Are the Patriots really this Terrible

Worst 10-2 team I have ever seen. But yes, they are really bad at finding wide receivers - be it free agency or the draft. I don't think it's a talent scouting issue but rather a system issue - does not seem friendly to outside wide receivers unless they are Antonio Brown or Randy Moss.

FCB02062 said:

Lots of us were here when the franchise was "normal" and worse...were you here? I was in that schitthole stadium watching Doug Flutie run around beating Tampa in the freezing cold in 1989 at the high school stadium in Foxboro on RT 1

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Yes first game I attended had Tom Hidson as the starting QB and **** McPherson as the coach against the Cleveland Browns. Little did I realize It was BB on the other side coaching. I was 11.

Thanks for playing.

It's so easy to cast yourself as the adult in the room by saying, "Well, we don't know what Harry will do in the future." Well, no **** Sherlock. All we can do is judge what we've seen up to now. And up to now it is not encouraging. You talk about him being Anquon Boldin. Well, Anquon Boldin had 100 catches as a rookie! Was the game too fast for him to run routes?

TheAdultintheRoom said:

All we can do is judge what we've seen up to now.

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No, that's not all we can do. We can also not judge at all until we have more data.

If a WR or RB sucks now, they aren't going to be great at any time in their careers. They could get savvy enough to be useful. But useful is not what you're looking for from a first rounder. I would agree with your approach if he were a 7th rounder.

Calhoun44 said:

I think the relationship between the Patriots being successful as a team (i.e. 10-2, 3 straight SB appearances) has a lot to do with drafting receivers. If the Pats were continuously missing the playoffs or one and done in the playoffs, it would be easier for the Pats drafting department to try a different approach or it is quite possible that the Pats would change their offensive system to make it easier to draft superstar receivers. I guess my main point is that because this system is so difficult to master (i.e. become a superstar), the Pats have a smaller margin of error for drafting players and they feel they have a better way of finding WR's in FA, etc.

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Yes, but I wasn't speaking to the overall success of the team and franchise, no one can deny that, thus why I never mentioned that.

Bill drafts terribly at receiver though. Receiver is ONE part of the team, so my point wasn't taking shots at the team as a whole, just one part of the team. We've gotten good receivers through TRADES for the most part.

I would like to point out that it took Edelman 5 years to turn into a top tier receiver and people are already given up on Harry after only two starts.

Patriots tend to trade their draft picks to acquire veteran receivers rather then use the picks in the draft.

Belichick was asked about having more success “importing” veteran receivers, as opposing to drafting players, because it’s easier to scout players against NFL competition.

“It’s always easier to evaluate NFL players than it is to evaluate college players,” Belichick replied. “[When] we get a guy from another team, we’re going to watch him play against many of the same teams we play. We just haven’t seen him play in our system, but we’ve certainly seen him match up against other players in our division or other players in our conference or comparable players in comparable schemes, which is critical, too...it’s much harder from college to the NFL than from the NFL to the NFL.”

Yeah man, if only they knew how to draft, they might have 10 Super Bowl wins!

Canuck said:

I would like to point out that it took Edelman 5 years to turn into a top tier receiver and people are already given up on Harry after only two starts.

Patriots tend to trade their draft picks to acquire veteran receivers rather then use the picks in the draft.

Belichick was asked about having more success “importing” veteran receivers, as opposing to drafting players, because it’s easier to scout players against NFL competition.

“It’s always easier to evaluate NFL players than it is to evaluate college players,” Belichick replied. “[When] we get a guy from another team, we’re going to watch him play against many of the same teams we play. We just haven’t seen him play in our system, but we’ve certainly seen him match up against other players in our division or other players in our conference or comparable players in comparable schemes, which is critical, too...it’s much harder from college to the NFL than from the NFL to the NFL.”

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I get that but they usually don't have a choice, which goes back to my original point.

pheenix11 said:

Yeah man, if only they knew how to draft, they might have 10 Super Bowl wins!

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They don't know how to draft receivers, they know how to trade for them.

Kid~Brady said:

..... at drafting and/or developing Wide Receivers?

From players like Bethal Johnson, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson, David Givens and we all remember the Chad Johnson debacle. Remember the Brandon Tate pick, wasn't he picked literally right before Mike Wallace by the Steelers? The same team that ALWAYS seems to have a good grasp on how to draft WRs.

I will give them credit for Edelman and D. Branch, Troy Brown and of course Gronk and Hernandez but other than these guys, who have they really drafted and developed into superstars? Why are the patriots so below average in this state? I see all these other teams, including the Buccaneers (I live in Florida) draft all of this amazing wide receivers and offensive talent. Why has Bill missed on these same talents?

Anyone else feel this way?

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"You are what your record says you are." - Bill Parcells

(The Patriots are tied with the Ravens for the best record in the NFL. Time to cowboy up, @Kid~Brady.)

34% -- Fantastic!
59% -- Below Average
88% -- Cut him

How can those percentages and corresponding comments possibly be true and make any sense?










34% -- great batting average for a baseball player
59% -- below average pass completion % for a QB
88% -- bad save percentage for an NHL goalie


Without any context for comparison, how can we possibly make intelligent conclusions about what is a good or bad number when it comes to drafting players? We can't even agree on what is a successful draft pick, and have absolutely no benchmark to compare with 31 other teams.

Yet year after year, we as fans - and the sports media as well - is willing to make a definitive statement and conclusion based on nothing more than arbitrary biased anecdotal evidence.

Yes

Kid~Brady said:

They don't know how to draft receivers, they know how to trade for them.

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In the end, as long as they acquire talent and win frequently, I’m ok with “not being able to draft a star at WR”. This year - sadly - unless things change, it looks like the WR situation is 2006-esque and that’s potentially difficult to overcome.

IcyPatriot said:

We obviously miss Gronk and Devlin and have done little to replace their packages.
That being said I still wonder why we are not playing one of the tackles as receiver eligible ... I mean it's not like our TE's are receiving threats anyways. Heck I would even try one of our talented LB's out as a receiving eligible blocking TE ... it would make a huge difference in our passing game. We have TE's that suck at blocking ... that is a systemic roster failure.

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Belichick never planned for the day Gronkowski would retire. Had all off season to make something happen. He should've had an insurance policy before the season began. Did he really believe Izzo and LaCosse would be the second comings of Tony Gonzalez?!

I still can’t believe Belichick didn’t draft a TE.

Tunescribe said:

Cliffhanger thread titles are the worst. Except for the one I did today in my AB thread, which no one seemed to appreciate.

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Effective trolling and good marketing seem like two sides of the same perverted coin.

MainePatsFan26 said:

Effective trolling and good marketing seem like two sides of the same perverted coin.

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“Da!”

"Are the Patriots really this Terrible.... at drafting and/or developing Wide Receivers?"

Yes...yes they are...

Same goes for CB too...especially during Day 2 of the draft.

I'm curious what position people think the Patriots are best at drafting and the difference between that position and WR's is. That would give this thread a bit of context.