I said the entire defense is the reason why the Pats haven't won a super bowl since '04.
You said that from 2001-2007, Belichick did a poor job drafting for the secondary and linebackers. I named off a bunch of counterpoints that proved you wrong.
When Thomas went out, Pierre Woods replaced him. Woods is slow.
Pierre Woods
Defensive End/Outside Linebacker
Senior
6’4, 249
Testing: Michigan Pro Day
4.7 Forty Yard Dash
4.19 Short Shuttle
6.87 Three Cone
32 ½ Vertical
9 ft 11 in. Broad Jump
15 Power Lifts
Workout Comments:
Pierre Woods Pro Day can be summed up in one word; outstanding. His short shuttle and three cone are optimum for the outside linebacker position. A 4.7 forty yard dash is a very solid time for him as well. At his size, these workout numbers have caught the eye of scouts around the league.
It must suck to be so consistently contradicted by simple, basic facts.
Before those picks, the highest LB BB drafted was in the 5th round. My grief was that BB has only taken 3 LB's in the first three rounds in his 9 years as head coach. For quite some time you hear from everybody and their mother that the Pats are weak at LB.
There's an incredibly simple explanation to this, but patchick's already summed it up a whole lot more succintly than I can over in one of the threads that State started, so I'll just give a brief summary: it takes time to learn the Pats' system. You don't draft guys looking to plug them in right away. Even the Steelers, who ask less of their OLBs in terms of versatility and learning, didn't get much out of Woodley until his second year. Belichick drafts ahead of his needs so that players can be coached up by the time they're needed: hence Crable, Redd, and Woods all being here now, with experience in the system, instead of relying on a rookie who wouldn't be able to help us this year anyways.
Each and every season we sit here and think that the Pats are going to draft LB, but they don't. I feel that the lack of depth, pass rush and coverage ability at LB has killed the Pats the last couple of years.
Weird, I could've sworn that the Patriots drafted 3 day-one LBs in the last 2 years, and got another UDFA who started for us last season.
Samuel was a great find in the fourth round. However, he's not worth the money now.
So it turns out that Belichick can draft secondary talent (you said that he'd done a poor job of it)
Eugene was a bad pick. Sure, he had a great 2003 and 2004 season. However, he regressed every year after that couldn't stop getting injured.
He regressed
because he couldn't stop getting injured. So your point is that Belichick drafted badly because he failed to see the future and anticipate that in the extremely violent sport of professional football, this guy would be particularly unlucky? That's ******ed. He was a great pick: he started on 2 Super Bowl-winning defenses, was an excellent, versatile safety, and then he had trouble staying on the field.
Randall Gay wasn't drafted and it showed.
He started on a top-flight defense that won the ******* Super Bowl. What more can you want from an
undrafted free agent?
He got torched by a WR that just came back 4-5 weeks from a broken foot (T.O.). If he was as good as you think, the Pats would've kept him.
Where did I say I thought he was awesome? He was a rookie UDFA who was able to step into a starting role on a Super Bowl team and not be a huge, glaring weakness. I'm fine with that.
All CBs get torched sometimes, and getting torched by TO, in particular, is nothing to be ashamed of. And the Pats didn't keep him for the same reason that they didn't keep Wilson: he kept getting hurt, and was offered more money than he was worth by someone else. Not rocket science.
Hobbs was average at best. However, considering he was a third round pick, he was good value.
Agreed- he's an average #2 CB. So Belichick can draft secondary talent (you said that he'd done a poor job of it).
Sorry guy, you didn't read it correctly. I said, Hobbs has fallen down many times and that was one example. Since Hobbs has been a starter, I've seen him falling down many times trying to guard WR's. Sorry I didn't record every single play he fell down and make it a top headline to prove you wrong.
Maybe you should try, since when you go back and watch the game film you'll realize how wrong you are.
It worked for one post season. It was a fluke. They have been 0-4 ever since. Scheme only takes you so far.
hahahaha that might be the stupidest argument I've ever heard on this board. Well, no, it's not, but it's pretty close.
Because we haven't won a SB since 2004, it must mean that our secondary sucks.
Eventually, your going to have to get talent if you plan on ever winning a super bowl again. BB finally got the net drafting Merriweather and Mayo in 2007-2008.
Yeah, it's a good thing that Belichick
finally figured out that you need good players to win the Super Bowl. Can't believe it took him so long.