The Official Patriots/Broncos Post Game Thread

[Deus Irae]

I sincerely hope that they let both of them ride off into the sunset. Talib is soft and is not a gamer and Edelman is a cheap knock off of Welker. Let both of them take off and use the money to make an impact at each position.

I don't look at Edelman as the Welker replacement, because that's clearly not what was intended for him (See Amendola, Danny), and he makes a living in different areas of the field a good deal of the time. Edelman's looks like he's grown into a fine WR3, if you've got a Welker at WR1-WR2 in the slot and a legit outside guy at the other WR1-WR2 spot. If he asks for too much money, they have to let him walk, but that goes back to the Amendola mistake.

As for Talib, it's tough to blame him for getting hurt today, but people were already questioning paying him big coin because of the hip thing. There are other CBs who'll be available, and I expect the Patriots will do their usual weighting game. I just hope they don't put their thumb on the scale the way they did last year.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Is it an overreaction if I'm fine with every single FA leaving? (Granted, we actually replace Talib with a CB1)

 

[VrabelJr]

I would like to keep Edelman, Hooman and Blount at the right price. Then draft OG/C, DT and depth guys. Sign free agent CB and maybe WR/TE because they take longer to develop and time is of the essence.

Another thing I'm open to is taking a Safety high in the draft and putting McCourty back to CB. He's too good to not be involved in every play.

 

[Deus Irae]

Gronkowski is under contract while Talib is an unrestricted free agent. There is only so much room under the salary cap taking account the following unrestricted free agents:

Blount
Edelman
Wendell
Svitek
Hoomanawanui
Mulligan
Carter (should retire)
Spikes
Fletcher
Talib

At least Marquice Cole is no longer on the roster.

Money aside,

Blount
Edelman
Hoomanawanui
Spikes
Fletcher

are all welcome back in appropriate roles, in my eyes. As far as Talib goes, I'd like to see the medicals on his hip before committing.

 

[manxman2601]

Re-sign the big 3, draft two quality TE's, add speed on defense, let our youngsters mature another year, stay healthy and almost by default we'll have a better year next year than this. This is still a very good team despite what some are saying.

 

[blackglass3]

I would like to keep Edelman, Hooman and Blount at the right price. Then draft OG/C, DT and depth guys. Sign free agent CB and maybe WR/TE because they take longer to develop and time is of the essence.

Another thing I'm open to is taking a Safety high in the draft and putting McCourty back to CB. He's too good to not be involved in every play.

Pardon? The guy was a disaster after his rookie season. He's much better at S.

And why should we bother paying Blount when we just end up abandoning the run? Unless they plan on morphing the offense into what we saw the last few weeks before this game, just ride the Ridley/Vereen/Boldin train for another year and maybe draft a low round RB.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Instead of resigning another slot WR at 4-5 million, we could hope one of Amendola/Boyce/Moe become a decent one.

Instead of resigning Blount at 4-5 million, we could use Ridley, who does the same thing.

Talib is the tricky one.

 

[fumbrunner]

Instead of resigning another slot WR at 4-5 million, we could hope one of Amendola/Boyce/Moe become a decent one.

yeah, lets make this mistake again. While we are at it, throw another rookie into the mix. I'm sure Brady will love that.:bricks:

 

[ATippett56]

Instead of resigning another slot WR at 4-5 million, we could hope one of Amendola/Boyce/Moe become a decent one.

Bill Belichick allowed David Givens to walk in unrestricted free agency and traded Deion Branch when contract negotiations went awry.

Instead of resigning Blount at 4-5 million, we could use Ridley, who does the same thing.

If Blount was not to be utilized as the work horse half back against the Denver Broncos, why even bother?

Talib is the tricky one.

How did signing an injury prone wide receiver work out for the New England Patriots this season?

Danny Amendola - New England Patriots - 2014 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com

3/13/2013: Signed a five-year, $28.5 million contract. The deal contains $10 million guaranteed -- a $6 million signing bonus, Amendola's first-year base salary, and $2 million of his second-year salary. Another $3.3 million is available through incentives. Amendola is eligible for per-game roster bonuses totaling $500,000 annually throughout the contract's life. 2013: $2 million, 2014: $3 million, 2015: $4 million, 2016: $5 million, 2017: $6 million, 2018: Free Agent

 

[PattieswinSB]

yeah, lets make this mistake again. While we are at it, throw another rookie into the mix. I'm sure Brady will love that.:bricks:

Going into the season hoping that 3 rookie WR's would be passable was a huge mistake. Rookie WR's rarely make a huge impact especially ones who are later round picks.

 

[Deus Irae]

Going into the season hoping that 3 rookie WR's would be passable was a huge mistake. Rookie WR's rarely make a huge impact especially ones who are later round picks.

