BB Admits 2020 Is Bridge Year

[SVN]

this will sadly not end well with the boston media and fans. unless he finds a QB real quick next year.

 

[Bradybranch]

So 2020 is a reset year. That doesn't mean we need to be sellers at the trade deadline. Having Gilmore on the team in 2021 would be better than not having Gilmore and having a 1st round pick instead. The team will be good again soon. I can see them finishing strong this year and picking up that momentum into next year as long as they have a strong draft and use the cap money wisely. Just don't know if Cam is the long term answer, which seems to be the real question. He has the rest of the year to prove himself.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Perhaps putting the spotlight on himself instead of his players? I don’t think he would need to do that...the focus would be on him regardless.

Or maybe it’s some sort of subtle dig at Kraft for having JG sent packing and Tom staying which is opposite of what he wanted.

I don’t mind he’s “breaking character” but this is not the Bill we know for sure. I’m sure he’s saying all of this for a reason.

All good theories. Not sure.

It's clear as day BB is making an attempt to set realistic exceptions of this team for the fan base.

Why he feels he needs to do this is beyond me.

Maybe his boss is telling him to do it?

 

[Doctor DDS]

Maybe Kraft is worried about the blowback from letting Brady go. Most rationale fans and media knew that the Pats were not a serious Super Bowl contender even with Brady on the team but they smell blood and now have a chance to extoll as much of it from BB as possible.

 

[captain stone]

Bill Belichick to Sirius XM NFL Radio: "This is kind of the year that we've taken to, I would say, adjust our cap from the spending that we've had in accumulation of prior years. We just haven't been able to have the kind of depth on our roster that we've had in some other years."

www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41102669-4

Accept it...

Gee I wonder why that is Bill...

 

[SVN]

Not making excuses, Bill Belichick defends salary-cap stance as New England Patriots struggle

In the midst of a four-game losing streak, Bill Belichick defends New England's salary-cap stance as Patriots sit at 2-5.

www.espn.com

He seemed to take offense Monday when told some might have viewed his remarks to Sirius XM NFL Radio, in an interview with his former offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis, as an excuse.

"I didn't say it as an excuse. I never said that," Belichick said. "Look, we paid Cam Newton a million dollars [on July 8]. It's obvious we didn't have any money. It's nobody's fault. That's what we did the last five years."

When told it seemed unusual that he was providing a big-picture assessment of the roster in the middle of the season, Belichick said in his Monday radio interview: "It's pretty obvious. It was an honest answer to an honest question. No more, no less than that. I'm sure you can read a lot into it if you want to. That wasn't the intent."

 

[carmelo15]

Yeah, why would Bob want a coach who had a 19 year winning streak and developed a 6th round string bean into the GOAT to continue to run his team and scheme for perhaps the greatest pro QB prospect in a generation?

Maybe Kraft will scoop up Adam Gase in all the aftermath

So the coach turned a 6th round string bean into a Goat. Than why the **** can’t he make a former mvp player look decent

 

[SVN]

So the coach turned a 6th round string bean into a Goat. Than why the **** can’t he make a former mvp player look decent

He made brady the goat in 1 yr ? You are really expecting BB to pull miracles with Cam in a shortened season with no practices and complete new system and comparing to how brady built himself up over 19 years in the same system ?

 

[amfootball]

Unbelievable quote from Bill here. A total lie. We did not bring in any high priced FAs except for Gilmore. It was his terrible drafting that put us in this spot. He is circling the wagons right now to cover his legacy.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

There aren't many "writers" I truly despise more than Gasper the Smarmy Elitist.

With that said though it is interesting BB is taking to spinning the, "not a lot to work with" and "we are paying for going all-in in past years", yarn.

Clearly he is teeing the league up for an epic 2nd half ass-whoopin.

 

[Joey007]

Unbelievable quote from Bill here. A total lie. We did not bring in any high priced FAs except for Gilmore. It was his terrible drafting that put us in this spot. He is circling the wagons right now to cover his legacy.

We also spent a 1st rounder on Cooks that same year.

