Belichick may be out to prove he is still the best coach...

[WhiZa]

BB and the Pats are thinking long term which is why we didn't sign a bunch of guys to be one hit wonders. It's as simple as that.

 

[Patspsycho]

I know alot of people are upset at how the team has not made many moves.. I felt this offseason with the labor uncertainty it was not going to be a big splash in the offseason... But something crossed my mind, with all the attention that Ryan is getting in NY with how he can coach people up, maybee Belichick is feeling I bet a good draft that gets us 3-4 starters, and I could prove that you dont need to make a big splash in FA to be the best coach... Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman.. I dont know, this might be his thinking, so we shall see.. I think next week at this time, we should have some awnsers to some questions, but we might not get all the awnsers to this offseason till sept...

I am actually quite very grateful that we have a coach who is mature enough not to let the rash actions of others dictate what he does, or affect anything that he does. I could swear he has a copy of Lao Tzu's "Art of War" on his shelf- as one tenet it preaches is never letting the enemy's action dictate what you do.

Jets are going for instant results- this clearly shows by their choice to not address the number of expiring contracts after this upcoming season. This puts all the pressure on them, on what clearly appears to be a boom or bust season for them.

Miami has invested a great deal of money in one position that may or may not pay off.

People here are complaining about our window of closing opportunity? What window? What "closing opportunity"? We are continually turning young. Brady is getting up there in the years but he is taking very good care of his body- he works out endlessly and eats properly (Matt Damon points out that he doesn't even drink red wine). Above all, while he does do a lot of traveling, he doesn't stay up late partying, or getting himself in trouble. Brady is good for another 4-5 years. Speed and pocket mobility has never been his strength, and that is what will help, because those two are the first to go in an aging quarterback- such as McNabb.

Maybe this won't be our year, but that doesn't bother me in the least bit- we are only going to get better, and will put ourselves in a position to contend every single year, for as long as Brady is here. I guarantee you we will get at least one more SB during the Brady era.. maybe two..

 

[tanked_as_usual]

BB and the Pats are thinking long term which is why we didn't sign a bunch of guys to be one hit wonders. It's as simple as that.

or they could be thinking that with a potential lockout in 2011, and a sold out stadium in 2010, that spending money on bonuses now is foolish......their income for 2010 is pretty much guaranteed...they have nothing to lose by not being very good next year.

and if there happens to be no lockout in 2011, they will be in great position to spend.....even though they won't......I mean, its not like they are going to have to worry about resigning their draft picks from 2006 and 2007 (meriweather is the only one)

win 3 SB's and then milk that sucker for every dime...as long as the stadium is full and they are getting what they are getting for tickets, the party continues

as for 3 or 4 rookie starters, how many teams have succeeded with that method?

 

[DW Toys]

See, I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that BB does have a bit of an ego, and especially after 2001, tends to think he can get 'more out of less' than other coaches. It's entirely possible that the main reason he loaded for bear at WR after the 2006 Reche Caldwell disaster was because his franchise QB was so damn pissed that he couldn't see straight.

I have to kind of side with you on this one Cousin. I think BB does have a very large ego. This is good. All artists have this but not in a way to crave attention like a certain Jets coach. Scientists have an ego when it comes to anal ways of doing things. He has tunnel vision when it comes to doing it his way. That is not a bad thing but as it has been said in the best Patriots years, his assistant coaching staff would challenge Bill. Who is going to say "Bill, let's try this" now? It makes him less effective IMO.

What frustrates me is this "Draft is going to save the world" mentality on this site. I am all in for a great Draft, but as it has been suggested BB is going to have to strut his stuff in 2010 in order for this Team (as it stands today 4/16) to get any better than 2009 with the gamble that PERHAPS!!! three or four of the Draft choices next week can start and play at a high level immediately (not three years per league average). That is a tall order unless you have given up and are rebuilding (?).

We have thirteen holes to fill (perhaps eight needed starters or desperately needed rotation players and these are not in any order: TE, WR, WR {a#3 and a #4}, DE. OLB, OLB {assuming no AD}, RB, CB {please don't say Wilhite or Wheatley}, P). And we have twelve Draft choices.

