Looks Like Sopoaga is Happy To Be Here

[ctpatsfan1]

Heh... my first thought was "Oh no, he lost weight"

heh, heh, my exact initial thought too, "I thought he was supposed to be a big body to fill the middle of the DL"

 

[VJCPatriot]

But I'm happy to see Sopoaga in a Patriots uniform. That doesn't mean he'll succeed here, or that his presence will help the Patriots get better, but it certainly won't be a distraction, and he has the athletic and mental skills to be solid player on the Defense.

I thnk that this is a VERY good move by New England and that he'll turn out to be well worth the cost to acquire him.

Considering we only gave up a 5th round pick, yeah it should be worth it regardless of how he does. I have no idea of what kind of personality he has but hopefully that positive attitude will translate. Our defense isn't the easiest to pickup. Then again we've had free agents come in off the street and do well, so you never know. Then again Soapy doesn't have the benefit of a full training camp to get used to the system and the other players. -Yes, I'm trying to coin a new nickname for him because I'm too lazy to type out his full name every time!-

Also consider we got a 6th round pick back from the Eagles and had a need at DT. I'm glad that the tradition of trading with the Eagles didn't go away with Andy Reid leaving. Surprisingly enough, the Soapy trade was the ONLY trade of the NFL deadline! We made a big splash by making any splash at all. LOL

 

[BlueThunder]

Guess that nickname is already his handle.

Soapy

Interesting stat:

"Through the first half of the season, Sopoaga ranked 46th out of 68 defensive tackles, according to ProFootballFocus.com. The two rookies who replaced Wilfork in New England, Joe Vellano and Chris Jones, ranked 53rd and 67th."

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Interesting coincidence…

Mary Paoletti @Mary_Paoletti
Belichick said Pats wanted Sopoaga in 04. Pick used on him, No. 104, was formerly owned by NEP. Traded in '03 to Chicago for Ted Washington.

And TW got us a ring. Of course he was a far better player than Sopo, but still...

 

[jah]

Guess that nickname is already his handle.

Soapy

Interesting stat:

"Through the first half of the season, Sopoaga ranked 46th out of 68 defensive tackles, according to ProFootballFocus.com. The two rookies who replaced Wilfork in New England, Joe Vellano and Chris Jones, ranked 53rd and 67th."

But PFF is terrible. Jones looks better than Vellano, although neither of them are good at run stuffing. I bet Sopoaga is an upgrade over both if not just Vellano but we don't need PFF to know that.

 

[IllegalContact]

he changes a bunch of things.....he's more pure NT than anyone the pats have had since TW.....wilfork is NT, but he provides other capacities, too. Sopoaga is a huge plug, and that's it.....a good one, but nonetheless, he's not been in a 403 for some time whether he teams up with kelly or jones, the middle will be addressed, but we lose something in pursuit.

one thing that's for sure, the run defense between the tackles has been fixed.

 

[102 Pat]

I'm really curious to see how much of an impact he will make sunday. Talib had a pretty eventful debut last year versus the Colts.:rocker:

 

[goheels22002]

I know there are some subtleties in the middle of the defensive line, but Sopoaga's size and experience will help immediately to tie up interior offensive linemen and reduce the number of times the defensive line gets blown off the line.

Last week it wasn't that big of a deal, but against Cincinnati, it was just awful without Vince and Kelly in there.

This is the perfect week to have Sopoaga get on board with his defensive line mates. Pittsburgh's offensive line is just a mess with all the injuries and mixing and matching they've had to do. If Sopoaga can keep his man busy on obvious running downs, it will help a lot, and give plays off for Jones and Vellano throughout the game.

 

[Rob0729]

Guess that nickname is already his handle.

Soapy

Interesting stat:

"Through the first half of the season, Sopoaga ranked 46th out of 68 defensive tackles, according to ProFootballFocus.com. The two rookies who replaced Wilfork in New England, Joe Vellano and Chris Jones, ranked 53rd and 67th."

This is why PPF sucks. Chris Jones is third in the entire league for DTs in sacks and he missed three games this season and he is ranked 67th in the league for DTs. Only Geno Atkins and Jason Hatcher have more.

I know sacks are an overrated stat, but the guy who is third in that category at a particular position should be ranked way higher than 67th for that position.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

A positive attitude is great. Always willing to get behind a player that wants to be a Patriot.

Haynesworth said the same thing....lets see how he plays here

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

This is why PPF sucks. Chris Jones is third in the entire league for DTs in sacks and he missed three games this season and he is ranked 67th in the league for DTs. Only Geno Atkins and Jason Hatcher have more.

I know sacks are an overrated stat, but the guy who is third in that category at a particular position should be ranked way higher than 67th for that position.

Geno Atkins won't be having any more this season

 

[neuronet]

Albert Haynesworth was thrilled too... just sayin' :O

 

[BSR]

Albert Haynesworth was thrilled too... just sayin' :O

So was Tom Brady.

My guess is that his success here will fall somewhere in between those two.

 

[fnordcircle]

Albert Haynesworth was thrilled too... just sayin' :O

Oh look, it's 'that guy' here to post something to temper our runaway excitement about a middling defensive tackle.

 

[Anteros]

Have you guys seen this video yet?

Patriots Today - Sopoaga checks in

He is hilarious. I love this guy haha

Nice video. I like how he says that when he found out he'd been traded he had to make like "The Fast and the Furious" and do double the speed limit to get here quick. Definitely sounds like he was eager!

 

[Bonzo]

Encouraging stat via Reiss:

When Sopoaga was on the field for the 49ers and Eagles from 2008-2013, opponents averaged 3.4 yards per carry, which was the lowest mark in the NFL over that span. When Sopoaga wasn’t on the field over that span, the number increased to 4.1.

Would be interesting if they had isolated the 2013 season, see if there really was the decline we've been hearing about.

 

[SteelersCanada]

He went from dealing with the cluster**** that is Philadelphia to the stability in New England. I'd be happy too.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

He went from dealing with the cluster**** that is Philadelphia to the stability in New England. I'd be happy too.

What makes it worse for Iggles fans is the success Andy Reid is having in KC .

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Good. I mean, who wouldn't wanna be a Patriot?

Richard Seymour
Curtis Martin
Chris Slade

 

[Ring 6]

Richard Seymour
Curtis Martin
Chris Slade

Seymour didnt want to be a Patriot after Bill Belichick didn't want Seymour to be a Patriot.
Curtis Martin didn't want to be a Patriot because of Bobby Grier and Pete Carroll.
Chris Slade was cut.