OT: Official 2020 Tompa Bay Gronkaneers Thread

[TB12TheGoat]

I was so happy on draft night that Brown and Metcalf were available then my heart sunk when they announced Harry

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Neck injury that he sustained in his final season at Arkansas. Not that an injury has ever stopped Bill before. I was also not aware that the Chiefs, Eagles, Colts, and Cards had the guy who people on this forum revere as the “GOAT GM.” WR was a need. A big one. Those two produced in the SEC. Bill drafted a stiff who couldn’t get separation in the PAC-12 and Williams when he could have had Brown or Metcalf. Yikes.

And then “passionate fans” like yourself and Tommy rip Brady for leaving because he wanted to maximize his chances to win a Super Bowl in the few remaining years he has left (after giving us 20 years and 6 Lombardis), and knew he couldn’t get it done with this roster. How dare him. Who the hell does he think he is? He also saw the rebuild coming. But yeah, you’re right. He should have ate a **** sandwich and stomached what was basically a one year deal after another for the glory of playing with a 7-9 roster in 2020 and a rebuild in 2021.

Are you nuts? No one on this forum is calling Belichick the GOAT GM.

 

[RicoG]

I have been saying since Brown signed with them that him and Godwin should be WR1/WR2 and Evans as WR3 the first two fit Brady’s play style so well they’re liked souped-up Welker and Edelman

That makes sense, but the last month has shown what damage Evan's and Brady can do when they are both healthy and in sync.

The primary receiver should be game specific. When playing a team that has the personnel on defence to stop the deep ball like Lattimore and Gilmour, Evan's should be the WR2 or WR3.

 

[RicoG]

Gotta consider that Cam can’t say to the press that he has one of the worst receiving corps in the league and probably the worst TE

That is why the best outcome for not only the Patriots but for Cam is to not be the starting QB for the Pat's.

Cam looked washed up. playing like he is 10 years older. He might have a year or 2 left, but he will need to go to a team that has some offensive talent to see if he still got it.

Sounds familiar? If you had inserted Brady above, it would have been the same narrative. We would be arguing here whether Brady is washed up and need to retire or was it because of Harry and co.

So now we know it wasn't Brady.

 

[amfootball]

In their losses to the Saints, Rams, and Bears, they kept on trying to go to the deep ball when it wasn't there and when there was no time to go deep.

They have to be more selective with their deep ball as Brady will have less time.

The last few weeks are showing that the coaches, Brady, RB, and WR have improved on mixing it up, their game plan, and their execution.

It is possible that Tampa does not play any of the teams they lost to in the post-season. If the seeds hold, they play GB in the divisional round. If the Saints get upset by the Seahawks which is likely given their propensity to choke then the Bucs could play the Seahawks for the NFCCG.

I agree about the offense. They are playing light years difference the last few weeks with much better concepts allowing Brady to get the ball out of his hand quickly and forcing the defense to defend the whole field not just the vertical.

 

[RicoG]

Are you nuts? No one on this forum is calling Belichick the GOAT GM.

For the first 14 years as GM for NE, Bill is definitely in the conversation as the GOAT GM.

But the last 6 or 7 years he has been terrible drafting in the top 3 rounds and he has let the offensive talent go to sh##. He replaced guys who were performing with lesser talent or scrubs. Offensively it's been going down bit by bit for 10 years.

They had Gronk and Hernandez. Then just Gronk. Then nobody.

They had Welker. Then Amendola and Edelman. Then just Edelman. Then only injured Edelman.

For the deep ball, they had Moss. Then pretty much nobody outside of Cook for a year and the very average Dorsett for several years.

So Bill the GM has been trending down for awhile. If he doesn't turn it around soon. He will no longer be one of the greats, but an above average GM.

 

[amfootball]

So it's okay for Cam to belittle Tom's 20 years as well as his 12-4 season the year before with the same offense but more injuries?
Of course Cam could have said nothing about Tom, but that isn't his style.

