My problem with that defense is what it's defending is merely pandering to his audience. Mike knows why they do what they do. He and his peers were actually lauding the approach until very recently when they adopted the fanboy mentality that if we don't win all the time there must be something wrong with Belichick...
Mike knows Pees was a good coordinator who was limited by the talent at his disposal. He knows that many of the the things that Bill (and even Tom) did this season that drove fans batty in hindsight were actually entirely logical and data based decisions. But he also knows that Curren asked a largely hypothetical question based on a media fueled hypothesis that maybe it really had more to do with RAC and Charlie controlling Belichick's arrogant side than anyone imagined... 2007 kind of invalidates that premise, but why let the facts debunk a fun hypothesis. We all know they were a near lock to win at least 3 out of 4 for the forseeable future even as the core defense aged out...and the greedier players defected...and the organization got raided for anything Belichick trained...if only RAC and Charlie had remained to reign Belichick in. And then Pioli left (after by this hypothesis having no positive influence at all...) and Bill surrounded himself with yes men with little more than decades or better experience and obviously lacking the stones to biatch slap the boss periodically as RAC and Charlie must have since we used to succeed then... Experience in the system is now worthless. What we need is fresh perspective (i.e. no system experience) from guys who have failed and are in some cases unemployable at the NFL level who have the name recognition fans assume will empower them to look Bill in the eye and tell him he's wr..wr..wrong and he's losing his fastball and perhaps some of his marbles...
Yeah, it was a real well written letter to Kraft deserving of mention in Mike's ESPN blog because we all know that fans are always ahead of the curve when it comes to deciphering what's wrong with any team...the coordinators suck.
Maybe Ian should just reinstate Mav and NEM.
Mo - I'm sorry to say this but you've gone overboard on this. One of the things that you seem to have forgotten is that Mike Reiss has a boss and he has to do what that boss says or quit. If the boss says, make sure to include some FAN PERSPECTIVE in your article and Reiss does it, now you claim that Reiss is another ESPN Hack. When, in reality, Reiss went out and found a fairly well thought out FAN PERSPECTIVE.
Now, while the whole idea of a PETITION is silly, if you read what is said in it, it's pretty much everything that people have been saying here. That the team needs people who are willing to stand up to Belichick in the OC/DC positions. And if those people have to come from outside the organization, then so be it. The funny thing is that it echoes what BB said in his end of the year presser. That he wasn't happy that the coaches didn't speak out more..
You seriously over-exaggerate some of the points in the petition. No where does it say to fully IGNORE that someone hasn't been in the system. It just asks to not exclude them for that reason.
I can understand the over-reaction on your part.. Especially with the way people on here have started at least ONE new thread every week about what the Pats need to do during the off-season to get back to the promised land of the SB. But if you take a step back and just read the petition points, they are pretty valid.
Now, as for me. I don't believe that bringing back Weis and RAC would have rekindled the magic, per se. There is an issue with talent on the team in terms of the LBers and on the right side of the O-line. BB and the scouts have been trying to chip away at the LB problem, but only have had marginal success. The O-line issues are a bit deeper since Koppen seems to be failing and the talent at center in the draft and free agency is low.
The Pats do need an OC whom can earn Brady's respect quickly and who can reign Brady in when he's causing issues by audibling too much and veering away from the running game. Bill O'Brien doesn't have that level of respect from Brady yet and he may not ever. McDaniels DID have that respect and I think the difference between having McDaniels there and having O'Brien there was telling. Yes, Brady put up good numbers, but we all can admit that the Pats passed too much..
I think that Pees did a helluva job with the talent he had available. Losing McKenzie and Crable to the IR certainly didn't help matters. Mayo suffering the MCL injury didn't help matters either. But this defense still did a helluva job on the year and only three or four bad play results kept this team from having 13 or 14 wins instead of only 10.
