Adrian Wilson, John Abraham, and Dwight Freeney all visiting New England today.
As bad as his talent evaluation looks, his player development on defense has been even worse since 2007. The amount of 1st and 2nd rounders he's wasted on defense would have gotten any coach/GM who isn't regarded be the general public as a football genius fired. His problem is that he tries to address needs on defense every year but creates new needs by changing the defense every year and never properly developing players.
His big problem is a lackluster coaching staff on defense. He let his ego get the best of him for years when he was head coach/defensive coordinator. A lot of the players he's drafted had talent falling out of their ears and had promising rookie seasons, but they regressed and were eventually cut due to a lack of development. As I just said he also enhances this problem by switching between a 4-3 and a 3-4 every year when he's got one of the youngest defenses in the NFL that needs continuity and stability to develop.
Belichick ed up with all of these defensive players either by misjudging talent, developing them horribly or some combination of the two-
Terrence Wheatley
Shawn Crable
Ron Brace
Ras-IR Dowling
Brandon Meriweather
Patrick Chung
Darius Butler
Tyrone McKenzie
Jermaine Cunningham
Maybe his drafting on offense hasn't been as bad, but there are a few big needs on offense he's been completely unable to address that aren't as noticeable because of Brady, namely an outside receiving threat to replace Branch and Givens after they left, which is especially important since Deion Branch and David Givens wouldn't cut it at receiver in today's NFL. Outside of being gifted Randy Moss by the worst organization in the NFL, he's either signed free agent receivers who suck or drafted receivers who suck. His most notable ups here were picking Chad Jackson over Greg Jennings and Brandon Tate over Mike Wallace. Shane Vereen is good, but picking a backup running back over Torrey Smith was also pretty in stupid.
The offensive line was also extremely overrated for years and it was basically addressed by accident. Dan Koppen had been horrible in 3 straight playoff games (2007 Giants, 2009 Ravens, 2010 Jets) and he only lost his job because of a season ending ankle injury in 2011. The garbage they had at right guard from 2007-2010 also wasn't addressed till Brian Waters fell into their lap as a cheap pickup right before the season started. Additionally, as good as Logan Mankins is, he's a choker. He was beyond bad in both superbowls against the Giants.
Adrian Wilson, John Abraham, and Dwight Freeney all visiting New England today.
This, and additionally those Saints and Packers teams had talent all over the field on offense. Their receiving corps consisted of more than a bunch of athletically inferior midgets who "Run really good routes!"
I think the Patriots defense is a dinosaur. The front seven is big and consists of guys who specialize at stopping the run. Chandler Jones is one of my favorite young players, but I don't think he fits there. Meanwhile, the secondary can't cover, and the linebackers can help them due to their lack of athleticism. In a passing league, that's a recipe for disaster. Not to mention that teams that specialize in running the ball can still do so on that line. The Ravens got several good runs straight up the middle, and even more by bouncing to the outside and outrunning the defense.
On offense, there's no reason why the Patriots still lack legitimate receivers. They've had the picks and passed on Torrey Smith, Randal Cobb, and many others. They should have to rely on so many free agents.
The Dolphins have interest in signing Dennis Pitta to an offer sheet (second-round tender).
That says so much about both team's off-seasons so far. Personally, I'd take the damned pick.
Last edited by Chinook; 03-15-2013 at 11:07 AM.
Anything is better than the midgets that we had last year. When you have the worst statistical defense in the history of the NFL, you have nowhere to go but up. Lewis has size and great instincts. I think he had the 2nd lowest completion percentage of all passes thrown his way last year.
However, the Saints biggest problem still remains a pass rush. When a QB has all day to throw the ball, WR's are going to get open against even the best CBs.
Miami is spending a lot of money to build an 9 win team. That thing is headed for disaster.
And giving up the 41st overall pick for the privilege.
the dolphins giving up an early 1st rounder for pitta when they just signed Keller
John Abraham finalizing deal with Pats
Emmanuel Sanders is visiting today. Pats would have to give 3rd rounder to sign him.
Also, Amendola's deal is for 27.7 million, not 31 million. His total cap hit this year will be $3,500,000 so having him over Welker does initially save $2,500,000 in cap room.
Last edited by DUNCANownsKOBE; 03-15-2013 at 12:23 PM.
Sure they overpaid Mike Wallace by 2-3 mil or so, but what else warrants the hate some of you are giving them? They got younger, quicker, and cheaper at 2 linebacker positions, and signed a pretty decent stopgap TE for a year. They had over 40 mil in caproom, they HAD to spend some money![]()
7m a year for cook
jeff fisher
8-8 team for years to come![]()
This, although I think that BB trusted his secondary and pass rush so little that was a reason they played conservatively. When we got Talib, we became much more aggressive with the pass rush and it worked in our favor. Losing Talib against Baltimore hurt. (Which shows how shoddy the cb's are for us.)
Honestly, the New England defense is built wrong right now. We've got a decent ability to stop the run, and no ability to stop the pass. Whereas with our quick strike capability, we shouldn't care if they move the chains on the ground.
DoK, Darius Butler played pretty well with the Colts (3 INT, 1 Fumble recovery, 2 pick-6) as a midseason pickup last year. I was told when Ryan Grigson signed him, he said something to the effect of "If you can't make it as a DB in Indy, you might as well be a leper as far as the other 31 teams are concerned." Lit a fire under his ass or just had a lucky stretch last year?
.....I asked a rival offensive coordinator about that yesterday and he replied: “Numbers don’t lie. They score all the time. The reason they aren’t winning Super Bowls anymore is they don’t have a physical defense anymore. There’s not one guy on defense we had to game plan for.
“In ’03 and ’04, you worried about (Willie) McGinest and (Mike) Vrabel and (Tedy) Bruschi. You worried about (Rodney) Harrison and (Ty) Law and (Asante) Samuel. I almost forgot (Richard) Seymour and he’s the one you worried about the most. Change their offense? Why?“If you’re going to change, why bring in (Danny) Amendola? He’s the same guy as Welker, just not as tough or as good.”The idea that offense is preventing the Patriots from another Duck Boat Parade down Boylston flies in the face of the facts.
Despite the middle of the field allegedly being littered with too many receivers, the Patriots led the NFL in scoring two of the last three years and finished third the other season.In the two years prior, before the alleged glut of receivers over the middle, they finished sixth and eighth in scoring and seventh and 13th in passing touchdowns. So the fact is the offense scored*more points*with Welker, Gronkowski and Hernandez as the main focus.........
http://bostonherald.com/sports/colum...cause_of_super
lol Tannehill
He was New England's best corner his rookie year and then fell apart afterwards (like LnGrrrR said, our secondary coaching staff is horrible). I'd say he just needed to find the right team in order to realize his talent, so it wasn't a lucky stretch.
Cool article Blake
Maybe the Patriots could have used that amazing regular season offense that's really successful against juggernauts like the Dolphins and Bills to score more than 13 points against Baltimore in the playoffs.
They'll need a slot receiver who can catch third down passes that Brady puts right in his hands tbh. Maybe Amendola is that guy.
I have a feeling we will get talib...
Sign talib, resign MeAngelo, resign Fred Davis(Leader in targets, receptions, and yards before he went down), draft a free safety in the 2nd round and a RT in the 3rd= we staaaaaaaaaaaaackeeedddddddd
One thing that is a positive from this salary cap penalty is it forces us to build primarily through the draft and get younger. We should be set next yr once we get our 36 million in cap space back.
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