Best Patriot article in a while...

[Va_Pats_Fan]

Covers all the bases...

http://patriots.scout.com/2/651065.html

 

[j00fek]

good read :rocker:

 

[Born_a_Patriot]

Very Good.:rocker:

Last year, we basically had to play back-to-back Super Bowls to win the AFC and came up just short

 

[broadwayjoe]

Thanks for the post that was good I especially like the part about the Texans being one of the big challengers in the AFC.

 

[Pats726]

James is a great guy..knows what he is talking about..I think really gets it right about teh Pats management...GREAT POST!!

 

[psychoPat]

Just logged on to post that interview here. You beat me to it by hours!

James Lavin is one Pats fan ... and patsfan ... who really knows his stuff.
Despite a few small failures of understanding (e.g., Moss took a big pay cut - when he was all wrapped up to be cut),
James offers a number of insights we have not encountered before
among all the shallow, me-too articles we read these days.

 

[PromisedLand]

Covers all the bases...

http://patriots.scout.com/2/651065.html

Yes, excellent article. He obviously understands the Patriot Way with a depth and intelligence that most sportswriters simply do not possess. I think the only thing I can quibble about in his well-reasoned analyses is his statement that Randy Moss took a $7M pay cut to play for the Patriots. No doubt Moss might have gotten more elsewhere than the Pats are paying him, but he would not have received the $10M salary he was due to get under his old contract.

Beyond that, I can't find a single thing in the article I disagree with.

 

[marty]

Great article, Lavin just gets it, and is soooo good at articulating it!!!

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Great article, Lavin just gets it, and is soooo good at articulating it!!!

It's almost as if he summarized all the great posts on this board......

 

[JoeSixPat]

Lavin frequents these pages quite often as well and contributes here - he adds a lot to the converstation.

Just to be a contrarian, I wouldn't necessarilly say that Moss took a pay cut to be here. Oakland wasn't going to keep him to that contract and I doubt any team was going to pay him Oakland money this season.

The best case scenario for Moss to profit longterm was to take a 1 year deal to show his skills still intact and his attitude issues adjusted. Playing on a team that wins a SB is a nice little thing to have going for you when you hit the free market as well.

All of that made the Pats a perfect fit. No doubt other teams might have paid more for one season of Moss, but again, that doesn't help Moss in his effort to have one more bigtime contract next season.

The most important thing here is that Moss needs to both behave and perform this season to cash in.

 

[DaBruinz]

The only part of the article that I question was the one about unsolicited bonuses. I know for a fact that the Patriots game Bobby Hamilton, Otis Smith and others "unsolicited" bonuses after the 2001 season. And I know they did it with other players since then. Mr. Lavin makes it sound like the Patriots have never done it though.