THESE 3 Players Will be HUGE Additions

[Bostonian1962]

So alot of you are trying to figure out what additions to the Patriots will really help the team.

Well, look at the team that exited the playoffs last year, short of the Super Bowl. Then how about adding a starting left tackle, a starting center, and a starting CB?

How about these 3?: Matt Light, Dan Koppens, and Randall Gay.

In other words my peeps, the team in NOT in a shambles. Add to it that Brady was playing hurt. Ditto Dillon. Ditto Danny Graham. Ditto Bruschi.

This team is going to be great as usual. It's March. And, in March, they usually don't look as solid as they do in July. We also pick lower than we have in years in the draft.

The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades. If the Patriots aren't a great team again this coming season, I promise to praise Ron Borges early next year.

 

[Feep_FLA]

Amen, Bostonian, amen. Toss in those draft picks and its all gravy! :rocker:

 

[RayClay]

So alot of you are trying to figure out what additions to the Patriots will really help the team.

Well, look at the team that exited the playoffs last year, short of the Super Bowl. Then how about adding a starting left tackle, a starting center, and a starting CB?

How about these 3?: Matt Light, Dan Koppens, and Randall Gay.

In other words my peeps, the team in NOT in a shambles. Add to it that Brady was playing hurt. Ditto Dillon. Ditto Danny Graham. Ditto Bruschi.

This team is going to be great as usual. It's March. And, in March, they usually don't look as solid as they do in July. We also pick lower than we have in years in the draft.

The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades. If the Patriots aren't a great team again this coming season, I promise to praise Ron Borges early next year.

To play Devil's advocate, we need to do well in F.A. and the draft this year.

We had bad luck with injuries, but it only exposed age and/or lack of depth problems at LB, OL, RB and WR without Givens.

We've got the means to handle these problems, but we need to do better than the last year or two in terms of choices.

Add to that the winner's curse in the Salary cap era. All our players are over valued by others and many will want to cash in.

No reason to panic, but the Rosy glasses won't tell you the whole story either.

F.A., draft and resigning our core will make this a very challenging off-season.

 

[BionicPatriot]

This team has one area of concern RIGHT NOW. WR. That's the only red flag I see if something is not done.

I have questions.

How will the secondary be against elite level? Will they ever fricken stay healthy? Will Harrison be back? And if so, how effectively.

Plus...We're going to move Vrabel outside I bet. So what do we do inside? Do we trust Beisel with Bruschi?

What we NEED to do is this. In the draft, PLEASE ADDRESS THE LB POSITION! We are getting older by the minute here. Get us some young GOOD OLB or ILB prospects. I'm tired of getting late talent wastes at this position. Look for a new safety, and if we can, draft a young stud RB. Those are the 3 major positions we need to get younger at. I actually don't see us looking at WR much in this draft. why? Because the class sucks.

And please, can we lock up Branch and Seymour? We have the money to do it, so lets get it done. These players are to good and to YOUNG to let go.

 

[NE_PATS_FAN_54]

To play Devil's advocate, we need to do well in F.A. and the draft this year.

We had bad luck with injuries, but it only exposed age and/or lack of depth problems at LB, OL, RB and WR without Givens.

We've got the means to handle these problems, but we need to do better than the last year or two in terms of choices.

Add to that the winner's curse in the Salary cap era. All our players are over valued by others and many will want to cash in.

No reason to panic, but the Rosy glasses won't tell you the whole story either.

F.A., draft and resigning our core will make this a very challenging off-season.

agreed....sure u add koppen and light...BUT those werent your problems last year. hochstein and kazcur did a VERY good job filling in. randall gay wouldnt have made a dam difference. if u really look at it, the pats have done poorly the last 2 offseasons. there is no arguing that. i mean u only have traylor and miller(miller was a good pickup), and last year with beisel, brown, terrell, scott, edwards, fluite, etc. those are bad offseasons in terms of free agency. sure they are always good in the draft and they have to be the way they do in free agency. they desperatly need a SOLID free agent corps this year. and the way it looks now, thats gonna be hard to accomplish. u guy/gals can drink ur belichick coolaid all u want, but realize that the pats have to step it up.....NOW.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

I'm with RayClay.

I'm not worried. I'm not upset that we didn't obscenely overpay for players like other teams. (Brian Williams not even a starting corner last year and getting a $32 million contract) Of course it would be more exciting to come home every day to see the Patriots have signed someone but I completly understand their approach and I go with it.

However, I've also learned something else over the last three years. We have to keep adding talent to stay on top. Of course the return of Light, Koppen, Gay, Harrison and others will make us a better team. But someone is going to go down in 2006. We will have injury problems. A team devastated by injuries for three consecutive seasons will not go through this year with an occasional missed week as their biggest problem. So we shouldn't count on health as our improvement in the off-season.

 

[SeanBruschi54]

To play Devil's advocate, we need to do well in F.A. and the draft this year.

