The #*%$@&! Sporting News!

[deeds]

Just got home and saw this weeks, June 16th issue of TSN sitting on the counter. I grab it and glance at the cover. Under the big "Sporting News" across the front cover is the following:

"The Ultimate NFL OFFSEASON REPORT CARD"

Great I think, i quickly go to page 22 and find the the teams are grade from A+ - D. There was one with a F rating... Anyone care to guess who? Yup, thats right, the Patriots are the only team in the entire NFL with an F grade for offseason moves.

This doesn't really bother me, but I just can't understand why year after year, this team gets ZERO respect. Anyway, on to the article...

Two teams with A ratings, the Dolphins and Lions. The quote for the Dolphins: "Culpepper, who will likely be the Dolphins best QB since Dan Marino... more important, the volume of serviceable newcomers-guys such as tackle L.J. Shelton, LB Keith Newman and CB Will Allen-gives coach Saban a much deeper roster" I guess the Dolphins will be everyone's fashionable pick this year!

The Bills and Jets got B- grades:

Jets.... "They forfeited quality, Abraham, Mawae and Fabini and gained quality (at least seven players likely to make contributions)"

Bills... "They lost experience by letting Milloy. Moulds and Sam Adamsgo. But they got a good DT in Tripplett and wrapped up arguably the best player on the team, CB Clements with the franchise tag.

PATS F

"BB and Pioli have long since proved their ability to find replacement parts, but this is starting to look like a dismantling. The offense lost WR Givens and Ashworth, the defense lost LB McGinest and Starks and kicker Vinatieri and returner Tim Dwight. Besides wide receiver Caldwell who is expected to start, the Pats have little to show on the other side of the ledger"

Let me pick myself off the floor, i've been overcome by laughter!

Ok, the Dolphins picked up Culpepper, who has never one a thing, they will be everyones team on the rise pick...big deal...

The Jets lost and ALL-PRO DL and leaders in Mawae and Fabini... They also turned over their coaching staff. They may have picked up a few servicable players but, I don't see any game changers do you?

In my opinion, the Bills should have been graded with an F. They have huge holes and the best they did was pick up Tripplett. Also, this guy gives them credit for resigning their own player. How come there was no mention of Seymour's deal or the potential impact of Rodney's return.

As far as the Pats are concerned, they loss players every year. I love the players they lost (Starks should not be mentioned here, I think this is a classic case of addtion by subtraction). Good luck to Willie, David and Adam. They got their paydays and it's time to move on. Sure the Pats have some questions to answer but they still have young and deep OL's and DL's, and drafted players with tremendous upside...

I just don't get it!

 

[Kdo5]

These guys dont seem to understand...so long as we have a team full of solid players, smart and solid players all around we are easily SB contenders. We have some big stars still like Brady, Dillon, Bruschi, Vrabel, Seymour and Harrison. We have a VERY solid depth at Cornerback. Our real concern is WR. Thats it.

 

[BelichickFan]

Our real concern is WR. Thats it.

I think it's 50-50 that our WR will be better this year. We'll be lucky for Caldwell or Jackson to equal Givens (although I think it could happen) but the other one will almost certainly be better than Andre Davis. 1-3 I think we'll be as good as last yer and very possibly better.

 

[zippo59]

These guys dont seem to understand...so long as we have a team full of solid players, smart and solid players all around we are easily SB contenders. We have some big stars still like Brady, Dillon, Bruschi, Vrabel, Seymour and Harrison. We have a VERY solid depth at Cornerback. Our real concern is WR. Thats it.

I agree that they WR is the main area, where 1 or 2 vets should be added. However LB might be another area too, but this all depends on how Beisel, Alexander, Banta-Cain, and Claridge are playing, which is only known inside the organization. If these guys are playing well, and are ready to move in then LB is a non issue.

 

[BelichickFan]

I agree that they WR is the main area, where 1 or 2 vets should be added.

We have 4 locks in Branch, Jackson, Caldwell and Brown. That leaves one spot for a developmental guy like Bam or vet like Patten (if he's released). We could use one guy but that's it.

