Breer: How the wheels came off the Pats dynasty

[sb1]

Bill the coach is the goat. Bill the GM is meh

Bill the scout kinda stinks.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I doubt metcalf wouldve done better here.

Read it and weep DK Metcalf is closing in fast (like, 22.6 mph fast) on football glory:

"Because the quarterback-receiver connection -- based on anticipation and requiring a nearly telepathic level of reading and reacting to the defense -- is so vital in today's pass-happy NFL, the rituals that bond quarterbacks and receivers are more important than ever. Since Metcalf was drafted, he's spent countless hours on fields in San Diego, L.A. and Seattle, often starting at 5:20 a.m., perfecting and expanding his route repertoire under Wilson's watchful eye."

All teams f***ed up on Metcalf. He would've lit it up with Brady.

 

[SVN]

Read it and weep DK Metcalf is closing in fast (like, 22.6 mph fast) on football glory:

"Because the quarterback-receiver connection -- based on anticipation and requiring a nearly telepathic level of reading and reacting to the defense -- is so vital in today's pass-happy NFL, the rituals that bond quarterbacks and receivers are more important than ever. Since Metcalf was drafted, he's spent countless hours on fields in San Diego, L.A. and Seattle, often starting at 5:20 a.m., perfecting and expanding his route repertoire under Wilson's watchful eye."

All teams f***ed up on Metcalf. He would've lit it up with Brady.

We have many players not being able to not work on this offense. So its hard to be conclusive.

 

[TheRainMaker]

We have many players not being able to not work on this offense. So its hard to be conclusive.

True, but they didn't succeed elsewhere in terms of draft picks.

 

[ralmat55]

Skippy the OC is not the problem here, and I’ve been a critic over the years. Do you know how hard it is to run the ball in this league when you have absolutely no passing game? McDaniels found ways to do it which is why this team won 6 games and competed in several others.

The offensive coaching was a hell of a lot better than the defensive coaching but aside from the RBs and Jacoby Meyers they had no skill players to work with. The defense had a lot more useful pieces but was a morass of disorganization and passiveness. 10 players or 12 players on the field coming off a play stoppages. Only 2 DL with a hand on the ground on a 3rd and 1 against Miami.

 

[Thelonious]

The wheels came off the dynasty when Brady decided to leave. Everything else is just noise.

This is simply wrong. No analysis of the collapse and no plan for returning to competitiveness is complete without taking into account the serious failings of Belichick as GM.

 

[SVN]

Skippy the OC is not the problem here, and I’ve been a critic over the years. Do you know how hard it is to run the ball in this league when you have absolutely no passing game? McDaniels found ways to do it which is why this team won 6 games and competed in several others.

The offensive coaching was a hell of a lot better than the defensive coaching but aside from the RBs and Jacoby Meyers they had no skill players to work with. The defense had a lot more useful pieces but was a morass of disorganization and passiveness. 10 players or 12 players on the field coming off a play stoppages. Only 2 DL with a hand on the ground on a 3rd and 1 against Miami.

The D had the 2009 vibe.

 

[SVN]

This is simply wrong. No analysis of the collapse and no plan for returning to competitiveness is complete without taking into account the serious failings of Belichick as GM.

Its just 1 yr , that too without an effective training camp and massive player dropouts. without a QB they cant do much .

 

[50-yard-line]

Deja Vu.

Over Scouts objections, the Patriots drafted [Laurence Maroney, Chad Jackson, NKeal Harry, Sony Michel] because they aced their Foxboro workout with Josh McDaniels.

The only time we replenished the talent cupboard (Gronk, Edelman, Hernandez, Hightower, Chandler Jones) was 2009-2012 when McDaniels was NOT here. Or before 2004 when McDaniels was NOT involved (Deion Branch, Givens, Graham).

.

Michel was the number 2 RB rated that year by most boards. Chubb was #4.

 

[SVN]

Making Harry an example of the fall of the dynasty is microscopic. What about the harris pick from saban ? what about wino, dugger, uche ? If they had hit on the harry pick would we be a playoff team now ? You can put the best WR on this team right now and it wont matter.
Its sad for these mediots to bag on harry. But we heard the same crap when Brady was here in 2014 that they dont have anyone after the KC loss.

 

[50-yard-line]

That article raises a couple of scary points, sure, but a lot of it sounds like an AFC guy taking a shot at BB.

I just went and looked at Bleacherreport, Kiper, and a couple of the other draft rankings for 2019. Harry was usually in the top three, no lower than number 6. It wasn't like BB went and drafted a 4th-rounder in the 1st.

That said, yes, BB has been drafting people he thought could make a stacked veteran team, trying to plug specialty holes instead of top-end talent - but again, show me the draft capital to get can't miss top end talent when you're almost always drafting 28+. It just isn't there.

When you look at the number of rookies, 2nd year, and 3rd year guys out there last week - well, I've never seen anything remotely like that in the BB era.

He's made some really head-scratching choices, I admit. Not taking a flyer on Metcalf with the 2nd round pick when he was sitting there and you've got no receivers, and taking a situational CB instead? And taking Harry with a QB who doesn't throw contested catches? Brady hated those throws to anyone not named Gronk. So I can't understand why the Pats take Harry over AJ Brown, or a Swiss army knife like Samuel.

Welp, here we are. The team has a horde of guys on their rookie deals and more capital in this draft than in recent years. They've got more than Jackson, Gilmore, and HT, but they've got a ton of work to do (and a ton of money to do it with).

Best thing about an article like this is that it will piss BB off, and he really seems pissed off right now, and with something to prove.

