aluminum seats
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2006
- Messages
- 10,465
- Reaction score
- 11,359
I'm not sure if the fact that Wilfork wasn't 100% against the Ravens has been noted enough. The story of that game, even apart from the freak occurrences in the first quarter, was the Pats’ inability to get the Ravens off the field. However many yards they needed on third down, they would get it, over and over again. The Pats’ run defense was almost unrecognizable from earlier in the season, when Wilfork was healthy.
I was thinking about this regarding the Jets playing on, despite having no QB play to speak of. When the Pats played the Jets in November (seems like years ago), the Pats stifled the Jets’ running game, and that was that—jumped out to a 24-0 lead, held the ball for 40 minutes, and away we go. Now, a couple of months later, if the game was replayed, I think the result would have been quite different. Why? Because Wilfork being hurt would have fundamentally altered the Pats’ defense. (Additionally, the Jets have improved throughout the year and are peaking now, the way the Pats used to do and hopefully will again.)
We’ve also seen that the tremendous turnover the Pats have undergone, particularly on the defensive side, has taken a toll on the overall makeup of the team. Wilfork is a guy who’s been here and who gets it. The last thing the Pats need is to lose somebody like that.
This is one area I don’t want to have some value chart decide we’re better if he leaves town. On a team with a lot of question marks, the guy’s one of the few exclamation points. Pay the man whatever it takes, and spend time dealing with the problem areas.
(By the way, speaking of that Jets’ game, I loved this quote from Revis. “We play those guys straight up but their one-two punch got the best of us….Welker did a triple move that was crazy, man. He's great.” So yeah, Welker was pretty important too.)
I was thinking about this regarding the Jets playing on, despite having no QB play to speak of. When the Pats played the Jets in November (seems like years ago), the Pats stifled the Jets’ running game, and that was that—jumped out to a 24-0 lead, held the ball for 40 minutes, and away we go. Now, a couple of months later, if the game was replayed, I think the result would have been quite different. Why? Because Wilfork being hurt would have fundamentally altered the Pats’ defense. (Additionally, the Jets have improved throughout the year and are peaking now, the way the Pats used to do and hopefully will again.)
We’ve also seen that the tremendous turnover the Pats have undergone, particularly on the defensive side, has taken a toll on the overall makeup of the team. Wilfork is a guy who’s been here and who gets it. The last thing the Pats need is to lose somebody like that.
This is one area I don’t want to have some value chart decide we’re better if he leaves town. On a team with a lot of question marks, the guy’s one of the few exclamation points. Pay the man whatever it takes, and spend time dealing with the problem areas.
(By the way, speaking of that Jets’ game, I loved this quote from Revis. “We play those guys straight up but their one-two punch got the best of us….Welker did a triple move that was crazy, man. He's great.” So yeah, Welker was pretty important too.)