This question was being asked on A Steeler board I follow. They think the Pats are in decline and aren't really the team they have to beat to repeat This was a respone that reflects a wuick and dirty opinion of the roster at this point.
Perhaps the Pats are on a down slide, it will happen sometime, maybe now. My rose dolored glasses think that the Pats (barring another deluge of injuries) will be back as good as ever this year.
I'll reference the roster relative to the last SB roster. On the D:
The OL is the same group, with the exception of the backup NT (Wright, Thomas or Smith in place of Traylor) The oldest player in this group is Jarvis Green at 27 yrs old (Seymour will be 27 next Oct). I would stack this DL up against any on football, it has experence and all the players are just coming into their prime.
At LB There are soem changes. Bruschi, Colvin and Vrabel remain as starters. Ted Johnson, Roman Phifer and Willie Mc Ginest are gone from this group (Chatham is also gone but he was a ST player and not in the LB rotation. Phifer is retired, and Willie is 36 now, and would have been a backup behind Colvin and Vrabel. The replacements for Phifer & Johnson figure to be Beisel, who struggled big time at the beginning of last year, Ryan Claridge (2nd year player who was on IR last year) and Eric Alexander (3rd year out of LSU). Tully Banta Cain will be the backup at OLB, he saw a lot of action last year. Izzo and D Davis will continue as LB who are on the roster for ST's. Rookies Mincey (draftee from FL DE to OLB conversion) and Freddie Roach (ILB Ala run stuffer) will try to create a position for themselves on the roster. R Harrison said this offseason that Claridge will be an impact player this year, Beisel has added 10 lbs. This group has to be considered weaker than the last few years until someone shows they will step up. I would note that LB hasn't seemed to be a big prioritythis off season. I was suprised by this. Apparently BB/SP feel they have the talent in place to do the job. This will be area to watch in training camp and pre season.
That leads us to the much maligned Patriots secondary. The national perception is that this unit is awful, and at times last year they were. I would note that 7 of the 11 palyers who left training camp as DB ended up on IR by the 4-5th week of the season, that is an astounding # of injuries to 1 unit. Anyway, the team has back the 2 starting CB's from the last SB, Asante Samuel and Randall Gay. Although many Pat fans anticipate that 2nd year player Ellis Hobbs will start over Gay next year and that Gay will be the nickle back. Warfield and C Scott will be the #5 & #6 CB's. H Poteat will probably be late cut and signed if one of the other CB's go on IR. V Brown UDFA from Fl will try to earn a roster spot most likely be a PS player.
The Safety position was a disaster last year, 3 of the top 4 were on IR and the team went through 6 guys trying to find a player for R Harrison's spot. they ended up setteling on A Hawkins a converted CB. he did a very good job and had a lot to do with the improvement of the D over the latter part of the Season. R Harrison's injury has been reported to be not as serious as first feared. Harrison has been running at offseason workouts. He says he will be ready for TC, my guess would be that is put on the PUP list and comes back at midseason a la Tedy B last year. The starters to start the season will be Hawkins and Wilson, G Scott and J Sanders will be the backups, M Mitchell and T Jones will be competing for ST slots. G Scott has looked good when on the field but has been injured both years. He will be on the bubble with Jones and Mitchell.
To sum up the D, the DL is the best of any Patriot team ever. The LB group is in transition and 2-3 players have to step up to make it into as good a group as in the past, we'll call it weaker until proven otherwise on the field. The DB have a lot of experience and depth, this could be the best group of Pat DB's top to bottom of the BB era.
With my Rose colored glasses firmly in place I am optimistic about the D.
Onto the O:
The OL is the best the Patriots have had since BB has been here. Light, & Koppen are back from IR. They have on the roster 4 of the 5 starters from the last SB team, but 1 of them Gorin will lose the starting position to 2nd year player Kaczur (who filled in last year for Light). Kaczur and Mankins both started as rookies and did a good job they should be better this year with that experience. All the backups are back from last year (except Ashworth). There are a few rookies competing for roster spots O'Callahan has the best shot.
TE, they have lost Fauria & Jed Weaver from the last SB and added Watson (who was on IR last SB) and Thomas (rookie from Texas) this group is better than the SB group. I think you will see a lot of 2 TE sets from the Pats this year.
WR, this group has seen the most change. Givens and Patten are gone from the last SB team and T Brown is in the last year of his career. Caldwell B Johnson and Jackson will be counted on the replace Givens this year. Johnson has been a disappointment thus far as a WR (good as a KR), and will have to step it up or he could be gone. Bam Childress will try to gain a roster spot here. I expect they will carry 5 WR's. Like the LB position there are questions here and this position has to be considered weaker until proven otherwise.
RB, This group is adding Maroney and Mincey to the SB group of Dillon, Faulk and Pass. Dillon, Pass and Faulk are all coming off injury plagued year. Depending on Maroney this group could be better than the SB group. Mincey could change the O a bit as a Hback/FB. Giving then a recieving option they haveen't had since K Turner left 10 years ago.
QB: The Brady kid has some potential, and should be entering his prime at 28 yrs old. Cassel backed up Palmer and Leinert during his USC career. He did a good job when given the opportunity in the Dolphin game. IMO he will be the #2 this year. Flutie will decide on retiring this week, if he comes back he will be the #3, if Doug retires they will bring in a vet. They drafted Bramlett from Wyo who figures to be a PS guy.
QB is better than the last SB group. Brady fin my biased view is the best QB in football, with all due respect to Ben R who has had the best 2 year start in NFL history.
Miller & Paxon return as the punter and LS.
That brings us to the PK. Well AV is gone, didn't give the Pats a chance to match the Indy offer, wanted out of the cold and into the dome. Gramatica and a Gostowski will look to replace him. I expect the rookie to be given the chance to win the job. This will be one of the biggest question marks during preseason. On paper this looks to be a downgrade. I certainly can't anticipate that either of these guys will be the clutch kicker that AV was. I don't know however if they won't be better this year. Last year AV had trouble over 40 yds and hasn't kicked a 50+ FG since 2002 ( I was amazed when this pointed out during the AV FA period. His KO's weren't good last yeat. The story won't be told here until we see in the new guy can perform in the clutch. We knew that AV did.
IMO the reports of the Pats demise have been greatly exaggerated. They do have questions, and changes to their roster, but what NFL team doesn't?
BTW I love all the 'experts dismissing the Pats, I'm sure this 'disrepecting' won't be lost on the players and coaches. Listening to Brady and Sey they are ****ed about the playoff loss and are very hungry to try to dethrone the champs. I do think the Steelers should be the top rated team in the power polls until they lose, they are the champs and have earned it.
I wish TC was starting next week this time (after mini camp) of the year sucks I wish that TC was startihg.
