kraft being interviewed for you to come to that conclusion?
Every team wants to win. Teams don’t rebuild because they like to rebuild, they rebuild because their last plan failed and they have no choice.
The owners in Jacksonville, Houston and Atlanta want to win every bit as much as Kraft does, but it’s not really an option for them because they put together a ****ty team that can’t win and have coaches who probably aren’t capable of winning anything with average talent.
Pittsburgh,SF and Dallas did stop winning SBs because they stopped caring about winning SBs. They stopped because the people making decisions for their organization made worse ones that their competitors.
Within about a 5 or 6 year period every team is almost completely turned over.
The best teams today are the teams that made the best decisions for the last 5-6 years. Consistency comes when you keep the same decision making structure and people in place (which can make you consistently good, bad, average).

 

[crawhammer]

So what is Kraft going to say when they finish 8-9, maybe 3rd in the division, and out of the playoffs? By that point they'll have a cumulative record of below .500 (25-26) over the last three season? Is Belichick on the hot seat at that point? It's serious question... if they don't top 8 or 9 wins over the next two seasons then I could see the Krafts seriously considering a change.

 

[RobertWeathers]

So what is Kraft going to say when they finish 8-9, maybe 3rd in the division, and out of the playoffs? By that point they'll have a cumulative record of below .500 (25-26) over the last three season? Is Belichick on the hot seat at that point? It's serious question... if they don't top 8 or 9 wins over the next two seasons then I could see the Krafts seriously considering a change.

If your scenario becomes reality, he'll answer the question with the party line of, "I have complete confidence in Bill to get us back on the winning track".

 

[BradytoMosstoGronk]

So what is Kraft going to say when they finish 8-9, maybe 3rd in the division, and out of the playoffs? By that point they'll have a cumulative record of below .500 (25-26) over the last three season? Is Belichick on the hot seat at that point? It's serious question... if they don't top 8 or 9 wins over the next two seasons then I could see the Krafts seriously considering a change.

I think you cross that bridge when you get there. Lots of off season to go through, and they haven't even started camps.

If the team is sub .500 they can have a pow wow in January.

 

[sb1]

So what is Kraft going to say when they finish 8-9, maybe 3rd in the division, and out of the playoffs? By that point they'll have a cumulative record of below .500 (25-26) over the last three season? Is Belichick on the hot seat at that point? It's serious question... if they don't top 8 or 9 wins over the next two seasons then I could see the Krafts seriously considering a change.

Highly doubtful Belichick will be fired unless there's another -gate incident that points right at him. I also don't think the Patriots will be so bad in 2022 that a housecleaning will be required. 8-9 doesn't get coaches fired that often but 2-15 would and I don't see that happening to the Patriots.

He'll step down like Coughlin did when it's time and I think the finish line for him in NE isn't that far off either way.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

He gave the PR correct answer. It seems he is setting up Bill for all the blame if a losing season is delivered, as he should.

 

[upstater1]

Patriots fans do need to be more realistic.

When other teams rebuild, they have a stock and inventory of players when they drafted when they were bad.

The Patriots have only had one draft where they picked in the top half of the draft during this rebuild process.

We're not drafting from a great position, and we likely never will during the Belichick era.

That makes rebuilding a bit more difficult.

NOTE: I'm not advocating we tank like the Colts.