You can agree or not. That is your priviledge. My position is that
1) Had pioli had made an exception to his philosophy, and had signed Law and Branch for more that what he, Pioli, thought they were worth, THEN the patriots would have been much more likely to win the Super Bowl. Somehow, they would have been an improvement of Kight and Baker. The cap money was there. Exceptions were made for Seymour and for Warren. He had the chance; he made his choice.
I did not say, at the time, or now, that Pioli SHOULD have signed Law or Branch. Personally, I would have liked Law signed (for $2M or $3M more a year than we offered) and would not have like him to sign Branch.
2) Had pioli had a bit more conservative view of his negotiation team's ability to sign Law and Branch, then he might have some two players somewhere would have helped us more in 2006 than having cap money left to move to 2007 (that will ulimately end up in 2010). He came into the season with Branch. Caldwell and Brown with no backups, and no backup plans. With regard to Law, he simple could have gotten alternative help. Having to trade for Gabriel and sign street free agents was almost good enough in the end. Pioli almost made up for his mis-judgement.
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In the end, pioli did what he decided was best. As a practical matter, he isn't always right. There were many choices made last year with regard to the cap money. Pioli CHOSE to move the money into 2010 (or perhaps 2009), when we will indeed need the cap money. I, personally don't think that he made the best decision for 2006, for 2007 or for 2008. If holding the line with Law and Branch was necessary, so be it. He certainly could have made better use of the cap money. And no, I do not have a list of players that might have been signed for $5M-$7M over three years. But let me assure you that during the entire offseason before Game One of last year, pioli could have found some one or two players that would have made it more likely that we would win the Super Bowl.
And just BTW, pioli did NOT have the same attitude this year. Look at the contract values! There is no way that the pioli of 2006 would have paid that kind of money to Welker, to Stallworth, to Brady, or to Washington, or perhaps even to Warren.
WHAT??? What are you talking about? Pioli waited to sign Law and Branch because the Pats have an organizational philosophy that WORKS and they they stick to. Does it always work out? Do we ALWAYS win the Super Bowl? No, of course not. But you seem, at this point, dug in to what you "know" is your "winning" argument and so you're tailoring everything to fit that - and trotting out a bunch of false premises to support it.