A fair amount of us warned/railed against going into the year with what the Patriots had assembled

Gronk - injury issues, was still hurt
Amendola - Glassman
Edelman - Glassman
Hernandez - Glassman
Boyce - Rookie
Dobson - Rookie


Well, Hernandez didn't even make it to the season, and the rest, save Edelman, lived up to the concerns*. It was all avoidable, but BB decided to try outthinking the room, yet again. The result is another year that TFB can't get ring #4. Are you suggesting that they now gamble that Dobson/Thompkins/Boyce will be healthy and worthy? I'm curious as to people's positions on that.







* This doesn't even address the concerns that were had about the defense, which were also there.

 

[ATippett56]

Going into the season hoping that 3 rookie WR's would be passable was a huge mistake. Rookie WR's rarely make a huge impact especially ones who are later round picks.

As opposed to trading away draft picks at the wide receiver position (Chad Ochostinko) or flushing valuable salary cap dollars down the drain in unrestricted free agency at the wide receiver position (Lloyd, Amendola)?

 

[SVN]

Misfiring Brady blew holes in Patriots chances | Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com

 

[moejr]

Denver is going to crush seattle or the 49ers

Highly doubtful.

 

[ensoul]

Honestly what would have the seahawks done to this pats team anyway if they can only score 16 points against the Broncos? Pats would have gotten annihilated in the superbowl with this offense.

 

[blackglass3]

A fair amount of us warned/railed against going into the year with what the Patriots had assembled

Gronk - injury issues, was still hurt
Amendola - Glassman
Edelman - Glassman
Hernandez - Glassman
Boyce - Rookie
Dobson - Rookie


Well, Hernandez didn't even make it to the season, and the rest, save Edelman, lived up to the concerns*. It was all avoidable, but BB decided to try outthinking the room, yet again. The result is another year that TFB can't get ring #4. Are you suggesting that they now gamble that Dobson/Thompkins/Boyce will be healthy and worthy? I'm curious as to people's positions on that.

Is it possible to want the Rookies AND go get a proven WR? WR1 = ? (I am not sure who's out there besides Eric Decker), WR2 = Dobson, WR3 = Edelman, WR4 = Boyce, WR5 = Thompkins

I think Dobson will be the real deal. I have no idea what Amendola's cap deal is, but if we can get rid of him we should. I'd rather hang onto a 2nd year guy that could blossom (Thompkins/Boyce).

 

[BradyFTW!]

I sincerely hope that they let both of them ride off into the sunset. Talib is soft and is not a gamer and Edelman is a cheap knock off of Welker. Let both of them take off and use the money to make an impact at each position.

I 100% agree re: Talib. He's soft and I don't want him back here. Edelman, though? Obviously, it depends on how much it takes to keep him, but if he's not too expensive then I definitely think they should keep him. The guy was getting open deep all day. He's not a #1 WR, but if Dobson evolves into that role I like him as a WR2.

 

[Deus Irae]

Is it possible to want the Rookies AND go get a proven WR? WR1 = ? (I am not sure who's out there besides Eric Decker), WR2 = Dobson, WR3 = Edelman, WR4 = Boyce, WR5 = Thompkins

I think Dobson will be the real deal. I have no idea what Amendola's cap deal is, but if we can get rid of him we should. I'd rather hang onto a 2nd year guy that could blossom (Thompkins/Boyce).

According to Jason, $6.8m in dead money would accelerate against the cap if they cut/traded Amendola. He'll carry a 4.7 cap number if they keep him, so he actually costs an extra $2.1m to get rid of. Miguel's numbers are slightly different (they seem to disagree on the bonus, and I think that Miguel hasn't applied the roster bonus yet), but they're basically the same.

As to your question, I think there's going to be some real prioritizing, because the team's not going to be as flush with cap room this year. There's not another Brady extension coming.

 

[moejr]

You would almost have a point if Brady hadn't been missing open receivers downfield all day. You would have had a point in 2010, when the issue was that the receivers just didn't get open and the line didn't block.

That wasn't the story today. Today, the receivers did their jobs, no matter what their names and salaries are. They got open and Brady consistently failed to hit them.

You are so far off it's not even funny. The O crapped the bed today but it was hardly on Brady. The pass to Collie and Edelman are the only 2 glaring mistakes IMHO.You can blame our OC for today. He just cannot come up with big time game plans in high pressure games. SB42= 14 pts, SB46= 17 pts., AFCCG last year= 13 pts. AFCCG this year= 16 points. We held the Broncos to 5 less points today than we did in the regular season matchup. We scored 19 less points today than in the regular season meeting. We need a few pieces on O and D to be more complete but the real needs is a fresh OC and DC.

 

[moejr]

Same old tired excuse used all season by the Brady apologists. They needed their HOF QB to play like a HOF and he didn't.....and frankly he hasn't in the playoffs for many years. They didn't lose because of him but he didn't do his job, which is to be a difference maker.

BS! He didn't turn it over, he completed 63% of his passes and threw for a TD and ran one in. That's pretty good. He just doesn't have the targets he needs. They gotta fix that in the offseason.