Patriots Super Bowl week Thread: Practice Notes, Injury Updates, etc.

[Chris Stevenson]

BB! Pats by a trillion.

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Nice!!

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Is it just me, or does he look like a mobster marching a hostage in at secret gunpoint?

Very much so. Very Road To Perdition.

 

[Kontradiction]

 

[maineman209]

Marquis Flowers is no more a DE than I am. He can be effective in what he is able to do, but comparing him in any way to Mike Vrabel is a disservice to Vrabel.

IIRC, many folks felt the same way about Nink for his first 3-4 years of his career with the Pats, even though he played the same OLB/DE edge role that Vrabel had. Nink, like Flowers, also played mostly on ST during the first half of his first season with the Pats.

The thing is, with the Pats using multiple 34/43, 1-gap/2-gap fronts, the edge-defender role for many players doesn't fit neatly into a positional box. Vrabel was nominally a "34 OLB" who played a "DE" role frequently (and even some ILB). Nink did the same. Hightower has done the same. Now Flowers is playing that role. Derek Rivers may have been slotted for that type of role before his injury.

I don't see how acknowledging that there are players who have, and are, following in Vrabel's footsteps in that role is any disservice to him.

 

[RobertWeathers]

BB! Pats by a trillion.

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Thats a bad hat, Harry

 

[maineman209]

Is it just me, or does he look like a mobster marching a hostage in at secret gunpoint?

Mobster and his gunmoll.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Ok, so it's your baseline opinion on the matter. That's absolutely fair enough, but it doesn't really mesh well with...

I should have said that what is silly is ONLY discussing the negative side of the ledger, without the counterbalance of discussing the gambles that paid off. It would be like discussing play-calling and only mentioning trick plays that didn't work while ignoring those that did.

A good percentage of all draft picks can always be second-guessed because there is someone else drafted afterwards that ended up having a comparable or better career. It's the nature of the beast. That has happened to the Bill Belichick but also to idiots like Grigson and Pagano. Less often to BB, to my estimation. When you factor in home run picks, home run signings and home run trades, you can overlook what BB has missed on fairly easily.

Many times BB seems to have contingency plans built in to the gambles he takes. Need to replace Welker? Let's sign Amendola. Well, DA was injured a lot in St. Louis, so let's retain Edelman too. Not to say that they are interchangeable, but at the time it wasn't clear that Edelman could be so versatile. Need a TE? Gronk. Hey, in case he's hurt, let's double down and take AH too...

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[captain stone]

Well, what college prospect has ever done jacksh!t in the NFL before he was drafted?

I was referring to Cassius Marsh; not sure to whom you are referring.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Quarantine him

 

[BobDigital]

Does anyone believe the only reason Gronk hasn't already cleared protocol after 2 days at practice is so they can have him miss media day?

Maybe they were like "we don't need him to take that 5th step of the protocol yet. Lets just push it to Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday."

 

[BobDigital]

Quarantine him

I would like to both laugh at and agree with this comment. Sadly there is no option which does both

 

[maineman209]

I was referring to Cassius Marsh; not sure to whom you are referring.

My bad.

I thought that the comment you were responding to was about Marquis Flowers. Other things that M. Flowers appear to have in common with Vrabel and Nink are discipline, a strong work ethic and the ability to improve.

Marsh demonstrated none of those qualities, obviously.

 

[maineman209]

I should have said that what is silly is ONLY discussing the negative side of the ledger, without the counterbalance of discussing the gambles that paid off. It would be like discussing play-calling and only mentioning trick plays that didn't work while ignoring those that did.

A good percentage of all draft picks can always be second-guessed because there is someone else drafted afterwards that ended up having a comparable or better career. It's the nature of the beast. That has happened to the Bill Belichick but also to idiots like Grigson and Pagano. Less often to BB, to my estimation. When you factor in home run picks, home run signings and home run trades, you can overlook what BB has missed on fairly easily.

Many times BB seems to have contingency plans built in to the gambles he takes. Need to replace Welker? Let's sign Amendola. Well, DA was injured a lot in St. Louis, so let's retain Edelman too. Not to say that they are interchangeable, but at the time it wasn't clear that Edelman could be so versatile. Need a TE? Gronk. Hey, in case he's hurt, let's double down and take AH too...

Grissom at #97 and Trey Flowers at #101. And BB has gotten a lot out of both players, albeit in different roles.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Does anyone believe the only reason Gronk hasn't already cleared protocol after 2 days at practice is so they can have him miss media day?

Maybe they were like "we don't need him to take that 5th step of the protocol yet. Lets just push it to Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday."

Yeah, why should gronk answer 1000 questions about his concussion? He has a perfect out...

 

[patchick]

A good percentage of all draft picks can always be second-guessed because there is someone else drafted afterwards that ended up having a comparable or better career.

Yep, always. How many picks by any team turn out to have been the best possible pick the team could have made at that point? BB & co. have made some spectacular picks, and some dreadful picks. Pointing out individual successes and failures doesn't tell us much, because every team has both. The question is, do the Patriots do better or worse than could reasonably be expected? (Keeping in mind, of course, they've had far and away the worst draft position of any team in the league over the past two decades.)

Having spent a ton of time in the PatsFans draft forum over the years, I can tell you that draftnik sentiment is absolutely, positively NOT a predictor of player success. This goes just as much for the most vocal critics of BB's drafting as anybody else -- it's just selective memory that says otherwise. Even with Tavon Wilson, perhaps the most famous case where fans were right to complain about a massive "reach," we tend to forget that at the time, we collectively felt that the excellent pick of Jake Bequette a round later helped make up for the Wilson selection.

 

[maineman209]

I was referring to Cassius Marsh; not sure to whom you are referring.

My bad, again.

In his third season with the Seahawks, Marsh had become one of their best special teamers and had worked himself into a rotational role on their defense (36% of defensive snaps), contributing 18 tackles, 3 sacks a FF and a FR.

My point was that a college prospect, by definition, has never played a snap or made a tackle or gotten a sack in the NFL - and yet the Pats spend "precious draft picks" on them.

 

[Deus Irae]

Even with Tavon Wilson, perhaps the most famous case where fans were right to complain about a massive "reach," we tend to forget that at the time, we collectively felt that the excellent pick of Jake Bequette a round later helped make up for the Wilson selection.

Who is "we" in that instance? It wasn't fans in general, as I recall.

 

[RIpats88]

Mazz is picking the Eagles of course...says they are a better team than the patriots talent wise

 

[Kontradiction]

Butler needs to be quarantined and away from the team. Does anyone have any doubt that this ISN’T the flu?