New Patriots starters?

[The_Riddler]

I think everyone wants to see Vollmer in there. The only question is where. And you won't hear me complain if Wilhite does not dress for the game. But we still need help in the interior OL. I wonder how hard it'd be to move one of the tackles (Vollmer) to guard. That's where teams are killing Brady.

I agree, I think the interior 3 linemen we have are vastly overrated. They cannot run block to save themselves and teams are now consistently getting a pocket push up the middle each and every game. We need a serious upgrade at the guard spots. Kazcur is a rolled up ball of mediocrity, have no idea why BB re-upped him, a real head scratcher, that and the James Sanders signings are mind-boggling. Hopefully Light can step in for Kazcur.

 

[pats1]

I'm wondering why Shawn Springs has vanished. Now that we're within the last six games, I'll bet we see more of Seau.

I don't we will see much of either, personally.

 

[satz]

i do not understand the Butler love,him and wheatley are very fast guys who lack technique. The problem is this guys will give up PI calls as they play with bad technique.

whilitle is always their with the WR he needs to develop the regonization skill to look for the ball and have the extra split second regonization of route which comes with with experience.

Guyton is also a bit of a problem against the run. he has good size and speed to be a weakside OLB in my books.but we need another pure ILB.

i will see seau,mayo inside with guyton and banta on the outside. this is going to make us strong against the run and in pass rush.

when we blitz corners the OLB need to seal the edge to let the corner come free but burgess absolutely blew this letting a TE or OL take the corner out.at this point if we are desperate enough to send corner or safety blitz i will play woods or ad knowing they can hold the edge and let this guys make plays.

 

[The_Riddler]

Guyton is also a bit of a problem against the run. he has good size and speed to be a weakside OLB in my books.but we need another pure ILB.

How would Rey-Rey look right now ?

 

[mayoclinic]

How would Rey-Rey look right now ?

He'd look fine based on how he's playing right now. But we have bigger problems.

I'd take Michael Johnson over Rey-Rey if I had to pick one rookie from Cincy to help our defense right now. Leon Hall would be nice, too, of course.

 

[SyN65]

I'd like to see Butler and Vollmer in there.

Also, WTF is up with Shawn Springs? Why did we even sign this guy? He's a healthy scratch every week.

 

[pats1]

I'd like to see Butler and Vollmer in there.

Also, WTF is up with Shawn Springs? Why did we even sign this guy? He's a healthy scratch every week.

Well, the last few weeks he's been probable with a knee injury and was still inactive. Before that, Springs was active as the #4 CB and Wheatley was inactive.

Springs is all but gone after this season. Hopefully Wilhite and Wheatley will take over the 3rd and 4th CB roles, with Butler sliding into a starting spot. However, expect Chung to get reps in sub packages before Wilhite or Wheatley. I would say Sanders is an obvious trade candidate. AD, Light, Burgess, and Neal are all probably gone too, along with Seau. Green might be too; that would rid this defense of anyone over 30.

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

We are lock to win our division. Half the teams that have beaten us are undefeated. We were beaten by one of the best offensive efforts of all time. The team is playing one game at a time. And we fans want to put on bags and change all the starters. sheeesh!

How about just putting our one aweful game behind us as we have always done, and let's get our DL and OL healthy for the playoffs!

i totally agree with this. I truly don't think we are as bad as we think we are...we lost by a point to the COlts (AT the dome), we lost a couple at the start of the year, and the SAints played tremendously, give them some credit sersiously.

Now like I have said earlier this week, a win @ Miami would be a quality win. Division win on the road. We have some issues yes but calm the frig down. Let's get better in all areas, tweak a few things, get some road wins and a home field playoff game. I honestly think we have a lot of potential...and I see no reason why we cant improve. We have some high caliber tools to work with....

 

[maverick4]

Sit Kaczur for the year, start Vollmer.

 

[Jimke]

I was surprised at how bad Matt Light looked. He could not sustain any

of his blocks. I'm sure part of it was lack of playing time but Vollmer is

definitely the better player.

Wilhite looked awful so Butler has to be given the nod. He can't be

any worse than Wilhite.

 

[pats1]

Sit Kaczur for the year, start Vollmer.

Sit Light for the year, start Vollmer. Kaczur is the lesser of the two evils, and is basically locked-in at RT for the forseeable future because of the contract he signed in August.

 

[JMarr]

How would Rey-Rey look right now ?

Probably pretty good. Given the need to re-make our defense into something remotely dominating ever again (and the LB situation), I have no idea what factored into our decision to pass up on this guy. He's a monster and already a leader in his rookie season.

People here will give you every rationalization in the book--supposed lack smarts/low wonderlick, doesn't fit our scheme, USC product, "we are already set at ILB with Mayo and Guyton", blah blah blah blah blah. Others will say "we got better value with McKenzie," to whom my response is, if McKenzie were healthy, who would be making more of an impact for us right now--he or Maulauga?

Just a mind boggling decision to pass on Maulauga twice (or was it 3times?) in the draft.

