NFL's "fake" season 2020

[Ring 6]

Legit want to know what people here thought this NE team was. I’m finding it difficult to understand the level of desperation around here. Were expectations high for the 2020 Patriots ?

Maybe I’m alone in thinking they were - at BEST - a division winner with a first round loss.

I don’t understand this approach. If you root for a team you want them to win every game. Do you seriously make predictions before the season and then judge how much you care whether they win or lose based on what your confidence was?
It seems that’s a popular approach on this board, trash the team, lower expectations then come back and crow you were right. I don’t understand that kind of fan.

 

[Doctor DDS]

We all know that the Pats had a cap issue. They could have postponed it like the Saints and some other teams have done but they chose not to. It absolutely blows in the moment but it should help them moving forward. We'll see in a couple years if it was the correct strategy or not.

 

[farn]

I don’t understand this approach. If you root for a team you want them to win every game. Do you seriously make predictions before the season and then judge how much you care whether they win or lose based on what your confidence was?
It seems that’s a popular approach on this board, trash the team, lower expectations then come back and crow you were right. I don’t understand that kind of fan.

I want the team I follow to win the SB. Keeping Brady & the status quo, imo, wasn't leading to the SB in 2020+. I'd rather rebuild and try to get a new nucleus that gives NE the best chance at reaching that goal.

 

[XLIX]

Because since all three "suck," as you've concluded, you stretch that into believing BB had no plan at QB.

Actually what I wrote was he had no plan or the plan sucked. Take your choice.

Beyond that, as a Bucs fan you seem to be wasting your time trolling a Patriots fan site and not basking in the glow of victory on your team's home board.

Sorry not sorry, but I don't subscribe to blind homerism excuse making. I have no problem calling out my own team when they make a mistake and Lord knows, they've been making plenty of 'em.

The Patriots are 4 games worse than the same point last year. The Bucs are 3 games better than the same point last year. Some people think this is just a coincidence.

 

[1960Pats]

I know technology is hard for you old timers, but have you seen me post over there lately in all your time spent reading the thread? You Buc fans have a good team.

So you can't name any names. I didn't think so.

 

[Ring 6]

It does appear that something has caught up with the Pats, and the pandemic has made it worse because there's less opportunity to coach around it. The core issue isn't the pandemic, but it is making things a bit worse.

[/QUOTE]
Of course something has caught up. It just took a dozen or so years longer than it should have. When you have the best team as your players become free agents you cannot afford to keep them all. Players flow from good teams to bad. Bad teams make stupid decisions to overpay and usually stay bad, good teams try to plug the holes with cheaper players.
This year the team lost Brady, vannoy, Collins, Shelton, Roberts, etc. in prior years they lost gronk, flowers, amendola, solder, etc etc.
Good teams are fighting deterioration and it’s very hard to stop it from catching up.
when you end up with an embarrassment at QB it’s impossible.

The aspect of Belichick's leadership that's always bothered me is the limited range of coaches he can integrate into his coaching staff. The continuity he gets through hiring early career coaches and promoting from within has a flip side which is a lack of innovation. This is a general rule in organizations - the best leadership teams are a mix of internal promotions and outside hires. I wonder if this is part of what's caught up with them, and shows up as both a talent gap and lack of optimizing the talent they do have.

The coaching staff has turned over. Belichick is reknowned for coaching relationships and sharing innovation with the likes of Savan, Meyer and many others.

 

[Ring 6]

Actually what I wrote was he had no plan or the plan sucked. Take your choice.

Sorry not sorry, but I don't subscribe to blind homerism excuse making. I have no problem calling out my own team when they make a mistake and Lord knows, they've been making plenty of 'em.

The Patriots are 4 games worse than the same point last year. The Bucs are 3 games better than the same point last year. Some people think this is just a coincidence.

What plan did you want him to have with no cap space?

 

[Ring 6]

I want the team I follow to win the SB. Keeping Brady & the status quo, imo, wasn't leading to the SB in 2020+. I'd rather rebuild and try to get a new nucleus that gives NE the best chance at reaching that goal.

What does that even mean “rebuild”? You field the best team you can and acquire the best players you can.
You don’t stop and say winning doesn’t mater now, it will in the future so you can feel good about it.
What does “rebuild” look like?

 

[XLIX]

What plan did you want him to have with no cap space?

oh, I dunno.... maybe re-sign, you know, the greatest QB of all time in the history of the NFL which they could have done with a very low up front cap hit....... (in fact, had it been done soon enough, it would have saved money on this year's cap)

 

[farn]

What does that even mean “rebuild”? You field the best team you can and acquire the best players you can.
You don’t stop and say winning doesn’t mater now, it will in the future so you can feel good about it.
What does “rebuild” look like?

