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Twenty years ago today, the late Joel Buchsbaum published a now-famous article previewing the 2001 NFL season. It's long vanished from the Internet but I discovered that I had downloaded a copy to my computer, so, in homage to Joel Buchsbaum, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, here it is:
NFList
Patriots the team that's most set up for failure
By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor
As published in print March 5, 2001
The question posed to NFL insiders was: Which team had the least chance of making the playoffs or going to the Super Bowl in the next five years? The Patriots were a unanimous choice, but several other teams will have more than their share of obstacles to overcome as well.
Almost all the scouts we spoke to gave the following reasons for picking the Patriots.
The Patriots are in salary-cap hell because they spent money unwisely due to their inability to evaluate their own talent.
They got almost nothing out of the drafts during the Pete Carroll era, although in many of those years they had two first-round picks. One year, they even had double picks in all the higher rounds of the draft.
In this day and age when everyone wants a mobile quarterback who can make plays with his feet, buy time and improvise, Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe gets F’s in all these areas. To compound matters, he was the highest-paid player in the league in 2000.
At the other offensive skill positions, the Patriots have just one player who is of starting quality — WR Terry Glenn.
On the offensive line, the only lineman whom scouts like is C Damien Woody, and many say he is a superior talent who is always overweight and will not push himself hard enough. "After all this time in the league, he still can’t even make the shotgun snap," said one scout.
On defense, the only upper-echelon player the Pats can count on is SS Lawyer Milloy, and the defensive backfield is a disaster area aside from him.
The Boston media is one of the most negative in the nation, and when they have a bad team to cover, they will blame everyone, especially the coaches and management team. In the past, Bill Belichick had a hard time coping with a very negative press that treated him unfairly, and it remains to be seen if he has reached the point where he can overcome the negative assault he will be hit with. It also remains to be seen how much time owner Robert Kraft will give the coach once the vultures start swooping around.
Other teams mentioned, with quotes from anonymous scouts:
2. Chargers — "Horrible drafts and lots of injuries that prematurely ended or detoured the careers of top players (Eric Moten, Stan Humphries, Natrone Means). The Ryan Leaf deal left the team with only a handful of good players and plenty of mediocre and overpaid players."
3. Cardinals — "After years of rebuilding, they may be back to Square One. The defensive line was supposed to the be the foundation of the team, and now it is a disaster area. The jury on QB Jake Plummer is still out, and if he can’t do it, the Cardinals will face another long rebuilding period."
4. Bengals — "If Akili Smith turns out to be a bust, they’re in big trouble. But if he is the answer, they could become good in a hurry because they have a load of recent top picks on their roster and some impact players and potential playmakers in Corey Dillon (if he re-signs), Peter Warrick and Takeo Spikes. An undermanned front office, which at times seems to be living in the past, really has hurt the team when it comes to free agency, the draft and trades. But with a new stream of revenue, team president Mike Brown finally may hire more scouts and perhaps even a general-manager type to help him and do more listening and delegating."
5. Cowboys — "Jerry Jones waited too long to start rebuilding, and if he tries to convince himself he can win with a patchwork job this year, he’ll set the team back even more."
NFList
Patriots the team that's most set up for failure
By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor
As published in print March 5, 2001
The question posed to NFL insiders was: Which team had the least chance of making the playoffs or going to the Super Bowl in the next five years? The Patriots were a unanimous choice, but several other teams will have more than their share of obstacles to overcome as well.
Almost all the scouts we spoke to gave the following reasons for picking the Patriots.
The Patriots are in salary-cap hell because they spent money unwisely due to their inability to evaluate their own talent.
They got almost nothing out of the drafts during the Pete Carroll era, although in many of those years they had two first-round picks. One year, they even had double picks in all the higher rounds of the draft.
In this day and age when everyone wants a mobile quarterback who can make plays with his feet, buy time and improvise, Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe gets F’s in all these areas. To compound matters, he was the highest-paid player in the league in 2000.
At the other offensive skill positions, the Patriots have just one player who is of starting quality — WR Terry Glenn.
On the offensive line, the only lineman whom scouts like is C Damien Woody, and many say he is a superior talent who is always overweight and will not push himself hard enough. "After all this time in the league, he still can’t even make the shotgun snap," said one scout.
On defense, the only upper-echelon player the Pats can count on is SS Lawyer Milloy, and the defensive backfield is a disaster area aside from him.
The Boston media is one of the most negative in the nation, and when they have a bad team to cover, they will blame everyone, especially the coaches and management team. In the past, Bill Belichick had a hard time coping with a very negative press that treated him unfairly, and it remains to be seen if he has reached the point where he can overcome the negative assault he will be hit with. It also remains to be seen how much time owner Robert Kraft will give the coach once the vultures start swooping around.
Other teams mentioned, with quotes from anonymous scouts:
2. Chargers — "Horrible drafts and lots of injuries that prematurely ended or detoured the careers of top players (Eric Moten, Stan Humphries, Natrone Means). The Ryan Leaf deal left the team with only a handful of good players and plenty of mediocre and overpaid players."
3. Cardinals — "After years of rebuilding, they may be back to Square One. The defensive line was supposed to the be the foundation of the team, and now it is a disaster area. The jury on QB Jake Plummer is still out, and if he can’t do it, the Cardinals will face another long rebuilding period."
4. Bengals — "If Akili Smith turns out to be a bust, they’re in big trouble. But if he is the answer, they could become good in a hurry because they have a load of recent top picks on their roster and some impact players and potential playmakers in Corey Dillon (if he re-signs), Peter Warrick and Takeo Spikes. An undermanned front office, which at times seems to be living in the past, really has hurt the team when it comes to free agency, the draft and trades. But with a new stream of revenue, team president Mike Brown finally may hire more scouts and perhaps even a general-manager type to help him and do more listening and delegating."
5. Cowboys — "Jerry Jones waited too long to start rebuilding, and if he tries to convince himself he can win with a patchwork job this year, he’ll set the team back even more."
