Will this be a rebuilding season?

[Sivy]

They kicked our a**. Having said that, we need a couple playmakers on D and should consider upgrading OL. I wouldn't call that "rebuilding."

um, no. The OL had one bad game and they need to be upgraded? Wining by 3 points is hardly an a** kicking.

 

[Pats726]

Rebuilding??? please...I think that is silly....one loss and time to REBUILD!! silliest I have heard in awhile..

 

[GPR11788]

Rebuilding? NO WAY IS THIS SEASON GOING TO BE A REBUILDING SEASON! The Dolphins are rebuilding. The Patriots are just upgrading, after one loss to say that a team is rebuilding is crazy. The Pats did not play well, they were out coached and simply outplayed in the super bowl. They just did not look like the Pats that we saw in the 18 prior games. I felt they were trying to "air it out" too much, if you watched the jaguars game you would see just a lot of dumpoff passes and other high percentage passes. In the superbowl I don't get why they were trying for the big play every time. What I had seen from the Pats pretty much all year just was not there. I guess the pressure just got too them, but another thing that I thought I would never see from the Pats just might have been overconfidence and underestimating the Giants. Anyway, I guess I kind of got off topic but all this just brings back bad memories.

 

[Fencer]

It all depends on what the Pats' think of FA prices any particular year. That's the biggest determinant of whether they build long-term cap flexibility or whether they cash it in.

The first year of the new contract, they built. Last season, they cashed in.

I'm sure they have a better guess than ours, but I don't think they will KNOW themselves until the see what happens the first few days of free agency.

 

[ivanvamp]

They kicked our a**. Having said that, we need a couple playmakers on D and should consider upgrading OL. I wouldn't call that "rebuilding."

You know, it *felt* like they were beating us up badly, but heading into their fateful final drive (where the Pats could have had 3 interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a 4th down stop, but couldn't get any of those), here were the stats:

1st downs
NY - 13
NE - 22

Time of Possession
NY - 28:19
NE - 28:59

Total Yards (includes sack yardage lost)
NY - 255
NE - 284

Passing
NY - 14-25 (56.0%)
NE - 29-43 (67.4%)

Passing Yards (not counting sacks)
NY - 179
NE - 266

Rushing
NY - 24-84 (3.5)
NE - 16-45 (2.8)

It's pretty hard to argue, statistically, that until the Giants' last drive they were kicking New England's rear end, when all the numbers favored the Patriots, some by a wide margin (i.e., first downs).

In order for the Giants to win, all of three things needed to happen: (1) They needed to play phenomenally well, (2) the Pats had to play substandard football, and (3) the Giants needed to catch some huge breaks. In fact, all three happened. With all those things going for the Giants, they still *barely* won, thanks in very large part to the most miraculous play in history.

Did they deserve to win? Sure. But it's just not true that they kicked the Patriots all over the field. Hardly.

 

[OhExaulted1]

Yeah, definatley a rebuilding year. We're talking 2-14 and wait for next years draft. The wheels have come off after being absolutely dominated by 3 points against the Giants in the SB.

Panic button meet finger. Finger meet panic button. We're like the Falcons now.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The funny thing is that, if the pats win 11-12 games next year, there are people who will consider it a rebuilding season. Odd, how much our standards have changed in so little time.

 

[fgssand]

I don't think there is any need for a massive rebuilding job here. i think you will see the "D" undergo something similar to what you saw with the offense last year.

The draft will bring along some young talent, we have plenty of money to go out and sign a few high end free agents and we will also find some "jags" from those players released from other teams or those so called "gems" that BB/SP are so good at finding.

I do think the "D" will get little younger maybe but certainly faster.

I hope to see contributions from last years draft class -with Lua, Richardson & year to of Meriwether.

Replace Asante & maybe Gay, replace a few of the LB's should they retire or not restructure and maybe one young fast stud on the DL.

Dom Capers should add alot in helping out BB&P get this all done.

We all look to dominate on "D" next year while keeping this offense as productive as it was last year.

We really can end up being a much improved team next year and that friends has to be a very scary thought for the rest of the NFL.

We ARE winning #4 in 2008.

 

[BionicPatriot]

Tom Brady is old?

Laurence Maroney is old?

Wes Welker is old?

Benjamin Watson is old?

Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, and Nick Kaczur are old?

Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, and Ty Warren are old?

Rosevelt Colvin and Adalius Thomas are old?

Ellis Hobbs, James Sanders, and Brandon Meriweather are old?

Stephen Gostkowski is old?

Thank you. I've had enough of this damn old talk. This team needs LBs and some secondary help. Show me one contending team that has NO weakness, no older players. Show me one. Some of you people man. Before the game we heard nothing but positive talk, more titles to come. One choke job later, the team is done for good? Ridiculous.

 

[the Patriot]

No offense, but honestly how dumb can you be? We went 18-1 this year with 97 year old Middle Line Backers. Not to mention putting together the greatest offense ever seen in the history of the NFL. Relax the sky isn't falling.

