Bill Belichick may as well have retired this offseason, because the Patriots reign over the AFC East is over. Seymour has been the most consistently excellent member of that team, hes a sure-fire hall of famer and just hitting age 30. Of all the Patriots losses over the last few years, this is far and away the most damning. The time when this defense took pressure off Brady and the offense is well over, they'll have to score in the thirties to win games this year, and it seems less likely that they'll pull it off after watching the Bills hold them to 25 or whatever it was. In trading him, they essentially chose to pay Wilfork instead. In defense of that decision, Wilfork is younger, and plays a more essential position at 3-4 NT. That said, Seymour is a rare talent, a best-of-his-generation defensive lineman. The Chiefs spent a top 3 pick on Tyson Jackson, and that'll be a pick well spent if he becomes half the player Seymour is at age 30. The best thing for the Raiders (or whoever has his rights this time next year) is that this is a guy whos likely to play into his mid-to-late thirties, and to be pretty excellent as long as he's around. His big debut monday night against the Bolts was one of the highlights of a great performance by that team, and could foreshadow a career year for Seymour in the stats department . As for the Jets, if I'm Bill Belichick, I'm not sure what to do about Kris Jenkins. With Seymour gone, he's the best defensive lineman in this matchup, and I expect Sean Ellis to make a case for second best before the game is over. Wilfork is a talent, but he's got Mangold and Faneca to deal with tomorrow, two of the best interior lineman in the game today. When Jenkins gets doubles, look for Ellis to get in Brady's face. Nothing would be better than to see the longest-tenured Jet have a career day here. Remember, this is the guy who ended a Jet victory in 06 with a clock-killing sack on a muddy day, you have to think he wants this as much as anybody on the roster. Theres pressure on Thomas Jones, another veteran guy, to make this game easy on Sanchez. If he gets yards early, look for the Jets to get out with a W. Last week they lose their best lineman, this week the Bills run all over them; I think Schottenheimer and Calahan are looking forward to going against this unit. The Jets got away with a lot of third and longs last week. You have to think that if they get as many third and longs against Belichick, he's going to force some turnovers (despite the fact that their starting corners are both playing for Philly now). A good performance on first down is going to be important for this game, and it'll be up to Jones and Washington to pick up some of those early yards. One final note. In my estimation, Sanchez is the current favorite among quarterbacks to catch a touchdown pass. This is among the great plays in modern football, along with the one point safety and the blocked punt returned for touchdown. Get it done, Schottenheimer.
i dont think seymour is a hall of famer. i agree with a lot of your points,and hes a great player...but not HOF I like the trade they made....they have a likely top 10 pick next year
Seymour is a big loss but he has been banged up a lot the last few years and they have done OK without him. Sure, they will miss his presence but evidently they figured (in my opinion correctly) that Wilfork was even more important to their Defense. As we should know, having a dominant NT who can eat up space and demand double-teams is key to being successful in the 3-4. The Pats' seem to be good at judging when a player is on the verge of outlasting their value (see Lawyer Milloy, Ty Law, Willie McGinest, etc.).
Releasing Lawyer Milloy was supposed to be the end. Then it was Ty Law, then Deion Branch, then Asante Samuel. At the end of the day, he is one player. Loosing Mayo for the season would be a much bigger blow than Seymour for their defense anyways. Seymour is a dominant force and he showed that he's still comfortably in his prime last night. That said, they weren't going to bring him back and knowing as much they wanted to get something back from him. They wouldn't have done it if they didn't feel comfortable with the rest of their depth on defensive line. I also think they are making the right choice with taking Wilfork over Seymour, assuming they do hammer a deal out. On that line I think Wilfork has been more consistently healthy and productive since '05. Don't forget that supposedly this became very personnel at the end and the relationship between the player and coach became very strained.
Every year people try to predict the end of the run for the Patriots... I don't think we will see a crashing end of their dynasty or continued success. Instead they will fade over the years, but as long as their core group is together I think you can count on the Pats being a tough team to beat year in and year out. Exchanging players in the system whether it be due to injury, cap issues, or losing a step... Belichick has proven to be the king of this chess game. No matter who they cast aside, they always manage to fill the void, or have someone step up. It was not any different when he was running the defense here in NY. He's stick ppl in and get the most out of them. It's probably his biggest skill/advantage. Instead, we need to see the Jets continue to build their talent and keep getting better. Hopefully this year will be another step in the right direction. We get another barometer check next week versus the Pats... I always look forward to it.
You just listed three guys who sit on the edge of the field. Belichik just traded a guy who sits in the trenches, very effectively, and helps him control the game. I think he made a huge mistake given that he had already traded Vrabel and had Bruschi retire. That's a huge hole that has been put in the middle of that defense all at once. Particularly given that he also lost his main hitter in the backfield also with Harrison's retirement.
