Cold Takes from Boston Media: 2001

[AtomicDawg]

The Patriots have won their 14th division crown since 2001. So with that in mind, let's go back and laugh at the wonderful takes from our favorite mediots and see what's changed (they haven't).

During the 2001 offseason the Boston media produced a gold mine of cold takes about the Patriots - Freezing Cold Takes

This is my favorite:

Belichick, the perceived catalyst of Kraft’s “momentum change,” has not only failed to arrest the Pats’ downward spiral, he has accelerated it. The Patriots got gradually worse under Carroll (going from 10-6 to 9-7 to 8-8 in his three years). Under Belichick, the team finished 5-11 in his first season.

The future is not exactly bright. The Pats have a high first-round choice this year (No. 6) and could have some money to spend in free agency, but the roster has so many holes that one more offseason of personnel moves probably won’t be enough to get the team back on top. There are also questions as to whether Belichick, who fired former personnel director Bobby Grier in May, is the right man to be shopping for the groceries.

This is where the Pats stand they enter 2001.

 

[SalemPats]

Bob Ryan is an idiot who doesn't know sports. He probably can't even throw a football or dribble a ball.

This what i hate about the media. Most don't understand coaching and the sports they cover. They want to be negative and make headline. The don't understand that you have to develop players and cant just throw them out there.

 

[Joey007]

Bob Ryan is an idiot who doesn't know sports. He probably can't even throw a football or dribble a ball.

This what i hate about the media. Most don't understand coaching and the sports they cover. They want to be negative and make headline. The don't understand that you have to develop players and cant just throw them out there.

Bob Ryan still thinks Bledsoe is better than Brady.

 

[AtomicDawg]

Bob Ryan still thinks Bledsoe is better than Brady.

Reminds me of a dumb Tweet I saw yesterday:

 

[Joey007]

Reminds me of a dumb Tweet I saw yesterday:

Ah Kitna. Took the Seahawks to the playoffs back when they were the Seachickens of the AFC, so I guess that's an accomplishment.

 

[Nikolai]

I keep my sig line the way it is as a reminder; the Boston media will always hate the Pats. It hasn't changed. Curran, Reiss, and maybe a couple others here and there are actually objective and worthwhile contributors. The rest? They suck.

 

[patchick]

Hey, let's have a show of hands: leading in to the 2001 season, how many of us here said "Bill Belichick is clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, and the Patriots are about to enter a dynastic era"?

Let's cut 'em some slack for not seeing the unseeable. Heck, just weeks ago, after 15 years of brilliant dominance, half of this board was convinced Belichick was a fool and had thrown away the season by trading Jamie Collins.

 

[AtomicDawg]

Hey, let's have a show of hands: leading in to the 2001 season, how many of us here said "Bill Belichick is clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, and the Patriots are about to enter a dynastic era"?

Let's cut 'em some slack for not seeing the unseeable. Heck, just weeks ago, after 15 years of brilliant dominance, half of this board was convinced Belichick was a fool and had thrown away the season by trading Jamie Collins.

I just think it's fun to look back on what was thought of (yes, hindsight is always 20/20) back then. Clearly no one could have honestly expected this team to be THIS successful for THIS LONG, unless you were a psychic. But it's clear from looking back at some of the articles (and authors) featured, some things never change.

 

[fightingirish595]

Bob Ryan is an idiot who doesn't know sports. He probably can't even throw a football or dribble a ball.

This what i hate about the media. Most don't understand coaching and the sports they cover. They want to be negative and make headline. The don't understand that you have to develop players and cant just throw them out there.

They've never been around the game other than in a spectators. They aren't any more knowledgeable than anyone else who watches the game, but they act like they know more and get paid to tell you what your watching. That's my problem with them

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Hey, let's have a show of hands: leading in to the 2001 season, how many of us here said "Bill Belichick is clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, and the Patriots are about to enter a dynastic era"?

Let's cut 'em some slack for not seeing the unseeable. Heck, just weeks ago, after 15 years of brilliant dominance, half of this board was convinced Belichick was a fool and had thrown away the season by trading Jamie Collins.

I graduated college in 1998 and one of my buddies was a huge Pats fan (I was a fan, but this guy was extreme). I remember exchanging emails with him around the time Belichick was hired; he was completely ecstatic and kept telling me the reasons why (defensive genius, really intelligent with proven history, progressed in Cleveland until the move, had the guts to bench Kozar for the good of the team when most coaches wouldn't), and he had no problems giving up the 1st round pick. I understood his points but was very skeptical, mentioning how many coaches look that way on the surface but fail to deliver.

I haven't talked to him in a dozen or so years, but man did he ever nail this one. Dan, you were right and I was a fool for questioning!

 

[Ring 6]

Hey, let's have a show of hands: leading in to the 2001 season, how many of us here said "Bill Belichick is clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, and the Patriots are about to enter a dynastic era"?

Let's cut 'em some slack for not seeing the unseeable. Heck, just weeks ago, after 15 years of brilliant dominance, half of this board was convinced Belichick was a fool and had thrown away the season by trading Jamie Collins.

