Pats FO not cared about winning or "team" -felger

[Box_O_Rocks]

I miss Kevin Mannix, he just never succeeded in replacing Borges as our most despised Raider Fan. Now Felgy seems determined to corner the market as New England's most infamous Favre-Tool...

 

[PatsRI]

here is bsm's take today on felger and his antics
http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/

They do put it best.

Michael Felger continues his new tact of criticizing the way that the Patriots do business. He examines the Branch situation, uses quotes from agents (a favorite of the Globe, and never an objective source) and basically tells fans that the Patriots aren't interested in winning in 2006. Am I exaggerating? "Did it work out for the Patriots this time around? Only if you don’t care about winning a championship in 2006." I know Felger is only doing this for attention, (The Big Show crew yesterday said the same thing - they say he doesn't believe any of this.) but it is annoying as hell. All of a sudden, the way that the Patriots have operated for years, which Felger has praised all along for their tough, unrelenting stances, (he's praised the team for locking up rookies to five and six year deals - I know that.) all of sudden now that Felger needs some attention for his radio show, he's done a 180 and gone the Borges route and been critical of them. This is media at its worst. It's fine to be critical of the team. But doing it just for attention is nauseating.

 

[QuiGon]

I know Felger is only doing this for attention, (The Big Show crew yesterday said the same thing - they say he doesn't believe any of this.) but it is annoying as hell. All of a sudden, the way that the Patriots have operated for years, which Felger has praised all along for their tough, unrelenting stances, (he's praised the team for locking up rookies to five and six year deals - I know that.) all of sudden now that Felger needs some attention for his radio show, he's done a 180 and gone the Borges route and been critical of them. This is media at its worst. It's fine to be critical of the team. But doing it just for attention is nauseating.

I wish I was more eloquent because they just summed up perfectly what I've been trying to say for months now

 

[Patriotic Fervor]

Bingo!
Despite a decades long habit of reading all things Patriots, as the net evolved I stoped reading any and all columnists. Don't watch ESPN or pre-game shows. With the single exception of Patriots All Access and the Foxsports show with Smerlas & DeOssie I don't watch sports TV.

But I do have Pats forums. Result...I have more factual information, good discussion, a wide variety of insightful opinion and less fatuousness. Try it.

Why read these buffons? Why listen to them? Let them get a real job.

I gagged when I read this! You're talking about the hard-core unemployable here!

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I gagged when I read this! You're talking about the hard-core unemployable here!

Sadly too true, once upon a time they enjoyed a nomadic lifestyle, fresh air and slow trains. Now their trapped inside stifling boxes charged with electricity and told to speek truth to the masses from their soap boxes - is it any wonder they're deranged?

 

[richpats]

One of the points that Football Outsiders made a while back (maybe a year or two ago) is that winning on the field comes back ultimately to 'winning' in negotiation. Felger says that you don't have to win every negotiation, which is akin to saying you don't have to win every game.

You certainly wouldn't want the Pats to go on the field and let another team win. They have to approach every negotiation the same way, even with Brady. And they do. The reason they gave Brady and Seymour the money is because those guys were worth it, plain and simple. Branch wasn't.

Every player who is 'better' than their contract raises the overall quality of the team per cap dollar. Every player who is worse lowers it. To field a better team, you must have more bang for the 'cap dollar' and there's only two ways to get that: scouting well and negotiating hard. Do either poorly and the win/loss column suffers.

Coming to terms with Branch at a pay level that exceeds his value would hurt them on the playing field eventually. Their error, which I'm sure they know, was in not recognizing that Branch would hold out for the season and not replacing him earlier, e.g. by more aggressively bargaining for Stallworth.

They heck with all that 'shouldn't have offered the trade' baloney. The game was over by then, and they'd already lost Branch. Getting the first rounder was salvaging something from an error made much earlier.

This is an obvious point that the columnists don't ever seem to make because, I suppose, it doesn't play to emotions.

