“It’ll take us years to contend”

[Real fan 02]

I will admit I thought this team's ceiling was 9 wins, but I never bought into the "years to contend" or last year's nonsense about keeping Drake on the bench multiple years until we built the team up around him. This league has always been the haves vs the have-nots when it comes to QB, and we look to be lucky enough to be in the "have" camp in addition to finding the right coach.


As far as coaching goes, I think the biggest thing Vrabel has done is establish a culture. I don’t know how many players I have heard say it that this is one of the best, if not the best, locker rooms they have been a part of. Maye is one of the most humble, down-to-earth quarterbacks in the league, and Vrabel paired him with some newly added veterans who helped instill his message. The culture the last few years prior to Vrabel has been a complete mess. The receiver room could not act like adults for 5 minutes, and the coaching staff seemed completely lost. Then, of course, there was the whole mess Bill made driving Brady out of town, then a couple of years later icing out other coaches as well as his starting QB. I am just glad we have adults in charge again and a quarterback with a good attitude and some actual talent.

Absolutely agree. I as a fan will never appreciate coaching more than I ever will having gone through the last few seasons. The culture Absolutely agree also has been restored and emphasized back in the organization even within the organization people that were wee brought in like Highsmith, Cowden for example have done so much to add to the culture Vrabel's created.

Drakes humbleness at his current age of 23.. reminds me of another guy that played QB in NE, whom at 23 was similarly in his own humbleness...

 

[Real fan 02]

They wanted to come here this year

Drake got Vrabel here.. Vrabel & Drake got FAs to want to come here.. perfect match! I'd also say the talent level needed upgrades all around.. even with a evolving roster both offense and defense are ranked in the top 10 respectively.. very impressive.

 

[Real fan 02]

Even old dog fnordcircle can learn new tricks.

 

[Patriot Missile]

 

[TommyD4207]

What's pissing me off is watching the talking heads whine about how easy our schedule is.

That's the opposite of what you think.

The ones crying 'easy schedule', are terrified of what they're seeing. The Bills, for example, have a near-identical schedule to the Patriots. The Broncos and Colts haven't played much more difficult schedules.

A lot of the 'AFC is down' and 'AFC is wide open' talk, is from people a) who don't want their preseason picks to be wrong, never discount that, and b) they're scared of what they're seeing from the Patriots.

How many decades did we hear about 'easy schedules' and 'easy divisions', and the Patriots won plenty. The 'weakness' of the AFC East during the Brady/Belichick-era was the most overblown ********, nonsense take from any talking head. Tell me about those murderers-rows the Peyton Manning's Colts or Phillip Rivers Chargers went through every year.

To me, when a talking head starts talking about 'easy schedule' at /this/ point in the season, it's easy to discount them for ever having any serious analysis, and it's ok to ignore them.

 

[h0c2000]

If we had this easy of a schedule last year, might we still have Jerod as HC? That's a scary thought to ponder.

 

[TommyD4207]

If we had this easy of a schedule last year, might we still have Jerod as HC? That's a scary thought to ponder.

We /did/ have this easy of a schedule last year.

 

[Wozzy]

I know I’m fairly new here, but….

What was the point of this thread, other than for a few posters to beat their chest and tell us how smarter than everyone else they were by obviously knowing before the season started that the Pats would be this good?

Over decades of posting what I’ve realized is the only people annoyed by these type of threads are the people who were wrong.

But it’s a lot easier to castigate people adding to the thread and accuse them of hubris than simply admit they were right and you were wrong.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

Another good part? Vrabel is 50. Vrabel and Maye could be a unit for most of Maye’s career.

 

[imahobgoblin]

We are in year 1 of a rebuild. What Vrabel, his staff, Maye, and this team have done to be 11-2 is totally incredible. No one can take that away from them. The reality is that his team is far from perfect and has depth problems that will need a few more years to fix. And when the depth is fixed, there is no reason why a new dynasty can't be formed. We are not there yet. We have to keep fighting and working. Is this team similar to 2001? Yes, but it is far from the 2003 and 2004, and that is ok. We can get there with the potential.

 

[uknepatsfan]

Over decades of posting what I’ve realized is the only people annoyed by these type of threads are the people who were wrong.

But it’s a lot easier to castigate people adding to the thread and accuse them of hubris than simply admit they were right and you were wrong.

They were right and I tip my cap to them, I have no problems with that.

I was wrong and I have no shame admitting it.

I just don’t get this whole kind of social media thing nowadays where people have to gain validation from complete strangers to prove they were better or clever than everybody else. I don’t find it in the least bit impressive. I find the people on here saying they were wrong and glad that they were wrong, to be much more humble and likeable.

 

[mgteich]

We /did/ have this easy of a schedule last year.

Please post supporting analyses of the weakness of the 2024 schedule.

 

[borg]

Over decades of posting what I’ve realized is the only people annoyed by these type of threads are the people who were wrong.

But it’s a lot easier to castigate people adding to the thread and accuse them of hubris than simply admit they were right and you were wrong.

The few who got it right were the ones who said...................

Six years back in 2020

 

[n1997y]

Yes, you're absolutely correct forgot about that. Feels good having a real offense and being in the top 10 and not having to talk about punters and kickers like we had to far to often the past few seasons.

I’m gobsmacked at having a draft that resulted in five rookies earning starting positions.

After all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about our mediocre past draft results that is such a welcome change!

 

[TommyD4207]

Please post supporting analyses of the weakness of the 2024 schedule.

Google is your friend.

 

[n1997y]

Another good part? Vrabel is 50. Vrabel and Maye could be a unit for most of Maye’s career.

And Josh is 49. He’s had his shots as HC and seems very likely to be content to remain OC if the situation is congenial.

I can’t see either him or Vrabes having any ego clash or power struggle dynamics. I expect their dynamic is probably best buds co-workers more than boss and flunkie.

So I think there’s likely a very good chance we might see the three of them together for the next couple of decades.

 

[n1997y]

We are in year 1 of a rebuild. What Vrabel, his staff, Maye, and this team have done to be 11-2 is totally incredible. No one can take that away from them. The reality is that his team is far from perfect and has depth problems that will need a few more years to fix. And when the depth is fixed, there is no reason why a new dynasty can't be formed. We are not there yet. We have to keep fighting and working. Is this team similar to 2001? Yes, but it is far from the 2003 and 2004, and that is ok. We can get there with the potential.

I don’t think the depth is as bad as common belief would have it.

We just saw an example in the last game, with the entire left side of the OL being backups.

I think there are certainly opportunities for improvement, but I don’t think the situation is as dire as some would make it seem.

It’s pretty clear at this point in the season that we are serious contenders this year. There’s no real reason for that to change just because the calendar rolls over. It could change because other teams make moves in the future but we’ll be moving too.

So there’s likely only reason to say the new dynasty hasn’t been established is because we need to demonstrate sustained success. It’s been formed, just as of now has not yet endured.

 

[The Gr8est]

I’m gobsmacked at having a draft that resulted in five rookies earning starting positions.

After all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about our mediocre past draft results that is such a welcome change!

Campbell
Henderson
Wilson
Woodson
Ashby
Borregales

With significant contributions from:
Williams
Farmer

 

[n1997y]

Campbell
Henderson
Wilson
Woodson
Ashby
Borregales

With significant contributions from:
Williams
Farmer

And Marcus Bryant looks likely to be a future starter who just couldn’t crack the starting lineup as a rookie over veteran Morgan Moses and his $24million contract.

 

[The Gr8est]

And Marcus Bryant looks likely to be a future starter who just couldn’t crack the starting lineup as a rookie over veteran Morgan Moses and his $24million contract.

Yep, I missed Bryant. I like his potential.