 

[BillBelichickFan79]

Probably pretty good. Given the need to re-make our defense into something remotely dominating ever again (and the LB situation), I have no idea what factored into our decision to pass up on this guy. He's a monster and already a leader in his rookie season.

People here will give you every rationalization in the book--supposed lack smarts/low wonderlick, doesn't fit our scheme, USC product, "we are already set at ILB with Mayo and Guyton", blah blah blah blah blah. Others will say "we got better value with McKenzie," to whom my response is, if McKenzie were healthy, who would be making more of an impact for us right now--he or Maulauga?

Just a mind boggling decision to pass on Maulauga twice (or was it 3times?) in the draft.

I agree with you 100% here. I wanted Rey-Rey going into the draft and we passed on him a number of times I was a little ticked. Honestly, at 34 I thought we were going either Butler or Maualuga, b/c I thought we could get CHung at 40/41. We got Chung, Brace, Butler which looks like it will turn out being good but I would've gone Maualuga, Butler, Chung b/c I thought Brace was a product of playing next to a force like Raji but we'll see how it works out.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Shawn Springs was a healthy scratch last week against the Saints

If BB thinks Wilhite is more capable of playing in those big games than Springs thats does not say much for another dud and aged FA acquisition waste in the 2009 offseason for the Pats.

After Galloway and now Springs apparent failure to help the team it becomes more apparent that we need to stay away from the 35+ old veterans,not every veteran over 35 can play like Favre is right now.

 

[Sicilian]

Probably pretty good. Given the need to re-make our defense into something remotely dominating ever again (and the LB situation), I have no idea what factored into our decision to pass up on this guy. He's a monster and already a leader in his rookie season.

People here will give you every rationalization in the book--supposed lack smarts/low wonderlick, doesn't fit our scheme, USC product, "we are already set at ILB with Mayo and Guyton", blah blah blah blah blah. Others will say "we got better value with McKenzie," to whom my response is, if McKenzie were healthy, who would be making more of an impact for us right now--he or Maulauga?

Just a mind boggling decision to pass on Maulauga twice (or was it 3times?) in the draft.

I'm not going to rationalize not taking him, because I just don't know enough about him. But I do know that looking back on a draft pick who has succeeded on another team is like ordering the salad over the soup, then seeing the guy at the next table enjoying the soup while your salad wilts. Looks bad, but you're still not tasting the soup for yourself, so you have no idea how good it would have been for you.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Probably pretty good. Given the need to re-make our defense into something remotely dominating ever again (and the LB situation), I have no idea what factored into our decision to pass up on this guy. He's a monster and already a leader in his rookie season.

People here will give you every rationalization in the book--supposed lack smarts/low wonderlick, doesn't fit our scheme, USC product, "we are already set at ILB with Mayo and Guyton", blah blah blah blah blah. Others will say "we got better value with McKenzie," to whom my response is, if McKenzie were healthy, who would be making more of an impact for us right now--he or Maulauga?

Just a mind boggling decision to pass on Maulauga twice (or was it 3times?) in the draft.

Would Maulauga have more of an impact than Chung and Vollmer have had? Doubtful is an understatement.

 

[mgteich]

Try Laurinitis instead of Chung.

Would Maulauga have more of an impact than Chung and Vollmer have had? Doubtful is an understatement.

 

[SeymourTrophies]

Probably pretty good. Given the need to re-make our defense into something remotely dominating ever again (and the LB situation), I have no idea what factored into our decision to pass up on this guy. He's a monster and already a leader in his rookie season.

People here will give you every rationalization in the book--supposed lack smarts/low wonderlick, doesn't fit our scheme, USC product, "we are already set at ILB with Mayo and Guyton", blah blah blah blah blah. Others will say "we got better value with McKenzie," to whom my response is, if McKenzie were healthy, who would be making more of an impact for us right now--he or Maulauga?

Just a mind boggling decision to pass on Maulauga twice (or was it 3times?) in the draft.

20/20 hindsight is great. There was so much that went wrong with him in the buildup to the draft. We don't even know how well Maualuga can play in the Pees Prevent D; he's in a more aggressive scheme right now.

 

[mgteich]

It is not hindsight to say that Maualuga or Laurinitis would have helped this defense, or that the defense could have used an ILB or an OLB. They were many, many on this board who wanted an ILB or an OLB at 34, 40, or 41. The only consensus was that Butler was a great choice for any of those picks.

20/20 hindsight is great. There was so much that went wrong with him in the buildup to the draft. We don't even know how well Maualuga can play in the Pees Prevent D; he's in a more aggressive scheme right now.

 

[patsfan-1982]

It is not hindsight to say that Maualuga or Laurinitis would have helped this defense, or that the defense could have used an ILB or an OLB. They were many, many on this board who wanted an ILB or an OLB at 34, 40, or 41. The only consensus was that Butler was a great choice for any of those picks.

James Laurinaitis 85 tackels 1 sack 2 INT

i think thet would have helped a lot more then seau and he's leadership

and they could have put guyton at OLB where i think he would have helped a lot more as a pass rusher with he's speed