 

[zippo59]

We have 4 locks in Branch, Jackson, Caldwell and Brown. That leaves one spot for a developmental guy like Bam or vet like Patten (if he's released). We could use one guy but that's it.

I agree but we always want to bring extra bodies to camp. I think they should bring to vets but likely only sign one.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

As far as the Pats are concerned, they loss players every year. I love the players they lost (Starks should not be mentioned here, I think this is a classic case of addtion by subtraction). Good luck to Willie, David and Adam. They got their paydays and it's time to move on. Sure the Pats have some questions to answer but they still have young and deep OL's and DL's, and drafted players with tremendous upside...

I just don't get it!

If this guy is NOT looking at the draft and ONLY looking at FA moves and losses, I can understand why the Pats wouldn't receive a high grade.... although an 'F' is still ridiculous.

We lost 3 players that really count... Givens, McGinest, and Vinatieri.

He is an idiot for even mentioning Starks. He fails to mention Warfield, T.Jones, and Mitchell. He gives other teams credit for resigning their players but ignores that we retained and extended key players.

He also fails to mention that we had a ton of injuries last year and those players will be back.

In short, he is a lazy sports writer.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Just got home and saw this weeks, June 16th issue of TSN sitting on the counter. I grab it and glance at the cover. Under the big "Sporting News" across the front cover is the following:

"The Ultimate NFL OFFSEASON REPORT CARD"

Great I think, i quickly go to page 22 and find the the teams are grade from A+ - D. There was one with a F rating... Anyone care to guess who? Yup, thats right, the Patriots are the only team in the entire NFL with an F grade for offseason moves.

This doesn't really bother me, but I just can't understand why year after year, this team gets ZERO respect. Anyway, on to the article...

Two teams with A ratings, the Dolphins and Lions. The quote for the Dolphins: "Culpepper, who will likely be the Dolphins best QB since Dan Marino... more important, the volume of serviceable newcomers-guys such as tackle L.J. Shelton, LB Keith Newman and CB Will Allen-gives coach Saban a much deeper roster" I guess the Dolphins will be everyone's fashionable pick this year!

The Bills and Jets got B- grades:

Jets.... "They forfeited quality, Abraham, Mawae and Fabini and gained quality (at least seven players likely to make contributions)"

Bills... "They lost experience by letting Milloy. Moulds and Sam Adamsgo. But they got a good DT in Tripplett and wrapped up arguably the best player on the team, CB Clements with the franchise tag.

PATS F

"BB and Pioli have long since proved their ability to find replacement parts, but this is starting to look like a dismantling. The offense lost WR Givens and Ashworth, the defense lost LB McGinest and Starks and kicker Vinatieri and returner Tim Dwight. Besides wide receiver Caldwell who is expected to start, the Pats have little to show on the other side of the ledger"

Let me pick myself off the floor, i've been overcome by laughter!

Ok, the Dolphins picked up Culpepper, who has never one a thing, they will be everyones team on the rise pick...big deal...

The Jets lost and ALL-PRO DL and leaders in Mawae and Fabini... They also turned over their coaching staff. They may have picked up a few servicable players but, I don't see any game changers do you?

In my opinion, the Bills should have been graded with an F. They have huge holes and the best they did was pick up Tripplett. Also, this guy gives them credit for resigning their own player. How come there was no mention of Seymour's deal or the potential impact of Rodney's return.

As far as the Pats are concerned, they loss players every year. I love the players they lost (Starks should not be mentioned here, I think this is a classic case of addtion by subtraction). Good luck to Willie, David and Adam. They got their paydays and it's time to move on. Sure the Pats have some questions to answer but they still have young and deep OL's and DL's, and drafted players with tremendous upside...

I just don't get it!

Me neither. An F? Worse than the niners? I'll have to check that out. Funny thing is, Chad Jackson will be better than Givens. Vinateri has been wanting to leave for awhile, so that was inevitable. I love Willie but having Vrabel and Colvin on the outside, we will be fine. Losing Ashworth? Who cares? Strarks? Just shows these guys don't have a clue...

All I have to say is between Jackson and Maroney who will be the rookie of the year?

