we need pass rush. pass rush is the equalizer.. get in brady's grill and brady will become average. i don't worry about stallworth. i don't remember him lighting it up for the Eagles at season's end. I think he is soft. and welker is a midget.
We do need a CB. Either pick one in the 1st or 2nd round of the draft, or sign somebody like Nick Harper.
yeah, you're so very very right....the team that has kicked our asses the last 3 years (aside from 1 game we won) that made it to the AFC championship game last year is desperate. SUCH INSIGHT. theres one thing you should never do in the NFL, and thats underestimate your competition....especially when their coach is BB. stallworth will emerge as a real weapon for brady as long as he is healthy. gaffney was a solid pick up for them as well. people wrote him off because he couldnt star on the texans. you watch how bright that star burns in the near future. hes always had the talent, and now hes on a good team with a very good qb. he was awesome at UF....if hes half as good with the pats, thats a problem for the jets. i know the nfl is the hardest sport to have a dynasty, hell its tough enough maintaining playoff appearences year in and year out. the pats and BB have been able to do both. dont sell them short, because it will bite us in the ass. heaven knows our coach and FO know better...
im gonna go ahead and say that they have some pretty good scouts. but hey, guess that they just happened upon those guys in the draft....its all just one big coincidence.
i agree with you on almost everything....BUT... there were a few players that could have been had and helped us improve before the draft, and fill a hole or 2 before the draft. TJ fills a giant need, but there were more than a few good OL guys, and we should have made a push for at least one of the FA OT....i know the team is still being built, but this team could be better today if the FO spent some of that cap space. instead, BEFORE the draft we still have gaping holes on the O and D lines. id feel better if one of those was dealt with prior to the 2 greates days in the offseason for a football fan...
Interesting thread. Everything from one poster who thinks the board is a bunch of know nothing idiots and know-it-alls, to Stallworth being the second coming of Troy Brown in his prime. Because of Brady, the Pats have pretty much a plug and play situation at WR. Players like Gaffney come along, and all of a sudden they're great. No, Brady is great. What did Branch do in Seattle? Stallworth id a prototypical #2 WR. The Pats still don't have a true #1 WR, a guy that demands double teams. I do wish that the flame factor was a bit lower here.... can't we have a discussion without insulting people's opinions? The Stallworth contract was at first reported as 12 mil garanteed, and it turns out the Pats hedged their bet pretty well, and those reports were wrong. Makes it a better signing than it first appeared to be. Still, I could care less what the Pats do. We are playing for the wild card, because we aren't good enough to challenge the Pats for the division yet. We need a CB, and again, Stallworth has nothing to do with that fact. We also need a pass rusher, because that s the best way to improve the pass defense, and always will be.... not to mention how we need a 3-4 DE and a NT that can own the middle. As soon as any FO starts singing FA's and drafting players because of what another team in the division is doing is a sure fire formula for failure. You worry about what your OWN weaknesses are, and go from there. It's something called "progress", a thing mangini talks about all the time. He doesn't talk about how to beat the Pats. He talks about getting better. Get better, the winning follows. Reacting to a move the Pats make is a defensive posture, and on that is sure to fail. We need a CB, and Stallworth has shit to do with that fact.
If you don't like my opinion, say so in a respectful manner...but to insult the "insite" of my post, to me is complete bullshit. I'm not underestimating the Patriots. They are major SB contenders for most likely the next 2 seasons. What I'm questioning is their long term stability. For the past 5 years, it has felt like there was no end in sight to their drone-like grasp on the AFC east and truthfully the entire NFL. Their prime playmakers seemed ageless and they made the young, unproven players around them perform w/ confidence and poise. They routinely would let the high priced free agents go, and wouldnt skip a beat. Their gameplans and gameday performances were mistake-free, flawless and unstoppable. They did all this w/ little to no impact free agency moves and continually kept their cap number in a safe haven for continued success. What is it that makes myself and other's think this reign is slowing coming to an end? Acouple things... 1. Their core has finally began to show their age- In my opinion what has made this dynasty so unstoppable was the once in a lifetime chemistry of a group of smart, savvy veterans. McGinest, Bruschi, Law, Harrison, Vrabel, Brown and Brady, formed an incredible foundation to carry the team and to set an example for the developmental players. But look at things now: Law is gone, McGinest is gone, Bruschi set to retire, Harrison on the verge of retirement, Brown set to retire and Vrabel not far behind. One can make the argument that replacements like Stallworth and Thomas can fill the voids talent wise, but are they the same players intangibly? I don't think they are...and that is what the dynasty has been built on.. 2. Brady is starting to come back to earth- I'm not saying he isn't a great QB or anything like that. he will always be a thorn in the jets side and is always capable of a 300+ yard passing performance. But what used to make him so deadly was the fact that he just didn't make mistakes. But over the last 2 seasons we have seen that notion begin to dwindle. Now some of that is due to lack of personell and him tring to make plays on his own..but i also believe some of that is defense's finally learning how to pressure Brady and how to force him into making mistakes. We've also learned, that the Patriots are alot less likely to win, when they commit turnovers...if teams can continue to get pressure on Brady, I believe the mistakes will continue. I believe BB realizes these 2 things. The window is indeed closing, it may not be as swift and automatic as some of us would like, but slowly it is closing. these free agency moves just cry out "last push" for the BB era in New England. That theory has nothing to do w/ myself being a jets fan, or any hatred for New England...it has to do w/ all the things listed above that made the Patriots such an unpredictable and long lasting force in the past 5 years, slowly beginning to deface.