I'm not saying we won't be contenders, I'm just not sure if we'll be able to launch another juggernaut team like last season and steamroll every opponent in our path. And even if we could I don't think it would be a good decision in a future perspective. Maybe I am chicken little but I get nervous this time of year, especially when Asante goes asking for 100kk.

 

[RayClay]

I think rebuilding was an unfortunate choice of words.

I'd sure like to see us get some younger players at LB and CB and maybe elsewhere (although there are few spots.

Some athletic cheaper players might pay dividends, if we trade down to a couple low first round picks.

Or a young impact player.

 

[jmt57]

16-0 teams don't rebuild; they reload.

The concept of "rebuilding" means that you are convinced that the team cannot win as currently constructed. In order to do that you trade away some of your most valuable parts with an eyen on being competitive two or three years down the road. For example, the Bengals may believe they cannot win with their current nucleus, so they may want to trade Chad Johnson for some draft picks.

Being in a horrible salary cap position (which the Pats are not) is a valid reason to rebuild. Losing one game is not a valid reason to waive a white flag and throw in the towel.

 

[the Patriot]

16-0 teams don't rebuild; they reload.

The concept of "rebuilding" means that you are convinced that the team cannot win as currently constructed. In order to do that you trade away some of your most valuable parts with an eyen on being competitive two or three years down the road. For example, the Bengals may believe they cannot win with their current nucleus, so they may want to trade Chad Johnson for some draft picks.

Being in a horrible salary cap position (which the Pats are not) is a valid reason to rebuild. Losing one game is not a valid reason to waive a white flag and throw in the towel.

Okay, I misused the phrase. 'Reloading' is probably more what I meant.:bricks:

 

[BionicPatriot]

06 Pats re-loaded and fixed the offense. Time for the 07 Pats to evolve and make the defense even better/younger.

 

[Afterlifemobile-86]

I'm not saying we won't be contenders, I'm just not sure if we'll be able to launch another juggernaut team like last season and steamroll every opponent in our path. And even if we could I don't think it would be a good decision in a future perspective. Maybe I am chicken little but I get nervous this time of year, especially when Asante goes asking for 100kk.

Think about it, before the 06 season our "big" FA signings were Reche Caldwell and Eric Warfield........And that was coming off an injury ridden mediocre 05 season. I am more than confident with this franchise's ability to handle the off-season

 

[celticboy04]

Greetings,
Patriots don't rebuild they reload. Rebuilding say's you are cleaning house and starting all over again.
Shalom,
Celticboy04

 

[HSanders]

If they fix the right spots well, they could be a better TEAM next year than they were in 2007, even if they lose more games in 2008 as weird as that sounds. I honestly think either the 2003 or 2004 Pats team could have beaten the 2007 squad. They were too "unbalanced" for my tastes in 2007.

 

[NEPatriot]

i think that 07 O was a testing version which didn't work well in the last 6 games of the season. We will see our improved D and O in 08. The air attack doesn't work well if your WR doesn't know where the ball lands.

Our O can't rely on 'air attack' alone to score. As long as our O line is moving, we have the ability to score a TD.

 

[Jimke]

I think it might be. We have a seemingly easy schedule next year and don't necessarily require alot of talent to win the division. Ofcourse we'll try to win the Superbowl but we've been successful in the playoffs before with lesser teams. I think we're gonna see alot of our older players go this offseason and it will probably be pretty depressing. I also think we may lose alot of the big names. This league is obsessed with parity so we couldn't expect to maintain a team this good for an extended period. Hopefully we'll retain Moss but I've got a feeling that some of our recievers will be gone.

This may be early but I predict we'll go a healthy 12-4, allowing we lose to the Colts, Broncos, and two others. That's more than a head start for Brady in the playoffs.

Whether the Pats will have a rebuilding season is in the eyes of the beholder.

When free agency begins, the following may be free agents: Alexander,
Britt, Ventrone, and Woods are ERFAs, Moore and Wright are RFAs, and
Brown, Bruschi, Gay, Gaffney, Mitchell, Moss, Paxton, Samuel, Scott, Seau,
Stallworth, Washington, and Wilson are UFAs. Only Izzo has re-signed.
Rumors abound that Moss and the Pats are far apart on
a contract, Bruschi may retire, and negotiations are ongoing between
the Pats and agents for Gaffney and Washington.

If the Pats lose Gay, Samuel, and Scott, the cornerback position has to be rebuilt. Same for wide receiver if Gaffney, Moss, Stallworth, and
Washington seek free agency. If both Bruschi and Seau retire, the
Pats are short one starting linebacker.

Chances are this is a worst case scenerio. I hope the Pats can re-sign
at least half of the above. If not, the person who started this thread
has a legitimate question.

 

[Disco Volante]

Every off season is a rebuilding season.

The season ends, time to build again. No team ever stays exactly the same, cliche, cliche, etc, etc.

It's just a matter of how much you need to build upon, and with this team - not much - assuming we retain Moss. An upgrade for one position on the OL possibly, and of course secondary help are our main concerns.

I don't think the OP meant rebuild in the context we're all familiar is, that is - complete overhaul of the team, being he still predicted us to go 12-4.

I'm guessing he used the wrong words.