 

[MrTibbs]

The Patriots spread the ball around too much for one player to have that "huge" season. With that considered I think they all will contribute mightily this season at one point or another.

 

[TruthSeeker]

"We lost 3 players that really count... Givens, McGinest, and Vinatieri."

I think this sums it all up as far as getting an "F". Though I don't think an "F" is deserved, there is now way we deserve to be in the top as far as offseason moves. Though Givens was a 7th round pick, he turned into an excellent #2 receiver with toughness, blocking ability, and was clutch. McGinest was possibly, besides Brady, the main leader of the team. Though he is now 34, he has shown that he has become better with age. He is at an age where he should start to deteriorate, and who knows if he will, but he will be tough to replace. Vinatieri, most likely the most clutch kicker of all time, though never known for a booming leg, his stats are still pretty good, I believe he missed only 2 field goals from 40+ last year.

As a Pats fanatic, I am hoping that Caldwell, Banta-Cain & Gostkowski are able to step up and replace these guys without missing a beat, but there are no guarantees. I know that a lot of Pats fans will be pissed if/when Gostkowski misses his first clutch kick attempt.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Though I don't think an "F" is deserved, there is now way we deserve to be in the top as far as offseason moves.

I don't think any rational person would claim the Pats deserve an A, but an F is just plain absurd.

Vinatieri, most likely the most clutch kicker of all time, though never known for a booming leg, his stats are still pretty good, I believe he missed only 2 field goals from 40+ last year.

But how many tries did he actually have from 40+ last year? [Anyone remember when BB had 'em punt instead of take a kick as we'd expect?]

 

[patriotsrule]

If this guy is NOT looking at the draft and ONLY looking at FA moves and losses, I can understand why the Pats wouldn't receive a high grade.... although an 'F' is still ridiculous.

We lost 3 players that really count... Givens, McGinest, and Vinatieri.

He is an idiot for even mentioning Starks. He fails to mention Warfield, T.Jones, and Mitchell. He gives other teams credit for resigning their players but ignores that we retained and extended key players.

He also fails to mention that we had a ton of injuries last year and those players will be back.

In short, he is a lazy sports writer.

Why, because he's paid to give his opinion and that's what he did? I love how anyone who writes a bad word about the Pats is lazy. I disagree with him but I won't say he's lazy just because he doesn't like the moves the Patriots made. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We'll just see what happens on the field.

 

[PlattsFan]

McGinest was a real loss, no doubt, and Givens is an OK player. But, an F really is absurd.

It's the "I'm cool because I say something different" card sportswriters like to play (although they all play the same card at the same time). For them, they like to say something on the edge of acceptable opinion, that sounds new, but isn't really. So, right now, the "Patriots are losing their touch" story seems fresh, so they're all doing it.

Whatever. If all they did was sing the Patriots praises, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun to root for them ...

Sometime near or soon after the beginning of training camp, the story will be "the Patriots had a much better offseason than people give them credit for." I guarantee it.

edit: I should note it's not just sportswriters. The political "pundits" are exactly the same way, only they are playing with much higher stakes.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I don't think any rational person would claim the Pats deserve an A, but an F is just plain absurd.



But how many tries did he actually have from 40+ last year? [Anyone remember when BB had 'em punt instead of take a kick as we'd expect?]

I believe he was 6 out of 8 from 40+, and 0 for 1 from 50+, something like that. From 40+ (including 50+) I believe he was 6 for 9.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

Why, because he's paid to give his opinion and that's what he did? I love how anyone who writes a bad word about the Pats is lazy. I disagree with him but I won't say he's lazy just because he doesn't like the moves the Patriots made. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We'll just see what happens on the field.

Patriotsrule, it's not that the writer looked at the offseason and simply gave us an F, it's the fact that he mentions players in a way that makes you think all he did was look at a list of all the team's free agent gains and losses. Starks? Ashworth? Starks played awful, Ashworth was hurt and replaced.

It reminds me of after the 2003 season when we lost players on the lines in Woody, Hamilton and Ted Washington. When some writers mentioned the bad state of the lines, they would also mention the loss of Mike Compton being a blow to the team. He played one game in 2003 and then was lost for the season to injury. It was obvious some writers simply noticed he was a Week 1 starter and now we no longer had him.

