Interesting Notes on Adalius Thomas

Call me crazy, but I'm inclined to give AD a couple of weeks to see how he responds before throwing him under the bus.

PatsFaninAZ said:

Call me crazy, but I'm inclined to give AD a couple of weeks to see how he responds before throwing him under the bus.

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IMO as a fan, its a reasonable position to take. If hes throwing up goose-eggs or playing 10% of the snaps, that means hes not responding the way BB needs him to.

upstater1 said:

Please, people, Pats fans of all people should know better than to take Thomas's quotes out of context.

Read the actual interview as Reiss transcribes it, and those crazy quotes from Adalius are not at all combative.

I'm not saying he didn't give poor effort in the Broncos game. I'm saying that, in the whole interview, an answer like this one "Belichick has all the answers" comes off differently when the player is telling the media that it's the player's job to be ready and do the best he can, and it's the coaches job to decide who plays, etc. I know it sounds bad out of context, but he was literally asking the media to change the subject, and to ask Belichick about why he was benched, because he didn't have an answer.

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REMAIN CALM, ALL IS WELL!

spacecrime said:

It's just annoying to see Thomas and Burgess make all the money and do nothing, while guys liek Guyton and Ninkovich produce results for peanuts.

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amazinPats said:

You think so? Seems to me that most American companies work in this manner. What's so different?

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Good question but the answer would take too long.

Stick around and read the forums for a while and once you understand how football contracts work, the cap, etc etc you will know what's so different between football players and factory workers.

Not that there is anything wrong with factory work; it's just that the wage scales are a bit ... well, different.

Video of interview

To me he sounds fine. If anything his attitude is excellent, he's got the typical throng of media around him all prodding him to say something newsworthy and pretty much all he does is recite the team party line of 'it's in the past' 'no one person is bigger than the team' ' we're looking forward to Tampa' etc. etc.

PatsFaninAZ said:

Call me crazy, but I'm inclined to give AD a couple of weeks to see how he responds before throwing him under the bus.

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Me as well. Perhaps I am just in denial because I really hope he's not finished as a Patriot. But that interview did not seem all that bad and he seems eager to move past last Sunday.

in my view, never pay too much on an overrated players, if you have seen his worth in the league by bringing rings to the squad, then I guess he deserves it

interviews can come off different in person or transcribed so it's easy for us to come to different opinions based on that.

But the key new info in here to me on the situation is this.... he was AT THE STADIUM on Sunday as he says in own words that the position coach told him on Sun he wasn't playing. And at that point he decided NOT TO DRESS FOR THE SIDELINES AND HELP THE TEAM. Hell he could have tried to be another coach for those jr LBs or made sure the right guys got out on the switches. But no he went off to go sulk. can you say 'not a team player'.

sounds like BB made the right call to sit him - just based on that.

People are being way too harsh on Adalius. We overpaid for a pretty good player on a great Ravens defense, plain and simple. Did you guys know who Adalius was in the 2000s? I hardly heard his name mentioned. I am disappointed in his play, but let's remember this isn't Lawrence Taylor, Charles Haley,or Bryant Young. The expectations we are putting on AD is astronomically high. In Baltimore he was merely a piece to the puzzle. He was never the focal point of that dominant defense. Looking at his stats, he had one breakout season in 2006, which I believe was his contract year and registered 11 sacks. He has never been a consistent "sacks" guy, I don't know about the qb hurries. He has had some forced fumbles and a few interceptions here and there, but nothing eye popping.

If it's leadership we need,
If it's pass-rushing we need,
If it's edge-setting we need,
Then why not invite Willie Mac to Foxborough for a workout?

I'm only half-kidding, because while he prob. won't provide any pass-rush, can Willie really be any worse than the excreble Derrick Burgess? Homey don't think so. For that matter, is AT really worse than Burgess?

Imagine Willie & Junior in the same locker room: I doubt that slackers like Burgess, AT, Bodden, Springs, Wheatley, Crable or anybody on the OL would get away with the half-ass crap they're pulling now. Of course, talking & leadership will only go as far as their production will take them.

Just curious, but what exactly would be the cap implications of releasing Burgess?

klinefan said:

When a guy has 20M in the bank, it's a little hard to "break his will".

