Patriots just landed

[gotmilk]

and that's all because of the secondary?? Does their frontline add up to anything in your esteemed estimation? Pressure had nothing to do with it huh?

The Colts finally stayed healthy and look what happened....three wins in a row. However, all three were done against the Pats when several starters were out.

Depth? Artrel Hawkins and Chad Scott are not depth. Sticking Troy Brown in as a DB is not depth. Mike Wright in place of Vince Wilfork is not depth. That's a joke.

You call Kelvin Keight and Jabar Gaffney depth?

Manning should be throwing for 500 yards against the Pats secondary when all the starters are out. The Colts should crush anyone who starts a secondary made of schleps.

The good thing about Moss is he only needs to stretch the field. Ben Watson is the guy who is going to have a monster year because of this.

 

[DannoMight]

and that's all because of the secondary?? Does their frontline add up to anything in your esteemed estimation? Pressure had nothing to do with it huh?

This is what I'm talking about with the pats......I hate them......but they're depth at every single fucking position has been sick. So you're able to bring in guys who aren't top flight security specialists in the secondary, but they're just fine because a qb can't sit in the pocket for more than 3-4 seconds waiting for the routes to pan out. And in regards to manning, they're in his head, no doubt. He get's all jittery in the pocket against them unlike any other team he faces, even with better defenses. But again NE he makes unbeleivably stupid throws that he never makes against anyone else.........

Somehow he's owned them every game for the past 2 yrs. And yes when you blow a 3td lead you got owned.

 

[jestro]

This is a pretty funny read.


Five years ago, I don't think Bill Belichick makes a move like this. I really don't. So that leaves five possible explanations why it happened now.



Explanation No. 1: You could almost picture Tom Brady heading into the coach's office after last season and saying, "Um, I don't know if you realize this, but I turn 30 this season. You just wasted a year of my prime. I'm never getting it back. I took a little less to stay here, you promised to build a quality team around me, then you traded Deion Branch and stuck me with Reche Caldwell as my No. 1, so my season came down to a third-down play where I crossed signals with a 38-year-old guy who should have been coaching our receivers instead of trying to get open on THE BIGGEST EFFING PLAY OF THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!! COULD YOU GET ME SOME HELP, PLEASE! MY EX-GIRLFRIEND MADE TOO MANY HEADLINES THIS WINTER, COULD YOU THROW ME ONE EFFING BONE HERE! JUST ONE! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK???"



This offseason has felt like a prolonged apology to Brady. Here, you wanted a real slot guy, right? We just traded for Wes Welker. You wanted a deep threat, right? How's Donte' Stallworth sound? You wanted a potential gamebreaker, right? How's Randy Moss sound? The only thing Belichick didn't do was to convince ABC to cancel "Six Degrees."



Explanation No. 2: This entire weekend was Belichick's "I'm Keith Hernandez!" moment. On the heels of the NFL instituting new character policies, Belichick drafted one of the most notorious players in the draft (Miami safety Brandon Meriweather) and traded for one of the most notorious players in the league (Moss). It's almost as if he decided, "I already won three titles with the three C's (character, coaching and chemistry) -- just for fun, I want to try to win one with a couple of lunatics. I'm Bill Belichick! I won three Super Bowls in four years! If anyone can pull this off, it's me, baby!



Explanation No. 3: Belichick believes the leadership and character on this season's team is solid enough that they can take chances on two shaky guys, almost like the family from "Seventh Heaven" deciding to adopt two troubled foster kids and turn their lives around. He did it with Corey Dillon a few years ago; now he's doing it with Moss and Meriweather. And if they end up winning the Super Bowl, he needs to raise the degree of difficulty bar by leaving the Patriots, taking over the Bengals and immediately trading for Terrell Owens.



Full disclosure: For years and years, I've been writing that any team can survive with one head case as long as it doesn't give him another head case to hang out with. For instance, Stephen Jackson is thriving as the Token Head Case in Golden State right now, just like Ron Artest thrived in Indiana for a couple years under that same role. You can always get away with one. But when Jackson and Artest landed on the same team? We ended up with the ugliest sports brawl in three decades. I'm not saying this will happen with Moss and Meriweather on the Patriots. At the same time, it's probably a good idea if they're not allowed to meet, interact or even use adjoining urinals at the same time.



(Please nore that I was excited for the Meriweather selection when it happened, if only for my dad's verbatim defense of the pick: "Well, the stomping thing was pretty bad, but he did have a license for the gun." He was dead serious. The NFL draft ... it's FANNNNNNNNNN-tastic!)