I will say this. During the 2000 season and the off season that followed, my position was that I saw what BB was doing. If his primary concern was how many games he could win in 2000, he could have gotten to 8-8 pretty easily. He could have used a Bledsoe friendly offense. He could have used a gambling, pressure defense, and he would have won more games. But what he did was coach and run that team the way he knew would win championships, and by doing that he found out which players could do what he needed them to do, and which couldn't and despite talent, needed to go (Bledsoe, Slade to name a couple).
2000 absolutely was the foundation of what the organization has become.

 

[PatsDeb]

Hey, let's have a show of hands: leading in to the 2001 season, how many of us here said "Bill Belichick is clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, and the Patriots are about to enter a dynastic era"?

Let's cut 'em some slack for not seeing the unseeable. Heck, just weeks ago, after 15 years of brilliant dominance, half of this board was convinced Belichick was a fool and had thrown away the season by trading Jamie Collins.

I knew it. I knew it all along! (Said dasterdly Donner about his son Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer)

 

[patchick]

They've never been around the game other than in a spectators. They aren't any more knowledgeable than anyone else who watches the game, but they act like they know more and get paid to tell you what your watching. That's my problem with them

I hear this a lot, and I disagree. I can't buy the idea that a sportswriter like Bob Ryan, who has been covering the Boston sports scene, traveling with teams and developing relationships with players and coaches for almost 50 years, has learned nothing more than we've gotten from watching at home on tv.

To be fair, Ryan was a basketball-first guy. He was never a font of football wisdom. But whenever this board slams the whole sportswriting profession as useless -- which seems to happen more and more -- I can't help thinking: where would we as rabid fans be without them? A huge amount of what we think we know comes from the very reporters we then turn around and call know-nothings.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

To be fair, Ryan was a basketball-first guy. He was never a font of football wisdom. But whenever this board slams the whole sportswriting profession as useless -- which seems to happen more and more -- I can't help thinking: where would we as rabid fans be without them? A huge amount of what we think we know comes from the very reporters we then turn around and call know-nothings.

The last 10-15 years of sports"writing" IS useless and has been getting worse more and more, which is why the mediots are (correctly!) slammed more and more. The vast majority of sports"writers" add literally nothing. Hell, for most of them you get dumber by reading them. It's all about hawt takez and being the first to report (often incorrect) "information" on Twitter.

 

[meatface]

I keep my sig line the way it is as a reminder; the Boston media will always hate the Pats. It hasn't changed. Curran, Reiss, and maybe a couple others here and there are actually objective and worthwhile contributors. The rest? They suck.

I liked the note about taking Light over Robert Ferguson.

 

[mosslost]

Bob Ryan is an idiot who doesn't know sports. He probably can't even throw a football or dribble a ball.

This what i hate about the media. Most don't understand coaching and the sports they cover. They want to be negative and make headline. The don't understand that you have to develop players and cant just throw them out there.

out of fairness, at the time I thought Brady got lucky and Bledsoe got screwed, all the way until the Super Bowl. In The AFCCG when Bledsoe came in and threw a TD I was ecstatic. Only after Brady won the last drive of the Super Bowl was I convinced he was the right answer. And it was during the 2003 season that I finally decided he was special. I was very wrong back then. lol (Heck I still thought Grogan was best)

 

[SVN]

Hey, let's have a show of hands: leading in to the 2001 season, how many of us here said "Bill Belichick is clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport, and the Patriots are about to enter a dynastic era"?

Let's cut 'em some slack for not seeing the unseeable. Heck, just weeks ago, after 15 years of brilliant dominance, half of this board was convinced Belichick was a fool and had thrown away the season by trading Jamie Collins.

You are right. But as mediots who at that time at least were supposed to educate the fans on the team and players and game, its important they show restraint in judgement instead of clouding the narrative with their personal agendas against the team. All these comments from bob ryan and borges show ignorance. Whats more, the irony of it was borges trashed BB for trading seymour or benching him for a series because seymour became his pats insider.

 

[Wheelman]

They do not, N-O-T, need a quarterback. It is somewhat understandable if people here suffer a bit from Running Quarterback Envy when they see the young mobile types scurrying about, but Drew Bledsoe is not the problem. If Tampa Bay had him, it would be looking at a 14-2 season. The more you see this guy, the more admirable he becomes. He is ram-tough and now he’s even running for first downs himself on occasion.

Lol @ the bolded part! I guess that means ram-tough is not very tough after all....

 

[brdmaverick]

out of fairness, at the time I thought Brady got lucky and Bledsoe got screwed, all the way until the Super Bowl. In The AFCCG when Bledsoe came in and threw a TD I was ecstatic. Only after Brady won the last drive of the Super Bowl was I convinced he was the right answer. And it was during the 2003 season that I finally decided he was special. I was very wrong back then. lol (Heck I still thought Grogan was best)

I felt similarly and am not afarid to admit it. Bledsoe was THE reason I fell in love with football. He was a rookie when my uncle introduced me to the sport. It was tough seeing your childhood idol kicked to the curb (even if it was ultimately best for the team).

 

[sb1]

You hate to fail anybody who shows up for class but what are they doing? If you didn't know better you'd think the Jets sent Bill Belichick up north to destroy the Patriots within. On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson or the second-best tackle in the draft in Kenyatta Walker, they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sacks last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon.

Never gets old....