The Big Three?

[14thDragon]

I was going through some of these articles on the terrible offseason of the Patriots, and came across several references to the Trinity of Belichick, Brady and Vinatieri. Which got me to wondering, what about Seymour? Is not defense just as important as Offense and special teams? Has he not been a force in all three superbowl runs? I know as a D-lineman in the 3-4 he does not get much press coverage, but the fact is that when he is in there it forces the other team into less then favorable deployments to stop him. So why is he not counted as vital link?

Including him in the structure of winning certainly changes the view on things, we lost our special teams big play maker, but retained our defensive star. Who do you think would be easier to replace? Who do you think opposing teams fear more, our kicker or our premire D-lineman?

 

[BelichickFan]

I love Seymour, and others, but as long as we have Belichick and Brady we will be fine.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

I think that Brady was the catalyst that caused a 'chemical reaction' to occur between hard-nosed Belichick and the 2001 Patriots. This leadership of Brady, and belief in Brady by the teammates bridged the gap to the new coaching administration, which Bledsoe had previously been a little less than cooperative with.
But it was Seymour who completed the defense in a huge way. This was as big a rookie impact on any team as we have seen at a non-Q.B. position. All the other people on the defensive line were scrubs, they were our scrubs and we loved them, but they were cast aways and non-used former Jets. Seymour was as responsible as anyone for holding up the D-Line. Let's face it, we won the Rams game mostly on Defense.
I think Viniateri is over-rated. He helped in the Raiders game and the first superbowl. He missed kicks in the second superbowl, and didn't have any 'clutch' kicks in the third superbowl, had a terrible year or two, and missed a kick in the Broncos game. I will grant him kudos for 2001, but the rest could have been done by the 16 kickers in the league who are all ranked higher than him currently.
The 2003 superbowl was Rodney Harrison. He was a terror all year and brought the team together after the horrible 31-0 loss to the Bills. He was easily the best defensive player in the league that year, just go back and look at any tape from that season. He was a missle. Brady said that Rodney is the best defensive player he has ever seen.
The 2004 superbowl was Corey Dillion. Our offensive line was not pass blocking well all year, and Corey flat took over most games. He had his best year, and we wouldn't have gone to the superbowl again with Antowain Smith!
Brady and Belichick have been steady, but finding really hungry guys has also been a big factor. I think Seymour is part of the Big Three, for sure!