What a stud.
I hope he and his family move back into the area and the Krafts find some sort of role for him in the organization.
Nothin but love for Big Vince. Agree with all the comments above... find him a place as a position coach (and training table consultant
)
I think he found himself in Foxborough watching the surreal situation by the end and realizing... whatever he's got left, if you're putting it out on the field
here it's going to a cause that matters... But Houston? That's for the paycheck.
Maybe I'm over-interpreting, but he might have misunderestimated [sic] the extent to which he'll always bleed silver, white, blue, and a little bit of red somewhere. Think about what he's looking at staying in Houston for a check... vs. what he lost when he didn't fit NE's plans.
Get him a job in the organization... retire him as a Patriot... and bring him back at halftime on opening day for a ceremony.
On the unsentimental side... our guys seem to be really accurate on the "sell at the top" theory of cap management.
In the early 2000s we had to all get used to not getting used to people. It was a revelation - I think the Pats were way ahead on the theory that in Cap-land, your contingencies include every damn position on the field. Part of it was baked in... had to give up Drew to keep Tom. Well if you can do it with the "face of the franchise" you can do it anywhere.
"This team hates its coach" didn't last very long
But it led us more than any other fanbase to have to say "In Bill We Trust" even when we're torn. YES I was torn about Vince's departure.... but I also thought "OMG how are we going to replace Big Ted Washington" back in the day (and we
knew we were going to have to do that, because of his age.)
Back then, perfecting the 3-4 2-gap system gave the rest of the league conniptions... then everybody copied it and got used to it. More and more the Pats defense morphed away from that style of play... how long since we had a true "elephant" a la McGinnest, playing OLB at a size approaching a defensive end? Or is my memory faulty on this? I'm not googling this, I'm tired, and it's way off topic...
Point is, guys come and go, schemes even come and go, styles of play come and go and mix and match in the BB era. They're never going to be able to say "BB was a great coach because he realized this one characteristic of the game." He's a great coach because he realizes all characteristics of the game... and
assumes he can use the personnel he has to adjust to any combination of styles of play. They seldom let him down, because he gives them the preparation to do that.
It's the opposite of Seattle's "Here's who we are, come on and try to beat us" approach. I think Sun Tzu would approve of BB's version
Sorry I am apparently in the mood to write historical novels this morning
Main thing, I <3 Big Vince, and it would be a travesty if he didn't retire a Patriot.
