Are the Patriots signing for class and intelligence, or just "ability"

[K. Dog]

Yes, the Patriots have one of the best owners, the smartest coaches, and the smartest QB. But in my view their dominance over so many years isn't only due to that.

Because the players are smart, they can execute incredibly complex game plans that other teams could not begin to try and execute

Because the players are classy, they are willing to do what's right for the team without complaining about their statistics, or boasting, and so on.

You can see the Patriots are a breed apart from other teams just listening to them talk, or watching them play.

Hogan, Butler, Edelman, Gronk, Branches, McCourty, Wilfork, Solder, Bennet, White: you can listen or watch these players and they each have something: a certain class that is so far beyond the showboats on other teams that it's like a different sport. 2016 epitomized this; my hope is that as the draft season progresses the Pats retain that specialness that differentiates them from other NFL teams.

 

[Thelonious]

Maybe class and intelligence ARE ability, assuming one can run and jump with the other kids on some reasonable parity.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Anyone who believe the Patriots extraordinary record over the last 16 years is because they've had the "best athletes" or even the "best players" is an idiot.

Every team tries to get the best players. Every team tries to get the best athletes. There's nothing the Patriots can do to compete with teams that try that.

Yes, the Patriots have one of the best owners, the smartest coaches, and the smartest QB. But in my view their dominance over so many years isn't due to that. It's due to their consistently getting the smartest players and the classiest players.

Because the players are smart, they can execute incredibly complex game plans that would most other teams could not begin to try and execute

Because the players are classy, they are willing to do what's right for the team without complaining about their statistics, or boasting, and so on.

You can see the Patriots are a breed apart from other teams just listening to them talk, or watching them play.

Hogan, Butler, Edelman, McCourty, Wilfork, Solder, Bennet, White: you can listen or watch these players and they each have something: a certain class that is so far beyond the showboats on other teams that it's like a different sport. I'm real concerned that the acquisitions and departures will change that, that we'll be getting good athletes on paper (e.g. with Ochocinco) who won't be able to master the system, or who will cause locker room issues.

I dislike this entire post. You're not trusting Belichick, which is a mistake.

So what are you implying? That cooks is all ability and no intelligence?

Cooks happened to be one of the hardest workers on the saints team, as far as intelligence, he can run every route in the tree. As far as locker room cancer, didn't they say Corey Dillon and randy moss and martellius bennett were cancer? They seemed to do pretty well in our locker room. Not to mention multiple saints players have already come out saying cooks was never a problem in the locker room.

Don't even compare ochocinco acquisition to cooks. cooks is a 23 year old emerging superstar coming off a 1170 yard 9 TD season. Oh, and he runs a 4.3 40. Ochocinco was an aging 33 year old WR whose legs were gone, and whose production had dropped off dramatically in cincy.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

BB factors in character, commitment, IQ, and work ethic into most all acquisitions IMO, so I wouldn't worry. He likely saw very good work habits, situational awareness, and player interactions on the part of Cooks when scrimmaging vs. NO.

 

[K. Dog]

I dislike this entire post. You're not trusting Belichick, which is a mistake.

So what are you implying? That cooks is all ability and no intelligence?

No. Don't know anything about Cooks. But to be honest all this talk of Butler not being signed, of Edelman being insanely underpaid (something some - thankfully not all - posters here think is fine), and, well, memories of the last years of the Celtics dynasty is scaring me frankly. Such an extraordinary team last year.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

BB factors in character, commitment, and work ethic into most all acquisitions IMO, so I wouldn't worry. He likely saw very good work habits and player interactions on the part of Cooks when scrimmaging vs. NO.

This is the differentiator. Belichick's explicitly said so in the past. He wants people who are 100% committed to football and mentally tough enough to deal with all those implications.

Belichick's keynote address: Passion plus

“It comes down a couple things. No. 1, of course, is talent. But really, everybody in the National Football League has talent. If they didn’t have talent, they wouldn’t be in the league. It comes in varying degrees, we understand that, and whatever you get with the player, you get with the player. You get his strength, his speed, his explosiveness, his intelligence, his work ethic, whatever physical condition he is and so forth. I don’t want to say it’s even but it’s pretty comparable in the big picture, from team to team, based on the way our system is set up with free agency, salary cap, and draft order.