What some of the posters have seen as a mistrust for the way the F.O. has handled this year to date should not be interpreted as a slam of the resume of what BB has meant to the NE Pats and us as fans, but a legitimate concern that we see the holes that logistically cannot be filled by the Draft alone. And admittedly in our own "Trust in Bill" way we can all see a major gaff or two this season by said F.O. as far as Boldin and say a Kamerion Wembley that would make this less of a "NEEDS DRAFT". If he had experienced help he would not have to make some of these decisions completely on him. But yet he chose it.

Hence it is what it is....A "Needs Draft" and as another poster so eloquently put it, "They have painted themselves into a corner". Now they need that shopping cart to be more precise. They cannot afford to have a single pick not work out and as we all know this is impossible. Think 18% Cousins, of your twelve picks and that is a three year shelf life on that time frame of a make it or not pick.

IMO and very humble, three or four draft picks and a bunch of added JAGS do not catch up to what has been done by other Teams in 2010. We are talking a small rise in talent if three Draft Picks are solid roster adds. That is a 5% upgrade in talent. Is that enough? ....nope.

Now will all of the other Teams decisions be smart and fruitful? Who knows.... but you have to at the least investigate in greater depth than we seem to have, and realize that the 07 Pats and the 09 Saints brought in more talent than Draft picks. We gambled on Moss and Welker and to a lesser extent, the first and most decent AD year. Let's face it...The Pats F.O. right now is gun shy. Does that come from above with BK? Who knows, but the Pats are not putting the best Team on the field that they could have in 2010 (again at the date of 4/16) Draft not withstanding.

So you can see why this poster sees this as a BB challenge in a "coach em up" scenario.

DW Toys

 

[Fencer]

BB is out to prove he's the best coach in the league, every season.

So is Mike Shanahan.

So is Josh McDaniels.

So is Eric Mangini.

So is Rex Ryan.

So is Ken Whisenhunt.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

BB is out to prove he's the best coach in the league, every season.

So is Mike Shanahan.

So is Josh McDaniels.

So is Eric Mangini.

So is Rex Ryan.

So is Ken Whisenhunt.

I thought was just out to win the next game

 

[dtwisyPat]

There is no way, in my mind, BB in the Brady era do not win more Superbowls, and winning it all THIS year would not surprise me at all.

It would surprise every other team in the NFL twice over. The patriots have more holes in them than they have ever had in their short lived life span. If they even make it to the playoffs you should be jumping for joy. AFC East is not a weak division anymore.

 

[TrueBeliever]

AFC East is not a weak division anymore.

Actually it really hasn't been since the mid-'90s...

 

[dtwisyPat]

Actually it really hasn't been since the mid-'90s...

Brett Farve made it strong for about a second and then it went back to being the laughing stock of the NFL.

 

[Ice Cold Bruschi]

I think we'll be fine. We hit some major speed bumps last year but we had our share of adversity. I think the Seymour trade though good for the long run left a deep rift in the locker room all year. Thomas was a year long distraction as well. I think we draft a real hard nose RB in the second like a Toby Gerhardt, perhaps get Jermaine Gresham or Kindle/Graham in the 1st and the rest is all gravy. A lot of this year will depend on the year two guys stepping up. We're going to need big years out of Butler, Chung, Vollmer, Edelman and Brace. We'll also need great years from the likes of Mayo and Meriweather who now along with Wilfork need to be the heart of this defense. I feel like this is really going to be a boom or bust year where we find out what direction this team will be heading for the next 3 or 4 seasons.

 

[TrueBeliever]

Brett Farve made it strong for about a second and then it went back to being the laughing stock of the NFL.

Umm... okay. Did you watch football before 2008, troll? :bricks:

 

[Jangles]

Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman

I don't know about this

Tate is an unknown and Edelman has had short bursts of success. No doubt Manning did quite well with no name receivers but they had talent. He didn't just turn some POS player into a good receiver.

I think it's going to be interesting to see how Edelman performs without Welker. By that I mean he hasn't really faced a defense that has prepared for him all week.

 

[dtwisyPat]

Umm... okay. Did you watch football before 2008, troll? :bricks:

I wasn't born before then.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

This ego thing is merely a convenient perception born of frustration because most fans and mediots don't grasp what he's doing, and how could they be expected to, but they don't want to admit they don't nearly have a sufficient grasp of the game at the level he's managing it because, after all, they've been watching it from the outside for years...

yes. 100% agreed. he's in uncharted territory, so it's hard for anyone to assess what he's doing.

no other team managed to sustain a run like the one the Pats put together in the 00's with five trips to a Conference Championship and four to the SB with three trophies in seven seasons, with an eighth swipe at the golden ring cut short by Brady's injury.

