Super article from CHFF about WWW that makes me feel better and trust in Bill.

[Patradomous]

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

The reality is this folks:

New England’s fortunes have NOTHING to do with who plays slot receiver in 2013 or beyond.
New England’s fortunes have EVERYTHING to do with finding a shutdown corner and pass rusher – two championship building blocks that the team has miserably failed to find for nearly a decade now.

 

[Gronkandez]

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

You can always spin it after the fact and say ""Bill made the right move."

 

[Coog548]

That was a good article to read. Although I believe the NFL has changed in the last 8-10 years. They show some solid stats to back up the argument and provide a nice change of view. We have become a pinball scoreboard offense, but the defense has always showed to be the weak point. I would love a season were the defense is the strength of the team.

 

[SONS_OF_BELICHICK]

Great article.....I think this sums it up the best :


They’ve forgotten what it was like to watch the hard-nosed, efficient Patriots relentlessly grind opponents into dust and physically beat up the best teams in football; they've forgotten what it was like to watch a finely tuned football machine ride guile, balance, guts and toughness all the way to three Super Bowl victories in four years.

 

[Patradomous]

You can always spin it after the fact and say ""Bill made the right move."

Will have to wait and see how it shakes out.I'll miss Wes. Whats worse is that he is going to Sayton Manning.
If he went to Tenn. or detroit or something.
But the worse nightmare I already have is the AFCCG and Wes picks up the first down to seal a 23-21 game to go to the SB for Denver agaibst the Pats.

I just heard on weei what best describes WWW he is not just a productive player. He is a special player.

 

[voluntarysaftey]

You can always spin it after the fact and say ""Bill made the right move."

Actually the article somewhat claims Bill messed up with the Welker to Amendola swap -- but I think it's spot on with the rest -- The team needs a defense that is both better at keeping the opponents from scoring and is also good at contributing to offensive tds.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

They’ve forgotten what it was like to watch the hard-nosed, efficient Patriots relentlessly grind opponents into dust and physically beat up the best teams in football; they've forgotten what it was like to watch a finely tuned football machine ride guile, balance, guts and toughness all the way to three Super Bowl victories in four years.

Unfortunately, thanks to the Colts, you can't play the style of defense those SB-winning teams played.

 

[PrairiePat]

You know, the way the Pats work, not many guys get to retire here. Most (even fan favorites) are going to be shipped out a year or 2 before their careers nosedive.

It's going to make those 10 and 20 year reunions pretty interesting, because a lot of former players are going to still hold grudges against Belichick and the organization for trading, cutting, or just not paying them big bucks at the end of their tenures here. I wonder if most of them will be able to look back and understand why those moves needed to be made?

Guys like Milloy, Seymour, Vrabel, McGinest, A. Smith, Vinatieri, Law, and now Welker are the typical cases, where the Bruschi's, Brown's, and (possibly) Brady's are the exceptions. I know BB has said many times how he enjoys the offseason almost as much as the playing season, but this time of year must be tough for him, making these kind of tough decisions about people he probably likes and respects.

 

[BSR]

Will have to wait and see how it shakes out.I'll miss Wes. Whats worse is that he is going to Sayton Manning.
If he went to Tenn. or detroit or something.
But the worse nightmare I already have is the AFCCG and Wes picks up the first down to seal a 23-21 game to go to the SB for Denver agaibst the Pats.

I just heard on weei what best describes WWW he is not just a productive player. He is a special player.

I think what the article is trying to illustrate is that while Welker maybe a "special player" (whatever that means) he hasn't been the difference between them winning or losing championships. Not that he is contrary to a winning strategy, just that he isn't the base of one. What they do to improve the defense will be far more important then how much of Welker's production is picked up by any one single player. On the whole the offense will be good enough.

As for your nightmare scenario, I would say that if we are in a position at the end of a championship game where we need to stop Manning from converting a third and short then we are probably screwed no matter if its Welker, Stokely or anyone else for that matter. The key is not being in that position in the first place.

 

[kkpat]

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

So who did he get for CORNER and PASS RUSH again?

 

[Bruins29]

So who did he get for CORNER and PASS RUSH again?

Yeah Bill hurry up. The 15 year olds here expect you to sign everyone you need the first few days of FA

 

[patfanken]

That was certainly a thought provoking article. Another good job by Kerry. However in the interest of making his point he does tend to ignore that despite our defensive flaws we WERE only 2 plays away from winning 2 additional superbowls. A few good breaks, calls, and bounces go a long way to winning Lombardi's too. We had our share the years we won. We didn't the years we lost.