It means recognizing what you have on your roster, Once you realize you are quite far from a championship, you start assessing which players will still be around when you believe you're ready to compete. All players who hold value to contenders can then be traded for the right price.

This team isn't "one player away" and many key cogs are over 30. All players of value whose age or contract situation is problematic should be shopped.

 

[Tunescribe]

Actually what I wrote was he had no plan or the plan sucked. Take your choice.

Sorry not sorry, but I don't subscribe to blind homerism excuse making. I have no problem calling out my own team when they make a mistake and Lord knows, they've been making plenty of 'em.

The Patriots are 4 games worse than the same point last year. The Bucs are 3 games better than the same point last year. Some people think this is just a coincidence.

Right -- you wrote the Pats had no post-Brady plan at QB, which you have no way of knowing. And what you define as "blind homerism excuse making" in my argument ignores factual reasoning. I don't know if that's intentional on your part or an inherent lack of discernment, but either way it's not good.

 

[Ring 6]

oh, I dunno.... maybe re-sign, you know, the greatest QB of all time in the history of the NFL which they could have done with a very low up front cap hit....... (in fact, had it been done soon enough, it would have saved money on this year's cap)

That wasn’t possible. Brady wanted to leave.

 

[PatsWSB47]

I know technology is hard for you old timers, but have you seen me post over there lately in all your time spent reading the thread? You Buc fans have a good team.

Give it up will you? Why is it you cant stand the fact that a lot of people still root for Brady? Buc fans? No one and I mean no one here would be a Bucs fan if our Goat wasnt on that team....and in a weird way his success so far this year has made the Pats woes a little more bearable.

 

[XLIX]

That wasn’t possible. Brady wanted to leave.

Hey, whatever delusions help you sleep at night.....

 

[XLIX]

Right -- you wrote the Pats had no post-Brady plan at QB, which you have no way of knowing. And what you define as "blind homerism excuse making" in my argument ignores factual reasoning. I don't know if that's intentional on your part or an inherent lack of discernment, but either way it's not good.

Yeah... right... sure.... and I'm sure that if NE was 6-1 right now, you'd have made the exact same thread about how 2020 is a "fake" season...

 

[Ring 6]

It means recognizing what you have on your roster, Once you realize you are quite far from a championship, you start assessing which players will still be around when you believe you're ready to compete. All players who hold value to contenders can then be traded for the right price.

This team isn't "one player away" and many key cogs are over 30. All players of value whose age or contract situation is problematic should be shopped.

So you think that jettisoning talented players is the way to get better? Which players are you talking about. Please give me a list and explain how the tram improves without them.
let’s deal with specifics not rhetoric
How many players away were they in 2000? You do realize that this off season will be by far the most cap room they have ever had right?

 

[Ring 6]

Hey, whatever delusions help you sleep at night.....

Brady chose to leave. That’s a fact.

 

[Ring 6]

Hey, whatever delusions help you sleep at night.....

By the way this has to be the most bizarre statement ever.
why would the facts about brady be “delusional”? Why would anyone want to be deluded?
Why would someone sleep or not sleep at night depending upon whether the qb chose to leave or was forced out?
It sounds like you have some kind of agenda you are trying to push for some unknown reason

 

[Triumph]

How do I "defy reason". What part of the following is wrong? This team had Hoyer and Stidham all summer long then stumbled into Cam Newton at cheap dollars - and all 3 suck.

Either they had no plan at QB, or the plan sucked royally.

I was going to go there too.

BB botched WR going on 3 years. There is no replacement for Edelman. Meyers, Bird and Gunner are nice 3rd and 4th option WRs, but in NE they are pressed into # 1 and # 2 roles. The Harry story has grown tiresome.

BB botched TE as well. Everyone knew that Gronk was basically done in 2018. 2019 had nobody but Old Ben Watson. In 2020 you draft 2 TEs knowing that the learning curve is steep for a Pats TE. Keene just grabbed a 1 pass 6 games into this season. No Vet TE was acquired through FA to eventually transition the rookie TEs into the offense. The Pats need somebody at TE today after looking at the WRs on the team.

Then there is QB. Brady was 44 last season. At some point he wasnt going to play here anymore. Whatever Stidham has been doing over the last year and 6 months did not take. Maybe he improves as this season pans out, but I dont see a 2021 starting QB in him right now.

 

[farn]

So you think that jettisoning talented players is the way to get better? Which players are you talking about. Please give me a list and explain how the tram improves without them.
let’s deal with specifics not rhetoric
How many players away were they in 2000? You do realize that this off season will be by far the most cap room they have ever had right?

The players I’d move on from, specifically :

Gilmore
Thuney

That is based both on salary and the likelihood they return to the team in 2021.

I’d listen to offers for :

JMac
DMac
Edelman

don’t think they’d bring much in return (DMac would, perhaps). They are approaching mid 30s.