Very good post. I think a silver lining that came out of this ordeal is that we got rid of a player that didn't fully buy in to the organization. It's unfortunate, but like Vinatieri, Branch had no real desire to play for New England anymore. Some players want to feel like they are more important to the team than the other 52, and those players will not last in Foxboro.

In New England, players are defined by their contribution and value to the team, elsewhere they are defined by expectations, and those will always be greater.

 

[RayClay]

Wish I had an archive of these frauds. I'm sure Felger was singing with the chorus that we drafted Branch way too high.

A pre draft rating of the 2002 receivers. Good for a laugh.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2002/WR_ratings.html

2. Ashley Lelie, Hawaii (6-2 5/8, 197, 4.39 on turf)
Did not work out at the combine due to a left hamstring strain. Worked out in California; had a 39½-inch vertical jump, a 9-foot, 10-inch long jump and ran the 40 in 4.39 seconds. Played football, basketball and ran track in high school. Was a walk-on at Hawaii and did not play as a freshman; he was redshirted. Started seven games in 1999. Started 12 games in 2000, when he had 74 catches and 11 touchdowns. Had a great year in 2001, with 83 receptions. Is a very good athlete and a long strider. A better pattern runner than a route runner. Does not create separation in the same manner as LSU's Josh Reed. Made some clutch catches — last year against Fresno State, in particular — and also has dropped some. Has the height you want at this position. He will be the most talked-about player in draft meetings this year. Could be very special, or could be someone that was picked too high. This is the kind of player who makes scouts and coaches earn their money.


6. Reche Caldwell, Florida (5-11¾, 194, 4.39 on grass)
Worked out at the combine. Had a 41½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot, 10-inch long jump. Performed 10 strength lifts and ran two 40s (4.48 and 4.50) on wet grass. Was a high school quarterback who passed for 77 touchdowns in his career. Redshirted in 1998. Started two games in 1999 and 12 in 2000. Started and had a big year in 2001 (63 catches and 10 touchdowns). Very good athletic ability with top speed. Very good body control. Florida's offensive system is very good and tends to make wide receivers look a lot better than they end up being in the NFL. This player has good hands and the quickness needed for the position.

15. Deion Branch, Louisville (5-9 1/8, 191, 4.47 on turf)
Had a complete combine workout. Had a 36-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot, 9-inch long jump. Also ran the 40-yard dash twice for times of 4.45 and 4.49 seconds. Played at a junior college for two years. Returned kicks while playing receiver. Was redshirted in 1999 for academic reasons. Has soft, reliable hands that enable him to make the clutch catch. Not as tall as teams like even though he caught more than 140 passes for 19 touchdowns over the past two seasons.

Considering the other guy we lost was a 7th round pick, Maybe our F.O. has some idea what they're doing?

 

[DarrylS]

They do put it best.

Michael Felger continues his new tact of criticizing the way that the Patriots do business. He examines the Branch situation, uses quotes from agents (a favorite of the Globe, and never an objective source) and basically tells fans that the Patriots aren't interested in winning in 2006. Am I exaggerating? "Did it work out for the Patriots this time around? Only if you don’t care about winning a championship in 2006." I know Felger is only doing this for attention, (The Big Show crew yesterday said the same thing - they say he doesn't believe any of this.) but it is annoying as hell. All of a sudden, the way that the Patriots have operated for years, which Felger has praised all along for their tough, unrelenting stances, (he's praised the team for locking up rookies to five and six year deals - I know that.) all of sudden now that Felger needs some attention for his radio show, he's done a 180 and gone the Borges route and been critical of them. This is media at its worst. It's fine to be critical of the team. But doing it just for attention is nauseating.

BSMW has done a real good job pegging these guys and keeping tract of their foolishness, maybe Felger thinks his stupid comments will generate couple of phone calls on his ESPN slot in the PM. Between him and that other idiot Gerry Callahan, it looks like a conflict of interest to me and sooner or later their employer will have to call them on who they are loyal to, the Herald or their radio shows. Between these two and the other idiot of the triumvirate, Borges, they say and stir up crap just to stir it up... I really miss the intelligence of Tom Curran, Reiss is ok..but Tom was the man and he seemed to articulate how this team operates best.