 

[TomPatriot]

I despise Bert Breer, but in this case he's not wrong...I found especially insightful those quotes from personnel execs regarding Jennings, AssyAssy & Keene...the same thoughts some of us had the moment these three useless piles of rancid poopoo were drafted ... So to those fanboys ready to play the But Hindsight card: GFY.

Agreed, but that said, on this team you have to give players more than their rookie year.

If this article is true and BB is relying heavily on his coaching contacts evaluating their own players, he’s a fool. It’s reasonable to ask Nick Saban about say, Jarrett Stidham, who he prepared against when Stidham was at Auburn, but not Anferee Jennings; Saban is never going to disrespect his own guys.

I‘m not a Breer fan and don’t really trust his reporting, so there’s that. But the roster analysis is spot on, which is not a shock. It’s not a secret that Bill needs to get young talent to Foxborough ASAP.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

We also have to see the picks which have worked inspite of the scouts having red flags. Those stories likely wont be give much mileage. Gronk e.g. might be a great example. At some point , its going by the gut and that is what BB has done. Unfortunately he has missed on the WR spot badly. Harry for his part, his early injury last yr didnt help. And Brady being on the grumpy side of 40, not having enough patience with the rookie added to it. Harry has just landed in the worst possibl situation with brady and cam. I doubt metcalf wouldve done better here.
I also wnt to see breer write on how wheels came of on the other dynasties in the last 20 yrs. Oh wait, there arent any.

lost credibility when you said “I doubt Metcalf does better here”

 

[archstanton543]

That said, yes, BB has been drafting people he thought could make a stacked veteran team, trying to plug specialty holes instead of top-end talent - but again, show me the draft capital to get can't miss top end talent when you're almost always drafting 28+. It just isn't there.

There's plenty of talent at the end of the first and in the second round. The Pats aren't the only team picking there or that low and they don't have problem selecting players with talent.

 

[jmt57]

Not really. They have 20 free agent. Almost half the roster. It’s not like we have this cap space with a roster almost set and we can target 2-3 top key player.

Twenty free agents sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Most contracts are only 1-2 year deals and very few are for four or five years, so teams annually have about 17-20 free agents.

We (and every other fanbase) go through the 'OMG, we have so many free agents' handwringing each and every year.

The Pats may be on the high side of the number of free agents in comparison to other teams, but if so it is by a very minute number.

 

[Midship]

Bingo. They put together the greatest dynasty the league has ever seen, lasting really 19 seasons. The question shouldn't be "How could this have come to an end?", but rather, "How in the hell did they manage to dominate the NFL - with everything designed to stop this very thing from happening - for 19 straight seasons without a single bad season thrown in?"

That is a completely different (and irrelevant) subject. Find or create another thread if you want to bask in past glory.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Over Scouts objections, the Patriots drafted [Laurence Maroney, Chad Jackson, NKeal Harry, Sony Michel] because they aced their Foxboro workout with Josh McDaniels.

Michel was the number 2 RB rated that year by most boards. Chubb was #4.

I'd rather have Bill crash and burn on prospects rated the highest then reaching like he has been (Harry, Dugger, JoJuan Williams as the latest examples). Maroney was arguably the 2nd best back in the draft with the 2nd biggest play potential after Reggie Bush. The big red flag on Maroney was that he wasn't tested much in College as he ran through Grand Canyon sized holes. It reared it's ugly head as he had the worst vision I'd ever seen at RB. While the smarter pick was D'Angelo Williams, his red flag was too much mileage in College. Maurice Jones-Drew was another productive back in college and fell only because of his size and small hands (clearly a mistake by GM's).

Chad Jackson's big play potential was also too tough to pass up as arguably the #2 best WR after Santonio Holmes. While Greg Jennings was also the smarter pick, the knock on him was whether he could consistently separate even though he was way more productive in College.

D'Angelo Williams has admitted his hate for the Pats stems from them passing him up for Maroney. Greg Jennings has admitted on the "Colin Cowherd Show" he was also mad as well.

Flash forward to Sony Michel, he was the 2nd rated back coming out. If I'm going to fault BB for taking Harry over guys where were ranked higher (Metcalf, AJ Brown and Samuel), I can't fault him for Maroney, Jackson and Michel.

And you haven't answered my question @DropKickFlutie. Do you know who the scouts wanted over Maroney, Jackson and Michel?

 

[captain stone]

Michel was the number 2 RB rated that year by most boards. Chubb was #4.

Not by any boards I read.

 

[50-yard-line]

There's plenty of talent at the end of the first and in the second round. The Pats aren't the only team picking there or that low and they don't have problem selecting players with talent.

Total NE picks rounds 1 or 2 who would still be on, or finishing, their rookie contracts:

2016: None. They had one second round pick, Cyrus Jones, whose contract would have ended at the end of last year. Bad pick? Sure, but irrelevant now.
2017: NONE. no picks in Round 1 or 2.
2018: Isaiah Wynn (23), Sony Michel (31), Duke Dawson (56) Dawson was a whiff, the other two weren't.
2019: N'Keal Harry (31), JoeJuan Williams (45)...not looking too good, I agree (they got Winovich and Harris in the 3rd round, however).
2020: Kyle Dugger (37), Josh Uche (60)

There you are, your TOTAL Patriots first or second round draft picks who could still be on the team on their rookie contract. That's it.

 

[50-yard-line]

Not by any boards I read.

2018 NFL Draft Prospects: Running Backs - Michel #2

- Had Guice ahead of him and Michel at 3.

2018 NFL Draft by Position - Had Rashad Penny ahead of him, with Michel #3.

NFL draft 2018 running back rankings: Where does Georgia duo come in behind Saquon Barkley? Michel #2.

(Bleacherreport's link didn't come through.)