Cam did not belittle Tom if the quotes below are what you are referring to. He actually said he was unable to learn Tom's system. That it was too difficult for him. This is really eye opening as everyone knew that Cam would not be able to run what Brady was doing and that our coaching staff would have to adapt to him. Apparently that never happened. You know for all the flak we give Arians at least he has been changing his system to fit Tom to where they are on fire right now. Josh/Bill never did that with Cam which is head scratching for how "brilliant" our coaching is supposed to be.

Patriots’ System, Not Succeeding Tom Brady, Gave Cam Newton Trouble​

Quarterback Cam Newton suffered the same fate as many veteran players who joined the Patriots before him: He never quite acclimated to New England’s overgrown offense.

Newton explained Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that the offense, not succeeding legendary quarterback Tom Brady, gave him trouble in 2020 as the Patriots went 7-9.

“None. It was the system,” Newton said. “People undermine that. No disrespect to him. Obviously, I have the utmost respect for him, as we all do as quarterbacks. But I wasn’t just following him. I was following a system that he had the luxury of being in for 20 years. Just imagine that. That’s just like, as a student you’re given six months to take a final exam, honestly, that took 20 years to prepare but you only have, in essence, five weeks to prepare for it.

“So yeah, it was hard at times. It had nothing to do with him. It had a lot more to do with a system and Josh McDaniels — who’s brilliant by the way — of going off of the years of… 2001, 2003. It was nothing for him to say ‘well, we had this play back in 2006.’ Like, 2006, I was in the 10th or 11th grade, you know what I’m saying?”

The Patriots headed into their offseason workout program with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer at quarterback and didn’t sign Newton until July. NFL preseason games also were canceled this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Newton was heading into the 2020 season mostly cold.

It’s understandable why Newton couldn’t fully grasp an offense that’s been growing for 20 years in a matter of five weeks. It’s less understandable why McDaniels would expect him to.

Newton wound up completing 65.8 percent of his passes for 2,657 yards with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions while rushing 137 times for 592 yards with 12 more scores. He also caught two passes for 35 yards with a touchdown and lost a fumble for 21 total scores and 11 turnovers.

Patriots' System, Not Succeeding Tom Brady, Gave Cam Newton Trouble - NESN.com

Cam Newton suffered the same fate as many veteran players who joined the Patriots before him, never quite acclimating to the offense.

nesn.com

 

[RicoG]

It is possible that Tampa does not play any of the teams they lost to in the post-season. If the seeds hold, they play GB in the divisional round. If the Saints get upset by the Seahawks which is likely given their propensity to choke then the Bucs could play the Seahawks for the NFCCG.

I agree about the offense. They are playing light years difference the last few weeks with much better concepts allowing Brady to get the ball out of his hand quickly and forcing the defense to defend the whole field not just the vertical.

Saints will choke but the refs and NFL might try and give them the game considering it's likely Brees last year and to make up for the past.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

Saints will choke but the refs and NFL might try and give them the game considering it's likely Brees last year and to make up for the past.

have to watch out for that. they could give the Saints a ton of calls just like they did for Bettis, Lewis, Manning

 

[amfootball]

Saints will choke but the refs and NFL might try and give them the game considering it's likely Brees last year and to make up for the past.

I don't know. Goodell and Payton really hate each other.

 

[sb1]

Cam did not belittle Tom if the quotes below are what you are referring to. He actually said he was unable to learn Tom's system. That it was too difficult for him. This is really eye opening as everyone knew that Cam would not be able to run what Brady was doing and that our coaching staff would have to adapt to him. Apparently that never happened. You know for all the flak we give Arians at least he has been changing his system to fit Tom to where they are on fire right now. Josh/Bill never did that with Cam which is head scratching for how "brilliant" our coaching is supposed to be.

