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. Patriots Preview –
I posted this as part of my idle thoughts on KFFL. Many there thought I was too optimistic, however I caution, I am only concidering the team as it compares to itself, not any other team. Overall I think we are an improved team. Younger, faster, more athletic. The losses of Givens, Willie, and Adam, hurt, but gains in other areas more than offset the loss of 3 players. (Hell the last few seasons it has seemed as if we were losing 3 key players on a regular basis. At any rate some one requested I post this here, and if I'm asked nicely, I usually do what I'm asked
QB- IMPROVED – First we know that Brady will find one thing he wants to do better this year and improve on it, he’s that kind of competitor. Having a deeper, healthier, and more talented RB core will be another positive for him. Having a deeper, more experienced OL will also help. Finally I think that the Pats will pick up a better experienced vet than Doug Flutie (ie Jay Fiedler), and Matt Castle should be significantly improved as well.
OL – IMPROVED - We are adding our 2 best OLmen to an OL that was good enough for Brady to throw for 4000+ yds and the Pats to get to what amounts to the quarter finals of the NFL playoffs (and its not unrealistic to say the Pats offense outplayed the Bronco’s offense on their home field. It could be said that we were actually only 3 plays plays from winning that game (the Pass interference, the Brady pick & runback, Brown’s fumble). The point here is that even after losing our 2 best OLmen, the OL didn't suck.
Between having Koppen & Light back, the additional experience Mankins and Kezar picked up, and the additions added to Dante U.,will make this the most talented, deepest, OL in Patriots history. And as we all know, when the front line is in good shape, the skill positions on both sides tend to be more successful
TE- SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – Watson has a full year under his belt. Graham won’t be needed as much to babysit an inexperienced OL, and we replaced Fauria with what most scouts felt was the 3rd best TE in the draft. This is one of the real strengths of the team.
WR – SLIGHTLY WEAKER – The loss of Givens, is a fact. To a lesser degree, the losses of Davis and Dwight, affect the experience factor of our WRs. However, while he’s unproven, Chad Jackson is bigger, faster, and more talented than Givens, and should he apply himself as much as David did, will BECOME an improvement.
Also don’t forget that we essentially lost Troy Brown to the defense for a greater part of the season. Hopefully (my lips to God’s ear) he will be able to concentrate solely at WR this season, and be that much more effective. Dwight will be missed more as PR than WR, and Davis was a more disciplined version of Bethel Johnson. Branch, Brown, Jackson, & Caldwell give us as solid a group of WRs as anyone. Unfortunately we’ve been used to seeing 6 sort of equal guys vying for spots, so having just 4 (for now) makes it seem worse than it is. Believe me while there are a few teams that can claim better names, there are more that would be thrilled to have the talent we will throw out there this season, especially with the offensive system we have…and some guy named Brady.
DL – SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – Starting with Seymour, Warren, Willfolk, & Green, the Pats are one of the top DL’s in the league. I truly believe either Hill or Sullivan (if not both) will blossom as the season goes along, improving the depth. They will coach up the rookie or FA to give us the depth and flexibility we have become accustomed to.
LB – SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – I know some might think that losing Willie makes LB a liability, but I think differently. Let us not forget that Willie will be 35 this season. An age, that if it didn’t see him lose a step or two, surely would have limited his participation. Secondly, I expect to see a great improvement from Monte Beisel. We will have a full season from Tedy Buschi, and continued improvement from Rosy Colvin back into the impact player we saw when he first came to the Pats.
I am also going to take the liberty of inferring that because we haven’t seen the Pats go after any of the noted FA LB’s, BB is currently happy with the progress of guys like TBC and Clarridge, etc. to be able to help with depth issues at LB. (However if we pick up someone like Donnie Edwards before camp, I reserve the right to change my mind on this point. )
DB – IMPROVED – During the playoffs, our secondary was excellent. Even in the loss to Denver, the secondary did a great job vs BOTH the running and passing games. This season Hobbs will be improved as he enters his second season, we have several young safeties & CBs coming back from the IR, and Rodney should be full strength by the playoffs. And this doesn’t factor in the possibility of having Ty Law return. What turned out to be a fairly solid defensive backfield by the end of the year, should be one of the most improved areas of the team.
SPECIAL TEAMS – IMPROVED – The Pats should be much better at KO and Punt coverage. They have brought in several proven coverage guys, like TJones, to vastly improve an area of weakness last season. On the other hand, the Pats lost the best PR we’ve had since Troy Brown circa 2001. It remains to be seen who and how good his replacement is. KO returns should only get better, they can’t get much worse.
