So how do you grade this year’s draft?

[Zuma]

I wish Belichick would be arrested by he Massachusetts State Police for not having the competence to draft Travis Jones and Leo Chenel. Gift wrapped for us.

What a terrible job!

 

[moosekill]

Second year. Brady was drafted in 2000 and sat on the bench for a year.

Too stupid to even realize that. What a troll

 

[Zuma]

One thread I would like to see is “How do you rate intelligent posters?” For Instance a question given to all new posters here could be “what month do NFL games start?” I think a lot of posters might get that one wrong…by several months.

Another question could be “Who is mostly likely to start at QB for the Patriots in 2022?”. This one seems obvious but many seem to get this one wrong.

 

[moosekill]

I'm a Brady guy, but he played pretty poorly putting his D in bad positions which got them into the 24-14 hole against the Seahawks. You have to give credit to the D for holding on and allowing Tom to finally wake up. If the D allowed one more score, it's probably over.

However, the D came one yard short of losing the game for a 3rd straight last drive by the offense which would've been a disaster for the Pats. Bill gets credit for recovering from allowing the Seahawks to simply walk down the field and then knowing the Seahawks patterns at the goal line. Having said that, nobody cares what the Coach knows if the player doesn't execute the play like Butler finally did after getting beat every time in practice. For example, there's video in 2006 of Marty Schottenheimer telling his DB's to fall on the ground if they intercept Brady late. They didn't and Marty gets the blame and fired.

Bill's D cracked in 2018 and doesn't get the opportunity to shut down the Rams without Brady's big game. On the other hand, I could point out plenty of games Tom was terrible and either lost or got bailed out by the D/someone else on offense.

Thing is we are all Brady guys. The difference is some of us are also Bill guys and Patriots guys but there is a small subset of the Brady guys who put their love of Brady to this scary strange level. I am sure most of them have posters of Tom over their beds, and imagine a shirtless Tom holding a baby goat when they try to have sex with their wives or significant others. The high point of their lives was when Tom filed a restraining order against them and they framed it for his signature. They also have the Brady bedroom scene from Ted on continuous loop in their “man caves”

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Well they were 5-13 to start the patriot era, so I’d guess the quarterback played some sort of role in that

Absolutely it did. But Bledsoe was bad by the time BB took over. He peaked in 1996-97. Then it went downhill for him.

 

[All3Phases]

Absolutely it did. But Bledsoe was bad by the time BB took over. He peaked in 1996-97. Then it went downhill for him.

He went to a pro bowl in Buffalo, so I don’t think he was quite done. But I get your point, the quarterback mattered a lot

 

[JMC00]

Travis Jones and Leo Chenel

Travis Jones is overrated by draftniks and binkie lovers like you because the DT class was weak as **** and Leo Chenel, lol McGrone is a better player.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Second year. Brady was drafted in 2000 and sat on the bench for a year.

You read the OP's post wrong. 1st year as in Tampa, not NE.

Absolutely it did. But Bledsoe was bad by the time BB took over. He peaked in 1996-97. Then it went downhill for him.

Team eroding/horrible drafts and not extending Martin before FA had a lot to do with it. The O-line had dinosaurs in 1998, as was Coates' last good year. '99 had an embarrassing ground ground with the O-line crumbling down and the Pats offense was one dimensional/predictable.

He had one good year in Buffalo when the stars were aligned for him as he was second in the NFL in passing yards, 7th in TD's and 5th in QB rating in Buffalo when he had Travis Henry running the ball with Eric Moulds and Peerless Price at WR. Wheels fell off after that.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Regarding Travis Jones anyone on here follow UCONN? How dominant was he on the field? I know his stock shot up after the senior bowl just wanting to know how good he was last season.

 

[State]

D minus.

 

[State]

Cole Strange in the first round by the Patriots? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Tyquan Thornton in the second?

What sort of glue-sniffing moron does that?

 

[State]

Belichick is Iago.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Winston had two head coaches before Bruce Arians, that's who he was. Don't get me wrong, Sean Payton worked really hard to keep a restrictor plate on Winston to make him more efficient, but Winston had no choice at that point... he was unemployable and needed to rehab his image.

Brady stepped in and won a ring with the same head coach, and the both of them had to learn a hard lesson at the hands of those very Saints that no matter how great your QB and weapons are... every team needs to be able to run the ball.

The Bucs got shellacked in week 9 when they set an NFL single game record for fewest rushing attempts in a game against the Saints. I have no doubt that was in part because Arians loves free wheeling downfield offense and because any QB, if left to their own devices will choose to pass the ball rather then run.

That was Arian's fault, it was Leftwich's fault and it was Brady's fault... but no doubt Brady brought some of what he learned in NE to Tampa after that and the team started leaning on the run game, running the offense through the RB's and passing to them more. Along with stopping unnecessary offensive penalties and development of the young CB's, learning that they needed to run the ball and stay balanced is what propelled the Bucs to a championship that year.