BTW- the stat that stuck out to me was the one where we had all those defensive and special teams scores in 2001-6 and have had NONE since.

 

[upstater1]

Great article.....I think this sums it up the best :


They’ve forgotten what it was like to watch the hard-nosed, efficient Patriots relentlessly grind opponents into dust and physically beat up the best teams in football; they've forgotten what it was like to watch a finely tuned football machine ride guile, balance, guts and toughness all the way to three Super Bowl victories in four years.

I think people have also forgotten the Super Bowls themselves, when in 2 of them, the Patriots used a passing offense to dominate the game. In one of them, the defense didn't show up at all and actually gave up about 30 points in 30 minutes, which is much worse than what the defense did against the Giants in 2008 and 2012.

Let's face it: it takes all kinds of talent on both sides of the ball, and it also takes a little bit of luck. The Patriots were unlucky a couple of times, and lucky another couple of times.

People want to draw conclusions I guess, but me, I want the best most affordable players on the field, and then you roll with that and see what happens.

 

[MassPats38]

People want to draw conclusions I guess, but me, I want the best most affordable players on the field, and then you roll with that and see what happens.

Good philosophy. I just want a team with the personel and coaching to compete, and BB consistently delivers. Fans appear to believe, after 2001 to 2004, that if the Pats get to the final game, then they win. They forget the shootout against a very similar Panthers team, with DBs of the Pats dropping like flies with injuries. They forget that the Pats never dominated in wins (edge of your seat 3 point wins), and were not dominated in losses (about 3 point losses). The thought that we didn't win because . . . often ignores rule changes, what happens in the season (e.g., if you didn't change your style of play, then you don't get to thte title game because you lose too many season games), and simple momentum/inspiration at the right time of the year.

 

[Mack Herron]

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

Buh-bye Wes Welker: 10 Reasons New England Patriots Made Right Move

Not sure how you see this move as a win for Bill. The way I read it, article says BB mishandled this one and his biggest problems lay elsewhere.

In the meantime, of course, losing Welker is blowing up in the face of the Evil Empire: replacing him with Danny Amendola for essentially the same money (and with a longer deal) is a downgrade by any measure. No way to put statistical lipstick on that pig.

 

[BSR]

I think people have also forgotten the Super Bowls themselves, when in 2 of them, the Patriots used a passing offense to dominate the game. In one of them, the defense didn't show up at all and actually gave up about 30 points in 30 minutes, which is much worse than what the defense did against the Giants in 2008 and 2012.

Let's face it: it takes all kinds of talent on both sides of the ball, and it also takes a little bit of luck. The Patriots were unlucky a couple of times, and lucky another couple of times.

People want to draw conclusions I guess, but me, I want the best most affordable players on the field, and then you roll with that and see what happens.

And lets also not forget that the performance in that superbowl was by the most anemic offense that Brady and Belichick have ever had together. Ironic isn't it? Or maybe that's the point. It doesn't matter what the numbers are, what matters is that someone makes plays when it counts.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

The article conveniently ignores the failures of our OFFENSE in the last several season-ending losses to put up anywhere near the number of points that they had scored, on average, in the regular season. Thus, making that offense WORSE seems like a bad idea.

 

[Bruins29]

It doesn't matter what the numbers are, what matters is that someone makes plays when it counts.

Quoted like a true champion!

They should just change the name of the forum to Stats-fans.com. It seems like people are just in love with stats. We all know who stats are for.

Which again is ironic because so many people here hate Lloyd and his "stats" werent even terrible especially considering how the last few WR experiments have gone. Additionally Lloyd had Boldin type numbers....

Fantasy Football and Madden strike again.

 

[grux]

If you don't believe the article, I suggest you go back and watch the three games from glory dvds from our super bowl years. I know that the league has changed but our defense has gotten soft. I hate to say it but we some how morphed into the Peyton Manning colts. All of our super bowl losses came against good defensive teams. I hope they spend the rest of their cap dollars improving the defense.

 

[Bruins29]

The article conveniently ignores the failures of our OFFENSE in the last several season-ending losses to put up anywhere near the number of points that they had scored, on average, in the regular season. Thus, making that offense WORSE seems like a bad idea.

So by that logic we can always assume that getting rid of players with better stats is always making a team/offense worse.

Consequently adding players with better stats should always do the opposite.

So why do the teams with the best players with the best stats not always win the superbowl? How come the Eagles couldnt do anything that one year with all those statistically great players?

How did this team win 3 superbowls with JAG WRs? While winning none with the greatest slot receiver of all time.

Mind you I am not saying losing Welker is automatically addition by subtraction I am just trying to put my finger on the pulse of this stat obsession.