Patriots’ System, Not Succeeding Tom Brady, Gave Cam Newton Trouble​

Quarterback Cam Newton suffered the same fate as many veteran players who joined the Patriots before him: He never quite acclimated to New England’s overgrown offense.

Newton explained Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that the offense, not succeeding legendary quarterback Tom Brady, gave him trouble in 2020 as the Patriots went 7-9.

“None. It was the system,” Newton said. “People undermine that. No disrespect to him. Obviously, I have the utmost respect for him, as we all do as quarterbacks. But I wasn’t just following him. I was following a system that he had the luxury of being in for 20 years. Just imagine that. That’s just like, as a student you’re given six months to take a final exam, honestly, that took 20 years to prepare but you only have, in essence, five weeks to prepare for it.

“So yeah, it was hard at times. It had nothing to do with him. It had a lot more to do with a system and Josh McDaniels — who’s brilliant by the way — of going off of the years of… 2001, 2003. It was nothing for him to say ‘well, we had this play back in 2006.’ Like, 2006, I was in the 10th or 11th grade, you know what I’m saying?”

The Patriots headed into their offseason workout program with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer at quarterback and didn’t sign Newton until July. NFL preseason games also were canceled this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Newton was heading into the 2020 season mostly cold.

It’s understandable why Newton couldn’t fully grasp an offense that’s been growing for 20 years in a matter of five weeks. It’s less understandable why McDaniels would expect him to.

Newton wound up completing 65.8 percent of his passes for 2,657 yards with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions while rushing 137 times for 592 yards with 12 more scores. He also caught two passes for 35 yards with a touchdown and lost a fumble for 21 total scores and 11 turnovers.

Patriots' System, Not Succeeding Tom Brady, Gave Cam Newton Trouble - NESN.com

Cam Newton suffered the same fate as many veteran players who joined the Patriots before him, never quite acclimating to the offense.

nesn.com

It's an observation I made all year. This was Brady's offense, not one designed for Cam. Why on earth would you give an offense like that to a guy who can't throw very well?

Cam is honest and tells it like it is. If he's calling out Josh - not good. Imagine where this team would be if Bill leaves and Josh takes over? Yikes.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Cam did not belittle Tom if the quotes below are what you are referring to. He actually said he was unable to learn Tom's system. That it was too difficult for him. This is really eye opening as everyone knew that Cam would not be able to run what Brady was doing and that our coaching staff would have to adapt to him. Apparently that never happened. You know for all the flak we give Arians at least he has been changing his system to fit Tom to where they are on fire right now. Josh/Bill never did that with Cam which is head scratching for how "brilliant" our coaching is supposed to be.

Patriots’ System, Not Succeeding Tom Brady, Gave Cam Newton Trouble​

Quarterback Cam Newton suffered the same fate as many veteran players who joined the Patriots before him: He never quite acclimated to New England’s overgrown offense.

Newton explained Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that the offense, not succeeding legendary quarterback Tom Brady, gave him trouble in 2020 as the Patriots went 7-9.

“None. It was the system,” Newton said. “People undermine that. No disrespect to him. Obviously, I have the utmost respect for him, as we all do as quarterbacks. But I wasn’t just following him. I was following a system that he had the luxury of being in for 20 years. Just imagine that. That’s just like, as a student you’re given six months to take a final exam, honestly, that took 20 years to prepare but you only have, in essence, five weeks to prepare for it.

“So yeah, it was hard at times. It had nothing to do with him. It had a lot more to do with a system and Josh McDaniels — who’s brilliant by the way — of going off of the years of… 2001, 2003. It was nothing for him to say ‘well, we had this play back in 2006.’ Like, 2006, I was in the 10th or 11th grade, you know what I’m saying?”

The Patriots headed into their offseason workout program with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer at quarterback and didn’t sign Newton until July. NFL preseason games also were canceled this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Newton was heading into the 2020 season mostly cold.

It’s understandable why Newton couldn’t fully grasp an offense that’s been growing for 20 years in a matter of five weeks. It’s less understandable why McDaniels would expect him to.