Explanation No. 4: Just for the hell of it, Belichick decided to build this season's Patriots offense the same way I doctor my "Madden" roster every August by making as many shady Patriots-related trades as possible. I swear, I would have ended up making all three of those moves in four months, even if they hadn't happened.



I wonder if Miami will be dumb enough to trade me Wes Welker for a second-round pick? (Pause.) Wait ... the Dolphins agreed to the deal?



I wonder if Donte' Stallworth's agent will be dumb enough to sign a multi-year deal in which only the first year is guaranteed. (Pause.) Wait ... he said yes?



I wonder if the Raiders will accept a fourth rounder for Moss. Screw it, I'll make the offer. (Pause.) Wait, I just got Randy Moss?



You have to admit, at the very least, we have the greatest "Madden" offense in Patriots history: Brady, Maroney, Watson, Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Caldwell, Gaffney, Brown. I mean ... are you kidding me? Can I run a seven-receiver offense next year? Is that legal?



Explanation No. 5: Belichick really did have a midlife crisis ... but instead of buying a fancy sports car, he went out and traded for Randy Moss. Maybe the coach knew he didn't really need a sports car, knew the car might remain in the garage for long periods of time, knew his friends might make fun of him, knew his insurance might skyrocket, knew he'd probably regret it in the end ... and you know what? He did it, anyway.



"Screw it," he probably said to himself. "I've always wanted to drive one of those things."



So if this was true, it's safe to say that Patriots fans were like kids playing in the front yard when that 2004 Ferrari Enzo pulled into the driveway, followed by our midlife-crisis-suffering father climbing out of the driver's seat as the doors shot straight up into the air. We're walking around the car in shock. We don't know what to think. It's quite possible that dad just lost his mind.

 

[gotmilk]

then you traded Deion Branch and stuck me with Reche Caldwell as my No. 1,

Redsamuri calls that depth

 

[redsamurai]

Redsamuri calls that depth

with other players picking up the slack.......yeah....depth. With the exception of Brady, nobody's a real star on that team......but they're coached well and get help from each other.........depth........I mean, what else do you attribute their success to? You could hardly disagree with my statement that there's more talented teams position wise........yet the pats are a dynasty..........because of depth. You clown on these guys they brought in, but they didn't do so bad........but of course that's because everyone else on the team was putting out. If they didn't put pressure on the QB's....than yes, that secondary would have panned out alot worse. I'm really not making any sensational statements here.......not really sure if we're all talking about the same game now?? Are we talking about the vaunted new england badminton team or something??

 

[needtogetaas]

This is a pretty funny read.


Five years ago, I don't think Bill Belichick makes a move like this. I really don't. So that leaves five possible explanations why it happened now.



Explanation No. 1: You could almost picture Tom Brady heading into the coach's office after last season and saying, "Um, I don't know if you realize this, but I turn 30 this season. You just wasted a year of my prime. I'm never getting it back. I took a little less to stay here, you promised to build a quality team around me, then you traded Deion Branch and stuck me with Reche Caldwell as my No. 1, so my season came down to a third-down play where I crossed signals with a 38-year-old guy who should have been coaching our receivers instead of trying to get open on THE BIGGEST EFFING PLAY OF THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!! COULD YOU GET ME SOME HELP, PLEASE! MY EX-GIRLFRIEND MADE TOO MANY HEADLINES THIS WINTER, COULD YOU THROW ME ONE EFFING BONE HERE! JUST ONE! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK???"



This offseason has felt like a prolonged apology to Brady. Here, you wanted a real slot guy, right? We just traded for Wes Welker. You wanted a deep threat, right? How's Donte' Stallworth sound? You wanted a potential gamebreaker, right? How's Randy Moss sound? The only thing Belichick didn't do was to convince ABC to cancel "Six Degrees."



Explanation No. 2: This entire weekend was Belichick's "I'm Keith Hernandez!" moment. On the heels of the NFL instituting new character policies, Belichick drafted one of the most notorious players in the draft (Miami safety Brandon Meriweather) and traded for one of the most notorious players in the league (Moss). It's almost as if he decided, "I already won three titles with the three C's (character, coaching and chemistry) -- just for fun, I want to try to win one with a couple of lunatics. I'm Bill Belichick! I won three Super Bowls in four years! If anyone can pull this off, it's me, baby!



