The team is in a rebuilding phase. It it truly amazing to win 10 games every year and tie or the division EVERY year, no matter whether on top or rebuilding. The team continues to go to the Championship Games every year.
And where are we? 2-2 as many SB winners have been. We are likely to win our division and again be in the playoffs. And we whine, and we whine. Pass the cheese.
This is NOT a boom or bust team. Choose another team if that's what you want (or whine).
The team has failed at developing receivers. That's been true as long as Belichick has been here. Even Edelman could have been signed by anyone before we re-signed him to a minimal contract. To add insult to injury, Tate will be playing against us tonight.
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THE CHOICES BEING MADE
No fan likes the idea of building for the future. But Belichick has does this in many, many years.
DEFENSE
Belichick has chosen to spend lots of resources on the defense. Some folks don't like his choices. But Wilfork was brought back (many here said "no"). We've recently added Jones, Hightower, Collins, Revis, Dennard, Browner and Easley. We expect to pay McCourty. Revis will be re-signed or the money will be used on another top corner. I expect yet another defensive front seven addition next year in the first 2 picks. Is that a terrible strategy by Belichick? We have criticized Belichick since 2007 for not using resources on the defense. Well, now he has been listening. I agree that he has found S2's hard to find. IMHO, the novel strategy of using one S2 in the base and another in the sub package is a fine idea, and a good use of resources.
IMHO, other than luck, the biggest reason for us not doing even more in the past few years is the health of players come playoff time, especially Gronkowski. This is difficult to deal with. But our defense has also needed to better. So, that is the focus.
OFFENSE - LINE
Belichick is at least a year late in drafting offensive linemen. However, the real problem this year is the crazy OL transition. Why would anyone have Cannon play OT all preseason and then start him at OG? That makes no sense. The misjudgment on Devey is exactly that. The team certainly had lots of opportunity to see him in the off-season and preseason. And yes, we should have added a veteran OG to be on the roster instead of Kline or Devey. So, here we are. We're 2-2. The OL played better last week. This week we have Wendell healthy instead of Fleming. This OL is in transition and is likely to be OK as the season progresses. Belichick is likely to add another 3 prospects next year. Connolly and Wendell will be backups or will be replaced by other vets. Is this a bad plan?
OFFENSE - SKILL POSITIONS
Here there are the REAL question marks. We have question marks at every position (QB, WR, RB and TE). We do need to see the future of Brady, Gronkowski, Dobson, Amendola and Wright. We will need to acquire RB's (not all that expensive). Gaapollo, Edelman, LaFell and White are likely to be back in 2015. Hopefully Gronk will recover. The time has come to rebuild the skill positions. Belichick has chosen NOT to do what everyone wanted and spend the money in the last two years on expensive wide receivers.
BOTTOM LINE
If Brady, Gronk, Dobson, Amendola and Wright can produce, we have a team that can compete for the SB this year. But, as we all know, the offense that has played the past four games is not likely to go far in the playoffs, even with the likely improvement in the OL.