We had bad luck with injuries, but it only exposed age and/or lack of depth problems at LB, OL, RB and WR without Givens.

We've got the means to handle these problems, but we need to do better than the last year or two in terms of choices.

Add to that the winner's curse in the Salary cap era. All our players are over valued by others and many will want to cash in.

No reason to panic, but the Rosy glasses won't tell you the whole story either.

F.A., draft and resigning our core will make this a very challenging off-season.

Great post bro,

Another thing is our draft class needs to be players who can come right in and contibute right away. Not these two year project type players.

 

[patriotsox]

If Pittsburgh can stumble it's way into the Super Bowl past Indy with James, then we'll surely make a dent in these teams in 06-07, something says some teams that were under are going to be looking up, while some teams challenging for playoff spots in 05-06 are going to be challenged by the bottom of last years food chain while the patriots who aren't changing much are still going to have the chemistry, character, and coach to get by both of these guys.
One fluck pass interference killed our hopes, they wanted the colts, they got the steelers. So I think it's Patriots again running strong.

 

[fgssand]

No reason to panic, but the Rosy glasses won't tell you the whole story either.

F.A., draft and resigning our core will make this a very challenging off-season.

All off seasons are challenging, I aint worried, we have the best in the biz in our front office.

AND>>>speaking of Rosy, what a monster year coming up for this guy.

 

[poppabear721]

From a sense of worry about this coming season, I'm really not. Key players on this team were injured throughout the year. When Teddy went down, I felt like we lost our heart. Don't get me wrong, I don't think one player is the key to success for the Pats, but when Teddy went down, I just knew the heart was taken out of our defense. After Rodney's injury, the defense struggled all year. Seemed alot of teams got alot deeper into our secondary this year. That's going to lead to one thing.. TD's. I think we have suffered some losses this year that will be felt, but BB and the coaching staff have given us three superbowl titles to believe in.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Great post bro,

Another thing is our draft class needs to be players who can come right in and contibute right away. Not these two year project type players.

* The way the NFL works these days the 1st day picks almost have to be good contributors.

 

[DaBruinz]

agreed....sure u add koppen and light...BUT those werent your problems last year. hochstein and kazcur did a VERY good job filling in. randall gay wouldnt have made a dam difference. if u really look at it, the pats have done poorly the last 2 offseasons. there is no arguing that. i mean u only have traylor and miller(miller was a good pickup), and last year with beisel, brown, terrell, scott, edwards, fluite, etc. those are bad offseasons in terms of free agency. sure they are always good in the draft and they have to be the way they do in free agency. they desperatly need a SOLID free agent corps this year. and the way it looks now, thats gonna be hard to accomplish. u guy/gals can drink ur belichick coolaid all u want, but realize that the pats have to step it up.....NOW.

Thank you for establishing that you aren't a Pats fan. Your a moron.

1) Randall Gay being healthy would have made a difference.
2) Anyone who has to rely SOLELY on free agency to put a good team together is hurting ANYWAYS.
3) Getting Traylor and Josh Miller was a very good off-season considering the Pats had limited cap money available.
4) Considering the limited amount of money that the Pats had and the fact that Beisel wasn't expected to be a starter right away and Brown was brought in to play OLB, but was switch to ILB, the off-season was actually pretty decent especially for the limited funds available. Scott played well until he got injured.
5) A massive mount of injuries to starters is what cost the Pats last season. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

[RayClay]

Great post bro,

Another thing is our draft class needs to be players who can come right in and contibute right away. Not these two year project type players.

Good point. There's no doubt they gambled on some athletic projects rather than the type of player they usually draft.

Wise at the time because we didn't have much roster space so we gambled on players with great size or speed. (Bethel, Marquise Hill and Watson).

They might all work out, but I'll guarantee the players they draft this year will "get it" even if they lack the measurables. Proven performers.

 

[Bostonian1962]

agreed....sure u add koppen and light...BUT those werent your problems last year. hochstein and kazcur did a VERY good job filling in. randall gay wouldnt have made a dam difference. if u really look at it, the pats have done poorly the last 2 offseasons. there is no arguing that. i mean u only have traylor and miller(miller was a good pickup), and last year with beisel, brown, terrell, scott, edwards, fluite, etc. those are bad offseasons in terms of free agency. sure they are always good in the draft and they have to be the way they do in free agency. they desperatly need a SOLID free agent corps this year. and the way it looks now, thats gonna be hard to accomplish. u guy/gals can drink ur belichick coolaid all u want, but realize that the pats have to step it up.....NOW.

Hard to argue with you 54 about their offseasons. And, I agree with some other posts that WR is vitally important. Again, it's only March, and alot will happen between now and camp.

 

[Bostonian1962]

Great post bro,

Another thing is our draft class needs to be players who can come right in and contibute right away. Not these two year project type players.

I figure since they had three starting rookies this past season (Mankins, Kazcur, and Hobbs), and they have a better draft position this year, that they should do well. Time will tell.