Hopefully BB has learned from this. Don't overpay for "talent". AT is just another guy and he's being paid like a superstar. It's a shame.

I don't see this one working out well.

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Better idea - keep Colvin from getting his hip wiped out; then no AT. AT was the best replacement BB had available so he went for it. Easy to judge in hindsight.

I dont know about cutting him, but he needs a fire lighted under him, benching him this past week was a "shock" to him, probably put his sh*t together and play as hard and high as his Salary cap. I hate to see him go, but again his productivity hasnt be there, hopefully this week is his chance to outweight all the bad talk.

bostonia3333 said:

People are being way too harsh on Adalius. We overpaid for a pretty good player on a great Ravens defense, plain and simple. Did you guys know who Adalius was in the 2000s? I hardly heard his name mentioned. I am disappointed in his play, but let's remember this isn't Lawrence Taylor, Charles Haley,or Bryant Young. The expectations we are putting on AD is astronomically high. In Baltimore he was merely a piece to the puzzle. He was never the focal point of that dominant defense. Looking at his stats, he had one breakout season in 2006, which I believe was his contract year and registered 11 sacks. He has never been a consistent "sacks" guy, I don't know about the qb hurries. He has had some forced fumbles and a few interceptions here and there, but nothing eye popping.

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God sakes you are missing the point. The reason people are down on AD is that by all accounts, his crappy attitude has had an adverse effect on his production. If his physical condition was an issue, BB would not have treated him as such.

Not eye-popping? Any NFL fan who followed the league and the players knew of AD before he arried here. From 2003-2007 he was one of, if not these best OLBs in the NFL. Over that time, he went to Hawaii twice and had 33 sacks. He was a wrecking machine with a ton of versatility.

When you shell out $20m in guarantees, the intent is that the player becomes the centerpiece of the defense and is expected to make plays on a consistient basis. End of story. I can live with 07. 08 was a tough year for him. His performance this year has been unaccpetable. His head is not on right.


If you want to say BB swung and missed on AD, ok. Most would agree.

There is plenty of football left this season for AD to turn things around. I still think he can do great things on this defense especially when Mayo comes back and offenses focus back on him. Living in Baltimore, I got to see how versatile he is.

I remember him doing well last year, and in '07 he didn't get to play his natural position at OLB for the most part. He had a pretty good game against the Falcons this year, shutting down Gonzalez for most of the game.

I'm not happy it came down to a benching, but it sounds like AD is going to put this behind him and look forward.

captain stone said:

If it's leadership we need,
If it's pass-rushing we need,
If it's edge-setting we need,
Then why not invite Willie Mac to Foxborough for a workout?

I'm only half-kidding, because while he prob. won't provide any pass-rush, can Willie really be any worse than the excreble Derrick Burgess? Homey don't think so. For that matter, is AT really worse than Burgess?

Imagine Willie & Junior in the same locker room: I doubt that slackers like Burgess, AT, Bodden, Springs, Wheatley, Crable or anybody on the OL would get away with the half-ass crap they're pulling now. Of course, talking & leadership will only go as far as their production will take them.

Just curious, but what exactly would be the cap implications of releasing Burgess?

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Yes, he can be. McGinest is one of my top-five players of all time, but he hasn't been even a JAG-caliber player for a few years now.

But what caliber of player has Burgess been then?

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but as badly as AT has played, Burgess has been worse.

On what basis are you calling Bodden, Springs, Wheatley, and Crable and "the entire OL" slackers?

Oh wait, it's captain stone. Nevermind.

captain stone said:

Just curious, but what exactly would be the cap implications of releasing Burgess?

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I think giving up on a player that cost you a 3rd rnd pick would be pretty dumb without giving the guy at least a half a season to make sure he needs cutting.

JackBauer said:

On what basis are you calling Bodden, Springs, Wheatley, and Crable and "the entire OL" slackers?

Oh wait, it's captain stone. Nevermind.

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On the basis of their play, that's what.

This really disappoints me.

I thought BB and AT together would take the league by storm...make the dynasty even that much better. AT's versatility was unprecedented (still is?).