Look at the other teams that managed to do something similar or a little better: the Landry/Staubach Cowboys of the 70's didn't get back to the SB for over two decades; the Noll/Bradshaw Steelers of the 70's had a similar fate and even then ended up with a mixed outcome in the last 10 years; the Walsh/Seifert/Montana/Young Niners of the 80's and early 90's have yet to get back.

if anybody can figure out how to keep this run going, it's Belichick. But, I'm not going to declare him a "failure" if he can't do what no one else has done. I just accept that even success might take another season or two to come to fruition.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

First, how do you know any of the assistants Belichick promoted have no credibility in the lockerroom. Mangini was popular and respected in the lockerroom. So was McDaniels. Word is both Pepper Johnson and Matt Patricia are very respected by the players.

Second, the Patriots are far from the only team that promote from within rather than hiring experienced assistants. In fact, the three most successful teams of the decade (Colts, Steelers, and Patriots) usually promote from within rather than hire from the outside. The Steelers have a trend of rehiring old assistants, but overall most of the empty coordinator and even in the Colts case head coaching positions were filled in house.

Third, who is to say Dom Caper would have been willing to use the Patriots' defense if he was the coordinator. Caper comes from the one gap, blitzing Pittsburgh defense which is almost as different from the Pats' 3-4 as many 4-3 defenses. Was Belichick willing to completely revamp his defense to accomodate Caper? Was Caper willing to coach the Pats' defense?

Fourth, the Pats do not block their scouts from taking better positons. Matt Russell with the Eagles scouted three players who they actually drafted (he was their Western Region scout): DeSean Jackson (who was a no brainer where they drafted him), Winston Justice (a bust as a second round pick now a back up), and Michael Gibson (no longer with the team).

Fifth, as for the front office, Floyd Reese has 33 years in the NFL including 13 seasons as the Titans' GM. Why would you need to add more people than him. You got the seasoned veteran training the young gun Nick Casserio. The 2009 draft was arguably the best Patriots draft in years. Why is the front office in question at this point. Let's see how the 2010 draft goes because the combo of Reese and Casserio at least from the draft standpoint gets high marks for the first year.

excellent analysis, but wasted on people who have never set foot inside an NFL lockerroom but think they know how it functions.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I am actually quite very grateful that we have a coach who is mature enough not to let the rash actions of others dictate what he does, or affect anything that he does. I could swear he has a copy of Lao Tzu's "Art of War" on his shelf- as one tenet it preaches is never letting the enemy's action dictate what you do.

Jets are going for instant results- this clearly shows by their choice to not address the number of expiring contracts after this upcoming season. This puts all the pressure on them, on what clearly appears to be a boom or bust season for them.

Miami has invested a great deal of money in one position that may or may not pay off.

People here are complaining about our window of closing opportunity? What window? What "closing opportunity"? We are continually turning young. Brady is getting up there in the years but he is taking very good care of his body- he works out endlessly and eats properly (Matt Damon points out that he doesn't even drink red wine). Above all, while he does do a lot of traveling, he doesn't stay up late partying, or getting himself in trouble. Brady is good for another 4-5 years. Speed and pocket mobility has never been his strength, and that is what will help, because those two are the first to go in an aging quarterback- such as McNabb.

Maybe this won't be our year, but that doesn't bother me in the least bit- we are only going to get better, and will put ourselves in a position to contend every single year, for as long as Brady is here. I guarantee you we will get at least one more SB during the Brady era.. maybe two..

wow, well stated. and, as i've said in a couple of other posts here, Belichick is trying to do something that no team has done: sustain dynastic performance into a second decade with the same QB. Let's give him a chance to see if he can do it.

I hope you are right about Brady and I certainly hope that he doesn't lose a second season of his prime, in this case to a strike in 2011. I see what BB started last season as a two/three year process, peaking this season and next.

I also like that you raised the subject of Bob Kraft's objective for the team every season: put ourselves in a position to contend for the playoffs every year. that's different than saying he wants to win an SB every year and the implication is lost on many. if your goal is to win an SB every year, you act like Dan Snyder and load up for the run. much as the jets have done the last two seasons and this season. it's born of panic and it doesn't work.