 

[PaulNEPats]

Yeah, Felger used to be a decent writer but went to the Borges School of Trolling.

BTW, when I was driving to the game on Sunday, did anyone hear what Borges had to say? One of the on-air guys was talking to Borges about how hated he is by the Patriots Organization, and his response was, "It's better to be feared than respected."

What a tool.

 

[kolbitr]

Each time the media whore called Felger opens his mouth and closes his mind these days, he becomes more and more appalling. Borges is clearly a rather vicious man, but Felger is much worse: he is inconsistent, illogical, obnoxious, and offensively obtuse. Perhaps he is feigning this last trait, but, if so, he is even more outrageously a harlot of the lurid and the lame. He could use a thorough goring by a methed-up rhinoceros.

Clearly the management cares deeply about two concepts, TEAM and VICTORY. These are united by the coach's love, bordering on the maniacal, of all things FOOTBALL. Their financial strategies, albeit tough and unsentimental in many cases, even harsh to certain players, are targeted not at keeping extra money in the bank but at maximizing the power on the field and in the locker room. Deion was cared-for, and respected, but he is only a piece of the puzzle, and his value, clearly, was more limited to the Patriots than he would have preferred. Hence, his departure.

People need to remember the difference between Teams and Families. The Patriots are, at times, familial, and to think that BB or Kraft care not about many of their players as people is ridiculous--have people forgotten Belichick's reaction to Tedy's return, to Rodney's emotional embrace following the Carolina Super Bowl?...but toughness, intelligence, respect, and sacrifice are part of teams, too.

 

[AzPatsFan]

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=157302


Man these guys seem like red sox writers.

What do you mean "Seems". Theese ***** wipes ARE
RED SUX writers... that's where they learned their trade at the ol country club aka soap opera show...

Why are you encouraging them by reading/listening?

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Felger's article today wasn't as bad as others he's written, but it is a bit slanted:

- the Pats don't feel like they "won" anything, as Felger states. They made the best of a bad situation caused by Branch and his agent, who exploited some weak clauses of the CBA to shoot their way out of town. The team would much rather have Deion under contract. So that's a distortion by Felger.

- he talks about extending these guys early, implying that it's easier/cheaper to do that in their 2nd or 3rd year. But except for Brady, when has that approach actually worked? They tried it with Givens and it didn't work. They started these negotiations with Branch almost 2 years before his contract was up, and that didn't work. They were able to quietly extend Stephen Neal, which was great but rare. So I think the Pats DO try to do that, so Felger's reaching for something that doesn't exist.

The bottom line with Branch was that he was demanding that the Pats rip up the last year of his contract and pay him $6m/yr effective NOW. The only thing you can maybe criticize NE for is refusing to do that, and insisting that he play 2006 at the agreed-upon amount.

Also, Felger could have made the point that nobody has been a winner here, and that there's plenty of blame to spread around, but instead he chooses to characterize it all as the team's fault. Instead of gettting another interview from a GM or somebody that would explain the Pats' side, he gives us only quotes from Kessler.

 

[Jacky Roberts]

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=157302
that seems to be the gist of it...
" Once again, the brains and talent of Belichick, Scott Pioli and the Kraft family won out. They beat the system. Maximized their value. They now have more than $12 million in cap space in 2006 and two first-rounders for 2007. It all looks great on the spreadsheets up in the front office of Gillette Stadium.
Now what about on the field?
You know, the team?
Remember, you’re supposed to care more about winning on the field than the negotiating table. The Pats held the line on Branch the last few years and now he’s in Seattle. That may be a win for the organization, but how is that a win for the players and coaches in the locker room?"

Man these guys seem like red sox writers.

He's just upset because "The Patriots hate their coach" was already taken. He's an idiot with "Look at me!!!" written all over him.