 

[Sciz]

Unbelievable quote from Bill here. A total lie. We did not bring in any high priced FAs except for Gilmore. It was his terrible drafting that put us in this spot. He is circling the wagons right now to cover his legacy.

Why the differentiation between bringing in players versus retaining them? Keeping guys like McCourty, Hightower, and Gronk around cost plenty of cap space and worked out great.

 

[amfootball]

We also spent a 1st rounder on Cooks that same year.

We did. And we had him on the last year of this deal and when it came time to pay him, we traded him away for a #1 to the Rams. We were not cap strung at all from paying players. It was his awful drafting.

 

[amfootball]

Why the differentiation between bringing in players versus retaining them? Keeping guys like McCourty, Hightower, and Gronk around cost plenty of cap space and worked out great.

Because as those players started to age, he never replaced them through the draft. That is why we are in cap hell now. Too many aging vets on big deals and no young talent on first contracts to replace them. His last pro bowl draft pick was Jamie Collins in 2013.

 

[Boomer B]

Unbelievable quote from Bill here. A total lie. We did not bring in any high priced FAs except for Gilmore. It was his terrible drafting that put us in this spot. He is circling the wagons right now to cover his legacy.

What Bill conveniently left out is one of the reasons they had to go with higher priced options is the misses he’s made in the draft over the last seven years. We didn’t draft enough top flight talent on their first contracts.

 

[Sciz]

Because as those players started to age, he never replaced them through the draft. That is why we are in cap hell now. Too many aging vets on big deals and no young talent on first contracts to replace them. His last pro bowl draft pick was Jamie Collins in 2013.

I'm not sure why you're so offended by his claim that he spent lots of money on good players that won Super Bowls, because he clearly did. Are you saying that he would have spent less money if he had more cost-controlled contributors?

His spending near the cap each season sure makes me think he would have spent the same amount of money, just on different players. Maybe if he hits on Cyrus Jones in 2016 then he doesn't need to trade for J-Mac and pay him $3.4 million in 2018, but I think it's a stretch to assume that money just goes unspent. I imagine he would have spent it trying to upgrade a different position instead, because obviously he wouldn't have known at the time that his roster was going to be good enough to win the Super Bowl.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Just as long as they didn't hire the NY Jets Bridge Engineering Company

 

[amfootball]

I'm not sure why you're so offended by his claim that he spent lots of money on good players that won Super Bowls, because he clearly did. Are you saying that he would have spent less money if he had more cost-controlled contributors?

His spending near the cap each season sure makes me think he would have spent the same amount of money, just on different players. Maybe if he hits on Cyrus Jones in 2016 then he doesn't need to trade for J-Mac and pay him $3.4 million in 2018, but I think it's a stretch to assume that money just goes unspent. I imagine he would have spent it trying to upgrade a different position instead, because obviously he wouldn't have known at the time that his roster was going to be good enough to win the Super Bowl.

We are not in cap hell for spending on players. We are here because his drafts have stunk for years. We did not replace the aging vets with young talent.

 

[Boomer B]

Florio tearing a strip off Belichick;


So, yes, it feels like an excuse. An excuse for less than stellar drafting. An excuse for perhaps no longer being able to get players to take less to play in New England. An excuse for his own mistakes, like calling for an onside kick on Sunday against the Bills. An excuse for Tom Brady not being there.

Belichick set the standard over the past 20 years in all sorts and shapes and sizes of cap situations. He always found a way to be competitive. This year, his first without Brady, the team is 2-5.

Given that his alternative would be to attribute past success to Brady, Belichick understandably is blaming this year’s struggles on the perceived (and perhaps deliberate) lack of cap space.

Regardless, it won’t be an excuse next year. The Patriots are positioned to be well under the cap, even if it’s only $175 million. So if they stink next year, Belichick will need another explanation/excuse/whatever.

Bill Belichick: Lack of cap space this year not an "excuse"

Patriots coach Bill Belichick doesn't make excuses.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[amfootball]

I can't stand Florio but glad he is calling out Bill on this.