As others have said, I couldn't care less if you want to look at our offseason and consider it a failure. However, at least let it be based on actual observation and not just a list of players lost with no idea of how important a player actually was to the team.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I believe he was 6 out of 8 from 40+, and 0 for 1 from 50+, something like that. From 40+ (including 50+) I believe he was 6 for 9.

Let me rephrase the question: he made 6 kicks from 40+ . . . but how many opportunities did the Pats have to go for FGs from 40+ this year that they didn't go for the 3?

 

[Ungeheuer]

McGinest was a real loss, no doubt, and Givens is an OK player. But, an F really is absurd.

It's the "I'm cool because I say something different" card sportswriters like to play (although they all play the same card at the same time). For them, they like to say something on the edge of acceptable opinion, that sounds new, but isn't really. So, right now, the "Patriots are losing their touch" story seems fresh, so they're all doing it.

Whatever. If all they did was sing the Patriots praises, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun to root for them ...

Sometime near or soon after the beginning of training camp, the story will be "the Patriots had a much better offseason than people give them credit for." I guarantee it.

edit: I should note it's not just sportswriters. The political "pundits" are exactly the same way, only they are playing with much higher stakes.

Since I am a political pundit in my day job, I feel I should respond to this by confessing that you are absolutely correct...

As for the Pats' offseason grades, the sporting media is driven here by intensely self-serving motives. There are no headlines to be made by signing career backups and rotational players like Mike Vrabel, or projects like Tom Ashworth and Gene Mruczkowski. The Patriots almost always do this stuff and they almost never go for the big media headline acquisition (Corey Dillon excluded). Cap-savvy, bargain-basement offseason shopping goes against the entire logical framework of the sports media, which plays to the let's-hump-the-first-thing-we-see impulses of the average sports fan.

I honestly don't see what the Patriots could have done this season except maybe retain Vinatieri, and it looks to me there like he was determined to go elsewhere. Re-signing Willie would have been a bad move. Re-signing Givens to #1 money would have been a bad move. Signing Randle-El to Redskins money would have been crazy. What they did do is sign two elite special teamers in Mel Mitchell and Tebucky Jones, and they committed massive money to a guy who deserved it in Richard Seymour, ending a potentially explosive clubhouse situation. They also re-signed Steve Neal, which was a quietly excellent move. They also extended Russ Hochstein, which gives them insurance in case Koppen doesn't sign. For all the guys they didn't re-sign, they certainly did some good in bringing back their own players.

With the Sullivan trade... one thing few people remember is how hard it is to find a guy who can play the 3-4 nose in the NFL. Remember the pre-Ted Washington Jarvis-Green/Klecko nose-tryout fiasco? We sent a WR who wasn't going to play to New Orleans for a guy who, while he may not be all that good, can at least play the position in an emergency. I think that was a pretty solid move, frankly.

The Pats still have a ton of cap money and I'd be shocked if Ty Law didn't end up being the beneficiary there. It just makes too much sense for everyone concerned. If they bring back Ty, this year might turn out to be their best offseason in a while. They'll have shored up both sides of the ball and special teams and drafted a ton of guys, a few of whom look like might be impact players. And the only real money they will have spent will have been on proven Pro Bowlers (Law and Seymour).

Too often teams get caught up in a situation where they're desperate to fill a hole and so they start throwing money at mediocrities -- call it the Dan ****au factor. After a few years you've got thirty million dollars tied up in guys who either don't play or are already off the team. I'd rather the Pats lived with the holes than committed us to years of overpaid stiffs.

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

I once thought that the Sporting News was a fairly good source for football...now I would have to think otherwise for this inane grade.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I once thought that the Sporting News was a fairly good source for football...now I would have to think otherwise for this inane grade.

TSN was always THE bible for BASEBALL stats. If you wanted to know how Joe Dmblfuch was doing in the single-A minor, minor, minor leagues, this was the source. Eventually they were forced to add a column or two for each of the other sports as a self defense measure. It shows that their hearts are still with baseball though...