A lot harder picking any where from 28-32 over the last decade than top 18. When you pick that late your risk/ reward ratio changes. Some work out and some don't. This year's first is a perfect example. Easley may turn out like Dowling or he may be an all pro. When you're in a division where the other teams can't get out of their own way, you have that luxury.
But it did happen. And the Jets still haven't been to a SuperBowl since 1969. 45 years. Explain that.
That would be a specious argument except for the fact that it doesn't make sense. So every team drafting towards the back has such a drastically lower chance of success that they are going to have bad drafts?!? Following your reasoning, there shouldn't be teams who pick towards the front of the draft year-to-year because their chances of drafting success are so much higher than a team that picks towards the back. How about the fact that the patriots often feel it more beneficial to trade back? Oh, one more thing. From 2001-2013, the patriots had just two draft picks in the 28-32 range.
You had me with the big words until this sentence. #32 - 2002/2004/2005 #28 - 2007/2001 #29 -2013/2014 #31 - 2011
Just for the detail oriented: 2001- They picked at #6 --their own pick. Don't know where you got #28, that was the Raiders, their own pick. 2002- Traded up to #21 2004- First pick was again at #21, they also picked at #32 2005- #32 2007- Traded up to #24 2011- Traded up to #17 2013- Traded down into 2nd round 2014- #29 So, as far as where they actually picked, which I believe is the argument being made (Tommilommi's argument says "Picking" not "Draft Position"), Jack Handy and Innocenti are both not quite accurate. Now, with better facts in hand, continue the discussion at will.
Since 2001, years that they didn't trade themselves out of the first round completely the Pats first pick was on average from the 20th spot, pretty close to the top 18 and not near 28-32.
Tommilommi said it was harder picking from 28-32 and I said that they only had to do that twice in the past thirteen seasons. I commented on exactly what Tommilommi wrote and it was accurate and relevant. If you read the last sentence of my post without any context then I could see how it could get understood differently than what I intended. But if you consider it with the quoted post, it's pretty clear what I meant.
i remember laughing when Belli drafted not one, but 2 TEs early. I'm not laughing now (well, kind of with Hernandez in the clink). And I didn't laugh at all when Rex drafted D-Line 3 straight years. You just never ever know.
The Pats and Belichik got lucky with the pairing of Brady and Weiss and rode the 1000-1 odds to a dynasty that was powered by Brady's ability to take the cheats and run with them. Then the cheats went away and the Pats haven't won a championship since, although the simplicity of the spread their offense evolved into has eluded defensive coordinators other than Rex Ryan and whoever the Ravens and Giants run out there. Basically the Pats did what the Braves did during the 90's. They locked up the most important area in the game and rode that for as much as it was worth. Probably the single biggest factor in the early dynasty was that the guy they drafted to relay the cheats from the sideline turned out to be their QB and knew how to exploit them when he was getting them himself. He knew both ends of the system and it's pretty clear that nobody has ever been better at exploiting singular issues than Brady.
Belichik has a TE fetish. He has frequently drafted them early and his first forays into the area were mixed success.
Dowling was a frustrating guy during his time in NE. They gave him every chance to start/play while he was here. Injuries and poor performance did him in. We heard about his potential and combination of size and speed that was rare, but never really got to see it. He couldn't crack a pretty poor secondary, for what it's worth, when he was healthy enough to play. That said, sometimes guys turn it around. Whether it's a type of coaching they respond better to, being a scheme more suited to their talents, or whatever it may be.
If you look at previous drafts over the past decade or so, Beli had been looking for the exact type of tandem that he ended up getting with Gronk and Hernandez for a long time. Then he finally finds that prototype tandem in the same draft, and one turns out to be an injury prone meathead and the other turns out to be a multiple murderer.
Ooo real quick to be so defensive & go for the jugular.Especially in a thread about Ras-i Dowling.I guess on my fellow fans behalf I'll respond with the same...No championships since being caught for elaborate schemes to cheat.
