Something to think about when talking about

[MrBigglesWorth]

The offense was the problem this year more than the defense in every game except for the last one.

That said the offense is much younger than the defense so it has a lot of room to grow. Brady will develop more chemistry with the receivers and hopefully most of all Jackson. Maroney should only get better, etc.

The defense needs more depth and to get younger before all the vets leave. There's a ton of experience that needs to be passed on.

luckily last years draft was mostly offense and as we've seen with BB draftees the biggest jump in player development is from year one to year two.

vince shared reps his rookie year and took the job exclusively his second.
eugene was there his entire rookie year
asante was a nickleback and played becuase of injuries(ty law)
watson obviously a knee injury his rookie year

so some guys jump in and play the entire year, but my opinion is rookies break down late in the season.

 

[Seneschal2]

So, where is the bigger issue? On OFFENSE where people claim the Pats need a BIG TIME WR (people have been saying that since 2001 and I have yet to see one on this team)?

I'm not in the 'we need a #1 WR' camp -- although I'll take one for free.

What we do need (Brady needs), are 2 reliable wideouts. Not a TE...not a pass catching RB who are receiving options -- but WRs. Yes, like Branch and Givens. Two wideouts who are consistent in their route running so Brady can be confident in his reads...vs his exhibited frustration this past season. At least one of them has to have the ability to stretch the field (to open up the running game). Are those 2 Caldwell and Gaffney? Yes, I think they both deserve to be in the mix of 4, along with Troy and Jackson. There's room however for another WR to compete with Bam, Kight, and the others. Now if that unknown WR is skilled enough to earn his way up the depth chart and drop others down or out -- great. Competition is healthy and a WR upgrade is welcomed. The bottom line is, that the WR corps be established EARLY...and that the timing between Brady and receivers be intact for game 1. When looking at areas for off-season improvement, I guarantee that BB, the OC, and Brady will prioritize the importance of the QB and WRs being in sync (lots of reps). A core of the WR corps is crucial.

Or on DEFENSE, where our LBs are all 30+ except for Mays, Woods, and Alexander? Where our cornerbacks and safeties have a hard time staying healthy because of the physical game that the team plays?

The ages, possible retirements, contract status, and abilities of each defensive player will be factored into the decision-making process when exploring options. Seau, Bruschi (possible retirements), Vrabel (inside or out?), TBC (performance), Wilson (performance, CB or S?), Harrison (age), Samuel (enough already). That's a HEAVY load if you're BB and Pioli. And that's just one side of the ball!

Is there a possibility for the Pats to meet the needs on the offense and defense? Yes, but reality says that the chance is pretty remote.

Yes, I'm confident we'll address all of our concerns -- but also understand that we have zero control over other teams draft selections, and limited control over which FA wants to sign with us. Most importantly, I'm supremely confident the FO will do what's best for the TEAM overall.

The Pats need a serious influx of younger talent on defense at LB, CB and Safety.

Part of that "influx" could be handled by moving Eugene Wilson from Free Safety to #2 corner and drafting a free safety to learn from Hawkins and Harrison. Maybe Wilson will stop being so gunshy if he's just hitting on receivers, primarily.

But that still leaves Free Safety, Strong Safety (for behind Sanders) and Linebacker.

I'd like to see a playmaking Safety added. If Samuel leaves, obviously a CB with 'ball skills'.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see BB use 3 of the 4 top picks on the defensive side of the ball with the one offensive pick being either an OT or a RB like Brian Leonard.

We know he'll draft for value and won't reach to fill a need. Hypothetically, he may hope for one of the round one Safeties, but if he's off the board, BB will select a different position and maybe find a value Safety later on. I agree, defense early with maybe an offensive player thrown into the mix -- depending on how the board unfolds.

Great topic -- thanks!

 

[DaBruinz]

so you think that the pats will retain samuel at about 6-7 million a year and then will make a splash with a top free agents which will be another 5-6 million. then you figure these two contracts will be 3-4 years. now consider warren will be a free agent after 2008 and he will command BIG money. you can't keep everyone and bring in big contracts at the same time.

their best bet is to try to keep graham, keep asante one year at the most franchising him, but highly doubtful, try to bring in a wr for 3-4 like a bobby engram or kevin curtis, and go after donnie edwards or london fletcher for 2-3 year and frontload the contract to avoid late year hits. and use the two #1's on two quality players(preferably defense), and continue to draft solid. and hope there is a huge jump with 2006 draftees from year one to year two..

