How to be competitive in the AFC again

[boodog]

I beg to differ. Gotta look beyond the 10 win stat. Even in their own division, the Pats were not competitive and only won 3 games out of 7. And two of those three wins were against the Jets.
I expect Mac and the offense will improve with tweaking, but the defense has a long way to go. If the Pats don’t get multiple playmakers with speed at all three levels of the defense, they will not be competitive enough to return to the playoffs. Not being able to get key stops against Buffalo and Miami was very telling. It doesn’t matter how good the offense is if the defense can’t get stops.

 

[‘Mondre]

I beg to differ. Gotta look beyond the 10 win stat. Even in their own division, the Pats were not competitive and only won 3 games out of 7. And two of those three wins were against the Jets.
I expect Mac and the offense will improve with tweaking, but the defense has a long way to go. If the Pats don’t get multiple playmakers with speed at all three levels of the defense, they will not be competitive enough to return to the playoffs. Not being able to get key stops against Buffalo and Miami was very telling. It doesn’t matter how good the offense is if the defense can’t get stops.

We all said they’d win 10-11 games and maybe make the playoffs, they did just that.

fix the defense and maybe add a receiver and if Miami stays down they’re probably a wc again, better in ‘23

 

[FCB02062]

Given what Bill spent on the offensive skill spots last year in FA - Bourne, Agahlor, Smith and Henry, do you really think he is going to invest more capital into that position group when his defense just got trucked twice by the Bills?

I mean I agree with you 1000 percent but I don't see it happening. It is defense all the way and probably Oline.

hope springs eternal

 

[mgteich]

We all said they’d win 10-11 games and maybe make the playoffs, they did just that.

I'm too lazy to look up the polls; but, that definitely isn't true.

 

[‘Mondre]

I'm too lazy to look up the polls; but, that definitely isn't true.

It’s certainly true.

Well I did and so did several.. uh… podcast ppl.

we lose to buf twice, split with Miami, and beat nyj.

we lose to tb and Dallas, we beat Jacksonville and Atlanta.

that’s 5-5 right there… just spitballing.

 

[slash83]

Have a defense that can force a punt least once a game, it’s a start.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

In the draft go defense, defense, defense.
Defense carried the wins this season via smoke and mirrors, despite massive fundamental flaws in players Godchaux, Bentley, SloJuan, and the defense missed Jon Jones and then later Mills.

Team needs a NT, ILB, and CB. Based on what might be available in the draft it might fall more like CB first, ILB, then NT (a couple big fat guys who look intriguing to me later in the draft, or maybe in trade/free agency).

Don't burn any bust pick on WR. Team sucks at evaluating WRs. Offense spent huge money on new underutilized toys and already has 6 decent pass catchers if the philosophy is throw it to the open guy.

Team needs to keep JC Jackson. This will be hard due to expensive crappy contracts in Smith 14M, Agholor 13M, Wynn 11m, Godchaux 11m. No need to draft OT. Move Trent Brown to LT and play Michael Onwenu at RT for the next decade.

.

 

[‘Mondre]

In the draft go defense, defense, defense.
Defense carried the wins this season via smoke and mirrors, despite massive fundamental flaws in players Godchaux, Bentley, SloJuan, and the defense missed Jon Jones and then later Mills.

Team needs a NT, ILB, and CB. Based on what might be available in the draft it might fall more like CB first, ILB, then NT (a couple big fat guys who look intriguing to me later in the draft, or maybe in trade/free agency).

Don't burn any bust pick on WR. Team sucks at evaluating WRs. Team spent huge money and already has 6 decent pass catchers if the philosophy is throw it to the open guy.

Team needs to keep JC Jackson. This will be hard due to expensive crappy contracts in Smith 14M, Agholor 13M, Wynn 11m, Godchaux 11m. No need to draft OT. Move Trent Brown to LT and play Michael Onwenu at RT for the next decade.

.

This may be the first post on here I 100% agree with. If Mac proves his accuracy holds on long throws next season (we didn’t get to see him sling it that much this year), and the defensive additions hit, then you go WR the next year… or acquire one somehow since we have that history of drafting poorly there.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Our offense had a lot of guys in their first year in our offense. How much better will they be in year two?

how much better will jones be if the offensive line is not in turmoil for the first month of the season and if we can get him a reliable target with some speed?

 

[jdlboot14]

If we can't sign Berrios in FA, maybe we can trade for Scotty Miller? The guy is quick and very Amendola like.

 

[MahomestoKelce]

The AFC as a whole is loaded with elite QB's.

Mahomes
Allen
Burrow
Lamar
Herbert
Carr
Lawrence
Rodgers (Assuming he ends up in Denver)

Patriots just need to focus on beating Buffalo. Miami & the Jets are sinking ships.