 

[crowell33]

I know alot of people are upset at how the team has not made many moves.. I felt this offseason with the labor uncertainty it was not going to be a big splash in the offseason... But something crossed my mind, with all the attention that Ryan is getting in NY with how he can coach people up, maybee Belichick is feeling I bet a good draft that gets us 3-4 starters, and I could prove that you dont need to make a big splash in FA to be the best coach... Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman.. I dont know, this might be his thinking, so we shall see.. I think next week at this time, we should have some awnsers to some questions, but we might not get all the awnsers to this offseason till sept...

This is a common argument. After Asante Samuel was let go I heard the "BB wants to prove that he can win with less talent". The same theory was put forth after the Richard Seymour deal. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with it. I'm just saying the "The Patriots are intentionally not bringing in talented players so BB can prove what a good coach he is.." theory has been around for some time.

 

[jmt57]

It would surprise every other team in the NFL twice over. The patriots have more holes in them than they have ever had in their short lived life span. If they even make it to the playoffs you should be jumping for joy. AFC East is not a weak division anymore.

Every time you write something you prove once again how clueless you are. The Patriots have been around for fifty years, just as long as your Jets. That's not exactly a "short lived life span" - though the amount of time you have been a Jets fan surely is.

As for the last sentence, perhaps that would be correct if you deleted the words "AFC East" and replaced them with the name of your favorite team.

Since the NFL went from six divisions to eight divisions the AFC East has a 269-243 record; only the NFC East and AFC South have more wins. The AFC East as a whole has only two losing seasons in that time; only the AFC South is better, with one. And the AFC East has had the best record overall three times in that span; no other division has had the best record more than twice. In other words, just because your Jets have been weak, the division as a whole has not been.

Then again, I wouldn't expect somebody who just started watching football three months ago to know these things.

As for not making the playoffs, we'll have to wait and see. I've been hearing opposing fans crow that same 'Patriots are done' line for nine straight offseasons now; I suppose sooner or later, just like a stopped watch you could be right. But right now the Patriots are listed as 10:1 to win the Super Bowl, with only three teams listed as being more likely to win it. If you're that confident in the Jets then they're a better value at 15:1.

 

[Rob0729]

This is a common argument. After Asante Samuel was let go I heard the "BB wants to prove that he can win with less talent". The same theory was put forth after the Richard Seymour deal. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with it. I'm just saying the "The Patriots are intentionally not bringing in talented players so BB can prove what a good coach he is.." theory has been around for some time.

I agree the theory has been around a while and I personally think it is bunk. Seriously, will people think any more of Belichick if he wins a Super Bowl without marquee names like Asante Samuel and Richard Seymour than if he won a Super Bowl with them? He already won with what people felt was a makeshift team in 2001.

I just don't get the logic that Belichick would seriously not try to put the best team he can on the field. He might sacrifice some for the current year to keep the Pats competitive in the future, but if he had an ego about it he would prove he is a football god more if he won six or seven Super Bowls rather than one more without any talent.

 

[dtwisyPat]

Every time you write something you prove once again how clueless you are. The Patriots have been around for fifty years, just as long as your Jets. That's not exactly a "short lived life span" - though the amount of time you have been a Jets fan surely is.

As for the last sentence, perhaps that would be correct if you deleted the words "AFC East" and replaced them with the name of your favorite team.

Since the NFL went from six divisions to eight divisions the AFC East has a 269-243 record; only the NFC East and AFC South have more wins. The AFC East as a whole has only two losing seasons in that time; only the AFC South is better, with one. And the AFC East has had the best record overall three times in that span; no other division has had the best record more than twice. In other words, just because your Jets have been weak, the division as a whole has not been.

Then again, I wouldn't expect somebody who just started watching football three months ago to know these things.

As for not making the playoffs, we'll have to wait and see. I've been hearing opposing fans crow that same 'Patriots are done' line for nine straight offseasons now; I suppose sooner or later, just like a stopped watch you could be right. But right now the Patriots are listed as 10:1 to win the Super Bowl, with only three teams listed as being more likely to win it. If you're that confident in the Jets then they're a better value at 15:1.

This is the type of response I was looking for. Finally some passion:snob: