His command of the secondary in our defense is probably second to only bb!
Where was that "command" against Josh Allen? At least I know who to blame now for the horrendous secondary play twice against the better team in our division.
McCourty should see fewer snaps this year. Keep those legs fresher, but he adds a ton of value to this team.
Serious question... What is McCourty doing well on the field these days? Generally and specifically which plays did he make that were consequential to the outcome of a game?
A vet who can’t play anymore and who shows up as a consistent liability on film review by the best in the business in that area wouldn’t be asked to play nearly 95% of the defensive snaps by the ultimate “what have you done for me lately” coach. That tells me that some of McCourty’s supposed “bad plays” were likely due to poor execution on the part of others. BB knows everyone’s responsibilities on every play. We are only guessing.
So when other players make good plays, it's McCourty's command of the defense and getting players in the right spots, but when things go wrong it's because of the other players poor execution. I see, we're only attributing favorable outcomes to McCourty (sounds a lot like the preferential treatment BB receives). That gets a little tricky when the defense goes two full games without forcing a punt and surrenders 9 consecutive TD drives. McCourty himself was also terrible in those games, so there's that, and clearly his "command of the defensive" was not translating into anything positive otherwise.
The Patriots can't be treading water, they're way behind Buffalo, they need players who can close that gap. McCourty is treading water at best but more realistically he's steadily declining and will be a liability.
And doesnt make them demonstrably worse either since neither of us can predict the future. This zero sum analysis is just fantasy football prognostication that every single position MUST be upgraded on paper every single offseason for the next season's team to have any chance.
Obviously no team in the history of the league has managed to upgrade at every single position. You saying McCourty "doesn't make them demonstrably worse" is not exactly an endorsement of the player.
The alternatives were what? Replace him with Williams (who we KNOW your ilk hate) or Mills (creating another hole to fill)? Sign someone who's never played in the system? Just plug in a rookie and expect all-pro (no cuz the Patriots cant draft either..I forgot)? Use all the remaining cap on some "name" guy forsaking the other needs the team has?
Let BB figure it out, it's his bed. Because the roster lacks a replacement for an aging, slowing, softening safety is the fault of the GM. I would have moved on from McCourty before the 2020 season so my replacement would already be there. This is BB's mess to clean up.
Every year the Patriots are competitive, but because they're 'cursed' with having won the whole damn thing a few times, that's just never good enough.
The team wasn't competitive in 2020, it's not even debatable, and they were only marginally competitive at best in 2021. They were 9-4 after a highly dubious winning streak. From there they got totally exposed and finished out the season at 1-4, which is not a competitive team.
Losing both JCJ and DMac would have been very tough to overcome in the secondary. DMac even if not what he was is still good on the field and his leadership means everything.
No, losing LCJ will be tough to overcome because he's actually good at what he does. McCourty does not perform at such an unreachable level that he can't be easily replaced. He looked pretty awful by the end of the season. Again, with the leadership, how's that translating to on field performance of the secondary/defense?? The biggest takeaway of the defense from 2021 was there complete inability to slow down Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense. How does resigning McCourty brighten that outlook?
