Big Vince says he's done

[fnordcircle]

I love Vince, love all that he did for us. First-ballot Pats HOFer.

Buuuuuuuuuuuut...this will probably be unpopular, but whatever...I wasn't a fan of hearing him mulling retirement even before the Raiders game. In a program where players are supposed to focus solely on building up each and every day, focus on the opponent at hand, don't look ahead to the future, it seemed a bit odd for a team leader to openly contemplate retirement right before the postseason starts.

I know lots of guys have done it. Ray Lewis made a ****ing tour out of it. But for a Patriot, I can't recall anyone else ever doing similar. Just seemed very uncharacteristic.

Still love him, but if he was in New England still, I don't think that would have happened. Even if he was looking ahead, there wouldn't be stories about it, especially right before the playoffs start.

I can't even deal with this website today.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I want him to retire and lose a sh*tton of weight given his family history with diabetes, etc. Especially given how much heavier he looks with HOU than with NE.

Beat me to it. Needs to stay around for his kids and someday grandkids.
But think of the living hell Vince will go through shedding that weight. I can't lose 10 LBS.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I can't even deal with this website today.

I get that it's unpopular. But I'm just speaking objectively. I love the guy too. But you have a chance to win a Super Bowl, your focus should be on the task at hand 100%.

He went off-message, and I don't think that would happen if he were still here. I can't recall anyone else doing similar here since BB got here. It's not the reason they lost, but it was uncharacteristic of him and certainly didn't help the cause.

You can now go back to pretending it didn't happen.

 

[Fixit]

I get that it's unpopular. But I'm just speaking objectively. I love the guy too. But you have a chance to win a Super Bowl, your focus should be on the task at hand 100%.

He went off-message, and I don't think that would happen if he were still here. I can't recall anyone else doing similar here since BB got here. It's not the reason they lost, but it was uncharacteristic of him and certainly didn't help the cause.

You can now go back to pretending it didn't happen.

I'm pretty sure a guy can mull retirement at the same time he's focused on winning a game.

At any rate, what he decides to say to the media has zero impact on anything.

Would you prefer he retired before kickoff?

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I hope the Krafts give him a one day contract so he can "retire as a Patriot."

 

[ahmed]

One of my favorites players ever. I will be happy if Brown becomes half as good. When they first showed him last night...my girlfriend noticed him because of his stomach (which is bigger than it used to be) and our conversation went like this:
Me: I love him
She: Why?
Me: He was a Patriot...a great one too
She: And here I thought you maybe had another criteria for liking players...like he was a good person or something
Me: well...he is also a good a person.

I just hope he will slim down in retirement. His weight is very unhealthy.

 

[meatface]

We have to find out the answer to the real question; Is he still gonna do the Big Y commercials?

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I want him to retire and lose a sh*tton of weight given his family history with diabetes, etc. Especially given how much heavier he looks with HOU than with NE.

Yeah. Like with so many of these guys, I just hope he has people in his life to whom he listens who really care about his long term well-being.

Even with Gronk, with his knee and his back and practically every other part of his body, I hope that there are people in life around him saying stuff like, "You know, you really want to be sure you can climb a flight of stairs when you're 50."

Welker, too. But I'm afraid he might have taken a few too many hits to the head before he retired. He gave a lot to the Pats but I worry that he should have retired several years ago.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I'm pretty sure a guy can mull retirement at the same time he's focused on winning a game.

At any rate, what he decides to say to the media has zero impact on anything.

Would you prefer he retired before kickoff?

I'm pretty sure the guy can mull whatever he wants and focus on winning a game too. And I'm not saying it's why they lost. Just like the Odell boat trip probably didn't have an impact on their loss.

But it's unusual, and I don't recall any Patriot player talking about it while a huge game is on-hand. And if he played poorly in a loss, then I think people would question his focus, just like they did with Odell. It has nothing to do with it, I agree. But it was easily avoidable and totally unnecessary.

Do you think he would say that before the game if he were a Patriot still? Or do you think he stays on-message and talks about the task at hand?

Who was the last Patriot to mull retirement before a playoff game? There might be one, I just can't recall one. If Wendell or Connolly were talking about retirement before the 2014 playoffs started, wouldn't you be wondering WTF?

But it's Vince. We love Vince. I love Vince. And he's a Texan right now. So I don't care that much. But I found it uncharacteristic and totally unnecessary.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

He must work out with some quick cats. He will never catch them but he will lose weight trying.

 

[fnordcircle]

I get that it's unpopular. But I'm just speaking objectively. I love the guy too. But you have a chance to win a Super Bowl, your focus should be on the task at hand 100%.

He went off-message, and I don't think that would happen if he were still here. I can't recall anyone else doing similar here since BB got here. It's not the reason they lost, but it was uncharacteristic of him and certainly didn't help the cause.

You can now go back to pretending it didn't happen.

People just have these really bizarre notions of what constitutes focus and distraction.

NFL players have lives outside the game even, *gasp* the Patriots.

And you're not even bothering to consider the 'win one for Vince' factor that some of the guys in their locker room likely had. If a guy saying he might not play next year is a distraction then that team is not mentally strong enough to win ****.

McDaniels and Patricia interviewed for jobs - do you feel the same about their distraction?

 

[reflexblue]

He will be missed.

I don't know, hes hard to miss, he needs to go on a diet Bad.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

In an era of overpriced and overpaid athletes VW earned his $ every snap, every game.

Guy was consistently eating doubles almost his entire career. Basically fighting 2 guys for a few seconds 50 times a game.

Great player. HOF w/out a doubt.

Great guy. Want to see him get under 290 and on TV smiling for years to come. Hope he does some local stuff around here.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

People just have these really bizarre notions of what constitutes focus and distraction.

NFL players have lives outside the game even, *gasp* the Patriots.

And you're not even bothering to consider the 'win one for Vince' factor that some of the guys in their locker room likely had. If a guy saying he might not play next year is a distraction then that team is not mentally strong enough to win ****.

McDaniels and Patricia interviewed for jobs - do you feel the same about their distraction?

I think the original intent of what I was saying has gone way beyond what I had intended. I do agree that players have lives, but that's not what my initial post was about anyways.

I'm focusing on process, others on outcome, and my comments are being missed/misinterpreted, or I'm not communicating it very well.

Either way, it doesn't matter, I am happy we won and I'd rather focus on that win than Vince's retirement.