So what can be done to fix this (1-2 start)?

Boston Boxer said:

funny but we need to move up in the draft. Many positions of need but I think this class has a few real nice QBs that could be had. Herbert (Oregon), Stidham (Auburn), and Lock (Mizzou) look like early favorite but there are others. Teams that need a QB are getting less and less so this next draft might be our chance. learn the system and take over for Brady when he retires.

Seems I have heard that plan before, but this time is for real. No really, Brady cant play forever, right? Right?

LB is another area of need. We need athletes not the NY Giants LB corps from the 80s. Hightower would have fit in well back in the day...now its like watching my grandpa trying to pursue and tackle folks. sad

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I’d be ecstatic if they could get Herbert. Kid’s a stud. But I think he’ll go #1 overall.

I’m thinking we may try dez Bryant and then trade for Suh?

Did we really need ANOTHER thread about this?

What we can do:

1. Week 5 edlemen comes back, this will fix 65% of the problems with the offense
2. When the offense is able to stay on the field, it gives the defense time to rest and adjust to situations that come up mid game
3. Flowers will come back from injury, resulting in a better pass rush(he was trending towards the top of the league before getting hurt vs the jags)
4. With the offense now able to pick up first downs consistently, and the defense no longer needing to shoulder the load the team can then focus on fine tuning players and positional duties.

We have a drafting problem and a money spending problem. Needs to fix both.

The approach that the Pats would rather spend the money across the roster building depth instead of bringing top Free Agents seems to not be working since we don't have any depth. Actually the starters are garbage.

Every team around the league that is not on a rookie contract is paying their QB more than the Pats are paying Brady and still being able to sign free agents in their prime. All right if you get hit by the injury bug there's nothing you can really do, the Pats never won a SB in those years.

Simple math a good team has 5 Good players on each side of the ball, and the other 6 are middle of the pack. So you have 10-12 players on the roster that a contender count on to be on a playoff run. You can put some other 8 in a 2nd tier and that's I call depth. The other 30 are garbage and NFL average players. The Pats right now are not matching the first criteria.

Joey007 said:

I expected snarky one line answers, anyone have anything insightful to say? That’s all I want to hear at this point

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It’s football. We so carried away around here acting like every little issue, decision, player can be analyzed and the result would be perfection.
It still is and always will be about football players making plays. There are plenty of capable football players on this team and plenty of smart coaches to put them in position to make plays.
It’s a process. Things that were problems yesterday are things that will get worked on and fixed.
But the other team gets paid too. The success of this franchise for the last 18 years has one consistent fact, that this team improves more than the competition over the course of the season.
The lack of contact in camp and practice seems to hurt this team more than others.

varjao said:

We have a drafting problem and a money spending problem. Needs to fix both.

The approach that the Pats would rather spend the money across the roster building depth instead of bringing top Free Agents seems to not be working since we don't have any depth. Actually the starters are garbage.

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I think it’s funny to say that a team that has been to 3 of the last 4 sbs and 7 straight afccgs has an approach problem because they lost 2 road games

Every team around the league that is not on a rookie contract is paying their QB more than the Pats are paying Brady and still being able to sign free agents in their prime. All right if you get hit by the injury bug there's nothing you can really do, the Pats never won a SB in those years.

Simple math a good team has 5 Good players on each side of the ball, and the other 6 are middle of the pack. So you have 10-12 players on the roster that a contender count on to be on a playoff run. You can put some other 8 in a 2nd tier and that's I call depth. The other 30 are garbage and NFL average players. The Pats right now are not matching the first criteria.

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Please give me a list of the teams that are signing top level free agents and having consistent success.

I don't see any way to fix what's truly wrong, they need a 2-3 year rebuild of the front 7 and Brady will be gone by then

They need to hope Edelman and Gordon are the saviors some fans are expecting and Hightower/Chung/McCourty rebound

It's possible for them to still be strong contenders but they need a lot of unlikely things to go perfectly for the rest of the season

1) Get Flowers and Chung healthy. We might add Rowe (he's our #7 DB after all).

