Absolute Needs; Obviously there are lots of wants for upgrades

[DarrylS]

The defense has always been a mystery from my couch, the first and last games were an absolute travesty.. with some very good d efforts sandwiched in between..

The Superbowl anomaly is tainted by a very good game plan by Philadelphia and an incredible performance by Foles.. many of those passes were spot on in very difficult game situations.

Philly also put up 38 points against the Vikings, considered by many as the best defensive team in the NFC.. Foles threw for 352 yards and 3 TD's... Philly peaked at the right time and a lot of stuff came together for them.. that needs consideration in this conversation.

 

[maineman209]

It appears to be universally assumed that the poor performance by the Pats front-7 in 2017 is attributable exclusively to a "lack of talent." This assumption leads to a demand for drafting "sure-fire front-7 talent" with high draft picks.

It also appears to be universally ignored that the vast majority of the 2017 front-7 players who were healthy enough to contribute significant snaps had little to no experience in the Pats' system, or even playing defense in the NFL.

So, I'm not sure how replacing current front-7 players with college prospects who have even less NFL experience is guaranteed to improve the defense for 2018.

 

[captain stone]

Since we were among the very top teams in scoring defense, I guess this isn't essential. Or perhaps, we had one and you didn't notice?

We're not going to have to go through this again, are we?

 

[captain stone]

So, I'm not sure how replacing current front-7 players with college prospects who have even less NFL experience is guaranteed to improve the defense for 2018.

Why can't we have both, and let competition in TC sort them out?

 

[IllegalContact]

LB is our top need.......hightower has injury problems, and everyone else is either a JAG, or worthless (everyone else)

OT is solved through retention.....Solder is the answer and there is no need to look anywhere else...plus we have Garcia bulking up for this season

the next need is in the secondary......the safeties are getting old and we need a starter opposite Gilmore.....I have to go back to Duane Starks to find someone that looked as out of place as Richards

as far as I am concerned, they can spend the entire draft on LB's and DB's

 

[maineman209]

Why can't we have both, and let competition in TC sort them out?

Four draft picks between #31 and #95 could provide a couple of interesting, though inexperienced prospects.

The number/quality of NFL-experienced players the Pats might be able to acquire will be limited by their cap space situation. Even so, those guys would still be learning the Pats specific system and schemes from scratch.

OTOH, Marquis Flowers, with only 72 defensive snaps in his entire previous NFL career, and Eric Lee, with ZERO NFL defensive snaps prior to joining the Pats mid-season, both seemed to do okay. It would be interesting to see if either of them can improve on that with a full off-season and Camp.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

We're not going to have to go through this again, are we?

Can we go through the idea that the team had a lot of injuries this year on D in particular?

We had no business in a Super Bowl with that amount of key people missing from 2016.

 

[captain stone]

Four draft picks between #31 and #95 could provide a couple of interesting, though inexperienced prospects.

The number/quality of NFL-experienced players the Pats might be able to acquire will be limited by their cap space situation. Even so, those guys would still be learning the Pats specific system and schemes from scratch.

OTOH, Marquis Flowers, with only 72 defensive snaps in his entire previous NFL career, and Eric Lee, with ZERO NFL defensive snaps prior to joining the Pats mid-season, both seemed to do okay. It would be interesting to see if either of them can improve on that with a full off-season and Camp.

Marquis Flowers - I think he can, and would like to see him re-signed if practicable.

Eric Lee - seriously doubt it (can't play Buffalo 16 times), but that's what TC is for.

 

[maineman209]

Marquis Flowers - I think he can, and would like to see him re-signed if practicable.

Eric Lee - seriously doubt it (can't play Buffalo 16 times), but that's what TC is for.

The conclusion that Lee must not be good since he didn't see the field in Buffalo is based on the assumption that the Bills' personnel guys and/or coaches know wtf they're doing. Not a good assumption, IMHO.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Absolute needs:

1. A starting left tackle. If they think that could be Cannon/Fleming/Waddle and re-sign CF/LaW instead of Solder, so be it. But that is a hole that MUST be filled.

