Flashback 2002: Lawyer Milloy Revisited

[SHOWTIME15]

Before some of you drop off the cliff on the welker situation, just remember that Belichick always does what's best for the TEAM. He did the same thing in 2002 by releasing Lawyer Milloy, a four time pro bowler. Of course this led tom jackson to infamously state that "the team hates their coach." Then of course the pats went on to win 2 super bowls without milloy. . at the time he said it was the hardest decision he's ever made. And like wes, lawyer was tommy's best friend on the team. And like amendola, milloy"s replacement (rodney) had a lot of question marks surrounding him. There are a lot of parallels here, and since belichick was right Bout milloy, im willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Belichick is ruthless - just as a head coach of an NFL team should be.

Boston.com / Sports / Patriots

 

[VOODOOZF]

Before some of you drop off the cliff on the welker situation, just remember that Belichick always does what's best for the TEAM. He did the same thing in 2002 by releasing Lawyer Milloy, a four time pro bowler. Of course this led tom jackson to infamously state that "the team hates their coach." Then of course the pats went on to win 2 super bowls without milloy. . at the time he said it was the hardest decision he's ever made.

Belichick is ruthless - just as a head coach of an NFL team should be.

Boston.com / Sports / Patriots

Yeah, but now arguably the best slot WR in the history of the NFL was just gift wrapped to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos and in return we got an unproven commodity that is injury prone going into a system that a lot of wr's have a hard time picking up on...Belichick outsmarted himself this time.

 

[dizi24]

Not that it makes any difference as far as projecting what Welker/Amendola will do next year, but last night I was thinking about the similarity between Welker and Ray Allen. Both were aging superstars. Both organizations sort of spent the year before free agency trying to downgrade them. Both had a pretty clearly strained relationship with the HC due to some of the HC's personnel and monetary decisions. And then both left for arguably the team's biggest competition.

Useless, but interesting comparison too.

 

[Sivy]

This is different

I mean, I'm sure its just a matter of time before "An unnamed source close to the situation" reports that the patriots "hate their head coach" and that Bill has "Lost the locker room"

Lets throw in, "Bradys body language suggest that he doesnt want to play football any more"

 

[IcyPatriot]

As I recall we had Milloy and Jones back there and we were simply too slow.

He was a whiner and he burned the bridge when he left ... I don't see Welker doing that ... yet ... stay tuned.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

As I recall we had Milloy and Jones back there and we were simply too slow.

He was a whiner and he burned the bridge when he left ... I don't see Welker doing that ... yet ... stay tuned.

Sad to see Welk leave but on the bright side if the Donks ever play the Jets we can hear all those unfettered foot jokes we've come to love

 

[dales804]

This is different

I mean, I'm sure its just a matter of time before "An unnamed source close to the situation" reports that the patriots "hate their head coach" and that Bill has "Lost the locker room"

Lets throw in, "Bradys body language suggest that he doesnt want to play football any more"

I read there's a source close to Brady that has body language that could indicate Tom isn't happy.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

While I am willing to have faith in the new direction we're taking, I don't think this is a relevant analogy.

In 2002 if I'm remembering correctly, Milloy had 0 INT's, 0 sacks, 0 FF's, and a subpar year in general. Last year Welker despite the 'phasing out' in the first 2 games, was by far and away our best producer on offense and showed no signs of slowing down. Completely different situations

 

[IcyPatriot]

I read there's a source close to Brady that has body language that could indicate Tom isn't happy.

Yeah ... he's been moating around since yesterday.

If tom's not Happy we can ship him out for all of a teams draft picks this year and next year.

 

[Big-T]

showed no signs of slowing down

Is that ignoring the increased drops, fumbles and a lower YPC than the previous year?

Players like Welker hit the wall hard, probably just as hard as a RB.

It's ridiculous how worked up people are getting about losing 1 player without even waiting to see what the team does moving forward.

 

[voluntarysaftey]

If I recall correctly, we also had a guy named Rodney Harrison at strong safety signed that offseason making Milloy somewhat expendable.

I'm hopeful Amendola can exceed Welker's production as BB seems to think he can -- but there's alot more uncertainty at WR than there was at Safety when Milloy left.

 

[DarrylS]

I read there's a source close to Brady that has body language that could indicate Tom isn't happy.

Hearsay information is better than no information at all.

Listen to talk radio, as this will be a talking point of the day..

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Is that ignoring the increased drops, fumbles and a lower YPC than the previous year?

Players like Welker hit the wall hard, probably just as hard as a RB.

It's ridiculous how worked up people are getting about losing 1 player without even waiting to see what the team does moving forward.

I'm not saying it was his best season but c'mon. 1354 yards despite a reduced role in the first 2 games. It was still the 2nd highest season total in yards of his CAREER. He was able to handle PR duties as well when Edelman went down and filled in nicely. The reaction of some posters is ridiculous I agree, but it's also ridiculous to look at last year as any indication that he's about to hit a wall or compare his situation to Milloy. Sure, he can hit the wall any year now but last year was definitely no indication.

 

[Steve102]

Milloy was the pied piper... and he ran his mouth about $$. If I remember, the quote attributed to him was "I don't care, as long as I get mine". The Patriot Way was not set yet, and Milloy, as much as I loved him, was working against what they were trying to build. Welker, at least of what we know, did not yap about $$.