Hopefully More Extensions Are Coming.

[Real fan 02]

At least on paper the team has mid pack NFL talent. If the players play to their potential more than four wins should be expected. The naysayers predicting a season that will net the Pats the number one pick seem to be focused on the inexperience of the coaching staff. Just like the talent on the field Mayo and company will make mistakes and develop along the way. As long as the coach has the team playing hard and does not lose too many games himself, the record will be better this year.

And media talking heads, ect what they look at is what a teams done last season. Even when we won championships the predictions were done off of that previous season. What is a great thing about the NFL is every week is different.. what is and advantage to this team is that they have the "unknown " opposing OCs know what our defense is, and there isn't a weak area that they can attack. Now opposing DCs don't know what our offense will be until we put it on tape.

As you said players playing to thier potential, the QB position being adequate and the injury factors all play a part.

 

[Real fan 02]

Run the ball… the Texans, Chiefs, Steelers and Bucs were all middling offenses last year in terms of scoring.

They ran the ball and defended well, or almost well where the Texans are concerned. Brissett is merely good, Baker Mayfield isn’t much better if at all and he’s far better than the Steelers QB’s last season.

Team game…

I've said personally that..JB is 31, if he has a solid year if he starts. And puts up say 24-8 or something like that.. he's in line for a big pay day elsewhere. So it's an incentive to him to play well or at least adequate. Absolutely we will be a hard nosed running team, with plenty of shots down field.. Polk, Baker, pop, KJ and KB will all benefit from a strong run game.

 

[Real fan 02]

I still see an offense that talent wise, will struggle to score 20+ points week in and week out. I also see questionable FG kicking. in the NFL, regardless how good your defense may be, that equates to mostly losing.
the season rests, imo, with how quickly Maye is ready. Brissett is not a good QB.

They have pretty much as Curran mentioned overhauled thier offense. They have enough NFL level talent to be competitive... TE Henry who's one of the best red zone targets in the NFL. Pop who's shifty, in the slot and has great hands.. Baker and polk will absolutely be play makers for Drake and get open on the seams. Rham and Gibson will wear down defensive lines.

 

[Wozzy]

I've said personally that..JB is 31, if he has a solid year if he starts. And puts up say 24-8 or something like that.. he's in line for a big pay day elsewhere. So it's an incentive to him to play well or at least adequate. Absolutely we will be a hard nosed running team, with plenty of shots down field.. Polk, Baker, pop, KJ and KB will all benefit from a strong run game.

Brissett can’t complain, ten years is a long career and he can keep earning as a hired gun like Fitzmagic was in his later years as “the bridge QB.”

He’ll be the go to guy for teams looking to draft the next guy and stay competitive now until he’s forty if he chooses to. He might also play well enough somebody wants him to be the legit starter next season.

Between Onwenu, Andrews and Sow they should be able to run the ball… especially if they move Onwenu back to guard.

Everyone benefits from a diverse balanced offense, when VanPelt said building a hard nosed running game was his goal I gained some instant confidence in him.

 

[Real fan 02]

Brissett can’t complain, ten years is a long career and he can keep earning as a hired gun like Fitzmagic was in his latter years as “the bridge QB.”

He’ll be the go to guy for teams looking to draft the next guy and stay competitive now until he’s forty if he chooses to. He might also play well enough somebody wants him to be the legit starter next season.

Between Onwenu, Andrews and Sow they should be able to run the ball… especially if they move Onwenu back to guard.

Everyone benefits from a diverse balanced offense, when VanPelt said building a hard nosed running game was his goal I gained some instant confidence in him.

Agreed. And Brissett is a guy that is a high character guy that a locker room needs. I want to see him do well here, just as I want Drake to lead this team. AVP the more I've learned about him and the more I like him as an offensive mind. He did a masterful job last season with 5 different QBs and still made the playoffs wich is remarkable. Every stands to gain from having a diverse offense all around.