If Mac can turn into a Rivers type QB, you've obviously got a great QB on your hands.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Start with building the d line... You need a ty Warren type pick and not a Malcolm butler. Just need to hit on multiple drafts. The team needs talent

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Our offense had a lot of guys in their first year in our offense. How much better will they be in year two?

how much better will jones be if the offensive line is not in turmoil for the first month of the season and if we can get him a reliable target with some speed?

The wonderful thing is the offense already has good talent like Agholor, Jonnu, and Onwenu, 3 good players under utilized in this stale lazy playcalling offense. No need to spend big$, these players are already on the roster across WR, TE, and OT positions. Agholor led the league pre-Pats-OC in yards per reception the year prior.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

If we can't sign Berrios in FA, maybe we can trade for Scotty Miller? The guy is quick and very Amendola like.

The offense is already clogged up middle of the field with Henry, Jonnu, Meyers, and Bourne. Plus tb12 isn't here who likes slot WRs. They basically need a new OC who actually knows how to use the talent here. Offense now is stale and predictable and the oc doesn't know how to learn new tricks.

 

[ivanvamp]

In the draft go defense, defense, defense.
Defense carried the wins this season via smoke and mirrors, despite massive fundamental flaws in players Godchaux, Bentley, SloJuan, and the defense missed Jon Jones and then later Mills.

Team needs a NT, ILB, and CB. Based on what might be available in the draft it might fall more like CB first, ILB, then NT (a couple big fat guys who look intriguing to me later in the draft, or maybe in trade/free agency).

Don't burn any bust pick on WR. Team sucks at evaluating WRs. Offense spent huge money on new underutilized toys and already has 6 decent pass catchers if the philosophy is throw it to the open guy.

Team needs to keep JC Jackson. This will be hard due to expensive crappy contracts in Smith 14M, Agholor 13M, Wynn 11m, Godchaux 11m. No need to draft OT. Move Trent Brown to LT and play Michael Onwenu at RT for the next decade.

.

I do see if I can snag one of the Alabama WRs in the second round. Metchie or Williams. Both are really really really good, but both are coming off torn ACLs, so maybe they will drop. Pairing them with Mac would be great.

Otherwise, I go defense defense defense and OL.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I do see if I can snag one of the Alabama WRs in the second round. Metchie or Williams. Both are really really really good, but both are coming off torn ACLs, so maybe they will drop. Pairing them with Mac would be great.

Otherwise, I go defense defense defense and OL.

Agree except OT already has the solution they're wasting, Onwenu to RT and Trent at LT. So no OT in the draft. And the problem with another WR is look at the roster, it means sitting 1-2 really expensive players who aren't even bad but just being misused or underutilized by the lazy offensive playcaller

 

[doesntmatter1]

If we can't sign Berrios in FA, maybe we can trade for Scotty Miller? The guy is quick and very Amendola like.

Berrios sucks. He didn't make it with us for a reason. I've watched Jonathan Jones cover him with no effort multiple times.

 

[boodog]

We all said they’d win 10-11 games and maybe make the playoffs, they did just that.

fix the defense and maybe add a receiver and if Miami stays down they’re probably a wc again, better in ‘23the “successful” record of 10 wins and making the playoffs has exceeded the expectations of most of us. masks the reality that the Pats are just not competitive enough to go deep in the playoffs. Just look at the record in their own division. BB has always said that the goal every year is to win the division. We are several playmakers on defense away from being more than one and done in the playoffs. All of the Pats super bowl teams under BB, had at least 2 playmakers (6 total) at each level of the defense. These are players that would make key stops or turnovers at critical moments in games. The current team has Judon and possibly Barmore. Jackson is a FA.

 

[upstater1]

The AFC as a whole is loaded with elite QB's.

Mahomes
Allen
Burrow
Lamar
Herbert
Carr
Lawrence
Rodgers (Assuming he ends up in Denver)

Patriots just need to focus on beating Buffalo. Miami & the Jets are sinking ships.

If Mac can turn into a Rivers type QB, you've obviously got a great QB on your hands.

In order I'd rank them Mac Jones, Herbert, Allen, Burrow, Carr, Jackson, Mahomes, then Lawrence

 

[scott99]

Mac is a nice guy, competitive, great attitude and had a good (not great) rookie season, but he is NOT a franchise QB.

I think it’s WAY too early to say that. Look at Allen, people were calling him a bust after his rookie season. Then they surrounded him with some good weapons, like Diggs Knox & Beasley (and now Davis) and his career took off. Let’s see the Pats do that, get some decent, explosive weapons for Mac, whether through the draft or trades or FA. Henry and Bourne were nice additions, but there isn’t a defense that’s afraid of those guys.