Mr. Bigglesworth -
By the end of the 2008-2009 season, the Cap will be up to 124-129 Million. The pats, as it stands now, would be 30-35 million under the cap with probably 40 players signed. Which is whter the Pats stand right now.

Signing Samuel and Thomas to good deals won't affect the team's ability to sign Warren and James Sanders, long term.

 

[upstater1]

Defense is a bigger need BUT

Our defense would not have spent so much time on the field if we actually had a top receiver out there taking pressure off the O-lineman. Look, Indy was playing 8 in the box. That's a disgrace in the NFL. It means the other team just does not respect the perimeter players.

And for all the offense's success, we can't forget that two of those touchdowns came from a great special teams play and a great defensive play. You subtract those and our offense put up 20 points.

Not good enough against the Colts. And I'm talking about this in terms of maintaining possession of the ball which is essential.

So, while we have huge needs at LB and DB, that WR spot is a huge black hole.

 

[Rob0729]

who the Pats should draft.

In the AFC Championship game, their defense gave up 38 points, 32 in a single HALF.

Their offense was good enough to put up 27 points and the defense got 7 for them as well.

So, where is the bigger issue? On OFFENSE where people claim the Pats need a BIG TIME WR (people have been saying that since 2001 and I have yet to see one on this team)? Or on DEFENSE, where our LBs are all 30+ except for Mays, Woods, and Alexander? Where our cornerbacks and safeties have a hard time staying healthy because of the physical game that the team plays?

Is there a possibility for the Pats to meet the needs on the offense and defense? Yes, but reality says that the chance is pretty remote.

The Pats need a serious influx of younger talent on defense at LB, CB and Safety.

Part of that "influx" could be handled by moving Eugene Wilson from Free Safety to #2 corner and drafting a free safety to learn from Hawkins and Harrison. Maybe Wilson will stop being so gunshy if he's just hitting on receivers, primarily.

But that still leaves Free Safety, Strong Safety (for behind Sanders) and Linebacker.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see BB use 3 of the 4 top picks on the defensive side of the ball with the one offensive pick being either an OT or a RB like Brian Leonard.

I agree. We need to focus on defense in this offseason. I do think we need another WR, but the guy I'd like to see us go after is Kevin Curtis. I think the guy is tailor-made for our offense and can be a Deion Branch type player. He's fast, smart, got good hands, small, good route runner, and strong. We can get him for a reasonable price and then turn our attention to defense.

I think safety and LB are two fairly deep positions for free agency. There are several young guys at safety that we can pick up who can make immediate impacts like Ken Hamlin, Deon Grant, or Michael Lewis. If we pick up one of these guys, it will give us flexibility in the backfield to go several different directions in the draft.

I think Belichick may have to change his philosophy and draft a LB. Hopefully we can get Adalius Thomas or Lance Briggs or another impact LB, but every team seems to be focusing on those two guys and Thomas is Colvin's age. But I still think we need to develop a couple of guys to replace our older guys as their talents diminish or retire.

 

[Rob0729]

Defense is a bigger need BUT

Our defense would not have spent so much time on the field if we actually had a top receiver out there taking pressure off the O-lineman. Look, Indy was playing 8 in the box. That's a disgrace in the NFL. It means the other team just does not respect the perimeter players.

And for all the offense's success, we can't forget that two of those touchdowns came from a great special teams play and a great defensive play. You subtract those and our offense put up 20 points.

Not good enough against the Colts. And I'm talking about this in terms of maintaining possession of the ball which is essential.

So, while we have huge needs at LB and DB, that WR spot is a huge black hole.

I don't think we need a top playmaker to keep the defense off the field. And I don't think the offense keeping the defense on the field was much of a problem this year except for the AFC Championships. Our average time of possession this year was 31:35. That means we had the ball more than our opponents and the offense was on the field more than the defense. Even in the post season, we had the ball 30:24 minutes a game granted the Jets game skews that number quite a bit.

I felt our defense got really tire the last two games of playoffs. I think our age showed and several players like TBC got exposed for their liabilities. The defensive side needs youth and some more speed.

We do need to upgrade our WR position, but we need a good, but not great #1 WR.