Finally how well will we replace Adam? Personally I think we will do fairly well. I am willing to bet, whoever wins the job, will kick within 5% of the success rate of Adam circa 2005. Again, Adam was an 80% kicker, which is fairly ordinary by today’s standards. What Adam is best known for is his CLUTCH kicks. But the fact is Adam’s last big clutch kick was in the 2003 super bowl (BTW, after he gagged on 2 earlier ones).
This isn’t to disparage all Adam accomplished, I wish he were back, but the reality is who ever kicks for us will likely be around an 80% kicker. Like Adam the new guy will likely miss 2 of 10 kicks. The risk is in WHICH 2 kicks will he miss. History tells us that Adam rarely missed the “big oneâ€. (though Pete Carroll might have different thoughts. ) Only time will tell about the new kicker, though I doubt kicking FGs will be the major reason we lose a game.
COACHING – SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – While we lost Mangini, we gained another year of continuity with the rest of the staff, which, after losing both Weiss & Crennell the year before, is why I think the Pats will be in better synch with each other. Plus the fact that we will simply have more talent this year, and having a lot of talent has a funny way of making coaches coach better.
SCHEDULE - MUCH IMPORVED - Though you can never tell how a season will turn out, at least at this point, the Pats have gone from one of the hardest schedules in the league to one of the easiest. IMHO 12-4 should be the base line for this team....barring ANOTHER slew of major injuries.
5. Speaking of FG kicker, the early money will be on the kid. Based on what we’ve heard he has the bigger leg, is a better athlete, and better long term upside. Having Grammatica there all camp will keep the pressure on him, so kicking in games will seem easy in comparison. Every kick in camp is going to be a pressure kick, when you are fighting for a job.
So, while I think the kid will win the job, I offer a word of caution. I doubt he will come out of box and be a superstar. Last season the Jets pick a kicker in the second round who many thought was worth going that high. There is no ceiling on the kid, but LIKE A ROOKIE, he was very uneven in the early going, and finished stronger. I think he he had around a 75%-80% success rate. Right around what Adam had HIS first year.
BTW- Patience will probably be needed at some point this season. But as a rule, if you as a fan ever get pissed somewhere along the line, that they let Adam go, blame the FO, not the kid. He will be fine in the long term.
I posted this as part of my idle thoughts on KFFL. Many there thought I was too optimistic, however I caution, I am only concidering the team as it compares to itself, not any other team. Overall I think we are an improved team. Younger, faster, more athletic. The losses of Givens, Willie, and Adam, hurt, but gains in other areas more than offset the loss of 3 players. (Hell the last few seasons it has seemed as if we were losing 3 key players on a regular basis. At any rate some one requested I post this here, and if I'm asked nicely, I usually do what I'm asked
QB- IMPROVED – First we know that Brady will find one thing he wants to do better this year and improve on it, he’s that kind of competitor. Having a deeper, healthier, and more talented RB core will be another positive for him. Having a deeper, more experienced OL will also help. Finally I think that the Pats will pick up a better experienced vet than Doug Flutie (ie Jay Fiedler), and Matt Castle should be significantly improved as well.
OL – IMPROVED - We are adding our 2 best OLmen to an OL that was good enough for Brady to throw for 4000+ yds and the Pats to get to what amounts to the quarter finals of the NFL playoffs (and its not unrealistic to say the Pats offense outplayed the Bronco’s offense on their home field. It could be said that we were actually only 3 plays plays from winning that game (the Pass interference, the Brady pick & runback, Brown’s fumble). The point here is that even after losing our 2 best OLmen, the OL didn't suck.
Between having Koppen & Light back, the additional experience Mankins and Kezar picked up, and the additions added to Dante U.,will make this the most talented, deepest, OL in Patriots history. And as we all know, when the front line is in good shape, the skill positions on both sides tend to be more successful
TE- SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – Watson has a full year under his belt. Graham won’t be needed as much to babysit an inexperienced OL, and we replaced Fauria with what most scouts felt was the 3rd best TE in the draft. This is one of the real strengths of the team.
WR – SLIGHTLY WEAKER – The loss of Givens, is a fact. To a lesser degree, the losses of Davis and Dwight, affect the experience factor of our WRs. However, while he’s unproven, Chad Jackson is bigger, faster, and more talented than Givens, and should he apply himself as much as David did, will BECOME an improvement.