“The big thing I’d say we look for, which would try to differentiate the players for us, are players with passion; guys that really love football. As we all know from our jobs, if you love what you’re doing you don’t feel like you’re working. If you don’t like what you’re doing, then every step of the way is just painful torture. We don’t want people who are in football because of the lifestyle it brings or the opportunities [or rewards] from it. We want people who are in our business because they love doing it.

“Let’s face it; we all got into what we’re doing because we love doing it. When we took our first coaching job, or our first intern job or whatever it was, there wasn’t very much in it. We did it because we love doing it. That’s what we’re really looking for in football players – guys that love what they do, have passion for practice.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

im disgusted with how some posters reaction to the cooks aquistion. We get Brady one of the best weapons in the NFL, who happens to be one of the fastest players in the nfl, at 23 years old and a cost controlled salary. And how do they react? They cry and moan.

They think BB should only bring in guys who are Boy Scouts, it's ridiculous

BB saw enough in cooks during practice that he believes in him, so I trust BB

 

[K. Dog]

Another thing the great Patriots have, it's a certain "magic". It's the ability to just do impossible things in impossible ways. Brady with all his college comebacks. Butler with all the practice squad interceptions. Wilfork dominating a line. Edelman with, well, everything. Hogan with his "7-11". Even Lewis when healthy.

 

[K. Dog]

im disgusted with how some posters reaction to the cooks aquistion. We get Brady one of the best weapons in the NFL, who happens to be one of the fastest players in the nfl, at 23 years old and a cost controlled salary. And how do they react? They cry and moan.

They think BB should only bring in guys who are Boy Scouts, it's ridiculous

BB saw enough in cooks during practice that he believes in him, so I trust BB

This post was not a reaction to the Cooks acquisition ok. Like I said above. People are so touchy here. I do not know a thing about Cooks, I'm sorry I cannot follow every player on every team. I follow the Patriots players, that's it. I was reacting to the Edelman and Butler situations actually, as I've posted before, and to some extent the Hightower and Long statuses.

 

[RayClay]

BB basically cares that you care about playing football and winning. Practice to play and focus on business. Always used peer pressure from the team to teach the winning attitude.

That being said, I see no problem with current players. Marty Bennet was supposed to be a malcontent. I'm sure BB talked or scouted him and found he wanted to win, was focused and tough [played hurt].

I think the guys who don't make it are dipshits like Ocho and DeSean Jackson, who are more focused on showing off than winning. I think if DeSean Jackson ran a kick back 99 yards, then dropped the ball on the one yard line, BB might actually strangle him right on the field.

 

[PYPER]

After all these years, I'm surprised this isn't just understood. Patriots want "ballers". Guys who have passion for the game and are willing to put the work in required to be great. Intelligence is also a big theme. Nothing more frustrating than trying to teach a dumb guy. Just spinning wheels and getting nowhere.

Pats will sacrifice a little in raw talent if the other attributes mentioned above are far greater.

Raw talent doesn't equate to championships. Many workout warriors come and go from this league without leaving any impact. Champions are born out of mental toughness and work ethic. That's who the Patriots are.

 

[Ring 6]

im disgusted with how some posters reaction to the cooks aquistion. We get Brady one of the best weapons in the NFL, who happens to be one of the fastest players in the nfl, at 23 years old and a cost controlled salary. And how do they react? They cry and moan.

They think BB should only bring in guys who are Boy Scouts, it's ridiculous

BB saw enough in cooks during practice that he believes in him, so I trust BB

What is there about cooks that makes people think he is anti Boy Scout?

 

[TeamFirst]

im disgusted with how some posters reaction to the cooks aquistion. We get Brady one of the best weapons in the NFL, who happens to be one of the fastest players in the nfl, at 23 years old and a cost controlled salary. And how do they react? They cry and moan.

They think BB should only bring in guys who are Boy Scouts, it's ridiculous

BB saw enough in cooks during practice that he believes in him, so I trust BB

They also believe everything they read.. including flying saucers and aliens.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Another thing the great Patriots have, it's a certain "magic". It's the ability to just do impossible things in impossible ways. Brady with all his college comebacks. Butler with all the practice squad interceptions. Wilfork dominating a line. Edelman with, well, everything. Hogan with his "7-11". Even Lewis when healthy.

