Izzy Or Brizzy? Patriots Have Decisions to Make

Ty Law may be bored stiff this year.

Given a smorgasbord of Kato Serwanga, Tebucky Jones and J’Juan Cherry on the other side, what quarterback in their right mind would try and test the Patriot superstar cornerback? If you were facing a defensive line with Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen on the left, and Barney Fife and Steve Urkel on the right, it’s a good bet that Jones and Olsen become equally bored for that game. It goes beyond the tenets of common sense and good strategy.

Steve Israel left the Patriots on Wednesday to join his former teammate Willie Clay in the Big Easy. The Patriots didn’t go out of their way to retain their starting right cornerback, so Israel made like Fats Domino and went walkin’ to New Orleans. Winning won’t be on Israel’s agenda, obviously, but his canonization as a Saint is scheduled for sometime next week. Clay is bringing in the Grateful Dead to play St. Stephen at the ceremony in Israel’s honor.

Meanwhile, Patriot Nation is left to wonder. How badly are we going to miss Izzy? Israel had his best season as a Patriot in 1999, achieving that honor mostly by staying healthy the whole year. But he did play solidly at the right corner, and set himself up for a decent run at free agency at year’s end.

Israel’s knock was, and is, his durability. Israel was hurt frequently in his first two years as a Patriot. Fans began calling him “Is He Real?” Pete Carroll, Israel’s former defensive boss in San Francisco, knew what he was getting, and stuck it out with the defensive back.

Getting Israel proved to be one of the smarter moves of the Carroll era. Last year bore that out, and now the Patriots are stuck with no real person in place to replace him. You can hear the screams and yells coming from the most recent meetings of your local chapter of the Jimmy Hitchcock Fan Club.

Some fans out there regret that the Patriots retained Lawyer Milloy and Tedi Bruschi and sacrificed Israel. While Israel’s loss is imperiling, losing either of these two stars would have been even more damaging to the team, and lots more fans would have stood up and howled in disgust.

Milloy was the number two tackler on the team in 1999, and the heart and soul of the defense. Under Bill Belichick, Milloy may look like a clone of Lyle Alzado and Kevin Greene, cut down to a secondary man size. If the Denver game didn’t sell you on the team’s need for solid linebackers, you need to pay closer attention to the games. Bruschi was a very important signing, even more so if the team goes to a 3-4 next year.

What happened to Israel was disappointing, but it was not a mistake to sign Milloy and Bruschi in his stead. It is fun to watch these NFL teams work their magic around the salary cap, but when your team has to make tough decisions like the Patriots have had to do, you have to go learn how to shake this stuff off and move on.

But there was one solution that might have caused Israel to stay.

Honk if you remember Vincent Brisby. Honk again if you can’t believe that he is still with the team.

Here was a good cap dump option to keep Israel. Brisby has done next to nothing since his rookie year of 1993. He has been buried way behind Terry Glenn, Shawn Jefferson, Troy Brown, and even Tony Simmons on the depth chart. Even in his early years, when he was higher on the chart, he wasn’t anywhere near the productivity a second round pick should be.

It is possible that Brisby hasn’t contributed to the team the way he should because he simply hasn’t been in a position to. Injuries early in his career hurt his chances for him to properly develop as a top wideout. So far, the only thing memorable Brisby has done in his career was to get chewed out by Bill Parcells in his rookie year after celebrating following receptions that got the Pats a first down.

Things are such right now that Belichick considers Brisby worth holding on to. Jefferson has bolted to Atlanta, Simmons is still a project, and Glenn is an injury-prone head case. Even with Sean Morey waiting in the wings, there exists the chance that Brisby will be given the chance to contribute well in 2000. It is for this reason that perhaps Brisby is still here, and Israel is gone.

Izzy for Brizzy. Hmmmm. Leave the poetry out of it, and wonder. Would you have done the same?

No matter how sound the reasoning for keeping Brisby, the loss of Israel will hurt the Patriots. You can’t sit here and fault Belichick when he’s managed to retain all he’s been able to. But there is a hole at right cornerback, something that offenses around the NFL will definitely want to exploit this year.

Given the choice between Serwanga, Jones and Cherry, Serwanga deserves the first shot at the starting job. He showed enough promise at the end of last year that the job should be his to lose. Belichick may yet try and bring in a free agent (especially after June 1), but Serwanga won’t be a total embarrassment out there.

As for Jones, unless Belichick is a better teacher than Carroll, look for this guy to be backing up Milloy and Tony George before the season is over. Belichick might just be what this poor guy needs. Belichick was defensive backs coach here in 1996 before leaving for Exit 16-W, and perhaps he sees something that previous teachers of Jones weren’t doing. Jones is too valuable a safety man to just cast adrift.

Cherry has to be lopped into the “unproven” category. The preseason will reveal more of what this guy’s got. Barring widespread injuries, Cherry won’t likely be the man starting opposite Law on Week One.

Back to Izzy for a second. Is he truly happy that he’s heading to Nawlins? Mike Ditka’s wife said that “Even God couldn’t win in New Orleans!” Ricky Williams thinks Tom Benson should relocate the team to San Antonio. Izzy must really be strong buds with Clay. Or else Izzy just wanted the big payday. Leave New England for the Aints? That’s like Junior Griffey heading to Minnesota. Or Shaq moving across town to play for the LA Junior Varsity.

Izzy has his money and his homey back. Brizzy still has a job with the team that first drafted him.

The Patriots have insurance if Glenn still needs more time with Dr. Laura Schlessinger, but they have a hole in the secondary.

Izzy or Brizzy? How about Izzy for Brizzy? Doesn’t matter, it’s too late now.

About Bob George

Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thepic4139" rel="nofollow noopener"><strong>Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139</strong></a>

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