The line may be more important than those positions, but loosing your top corner twice and your pro-bowl safety certainly hurts. And just as importantly, right now it looks like the group of Burgess, Brace, Wilfork, Green, Warren is in much better position to replace that talent that talent than the other examples. Reche Caldwell was the best receiver they had after Branch was traded, Ellis Hobbes was their number one corner last year, and there was a few year gap between Law leaving and Samuel turning into a top flight corner. It hurts them, no question, but they will survive it. If the pick they get is used on someone who ends up being closer to Maroney/Watson in value, it's an awful trade. If they get someone closer to Seymour/Mayo however, then this trade is a home run.
The 'dynasty***' ended after 2005 when they stopped winning Super Bowls. Teams have to actually win the big game to continue using that term. Anyway, it's kind of a weak mindset to hope they go in the tank. I hope they stay competitive, the Jets get better than them, and kick the hell out of them for the foreseeable future.
That ended the Patriots dynasty. The Jets destiny is in their own hands. We saw their "genius" firsthand with Mangini running the show. There's no reason to be afraid of these guys; all that's left is to beat them.
1. Milloy might have been a great player but they only cut him when they had Cheap$hot to take his spot. 2. Samuel, and the pass rush were there to make up for Ty Law's absence. Law was injured leading up to his release and the Patriots barely missed a beat during that time. 3. So far, Brady has done better in the postseason without exceptional talent at WR than with it. There was no way in Hell losing Branch was going to hurt them. Anyone who thought that dropping a WR without a 1000 yard season in 4 years would hurt isn't too bright (even if it was me, to be honest, I don't remember if I said anything about this.) 4. Again, see the pass rush and Deltha O'Neal wasn't too shabby a replacement. Losing or trading away guys is to be expected in this league with free agency. The question is who is behind them and who can you bring in. Right now, Jarvis Green, Derrick Burgess, Ty Warren, and even Tully Banta-Cain tell me that the Patriots probably haven't killed their chances for success this season by saving some cap space and a roster spot at an already deep position.
Seymour had 6 tackles and 2 sacks for the Raiders last night and he has never even practiced with them once...glad he's gone.
Did you see the Raiders on monday night? That's a physical team with some really impressive players, they could be drafting lower than the Pats by the time that pick comes up. And Seymour will be what, 31 by then? One first round pick is not even close to fair for this guy. His career is by no means even close to over. This wasn't a decision to build for the future, they just didn't want to pay him. More importantly, the Pats defense hasn't been a particularly young unit, they got great play from a lot of vets, who are all of them gone at this point. They've replaced vets before, but theyre replacing Harrison, Bruschi and Seymour all at once now, thats too much. Vince Wilfork is their longest tenured defensive starter at this point, and probably their best player on D, but I'd take Jenkins over him any day. Mayo's their best LB at this point, and he may miss the game with that knee injury. We won't steamroll their offense the way we did the Texans obviously, the Patriots aren't going to get out-toughed like that. But Randy Moss won't have 12 catches against Darrelle Revis, and I don't think they can run on our front seven. Not to mention, I don't think they can protect Brady from Jenkins, Ellis and the rest of the Jets front seven. The only way the Jets lose, is if they let Moss beat them deep for multiple touchdowns, and/or Sanchez commits multiple turnovers. The Jets have a talent edge on the Patriots for the first time in a decade, and I think they're too pumped up to not take advantage of the opportunity, Brady will have to put up Drew Brees numbers to win this thing himself.
This is correct. It hasn't worked out that the loss of one key player has led to the collapse of the Pats*, but with Vrabel, Bruschi, and now Seymour gone all at once, the end of a "dynasty" built on a cullture of cheating, paranoia, disregard for the health of its players, and contempt for honest competition might finally be here.
With the exception of Law, you're talking about a lot of system guys who succeeded because they were disciplined, not because they were talented. You can always re-fill a system. Deion Branch's subsequent failure in Seattle, to date, vindicates that position. Richard Seymour is in a different class than all of those guys. He was the best pass rusher on a team that lacked a pass rush, and he's the one of the type five defensive lineman in the game, and without question, the most versatile. Losing a guy like that is undoubtedly going to sting. Getting a 2011 pick for him simply isn't enough. Losing Mayo is certainly going to sting, and even moreso now that Seymour isn't there, but I'm sure no one was sadder to see Seymour go than Jerrod Mayo. -X-
That was my response to the trade. And it's well warranted. Did you see that poor excuse for a 4-3 the Pats rolled out last night? Did you guys see a pass rush? Cause I didn't. Oh...2:37. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-.../Patriots-Defense-Highlight-WK-1-vs-Jets-2007 yea..fuck his faggot ass. So glad he's gone.
Not next year, but the following. Its a 2011 first rounder and that is worth about a second rounder at most right now.
Man that game sucked. Anyone feeling high from the last game should watch the clip and be reminded of that game and bring you back down. The one thing I must say is brady had "all the time in the world" whereas pennignton was throwing the ball in under 2 seconds or was getting sacked. No way Brady connects with Moss like that play where he burned past Revis given todays team. I think he had 15 seconds without a singe jet around him. This sunday is going to look a lot like that 2007 game except playing the part of the jets will be the patriots and playing the part of the patriots will be the jets. I could even see Brady going down with an injury and then coming back in to try and tough out the loss. He is going to spend a lot of time on the ground.