2. A quarterback. Not to start next season, but to be ready to start any time after that -- or, if he turns out not to be up to it, to have the search re-start next year.

For the rest, well ... upgrades would be great all over.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Someone actually disagreed with me above, saying the D had a host of injuries and/or people who went there in 2017, as opposed to who was there in 2016.

The D was better in 2016 with better quality due to health. This isn't an opinion, it's a fact.

Philly had some key injuries, too, but not to the extent of the Pats.

 

[Jangles]

Since we were among the very top teams in scoring defense, I guess this isn't essential. Or perhaps, we had one and you didn't notice?

How’d that work out

 

[Chris Stevenson]

How’d that work out

About as well as our scoring offense? How did the vaunted Philly D work out?

Just curious.

 

[mgteich]

I understand that we need an improvement to our pass rush. Yes, given that we were the best team going into 2018, the best team going into the playoffs, the best team in the AFC and the 2nd best team in the NFL, we should look to where we can best improve (as we always do).

Also, this is always the case. There are few teams who cannot use help in their pass rush.

I may have a poor memory, but I believe that since the beginning of this board, we have asked for an improvement to the pass rush every year. Every year, we could use a stud, or a developmental stud.

My BOTTOM LINE is that I cannot buy into the fact that we have HUGE needs in the pass rush or front seven, given what the team did in the last half of the year, without Hightower and McClellan. Let's go out an get a top LB: Hightower. Let's go out and get a midlevel LB; McClellan. Let's go out an get a prospect or two: Rivers and Davis.

Can we do more? Sure. Should we draft 2 front seven players in the top 100? Sure. The greatest front seven need for 2018 may be replacing Branch. We need a 3 man rotation and a backup. Even here, Valentine and Francois may be plenty for 2018. We still need someone for the future.

While the poster that you quoted may have been acting a bit over the top with his comments, our sacks came in spurts, so there were plenty of other times where an improvement in the pass rush could’ve made a big difference. One needs to look no further than Belichick complaining about it in the SB, asking for more blitzes, and then seeing the extra rusher(s) fail, too.

Also, we went through a stretch where the defense only caused 3 turnovers over the last 8 games of the season, including the lack of a single turnover in 5/6 games that came down the stretch run and into the postseason. There’s absolutely no reason to think that an improvement in the pass rush wouldn’t be something that could go quite a long way towards forcing errant throws, improving 3rd down conversion rates, and causing turnovers.

More importantly, the season was bookended with the 2 worst defensive performances in the entire 18 year Belichick era, so I’m going to assume that he’s working towards an improvement in that area, whether we padded stats against the Tyrod Taylors, Bryce Pettys and Jay Cutlers of the East or not.

 

[Jimke]

About as well as our scoring offense? How did the vaunted Philly D work out?

Just curious.

The vaunted Philly D did not work out because they faced the best quarterback
of all time.

 

[IllegalContact]

Someone actually disagreed with me above, saying the D had a host of injuries and/or people who went there in 2017, as opposed to who was there in 2016.

The D was better in 2016 with better quality due to health. This isn't an opinion, it's a fact.

Philly had some key injuries, too, but not to the extent of the Pats.

they had one that Mattered.........Hightower

the defensive roster was a relative disaster since pre season

 

[captain stone]

The conclusion that Lee must not be good since he didn't see the field in Buffalo is based on the assumption that the Bills' personnel guys and/or coaches know wtf they're doing. Not a good assumption, IMHO.

No it isn't, but the main reason that I mentioned Buffalo is that they were the only team against whom Lee performed well.

 

[Sciz]

they had one that Mattered.........Hightower

the defensive roster was a relative disaster since pre season

I think there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have seen Chung in the slot if Jonathan Jones had been healthy.

 

[IllegalContact]

I think there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have seen Chung in the slot if Jonathan Jones had been healthy.

meh......Butler was on the bench

 

[Jimke]

I hope the Patriots are aggressive in re-signing our own free agents.
They tend to let their players test the market.