I have no idea what the point of this thread is. You hope the players the Patriots brought in are good team players? Yes, agreed. You are nervous about the end coming at some point, as happened to the Celtics? Well, as you saw with the Celtics--there will be, at some point, an end.

 

[patfanken]

Now, for the record, I'm not happy about this trade. I think what we paid was the chance to rebuild on the DL, and LB in exchange for a WR who is nothing more than a luxury on an already top notch offense.

That being said, now that he is here, I don't think for a minute that he's going to be any problem in that locker room or a distraction for the team. He (although a luxury) will make the offense harder to defend and more explosive. He will add depth and make the WR group younger, and he will help reduce Edelman's snaps to keep him fresher for the playoffs.

This locker room has successfully absorbed much more difficult additions than Brandin Cooks. BUT if he is truly a diva, one of the best things I love about BB, he won't give a sh!t about admitting a mistake and moving on from him. He's not going to sacrifice a threat to the chemistry of the team just so he'll look good to the mediots.

From what's being reported there is NOTHING wrong with Cooks' work ethic, so that's probably the most important part.. As for him "wanting to be fed", that's a complaint that we often heard from WR's, but never heard here. I fully expect Cooks' to address this right away. Every skill player on the offense knows, some weeks it's YOUR week, and some weeks it's not. Doesn't matter if you win. Even Ochocinquo, who went from an 11,000 yd Pro Bowl WR to one who barely caught a pass, kept his mouth shut all year. Marty was another example. And look what happened to Moss the week after he complained about his role. And BB LOVED Randy Moss. So that issue, which is going to be over blown by the mediots, shouldn't be a problem.

As long as the kid works hard and is a good teammate, he can make a reasonable amount of money, have a chance to win a couple of rings, and hit the Jackpot in 2019......for some other team. BB isn't paying a WR over $15MM/yr

 

[TomPatriot]

What is there about cooks that makes people think he is anti Boy Scout?

He supposedly whined about not being targeted enough. Not the biggest deal in the world.

 

[rochrist]

Yes, the Patriots have one of the best owners, the smartest coaches, and the smartest QB. But in my view their dominance over so many years isn't only due to that.

Because the players are smart, they can execute incredibly complex game plans that other teams could not begin to try and execute

Because the players are classy, they are willing to do what's right for the team without complaining about their statistics, or boasting, and so on.

You can see the Patriots are a breed apart from other teams just listening to them talk, or watching them play.

Hogan, Butler, Edelman, Gronk, Branches, McCourty, Wilfork, Solder, Bennet, White: you can listen or watch these players and they each have something: a certain class that is so far beyond the showboats on other teams that it's like a different sport. 2016 epitomized this; my hope is that as the draft season progresses the Pats retain that specialness that differentiates them from other NFL teams.

Can't imagine what this post did to earn the dislike.

 

[rochrist]

I dislike this entire post. You're not trusting Belichick, which is a mistake.

So what are you implying? That cooks is all ability and no intelligence?

Cooks happened to be one of the hardest workers on the saints team, as far as intelligence, he can run every route in the tree. As far as locker room cancer, didn't they say Corey Dillon and randy moss and martellius bennett were cancer? They seemed to do pretty well in our locker room. Not to mention multiple saints players have already come out saying cooks was never a problem in the locker room.

Don't even compare ochocinco acquisition to cooks. cooks is a 23 year old emerging superstar coming off a 1170 yard 9 TD season. Oh, and he runs a 4.3 40. Ochocinco was an aging 33 year old WR whose legs were gone, and whose production had dropped off dramatically in cincy.

You had to work pretty hard to get that from his post.

 

[rochrist]

This post was not a reaction to the Cooks acquisition ok. Like I said above. People are so touchy here. I do not know a thing about Cooks, I'm sorry I cannot follow every player on every team. I follow the Patriots players, that's it. I was reacting to the Edelman and Butler situations actually, as I've posted before, and to some extent the Hightower and Long statuses.

What Edelman situation?

 

[ViperGTS]

What Edelman situation?

"We all know about Julian's age and contract situation..."

- not BB but could be BB