SI:Don Banks-Patriots will be driven to handle unfinished business

[MoLewisrocks]

Last year they thought that they had a realistic shot at both Deion and Law.

The year that they got Colvin he was within the first week of FA. Rodney and Poole were in the tail end of the FA rush.

Wrong. Poole was signed first pn March 5th. Colvin was signed a week later, followed within 24 hours by Harrison. It was a lot like this season, as Peter King noted at the time:

Smooth Moves

New England shored up its suspect defense with three prime free agents

By Peter King

Talk about a stealth franchise. The Patriots flew under the NFL's free-agency radar last week and stole two defensive starters to begin rebuilding a defense that ranked 23rd in the league last season. Having signed the best free agent on the market (pass-rushing linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, from the Bears) and an intimidating safety (Rodney Harrison, from the Chargers), New England has quietly emerged as the most improved team in the NFL this off-season.

The Patriots aren't done reloading, either. They now have three Pro Bowl-caliber safeties -- Harrison plus incumbent strong safety Lawyer Milloy and free safety Tebucky Jones, who, as the team's franchise player, could be traded for a top 50 draft pick. If that happens (and it's more like when it happens), New England would have five choices among the top 75 in the April draft. For a 9-7 team looking to get faster and more physical on defense, the infusion of talent should provide what coach Bill Belichick calls "the ammunition to get better."

Most impressive about the two signings is the relatively small amount of money it took to get them done. Colvin, who turned down an eight-figure signing bonus from the Cardinals, got $6 million to sign as part of a six-year, $25 million deal with the Pats. Harrison estimates he was an hour or two from agreeing to a contract with the Raiders, in the club's Alameda, Calif., offices, when the Patriots called and persuaded him to fly cross-country and hear their pitch; he accepted their six-year, $14.5 million offer. Throw in cornerback Tyrone Poole, signed away from the Broncos on March 5, and the combined first-year salary-cap figures for New England's three new starters in 2003 is $3.73 million. That's amazing when you consider that as free agency kicked off last month an acceptable cap number for Colvin alone would have been upward of $3 million.

Poole, 31, gives the Patriots the cover corner they have lacked opposite Ty Law. Colvin, 25, left free by the Bears because they felt they couldn't pay three linebackers (including Brian Urlacher and Warrick Holdman) big money, will play opposite pass-rushing end Willie McGinest. Harrison, 30, brings a chippy attitude that will help New England. Last week the two-time Pro Bowl player, whose style of play has led to more than $100,000 in fines and a one-game suspension without pay for a flagrant hit, was already firing on all cylinders. "I'm here not only because they paid me a little more money than Oakland," Harrison said, "but also because Bill Belichick looked me in the eye and said, 'I need you for this defense. I want you to be a leader.' When I knew how he felt, that was it."

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Disagree. The Patriots actually having a LOT of cap-space played a WAY bigger part in the moves than any reaction to "losing by a hair." That's silly. The fact that an LB like Adalius Thomas came free was a fluke, extremely rare and a HUGE need for the Pats and their aging LB corps. A bit of a perfect storm, but nothing to do with a tough loss and a tougher flight home, IMO.

BB had a similar reaction to going 9-7 and looking like a fluke after winning that Superbowl in 2001. We were up against the cap, yet we went after 3 FA in the first week of free agency, including the top OLB on the market.

We've been relatively quiet and conservative in FA since, that is until this off season.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Lots of people talkj about the D failngs in the 2nd half of the Colts game but if the O hadn't had 2 - 3 and outs and another drive where they got a 1st the 1st play and then went 3 and out, the Colts may not have had time to comback. I don't thin Brady is frutrated because of the defense. He's frustrated because the O couldn't seal the game away and he knows it's because they didn't have good enough weapons.

Which is why we signed the best LB available and followed that up by signing almost every WR available.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I don't remember anything about this, can you go into a little more detail ?

The PFW guys travel with the team and were on the plane home from Indy, as they were the one from Denver last season. I've heard a couple of them talk about the difference in mood between the two flights. This one really stung, and it stuck in their craw. Even Bill admitted that on WEEI. An 18 point lead approaching the half...Coming home from Denver they were dejected and disappointed with themselves. Core players made mistakes - it happens when you're pressing. Coming home from Indy they were alternately angry and devastated because they knew that Lombardi was inches away and they let it slip right right out of their reach. They didn't make mistakes. They just couldn't make plays once the momentum shifted. On offense or defense. Sometimes you just need to play better. Other times you need to get better. After 2005 they thought it was the former. After 2006 they realized it was the latter. A lot like the realization they came to after 2002 - when they also made bold FA moves and re-tooled at key positions where they felt they needed to get better before they could again play better.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I didn't mention Meriweather because he wasn't exactly an off-season "move." We had the #24 pick in the draft, and we used it. Doesn't really tell us much.

One thing, however, that supports my theory that BB + SP aren't changing their philosophy because of last year's loss -- does a team determined to win in '07 at all costs trade a late 1st round pick for a 4th and a 1st in the following year?

In a weak value draft you obviously didn't like that had arguably less than a dozen first round talents, yeah, it does. Because if you don't see a player there you believe can help you this season, and you still plan to play the following season whether you win this year or not, you may get one who will help you more next season in the first round of the 2008 draft. And as Bill has mentioned a half dozen times this week, you could also trade that pick for a veteran player at some point who could possibly help you a lot more than the 28th pick in a weak 2007 draft potentially ever will.