 

[Froob]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

 

[Love The Drake]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

I would think it’s safe to say the players we extended weren’t part of the problem.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

I would hope they cool off for a while. Some of these signings were unnecessary like Rham and Dugger. Peppers is clearly capable of taking his place without any drop off and Rham still has a year left on his deal at a position which is easily replaceable. I'd rather pay a little more later knowing for sure Rham is the best option going forward than paying him prematurely when he regressed last season. Barmore is borderline up there as well because he's only had one standout season. If he duplicates it, the contract is a bargain. Ownenu was a desperation signing and even he was probably surprised the money being offered to him. Letting him go would've created another unnecessary hole on an already bad OL.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I still see an offense that talent wise, will struggle to score 20+ points week in and week out. I also see questionable FG kicking. in the NFL, regardless how good your defense may be, that equates to mostly losing.
the season rests, imo, with how quickly Maye is ready. Brissett is not a good QB.

Acknowledging the fact that the offense and ST were weaknesses last year, the benchmark for this discussion is winning 4 games which would make the team one of the worst in the league. If the team is able to overcome the issues you highlight and Maye emerges, the team will be much improved over last year.

 

[Froob]

Acknowledging the fact that the offense and ST were weaknesses last year, the benchmark for this discussion is winning 4 games which would make the team one of the worst in the league. If the team is able to overcome the issues you highlight and Maye emerges, the team will be much improved over last year.

I’d like to believe that, but if you look over the schedule it’s hard to find the wins. And we get screwed jags are in London back to back weeks and our most winnable home game is back from London without a bye vs the Jets

 

[Real fan 02]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

To continue building up the culture especially with a new staff, it's important to keep guys around that are high character, as well as good players. An organization must do this to create a winning culture. Also we had to spend cap dollars so better off investing in good players that were not part of problems last year.

 

[Real fan 02]

I’d like to believe that, but if you look over the schedule it’s hard to find the wins. And we get screwed jags are in London back to back weeks and our most winnable home game is back from London without a bye vs the Jets

I can remember talk of how tough the Patriots schedule is going back to Brady's time here. I will tell you this.. we will be in each and every game this season.. win or losse. There is no team that's going to just have it's way with this defense.. in the NFL every game is tough...

 

[mgteich]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

That presumes that we don't have talent accross the board. Many agree with that assessment and wanted to dump everyone.

That simply isn't the case.

DEFENSE
The Defense is top 5 when healthy, certainly top 10. The issue here is to have a continuing top Defense.

Step One is to extend what we have and prepare to replace those who retire, and yeah the few who leave each year. IMO, I would give the team an A+ so far.

Sure, we could have added a top corner or free safety, but we are focusing on 2025-2027. Let's see what we can add in the draft before signing top free agents. It isn't clear that we ever need to sign top defensive players as long as we continue to add through the draft and acquisitions from other teams. In any case, I'm fine with waiting until 2025 to see what we have in the secondary.

Make no mistake, I'm fine with adding a HEALTHY young player at any point if value can be found. However, I think that ALL the top free agent money should go to the Offense, other than signing replacements for players lost. Of course, we continue to sign guys like Peppers, vets looking for a new start.

The bottom line is that the players in their current roles give us a top Defense. We always need to improve, but MUCH MROE important is to keep what we have going. I would not be surprised to see us draft two defensive players in our top three picks next year.

 

[rkarp1]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

the extensions are not with this season in a vacuum
these players should be here for the next 3 seasons at the least
by that time Maye could be playing at a very high level

 

[mgteich]

Acknowledging the fact that the offense and ST were weaknesses last year, the benchmark for this discussion is winning 4 games which would make the team one of the worst in the league. If the team is able to overcome the issues you highlight and Maye emerges, the team will be much improved over last year.

I strongly disagree, we don't need major things to happen to be better than 4 wins. We simply need a bit more health. Even if we have a #26 or #29 Offense, the team as a whole is much improved.

You just need to look at the lineups for the last few games at OT, WR and CB and recall that Judon is back.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I’d like to believe that, but if you look over the schedule it’s hard to find the wins. And we get screwed jags are in London back to back weeks and our most winnable home game is back from London without a bye vs the Jets

Two different ways of looking at the same problem produce different results. Admittedly my statements are based on comparing last years team to this years team vs the average talent of the league which does not account for the schedule. A game by game assessment is largely based on how the two opponents looked last year. Since the Pats were one of the worst teams in the league, things look pretty bleak from that perspective. We won't know how hard the schedule is until all teams start playing games. I am looking forward to seeing the team get on the field.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I strongly disagree, we don't need major things to happen to be better than 4 wins. We simply need a bit more health. Even if we have a #26 or #29 Offense, the team as a whole is much improved.