The Oakland Raiders once drafted a guard in large part to deal with Buck Buchanan. The Eagles in the 2002 draft reacted in large part to the roster makeup/offense of the Rams (and those teams weren't even division rivals). That was the draft where the Eagles selected three defensive backs in the first two rounds. Those are just two examples of teams drafting players because of what another rival was doing. Upshaw, Sheppard, Lewis, and Brown of course were drafted to make their teams better, but part of it was reactionary. The Jets will worry about making themselves better, but they are smart if they keep an eye on what their chief rivals are doing. Seems to me that as long as Tom Brady is healthy and he has a good line in front of him, the New England passing attack will be trouble for the Jets. The Jets need to build a strong defensive line and a strong secondary to combat this problem. If the Jets could get Adam Carriker in round 1 and Josh Wilson in round 2, I'd be very happy. Carriker could be there for them in round 1. They may have to move up in the 2nd round to get Wilson. (Well, those are the guys I like. Whether or not the Jets like them both, who knows.)
to call it desperate belittles what hes done, can do, and in all likelyhood will continue to do until brady is gone, or BB retires. in an age where your team changes from one year to the next BB and the pats have been able to keep it together. while i do see your point about the chemistry within a core group being gone due to players retiring and whatnot, i just dont see them falling flat anytime soon. (i'd like to believe in that, but he has to be put down because he wont go down without a fight) even this past season, with brady losing a guy that was invaluable to him in branch, he still found guys to go to, and made plays. they werent far off from the SB again this year. looking at the DS deal, it isnt as bad as it initially sounds. it wont hurt them too much if he fails. the deal is actually pretty cap friendly. and getting a guy who can be bradys deep threat isnt a bad gamble on the pats part. ive liked gaffneysince college. i was glad to see him do well, just not exactly in that uniform. hes a viable threat who is playing with a smart QB for the first time in his career. he will def blossom while hes on the pats. nobody hates the pats more than me....but you have to respect what they are, and what they have done. until it gets taken from them, they wont lose it. especially while both brady and BB are there....they are fighters. and BB is an asshole too. sorry, couldnt help it.
I think Stallworth is a little overrated and the Pats overpayed. He never did anything in New Orleans. Last year he came on strong, definetely, but he's not as great as everyone is making him out to be. Having said that, it does scare me that Brady is going to be throwing the guy frozen ropes and will no doubt make him better than he is. But realistically, if we want to dethrone the Pats we can't worry about them, we must build our team up. If you look at the playoff game, we lost that game on the line. Build up a great offensive and defensive line, and beat the Pats from the inside-out- thats the way to do it. I want that RT from Texas with our first rounder.
No. You build a team from the Ball out. Work on the Dline, get a pass rush, make the WR's immaterial.
The Patriots just added Kelly Washington to their receiving crew. Brady has never had this many weapons...ever. http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/
Washington has a bad injury history and has a rep for being a very unpopular guy with his team mates. He's yet to do anything of note in the NFL. Brady has never had a true #1 WR.... and he still doesn't. I understand that tere are trends in the NFL, and those trends should not be ignored. For instance, the Colts were getting beaten almost exclusively by teams that run a 3-4. That is a reason to re-evaluate personnel, but the signing of any specific player by any other team should not cause another team to change what players they should aquire. That's what game plans are for. Adjusting to create, and to avoid mismatches. If you are going to play Carolina, you don't go out and get another player, you double team Steve Smith, and/or add some blitz packages. If you are going to play a Herm coached Chiefs team, you bring the safties up, you don't go get another ILB. Teams that allow the tail to wag the dog are making a mistake. If the run defense is bad, you change players to improve it. If your CB's are shaky, you do what you can to uopgrade at the position. If the pass rush sucks, you Look for players to improve it. If you have to play SD, keep a RB in to help block Merriman. You don't go get another tackle, unless that tackle isn't a good player. You scheme for a Merriman, you don't make player moves because of him. The Jets need another CB, no doubt. The Pats signing Stallworth has NOTHING to do with that fact. The Jets need to improve the rush defense, and that has nothing to do with what player the Bills go get to be their feature RB, even if it's Adrian Peterson. Did the Pats go get Stallworth to beat the Colts? I sure don't think so, Brown is ready to retire, and Jackson may not be back from that ACL. The Pats weren't happy with that group of WR's, so they tried to improve at the position. Gaffney had a case of the drops, and the Pats had a bunch of possession recievers. Stallworth improves that group by adding a deep threat. They didn't get Stallworth to beat any particular team, they upgraded, improved at the position. Let's say Ferguson improves next year, but still has trouble with Schobel's bull rush. Get a new LT? No, scheme to give Ferguson some help against the Bills. If a position needs a talent upgrade, you get players to improve the unit.... not because some other team just signed a particular player. We need an upgrade at CB.... period, end of story.
Stallworth is no scrub. He's a dangerous receiver when healthy. That's his problem..he's never on the field for long periods of time.
I like Washington and was very unhappy the Jets didn't make a run at him. He has great size and good speed. I think this signing will have a greater impact than the Stallworth signing.
I couldn't agree more, TBJ. Very well thought out, good job. Boys, you don't draft or grab personnel to fight off a specific opponent. We play the Pats a grand total of 2 times a year, and 3 if our performance during the season deems as much. Grabbing players who help us solely against 1 opponent isn't gonna show the overall improvement in those other 14 games as improving the team overall will. Having the flexible D that Mangini's incorporating is what's going to help us; just look at the Pats' D over the last 6 years. Far from the most talented, but ther coaching and smarts lets them match up well against anyone.
Never ever except the last two years they won a SB. Brown and Branch are better than any one they have on the current roster, they also had Patten and Johnson.
