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- Jul 11, 2005
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A couple of thoughts
1. I can understand the media jumping on the "Let's get Bill" bandwagon. The rapacious media in this town had been forced to kowtow to Bill for close to TWO decades, and this was FINALLY their chance to dig their teeth into a guy who has literally been untouchable for so damned long. Think about it. How good must it feel for those guys after having to say nice things about a major sports figure all this time Let us not forget that the ONE thing that the media loves more than building someone up.....is tearing that same person DOWN.
2. What I don't understand is the seeming vitriol that is coming from what one would think would be a smarter fan base as represented here on this site. Bill's leadership and vision has given we fans 20 years of, not just good results, but EXCELLENT results. No not just excellent results but UNPRECEDENTED results in the face of a system that essentially rewards failure and penalizes success. Are we THAT spoiled that we can forget the last 20 years after just one 7-9 season.
3. And about the pseudo-drama (in my opinion) of Tom leaving. Lets look at the facts. As Bill watched Tom reach his late 30's, he had a succession plan. a very good one. He found a guy whom he could develop that fit his system. UNFORTUNATELY, no one could have foreseen that Tom would NOT go quietly into that goodnight like 100% of the QB's that had proceeded him. So when JG's contract was about to expire, Tom was in the process of leading the Pats to 4 Superbowls in 5 years. It was a simple decision. Bill let go of the 2nd best QB on the team.
Now we come to the end of the 2019 season. A season where Tom largely struggled over the last half of the year. A year that found him playing with a bad elbow among other injuries. I find it interesting that Bill is now being criticized for not offering his ailing 42 year old QB a multi-year contract. Especially in a year which found the Pats as cap strapped as they have been for the last 2 decades.
For Brady the decision was easy. Go live in the warmth of Florida. Go play with the most offensive talent he'd ever played with (by far) Go keep your wife happy and by a big yacht.....AND get that multi year contract from a team desperate for any success.
I have never felt any betrayal from Tom and his decision. It was the right one for him, even if it didn't lead to a superbowl. I was sad to see him go, but I understood and was happy to see his success. And NO, Tom's success is NOT an indictment of Bill's failure. It just is what it is.
4. So now we come to the REAL issue is how we move forward this offseason. We will have relatively a lot of cap space. We have a strong OL, a strong RB group, and an even stronger secondary, as well as an excellent kicking game. We are weak at TE and WR. We are decent but not strong on the DL and LB. We will have JUST our 3rd pick above the 20's since Richard Seymour was Bill's first 1st round selection in 2001.
We will also (as it's been reported) get back all of the opt outs from last year, most importantly, Dante Hightower to immediately improve a depleted LB group. So the final issue will be to determine just WHO will end up being the QB of the team. Given we have narrowed the list down to about twenty possibilities (lol) between FA's and draft picks, we still have no real idea who will fill the most important position on the offensive side of the ball. But it seems to me that between FA and the draft we SHOULD vastly improve at least 3 of the 4 major weaknesses given above. And assuming we add even a mediocre QB, I believe we should be a potential playoff contender for the coming year Not that I think we could become a superbowl contender next year, but it will be interesting to see how the season progresses given that I can confidently predict that most of the prognosticators will have the Pats finishing last in the AFCE (something that will make Rodney Harrison's inner underdog VERY happy.
BTW- I would remind people that prior to the 2001 season, the Pats were selected by ProFootball Weekly to be the team LEAST likely to get to a superbowl in the next 5 years
1. I can understand the media jumping on the "Let's get Bill" bandwagon. The rapacious media in this town had been forced to kowtow to Bill for close to TWO decades, and this was FINALLY their chance to dig their teeth into a guy who has literally been untouchable for so damned long. Think about it. How good must it feel for those guys after having to say nice things about a major sports figure all this time Let us not forget that the ONE thing that the media loves more than building someone up.....is tearing that same person DOWN.
2. What I don't understand is the seeming vitriol that is coming from what one would think would be a smarter fan base as represented here on this site. Bill's leadership and vision has given we fans 20 years of, not just good results, but EXCELLENT results. No not just excellent results but UNPRECEDENTED results in the face of a system that essentially rewards failure and penalizes success. Are we THAT spoiled that we can forget the last 20 years after just one 7-9 season.
3. And about the pseudo-drama (in my opinion) of Tom leaving. Lets look at the facts. As Bill watched Tom reach his late 30's, he had a succession plan. a very good one. He found a guy whom he could develop that fit his system. UNFORTUNATELY, no one could have foreseen that Tom would NOT go quietly into that goodnight like 100% of the QB's that had proceeded him. So when JG's contract was about to expire, Tom was in the process of leading the Pats to 4 Superbowls in 5 years. It was a simple decision. Bill let go of the 2nd best QB on the team.
Now we come to the end of the 2019 season. A season where Tom largely struggled over the last half of the year. A year that found him playing with a bad elbow among other injuries. I find it interesting that Bill is now being criticized for not offering his ailing 42 year old QB a multi-year contract. Especially in a year which found the Pats as cap strapped as they have been for the last 2 decades.
For Brady the decision was easy. Go live in the warmth of Florida. Go play with the most offensive talent he'd ever played with (by far) Go keep your wife happy and by a big yacht.....AND get that multi year contract from a team desperate for any success.
I have never felt any betrayal from Tom and his decision. It was the right one for him, even if it didn't lead to a superbowl. I was sad to see him go, but I understood and was happy to see his success. And NO, Tom's success is NOT an indictment of Bill's failure. It just is what it is.
4. So now we come to the REAL issue is how we move forward this offseason. We will have relatively a lot of cap space. We have a strong OL, a strong RB group, and an even stronger secondary, as well as an excellent kicking game. We are weak at TE and WR. We are decent but not strong on the DL and LB. We will have JUST our 3rd pick above the 20's since Richard Seymour was Bill's first 1st round selection in 2001.
We will also (as it's been reported) get back all of the opt outs from last year, most importantly, Dante Hightower to immediately improve a depleted LB group. So the final issue will be to determine just WHO will end up being the QB of the team. Given we have narrowed the list down to about twenty possibilities (lol) between FA's and draft picks, we still have no real idea who will fill the most important position on the offensive side of the ball. But it seems to me that between FA and the draft we SHOULD vastly improve at least 3 of the 4 major weaknesses given above. And assuming we add even a mediocre QB, I believe we should be a potential playoff contender for the coming year Not that I think we could become a superbowl contender next year, but it will be interesting to see how the season progresses given that I can confidently predict that most of the prognosticators will have the Pats finishing last in the AFCE (something that will make Rodney Harrison's inner underdog VERY happy.
BTW- I would remind people that prior to the 2001 season, the Pats were selected by ProFootball Weekly to be the team LEAST likely to get to a superbowl in the next 5 years