You just need to look at the lineups for the last few games at OT, WR and CB and recall that Judon is back.

I agree that 4 wins is the absolute floor. Those things need to go right for it to be a much better than a 4 win season. Sorry if I was not clear.

 

[rkarp1]

I've said personally that..JB is 31, if he has a solid year if he starts. And puts up say 24-8 or something like that.. he's in line for a big pay day elsewhere. So it's an incentive to him to play well or at least adequate. Absolutely we will be a hard nosed running team, with plenty of shots down field.. Polk, Baker, pop, KJ and KB will all benefit from a strong run game.

24 and 8??
he threw 23 PASSES last year
you think he is throwing 24 td's this year?

 

[mgteich]

I like the extensions and all...but at some point how much money should we be re-investing into a four win team?

I dealt with the #9 Defense in another post. Our talent on Defense is one of a playoff team not a 4-win team. so, we shoul continue to spend money to retain the players who make us a top Defense and continue to draft an acquire players.
=========
OFFENSE
Do we have 4-win talent at RB, TE? at IOL? Of course not.

And we did what was needed to keep out top players and add a couple of backups. We re-signed or extended: Onwenu, Andrews and Stevenson. We added Gibson and Hooper. We should be adding another RB.

LET US FOCUS
We had FOUR major weaknesses: QB, coaching, OT and WR. We were the worst in the NFL at these positions, especially after losing Bourne to injury.

I think that we have done very, very well in addressing these needs.

QUARTERBCK AND COACHING
Maye, Brissett and a new coaching staff addresses to weaknesses. Are they playoff caliber? Certainly, not yet. But they are better than last year. Consider, that las year's coaching staff was coaching Jones and Zappe. They will continue to improve each year, as long as Maye is even an adequate starter.

WIDE RECEIVER
I truly feel sorry for those who think Wolf hasn't done enough at addressing the QB position. We lack a #1 QB. When we trade for one or sign one, this unit is as good as many playoff teams.

Is this enough to improve from last year's Parker, an injured Schuster, Douglas, Reagor, Thornton and an injured Bourne? Just adding a healthy Bourne and Osborne would have been a major improvement.

Osborn, Bourne, Douglas, a healthy Schuster, Thornton/Reagor/Boutte would be a major improvement, waiting for the #1 to be drafted or signed. We also drafted Polk and Baker. Even if the rookies are not at all ready, we will have a much better than 4-10 passing game.

BOTTOM LINE
If we had two average NFL tackles and even adequate QB play (read Brissett), we would sign a WR and be ready for the 2025 playoff hunt. It would be 2024, but it will take at least half a year for the Offense to learn and do well at executing a new scheme.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
So, here we are, the ONLY unfinished business other than signing a top WR.

Perhaps Wolf could have done better, perhaps not. Our starting point is Love-Onwenu-McDermott. We may NOT have better overall talent at OT. After all, Onwenu will/should be moving to RG.

My hope is that we have enough to protect Maye. we need the new coaching staff to mold the players that we have into an OL scheme that is able to protect Maye and produce in the passing game and running game.

THAT IS THE 2024 CHALLENGE

Okorafor at LT and Wallace as starters is one answer (with Anderson as the swing and perhaps Love as the #4). If these four aren't enough, then we will need to trade or sign a vet to solidify the position for a year.

But there is no reason to expect failure at the challenge of having below average tackles, our only major weakness on the team.

YES, WE WILL BE LOOKING FOR A TACKLE IN 2025. Perhaps, we will sign or draft or LT starter and draft or sign the best LT backup we can find to be our swing (perhaps it will Okorafor).

Personally, I think that Wallace is an excellent prospect to be a 5-year starter. That's a HUGE, HUGE success. If so, if Maye is OK, we are two players away from a playoff competitive team: a #1 WR an starting LT.

 

[mgteich]

I agree that 4 wins is the absolute floor. Those things need to go right for it to be a much better than a 4 win season. Sorry if I was not clear.

np

It is always good for us to clarify