Also don’t forget that we essentially lost Troy Brown to the defense for a greater part of the season. Hopefully (my lips to God’s ear) he will be able to concentrate solely at WR this season, and be that much more effective. Dwight will be missed more as PR than WR, and Davis was a more disciplined version of Bethel Johnson. Branch, Brown, Jackson, & Caldwell give us as solid a group of WRs as anyone. Unfortunately we’ve been used to seeing 6 sort of equal guys vying for spots, so having just 4 (for now) makes it seem worse than it is. Believe me while there are a few teams that can claim better names, there are more that would be thrilled to have the talent we will throw out there this season, especially with the offensive system we have…and some guy named Brady.
DL – SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – Starting with Seymour, Warren, Willfolk, & Green, the Pats are one of the top DL’s in the league. I truly believe either Hill or Sullivan (if not both) will blossom as the season goes along, improving the depth. They will coach up the rookie or FA to give us the depth and flexibility we have become accustomed to.
LB – SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – I know some might think that losing Willie makes LB a liability, but I think differently. Let us not forget that Willie will be 35 this season. An age, that if it didn’t see him lose a step or two, surely would have limited his participation. Secondly, I expect to see a great improvement from Monte Beisel. We will have a full season from Tedy Buschi, and continued improvement from Rosy Colvin back into the impact player we saw when he first came to the Pats.
I am also going to take the liberty of inferring that because we haven’t seen the Pats go after any of the noted FA LB’s, BB is currently happy with the progress of guys like TBC and Clarridge, etc. to be able to help with depth issues at LB. (However if we pick up someone like Donnie Edwards before camp, I reserve the right to change my mind on this point. )
DB – IMPROVED – During the playoffs, our secondary was excellent. Even in the loss to Denver, the secondary did a great job vs BOTH the running and passing games. This season Hobbs will be improved as he enters his second season, we have several young safeties & CBs coming back from the IR, and Rodney should be full strength by the playoffs. And this doesn’t factor in the possibility of having Ty Law return. What turned out to be a fairly solid defensive backfield by the end of the year, should be one of the most improved areas of the team.
SPECIAL TEAMS – IMPROVED – The Pats should be much better at KO and Punt coverage. They have brought in several proven coverage guys, like TJones, to vastly improve an area of weakness last season. On the other hand, the Pats lost the best PR we’ve had since Troy Brown circa 2001. It remains to be seen who and how good his replacement is. KO returns should only get better, they can’t get much worse.
Finally how well will we replace Adam? Personally I think we will do fairly well. I am willing to bet, whoever wins the job, will kick within 5% of the success rate of Adam circa 2005. Again, Adam was an 80% kicker, which is fairly ordinary by today’s standards. What Adam is best known for is his CLUTCH kicks. But the fact is Adam’s last big clutch kick was in the 2003 super bowl (BTW, after he gagged on 2 earlier ones).
This isn’t to disparage all Adam accomplished, I wish he were back, but the reality is who ever kicks for us will likely be around an 80% kicker. Like Adam the new guy will likely miss 2 of 10 kicks. The risk is in WHICH 2 kicks will he miss. History tells us that Adam rarely missed the “big oneâ€. (though Pete Carroll might have different thoughts. ) Only time will tell about the new kicker, though I doubt kicking FGs will be the major reason we lose a game.
COACHING – SLIGHTLY IMPROVED – While we lost Mangini, we gained another year of continuity with the rest of the staff, which, after losing both Weiss & Crennell the year before, is why I think the Pats will be in better synch with each other. Plus the fact that we will simply have more talent this year, and having a lot of talent has a funny way of making coaches coach better.
SCHEDULE - MUCH IMPORVED - Though you can never tell how a season will turn out, at least at this point, the Pats have gone from one of the hardest schedules in the league to one of the easiest. IMHO 12-4 should be the base line for this team....barring ANOTHER slew of major injuries.
5. Speaking of FG kicker, the early money will be on the kid. Based on what we’ve heard he has the bigger leg, is a better athlete, and better long term upside. Having Grammatica there all camp will keep the pressure on him, so kicking in games will seem easy in comparison. Every kick in camp is going to be a pressure kick, when you are fighting for a job.
So, while I think the kid will win the job, I offer a word of caution. I doubt he will come out of box and be a superstar. Last season the Jets pick a kicker in the second round who many thought was worth going that high. There is no ceiling on the kid, but LIKE A ROOKIE, he was very uneven in the early going, and finished stronger. I think he he had around a 75%-80% success rate. Right around what Adam had HIS first year.
BTW- Patience will probably be needed at some point this season. But as a rule, if you as a fan ever get pissed somewhere along the line, that they let Adam go, blame the FO, not the kid. He will be fine in the long term.