Veterans are Astoundingly Important

[Vindicate]

In a two week media frenzy desperately grasping at straws to rip the cord on a defining narrative for the Falcons, there was one established about experience.

Looking at the Falcons, it's hard not to embrace the idea. Sports journalism focused on a young defense budding under the tutelage of a defensive genius. They made claims like the players are getting younger. They're faster, they can go longer and veterans are seemingly becoming less and less of a talking piece.

And when that game opened up, it seemed as if there was an ounce of truth to the lofty preposition.

But here's the kicker - the veterans won the game last night.

I will never discount arguably the most important sack of Trey Flowers, which rattled an OLine so much that they were dreaming of getting away with an egregious hold on Long, who if not held, would've smashed Ryan and made that a poor throw.

But the Patriots veterans have been there before. 2013 Broncos keeps coming to mind. They kept these students full of promise, urging them to hang tight and never letting them doubt themselves. There is much to be said about the thirst of youth, but there is a gold lining to the patience of this developed leadership with the Patriots.

They made the players understand that the Patriots were in position to win. They saw that, honestly, they were really having their way with this Falcons team but we're coming up short at crucial moments.

So, long story short, thank-you Patriots veteran leadership. Any other team would've lost its wits. We never faltered.

 

[IllegalContact]

good point

on another note, why is the youth of the Falcons emphasized so much when the Pats are the younger team?

 

[Vindicate]

good point

on another note, why is the youth of the Falcons emphasized so much when the Pats are the younger team?

That question floated my mind while hearing coverage - I always thought we had one of the youngest rosters, but I never checked the numbers.

Damn though. The experience of this team permeates through their leadership.

 

[IllegalContact]

That question floated my mind while hearing coverage - I always thought we had one of the youngest rosters, but I never checked the numbers.

Damn though. The experience of this team permeates through their leadership.

Falcons avg age: 26.6
Pats: 26.2

I believe there is a huge difference in OL ages

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Post-game interviews: To a man, the Patriots said that at half time nobody was pointing fingers, everybody was focused on "okay we're in a hole, how do we do this." Nobody said they even had "that sinking feeling" or whatever.

Mentally tough.

I think it was JE who said the coaches went off themselves for a few minutes saying, hey, we're going to figure out what you guys do to win this. Then they said what to do, then they did it... a little simplistic but the point was, they had no idea they "were losing" that game.

I have never seen resilience like that. Anywhere. Any sport. The Clods doing that to us in the AFCCG in 06 was CLOSE.

By the way, have those guys hung their "3rd place in the division" banner yet?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

good point

on another note, why is the youth of the Falcons emphasized so much when the Pats are the younger team?

The age of the Patriots in the popular mind is 39, because there is one constant on the Patriots' SB-winning rosters to date, and he is 39.

 

[IllegalContact]

The age of the Patriots in the popular mind is 39, because there is one constant on the Patriots' SB-winning rosters to date, and he is 39.

no....but thanks for trying

 

[PatsFanInVa]

no....but thanks for trying

Yes, ask a fan of another team whether the Pats have an older or younger roster. That's driven by their Brady is the Pats/The Pats are Brady worldview.

 

[IllegalContact]

Yes, ask a fan of another team whether the Pats have an older or younger roster. That's driven by their Brady is the Pats/The Pats are Brady worldview.

very casual fans, maybe

which team is the oldest?

Ranking NFL teams by age after 53-man cutdowns: 2016 edition

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Yeah I'm not arguing the reality, IC, just letting you know what you'll hear when you get outside of the Boston area (or if you are outside the area, get up from the computer.)

If I go into work tomorrow and say "Yeah, well, Pats are young, the Falcons are a good team, they're just a little bit older, and that makes a difference," people will think "wtf?" They wouldn't even shout me down for being a Pats fan, they'd do a dead silent "is he serious" pause and then commence the Pats hate.... starting with "Brady doesn't even get a game check, he gets a social security check"

Probably 3/4 of the people up in New England would react the same way, except they'd say "What? We're young? Wicked"

 

[stinkypete]

The difference in age is that the Patriots have at least one veteran leader on every unit of their team. Between Brady, Blount, Edelman and Amendola, Soldier and Cannon, Branch and Long, Nink and Hightower, Chung and McCourty, you have 6+ year vets all over the team. There is no potential for a leadership void anywhere in that locker room.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

That's pretty astute Pete... and it's a culture passed on through classes of veterans.

I hate to get all 2001 but now everybody know that you "choose to be introduced as a team," and then they just killed the whole tradition of individual introductions.

We did that. Just by not playing along with the vanity. Okay that said...

It's the giddy day-after-the-super-bowl day, and you have to think... or at least I do... deep thoughts.

Where's the anti-coaching-staff tweetstorms in the NE locker room, in this day and age (not today, but during every season)? Where's the outrage against the owners? Where's the Wednesday night podcast where some dum dum just cuts loose and explains to interested fans what they'll do this Sunday? You see that stuff all over the place, not in NE.

The epitome of the "no fun league."

Also the place you go if you're serious, sorry to say. Egos aren't allowed to overshadow the team. I am sure Tom would be a horrible case b/c he is so important to the team, except you so rarely see or hear him say/do anything to put the "we" aspect of the team in jeopardy.

You don't think it would be easy to be an "individual" and not "toe the company line" when nine kinds of off-the-field pressure were on?

That comes from the same place as "preferring to be introduced as a team..." You're not the star this, that, or the other thing. Hey golden boy, you're in a slump? Well Jimmy's not, and he's hungry. (Granted Tom gets much more leeway... but seeing that TFB can be benched tells those other veterans, dudes, it's US not ME.)

And the bittersweet truth at the end of the line is... "I" get to personally walk out a champion. But "I" most likely at one point or another will have to walk out, in terms of the dollars. And the only way "I" get to walk out a champion is to buy into the "WE" even though "WE" are almost fated to part ways w/the individual in the end. Almost all of them.

Man. It's amazing anybody plays for NE. It's also amazing in another way that anybody wouldn't want to.