2) Have Edelman and Gordon in the lineup. Dorsett and Hogan are a lot better as the #4 and #5 targets, rather than 2 and 3 after Gronk. Perhaps White is #4.

3) Trade for a linebacker.

Did anyone believe even 75% that we'd win?

As soon as the fact that Rowe was announced out, I was sold on a long, disappointing game. We are without our best rusher, no.2 corner and our WR1/2 are Hogan and Dorsett. Same would have happened with Dola and Lafell. They don't play those roles. That games was doomed from the start.

I think curing offensive woes will help so much. That fatass DLine will benefit from it not always being a 3 and out.aybe Hightower's age won't show so much.

There are worries, but with pieces coming back, I suspect marked improvement.

With Edelman and Gordon offense should be fixed and ok for defense i would try VV and when Flowers and Chung are back we are a better team

Today i see anyway a better offense redemption then a defense one...

Lets hope now to beat Miami...

1. Duct tape
2. Gorilla glue
3. Flex seal
4. WD-40
5. Paper clip
6. Elastic band
7. Chewing gum

That'll fix pretty much everything

I agree that offense should be able to fix it self. Edelman and Gordon will make a huge difference. The offense being able to stay on the field will indirectly benefit the defense as well. To fix the defense I think we need more play makers and actual talent. Aside from Gilmore and Flowers i'm not even sure who is actually good at this point lol. Linebacker and pass rush is probably the biggest need for the defense but i'm not sure if there is anything available at those positions that would help us. At this point I wouldn't mind a trade for Earl Thomas. He is on fire this season and another play maker like that even though its not at the most preferred position is what this defense needs. I would give up a 2nd and a mid round pick which is what I think it would take at minimum to get a deal done. After the season I would move on from McCourty (we would save 9.5M and would only have a dead cap hit of 4M) and pay Thomas instead.

I threw away my lucky Pats t-shirt. It was the one I had on for the Malcolm Butler game, the 28-3 game and the Brady to Edelman to Amendola game. It got them through the Jesse James not surviving the ground game. Then I washed it. With fabric softener. That ended the dynasty right there. Sorry. My bad. Anybody know where I can get a new lucky Patriots t-shirt?

-Hope Jules is 100%,
-bring Gordon into the mix
-dump Patterson and sign Britt,
-bring up VV and give him a chance to be a run-stopper,
-get Chung, Trey, and Hollister back,
-next month scour the rosters of teams in rebuild modes for speed at LB, CB, and/or safety that can be had at the trade deadline

Not much, I am afraid. Maybe we can mask some cracks, but most of them will be on full display entire season. LBs cant cover nobody in open space, thus the opponents are going to exploit that weakness over and over again. Safeties are getting slower and more sluggish every year. You cant teach speed and agility.

Drinking game - Take a drink every time you see Mccourty or Chung place a hand on somebody after they are already down after making a 3rd down reception.

Or if you want to stay sober...

Take a drink every time the Pats force a punt.

when does the waiver order wire shift to current record rather than last year's record? Yes, we might need table scraps.

PatriotSpy said:

You have to want to fix something first in order to fix something. I don't think BB wants to fix it this year. I think he wants to expedite Brady's retirement. He traded cooks, tried to trade Gronk. Let amendola walk. He wanted to get rid of Brady's weapons. He wants a high draft pick to draft his replacement.

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Yikes! I do have to admit the panicky thought ran through my mind "Is Bellichick sabotaging this team?" Picking up Gordon though seems to be a positive although many might disagree.

Wheelman said:

You can't fix it. Matthew Staffords record against teams that end the season with a winning record has spoken!

Time to pack it up. Find something else to watch. No point in watching.

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Yup, the Lions won the week 3 SuperBowl, seasons over, when do the Sox pitchers and catchers report?

Deus Irae said:

Thread after thread about "how dare the fans question BB and the team" and "Gee, even though we're talking about it everywhere else, we really need a thread to talk about how to fix the team's problems".

Must be the day after a loss

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The last few years if you come to the forums the day after a game and didn't know the team won, you would of thought they lost...

Just a fyi...

Akiem Hicks and Chandler Jones each had sacks yesterday.

Oh well, at least we have Malcolm Brown and Danny Shelton.