Explanation No. 3: Belichick believes the leadership and character on this season's team is solid enough that they can take chances on two shaky guys, almost like the family from "Seventh Heaven" deciding to adopt two troubled foster kids and turn their lives around. He did it with Corey Dillon a few years ago; now he's doing it with Moss and Meriweather. And if they end up winning the Super Bowl, he needs to raise the degree of difficulty bar by leaving the Patriots, taking over the Bengals and immediately trading for Terrell Owens.



Full disclosure: For years and years, I've been writing that any team can survive with one head case as long as it doesn't give him another head case to hang out with. For instance, Stephen Jackson is thriving as the Token Head Case in Golden State right now, just like Ron Artest thrived in Indiana for a couple years under that same role. You can always get away with one. But when Jackson and Artest landed on the same team? We ended up with the ugliest sports brawl in three decades. I'm not saying this will happen with Moss and Meriweather on the Patriots. At the same time, it's probably a good idea if they're not allowed to meet, interact or even use adjoining urinals at the same time.



(Please nore that I was excited for the Meriweather selection when it happened, if only for my dad's verbatim defense of the pick: "Well, the stomping thing was pretty bad, but he did have a license for the gun." He was dead serious. The NFL draft ... it's FANNNNNNNNNN-tastic!)



Explanation No. 4: Just for the hell of it, Belichick decided to build this season's Patriots offense the same way I doctor my "Madden" roster every August by making as many shady Patriots-related trades as possible. I swear, I would have ended up making all three of those moves in four months, even if they hadn't happened.



I wonder if Miami will be dumb enough to trade me Wes Welker for a second-round pick? (Pause.) Wait ... the Dolphins agreed to the deal?



I wonder if Donte' Stallworth's agent will be dumb enough to sign a multi-year deal in which only the first year is guaranteed. (Pause.) Wait ... he said yes?



I wonder if the Raiders will accept a fourth rounder for Moss. Screw it, I'll make the offer. (Pause.) Wait, I just got Randy Moss?



You have to admit, at the very least, we have the greatest "Madden" offense in Patriots history: Brady, Maroney, Watson, Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Caldwell, Gaffney, Brown. I mean ... are you kidding me? Can I run a seven-receiver offense next year? Is that legal?



Explanation No. 5: Belichick really did have a midlife crisis ... but instead of buying a fancy sports car, he went out and traded for Randy Moss. Maybe the coach knew he didn't really need a sports car, knew the car might remain in the garage for long periods of time, knew his friends might make fun of him, knew his insurance might skyrocket, knew he'd probably regret it in the end ... and you know what? He did it, anyway.



"Screw it," he probably said to himself. "I've always wanted to drive one of those things."



So if this was true, it's safe to say that Patriots fans were like kids playing in the front yard when that 2004 Ferrari Enzo pulled into the driveway, followed by our midlife-crisis-suffering father climbing out of the driver's seat as the doors shot straight up into the air. We're walking around the car in shock. We don't know what to think. It's quite possible that dad just lost his mind.

I was also thinking maybe just maybe this might be his last year as our head couch and he wanted to grab every chance for one more super bowl he could for his last year as the couch...just thinking.

 

[redsamurai]

why would this be his last year?? I would think he'd stick around for a few more sb's.....?

I was also thinking maybe just maybe this might be his last year as our head couch and he wanted to grab every chance for one more super bowl he could for his last year as the couch...just thinking.

 

[Longhorn85]

Can I drop some money on them for the next Super Bowl victory now?

 

[seaking420]

Injuries is part of the game, dont give me that BS that the colt beat NE because of injuries, the colts had a great team. The afc is stacked with teams I dont know who will win, it could be any teams year. As much as I hate the Pats they do look dam good on paper, but I think manginious does have Bill Bel number now.

J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. I like how this new group of managers are picking up quality players. Starting from the core out. And we now have a runningback this year to go with our two WR's, plus Chads is one of the best at play action passers in the game right now.

 

[gotmilk]

I was also thinking maybe just maybe this might be his last year as our head couch and he wanted to grab every chance for one more super bowl he could for his last year as the couch...just thinking.

Rumor is a lot of guys are retiring next year for sure. Bruschi, Harrison, and Mike Vrabel. Lance Briggs wants to come to New England but NE did not want to give up a 1st and 3rd round pick this year.

Asante is on his way out (supposedly to Dallas since they have an extra 1st from Cleveland). That will give NE three first round picks next year.

Rumor has it Dillion may come back now. Since he was cut he can restructure his contract to include a signing bonus.