 

[shirtsleeve]

The Best Defense is a Good Offense, and as we saw in the AFC CG, our offense did diddly squat in the 2nd half, and therefore, our defense suffered, and we lost the game.

All season, at least for the majority of it, our defense saved the day, and many games.

I am not saying not to draft defensive players, and I do believe our first round picks should be on the defensive side of the ball...but if we are able to get a shot at a potential top notch offensive player, we should not pass it up...and go defense in free agency.....

Ummm....freeze that, reverse it, and you have it just right! Offense wins games and defense wins championships. What we saw Sun night was a collapse of our D at the LB and S positions. The D line applied pressure all night without much help. Our corners, left on an island against two of the best wideouts in the league, held their own. I've heard the age, slowness, stuff, and I still say flu and fatigue were factors. Whatever. The Dolts scored a bazillion and a half points in the second half against the same defense that they couldn't move the ball on until the last drive of the first half. What changed? Our D got tired. Fatigued. I still say no flu induced fatigue, there would have been no comeback in the second half for the Dolts.

We are thin at ILB, S, WR, and maybe CB and TE, depending on Free Agency. But we dont have the luxury to wait to see how the draft goes before we make our moves in FA. This off season is gonna be nuts in the free agency market. Yeah, the new rules on RFA's will probably preclude most of those going anywhere. But the UFA's are going to be gobbled up faster than a kitten tossed into the Amazon. Partly due to the new RFA rules, too. There's gonna be a ton of money available for fewer players than ever before. Which means by the time the draft rolls around, all that will be out there will be street free agent shadow roster guys, old guys, and a few hold-outs looking for a cazillion dollars. None of which will help what ails us.

Which means, we need to secure our own FA's through tags or deals. Perhaps we can pick up one or two FA's that fit our system that won't be offered Oprah money somewhere else. And then comes the draft....

As has been pointed out elsewhere, trying to figure out how the Pats draft is just slightly harder than cracking the entire genetic code or solving for pi to infinity. Looking at the situation, my thought is to skip the value grouping philosophy at least through the first two rounds and target some players or positions. They have done this before, ie. Wilfork, Mankins. Will they do this again? I dunno. But to my mind, if we do not find support at LB and S in the draft, we will not have support at those positions in Sept, at least past this season. For all the older guys we may bring in (Fletcher), they are subject to the slow, fragile, tired syndrome. That would be a one year fix, if we are luckier than we were with Junior. We need to get BIG, FAST, YOUNG, and MEAN at those positions. And unless you want to unload a boatload of money, the only way to do that is in the draft.

Here's hoping we Go LB, LB, S in the draft! Which will mean DE, DE, OLB as they played in college.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Oh, BTW, here's another thought, on par with those, to borrow from BB and my sig....how about using some of our cap money to extend some of our guys who are coming along nicely, but are under the radar. Get to em before their agents start seeing big $$$ in their eyes. Ya know, 2nd and 3rd year players, at least 1 season away from RFA, and who the team knows are progressing according to plan, but haven't stood out on the field to the national media yet.

 

[Rob0729]

The Best Defense is a Good Offense, and as we saw in the AFC CG, our offense did diddly squat in the 2nd half, and therefore, our defense suffered, and we lost the game.

All season, at least for the majority of it, our defense saved the day, and many games.

I am not saying not to draft defensive players, and I do believe our first round picks should be on the defensive side of the ball...but if we are able to get a shot at a potential top notch offensive player, we should not pass it up...and go defense in free agency.....

The best offense is a good defense, but the defense is not neccessarily a good offense. The AFC Championship game was an abnormality. Our defense was spent before our offense could have done anything as shown by two subsequent drive at the end of the first and the beginning of the second half where the defense couldn't stop anyone. We gave up 10 unanswered points and about 9 minutes of clock time without the offense touching the ball.

The only time when a good offense can affect a defense is if you have an offense that can score quickly that will force the other team to air out the ball. Otherwise, the offense can be very effective and not the defense. Defense can affect offense more easily.

As for the defense saving the day most of the year, that is a gross exaggeration. The Pats offense scored over 31 points five times this season and 40 points twice. They scored 28 points another two games and only scored under 20 points 5 times. The offense was far better than you gave it credit for. This wasn't the 2003 season where the offense was very erratic and pretty average overall with a totally dominant defense. The offense and defense was more balanced this year.