Cole Strange in the first round by the Patriots? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Tyquan Thornton in the second?

What sort of glue-sniffing moron does that?

Can't take you serious, BB's been criticized for his picks for most of 20 years and all he's done is win 6 super bowls with the roster he puts together.

 

[upstater1]

For sure not, but was it possible he made winning plays that helped the team? Where as for 18 games Bledsoe didn’t? Unless you just think the rebuild immediately concluded a few weeks into 01. Clearly something improved when Brady stepped on the field.

Bledsoe lead a team to the Super Bowl with Bill running the defense 4 years earlier. He wasn't a 5-11 QB his whole career. He actually had a background in this sport. Of his 15 seasons in the league, only 4 of his teams had losing records.

It's safe to say that the 2000 team was bad as the whole team was transitioning. We were even getting rid of good players like Greg Spires and Terry Glenn for hold the fort guys like Anthony Pleasant and David Patten.

 

[All3Phases]

Bledsoe lead a team to the Super Bowl with Bill running the defense 4 years earlier. He wasn't a 5-11 QB his whole career. He actually had a background in this sport. Of his 15 seasons in the league, only 4 of his teams had losing records.

It's safe to say that the 2000 team was bad as the whole team was transitioning. We were even getting rid of good players like Greg Spires and Terry Glenn for hold the fort guys like Anthony Pleasant and David Patten.

96 has no relevance to this discussion. The 2000 team may have been transitioning, they started 0-2 in 2001 as well. Again, random occurrence they fully rebuilt after a month in 01.

 

[All3Phases]

Can't take you serious, BB's been criticized for his picks for most of 20 years and all he's done is win 6 super bowls with the roster he puts together.

I think it’s ok to analyze everything when the team is mediocre. The past is the past, but I like the risks they took in this draft, also think they could’ve done some things differently though

 

[Clonamery]

Belichick is Iago.

He’s lake? Ok, Mr State of being and nothingness, BB is lake. Personally, I think you’re the one who is all wet.

 

[Ian]

And Stafford did something Brady has never done before - put together a long game winning drive with less than 45 seconds left. yeah brady has never done that before. Edge - stafford

 

[Boomer B]

And Stafford did something Brady has never done before - put together a long game winning drive with less than 45 seconds left. yeah brady has never done that before. Edge - stafford

Trolling the board again. I thought you said you gave that up?

 

[Ian]

Yes, but Stafford had little playoff experience prior to 2021. Brady already had 30+ postseason wins. Right after the super bowl, this board had a thread where pretty much everyone agreed that Stafford is not a HOFer. On top of that, Stafford beat Brady 2x enroute to the super bowl. And Stafford did something Brady has never done before - put together a long game winning drive with less than 45 seconds left. yeah brady has never done that before. Edge - stafford

You're impossible to follow because you bounce back and forth between Brady's terrible and Belichick couldn't win without him - to Belichick had his finger on the roster and is the reason they've won so many games. I feel like I get whiplash...it's crazy.

Otherwise, I don't understand why we have to even debate the decision to let Brady go. They made it work for 20+ years, they could have made it work longer except Bill felt Brady's window was closing and they stopped kicking the can down the road with his contract. That's why they were up against it. The salary cap didn't suddenly become an issue after two decades for any other reason other than they no longer wanted to commit to him long-term. When that happened, the end of the deal obviously caught up with them, which is just how it works. So people arguing that need to realize that Belichick's decision to move on was the reason for the $$ issue.

I said at the time, I didn't agree with it. They absolutely should have ridden him until he went out and showed he couldn't do it anymore.

At the same time, the timing seems to have worked out in their favor by landing Mac because obviously, as we saw in this past draft, getting a high-quality QB isn't a given by any means every year. Fortunately, he left when he did and we have Mac to potentially begin another successful era.

Again, I wish we still had Brady, but if lightning struck and we landed his replacement for the next two decades, I'd say that's incredibly lucky.

But essentially saying Brady is just a JAG is a little silly, especially given your post history before you did a 180° and went down this road. And putting Stafford at his level is also a little disingenuous. Brady has won more with lesser talent, and you know it. Granted, I get that he had a loaded roster in Tampa but so did the Rams and they endured fewer injuries at the end of 2021 and that ended up being the difference. And you can't use Stafford's lack of playing experience as an excuse, because it's his own fault he doesn't have more.

Good for Stafford, I don't hate him but I thought he was someone who fell apart in key situations. He proved me wrong, and I'm not ashamed to admit I misjudged him. I don't need to stand on a hill and nitpick all the other times he came up short to try and prove my previous point - which seems to be a thing with you for some odd reason.