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It’s going to take time to get back into contention. I think after Brady left, for the first couple seasons we still had the mindset of “We’re the Patriots. We’ll figure it out”. This isn’t that team anymore. We’re bottom feeders but good news is the only way is now up.
We have a handful.. but I think by human nature we get caught up in the allure of the logo on the helments instead of the names on the back of the jerseys.
The offense has been the hindrance from 2022 to present. In 2021 were what top 5 in the league or top 10 in offense? Boy what would I do to see us even top 15 right now.
I think the investment in your own players is what smart franchises do. Bill was able to get away with doing that because of stability at the QB position for so long that simply can't be overlooked. We don't have that right now until Drake takes over. So the FA dollars was spent on identifying guys that were part of the present and future. This likely the last long term contracts for dugger or ownenu.. if they end up really fading then they will get veteran minimums from a team. Furthermore dugger and owenu were top 10 players at thier positions. Those contracts aren't hurting the team. I agree 1-2 it's not the worse place to be. For example the Ravens and Bengals are winless both are elite teams in the NFL.
The mantra was getting the QB and getting through the 2024 season to get to the 2025 off-season. No one pretty much expects anything this season. It's pretty much all about next season anyway.
That’s called forcing the issue. Maye isn’t the guy. Probably only worth a 2nd or 3rd rounder but league is full of front offices feeling the need to prove themselves.
And you know this already after the first couple of snaps of his career?
Nix hasn’t proven a thing either and Alt is not worth a top 5 pick.
There was also the ill advised mindset that Belichick being here meant we had some sort of floor where we would never be truly bad. Last year showed that wasn't the case.
People who want the team to claw to wins beyond their capabilities and roster construction. For instance, I saw the writing on the wall very early last season and cringed with every TD or FG to win a game. There were plenty that wanted any missed FG to go in, so the team ended up in the 7-8 win range which would have been horrible for the future. I was livid when the won that Steelers game and relieved when they lost to the Jets (as gross as that is) in the last game. Had they won that, no Maye most likely iirc. Now, he may suck but if he is who I think he is last year will have been a blessing. I expected more this season, and still kind of do but that was based upon the rookie playing significant time. Not winning with Brissett.
Well I sort of see this as the opposite issue. Bill didn't want to pay a lot of lineman, and now we have a lineman problem. Bill didn't want to pay WR's and we have a WR problem that's persisted for years. Bill didn't want to make a good offer to Brady and made him feel unappreciated, and we have not had decent QB play since. Then we overpayed a bunch of old guys on defense from the last dynasty like Hightower/McCourty/Chung and watched them all decline. Like we could have just paid Cooks, Thuney, Meyers etc and minimized a lot of our biggest problems the last few years.
You aren't wrong, but we basically had to settle on the third best QB prospect and let two of the biggest positions of need with super high end prospects go to take a much riskier pick out of need. MHJ or Alt would have solved a lot of problems and could have been cornerstone pieces on units that we really needed to solve for years to come.
Nix in 2 games looks in over his head. As bad as I wanted Drake to play.. with the play of the line I'm ok with maye daye waiting. We got the best QB in the draft. Many teams wanted drake.. and we're willing to give up lots of capital to get him. Kevin Oconnell is one of best offensive minds in the game and want him, so didn't the giant's.
Oh absolutely you make points. This goes back to my criticism of wolf for not doing more to address the line. I absolutely wanted Maye I feel he was the right pick. See i truly believe the organization felt out of Wheatley, Anderson, Lowe someone would emerge. That obviously didn't pan out, and add in injuries to stranger and Sow and you have what we witness with the line.
Having stability at the most important position for so long makes the GMs job 10x easier. That was the primary reason to be able to walk away from guy, not resign guys. Brady was the ultimate equalizer. We identified players for the present and future with Dugger, owenu, pepper Barmore and kept them around.
Predicting Maye to be a bust is in their favor as history shows a very high bust rate for top drafted QB’s.
Aside from Thuney, who were they?
Branch and/or Givens were big mistakes, but that’s about it. Cooks was not that great of a fit in NE and he helped them win in 2018 by dropping a TD pass. Myers was part of the WR problem. Wes Welker was very controversial, but Bill ended up being right. However, my original argument was specifically draft picks.
This is where I blame Robert Kraft. He could’ve intervened and said he’d pay what Tom wanted, but he stood on the sidelines. We are still hearing conflicting stories of what really went down to this day. The recent story is Hoyer said Brady was going to sit out the 2019 season had they not reworked his deal so the Pats couldn’t franchise tag him in 2020.
That’s what happens when you don’t draft well which was my original argument.
he absolutely could bust.
Went went 7-9, 10-7, 8-9, 4-13.. post brady
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