Scathing Herald piece

[SoonerPatriot]

He makes a point about last year's FA crop that is not necessarily fair. He ignores other FA successes we've had i.e. Vrabel, Rodney and at least for one season, Poole also he ignores the numerous draft successes.

But I thought the point about extending Dillon last year was an interesting one.


http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/9328169

Bill Parcells once said that losing felt like throwing up in your mouth. He was talking about games, but you can extend the analogy to what Patriots fans have felt like this free agency season.

And last night, millions of people throughout New England felt like projectile vomiting.

Adam Vinatieri agreed to a contract with the Indianapolis Colts, and the difference between the money in Indy and Foxboro wound up being chump change against Bill Belichick's salary cap and relative nickels against Bob Kraft's bottom line. Perhaps the best clutch kicker in the history of the NFL and one of the most popular athletes Boston ever has known now is wearing enemy colors because the Pats refused to budge off their hard-line philosophy.

You can call Belichick and Scott Pioli consistent (although you'd be overrating that; more below). I call them stubborn, foolishly so in this case.

 

[BionicPatriot]

And he'll be one of the first in line to kiss his ass again.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

And he'll be one of the first in line to kiss his ass again.

I wonder who wrote it? There was no byline.

 

[DaBruinz]

Its a Michael Felger Article:

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=131613

 

[BelichickFan]

I wonder who wrote it? There was no byline.

I'm sure it was Felger, that's all the stuff he's been saying.

 

[DefenseRules]

Somebody tell me how many snaps he's going to play again? How many tackles, receptions, interceptions, and blocks he's going to make again? My brother said it best last night. "He's a kicker. Did he make some very important clutch kicks? Yes. But he didn't get into those positions by himself. He did his job and he was paid very well while he did it."

And after I thought about it, I said to myself, he's right.

I could understand all this fuss if it was Brady or Seymour and even Branch we just lost. IMHO, all three of those guys are much more important to the teams success. How about giving some credit to the guys who put Vinatieri in a position to make those "CLUTCH" kicks.

Felger and his cronies need to get over it.

 

[patsfan55]

he asked at the end how duane starks is worthe 3.5 mill but av isnt

well, the pats agree
starks isnt worth 3.5 mill, thats why they cut him

we thought he would be worth it, cuz we thought hed play better last yr
we pictured him as our number one cb
obviously a number one cb is worth more than a kicker

but he didnt pan out, so we cut him

 

[jczxohn1]

quote/No one can argue with the impeccable record of Belichick and Pioli when it comes to cutting ties with veterans. They've lost armloads of players over the years - Chad Eaton, Drew Bledsoe, Lawyer Milloy, Tebucky Jones, Bobby Hamilton, Ted Washington, Damien Woody, Joe Andruzzi, David Patten, etc. - and not one has come back to haunt them.
/quote

No mention of Ty Law? Probably generated more buzz than the rest combined, especially by Felger. But then, he didn't exactly come back to haunt us, either. Just another example of Felger cherry-picking the facts to make a story.

 

[shmessy]

Can't wait to see Felger's words excerpted continually at Bostonsportsmedia.com after the next Super Bowl!

 

[Willie55]

People have been lambasting Belichick and Kraft about this situation saying how they are cheap. They also point out that the contract they offered to Vinatieri didn't have any guaranteed money in it. It was basically a year to year deal. What they seem to forget is that when Vinatieri signed his contract in 2002, the entire contract was guaranteed. At the time people couldn't believe they would do that. That it was one of the few, if not the only, guaranteed contract in the NFL.

I believe the Pats have seen something, or know something about Adam that prevented them from signing Vinatieri. In another thread somebody posted the stat that Adam was 4/8 in field goal attempts over 40 yards last year. Adam never did have a booming leg but maybe now the Pats see his accuracy declining also.

 

[PF1996]

Don't understand the "cheap" talk since from what I've read the Pats weren't given an opportunity to match. Also, Felger's comments about Dillon are ironic given that I don't recall many disagreeing with "paying" Dillon last year yet since he had a bad year it's now a "bad thing". Same would have been true had the Pats simply given Vinateri a huge contract WITHOUT seeing what the market would pay, if Vinateri has a bad 2006. I'm sad to lose Vinateri only because there doesn't seem to be any equal/better options but the Pats would have had to start looking for a new kicker at some point. Hopefully they can get someone to groom this year.

 

[BelichickFan]

he asked at the end how duane starks is worthe 3.5 mill but av isnt.

In theory, he was. An above average CB with a high INT rate through his career is worth more than Vinatieri. Unfortunately, Starks didn't turn out to be the guy I just described and we thought we were getting.

 

[patpatriot]

Hmmm

I believe the Pats have seen something, or know something about Adam that prevented them from signing Vinatieri. In another thread somebody posted the stat that Adam was 4/8 in field goal attempts over 40 yards last year. Adam never did have a booming leg but maybe now the Pats see his accuracy declining also.

That would explain why Indy was so attractive to him. If he's starting to lose his skills he'd really be helped by kicking in a dome.

 

[Captain Cliche]

That would explain why Indy was so attractive to him. If he's starting to lose his skills he'd really be helped by kicking in a dome.

He has had back problems in the past. Those don't go away. He may be trying to get out of kickoffs...which he obviously sucks at. The Pats will not waste a roster spot on a kickoff specialist.

 

[arrellbee]

You can bet that Belichick and Pioli know how many points a game on the average that 5 to 10 yards extra on kickoffs translates into. My suspicion is that it is not paltry.