Newton wound up completing 65.8 percent of his passes for 2,657 yards with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions while rushing 137 times for 592 yards with 12 more scores. He also caught two passes for 35 yards with a touchdown and lost a fumble for 21 total scores and 11 turnovers.

Patriots' System, Not Succeeding Tom Brady, Gave Cam Newton Trouble - NESN.com

Cam Newton suffered the same fate as many veteran players who joined the Patriots before him, never quite acclimating to the offense.

nesn.com

Since Brady left the patriots culture has turned into the making excuses culture

 

[RicoG]

Cam did not belittle Tom if the quotes below are what you are referring to. He actually said he was unable to learn Tom's system. That it was too difficult for him. This is really eye opening as everyone knew that Cam would not be able to run what Brady was doing and that our coaching staff would have to adapt to him. Apparently that never happened.

To be fair, a quick read sort of sounds like he is belittling Brady. I had to read it a 2nd time and I would say not but yeah,.. excuses. There's been a lot of that going on this year.

 

[Nehalem]

30 INTs says no

Newton's pocket presence says he wouldn't last 9 games with all the sacks he would take in Arian's vertical offense.

 

[amfootball]

Since Brady left the patriots culture has turned into the making excuses culture

It sure has but I think Cam was just being honest. He needs to say what went wrong so people understand why he looked so putrid all year. He still wants to play.

 

[amfootball]

It's an observation I made all year. This was Brady's offense, not one designed for Cam. Why on earth would you give an offense like that to a guy who can't throw very well?

Cam is honest and tells it like it is. If he's calling out Josh - not good. Imagine where this team would be if Bill leaves and Josh takes over? Yikes.

Bill gave his approval of those offensive game plans which to me is the really scary part.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

It's an observation I made all year. This was Brady's offense, not one designed for Cam. Why on earth would you give an offense like that to a guy who can't throw very well?

Like I said previously, why would they change the system they used for 20 years and that 8/10 of the offense knows for a guy who was gonna be here for one year. You don’t force the entire offense to learn a new system for a rental.

i agree with you that it was the same system as before but I disagree with you that it was Brady offense. They didn’t run a third of what Brady was running. They add a lot of RPO to it but Cam was not even able to run it efficiently. I completely disagree with you if you think they haven’t dumb it down at the maximum.

If they didn’t, that means Bill is not as good as a HC I think he is.

it’s more like Cam is trying to say that it was not his fault to still hope someone will hire him as starting QB.

 

[sb1]

Bill gave his approval of those offensive game plans which to me is the really scary part.

It's just bizarre to me why the coaching staff would give Cam the keys to an offense whose best before date expired when Brady left town. I expected to see something along the lines of the Ravens last year. That's what Cam can do well, and the OL can run block with the best of them too.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

It sure has but I think Cam was just being honest. He needs to say what went wrong so people understand why he looked so putrid all year. He still wants to play.

If he was being honest, he would say that he can’t play anymore. Which he hasn’t. Honestly, it’s not the system, it’s just that he is not good.

 

[sb1]

Like I said previously, why would they change the system they used for 20 years and that 8/10 of the offense knows for a guy who was gonna be here for one year. You don’t force the entire offense to learn a new system for a rental.

i agree with you that it was the same system as before but I disagree with you that it was Brady offense. They didn’t run a third of what Brady was running. They add a lot of RPO to it but Cam was not even able to run it efficiently. I completely disagree with you if you think they haven’t dumb it down at the maximum.

If they didn’t, that means Bill is not as good as a HC I think he is.

it’s more like Cam is trying to say that it was not his fault to still hope someone will hire him as starting QB.

Oh for sure he's selling himself more than anything. I think he's an honest guy too and he isn't shy about telling it like it is.
Sure it wasn't identical but offense still had the fundamental elements of the Brady offense. Plenty of timing and precision routes and not as much RPO as I would have liked to see.