While Harrison was a good pickup for the Pats, how much has their previous success been a function of harvesting free agents? It could be a reach on my part but do I smell a little panic in Patriot Land? After he let Deion Branch leave last year, none of his free Bill's agency WR solutions did a good of job replacing him. Harrison is injury prone. Graham is gone and while Watson is good, he seems injury prone. On paper, the Pats off season moves look impressive if not intimidating. It also reminds me of the many blockbuster moves by Steinbrenner, Angelos and Snyder in trying to stockpile highpriced talent through FA. It could work out very well for them but it could just as easily blow up in their faces like a big bomb of overpriced clam chowder, particularly since it represents a significant departure from their tried and true formula for success, i.e. "build through the draft and always field a squad of team firstplayers rather than one with any prima donna superstars." In the case of the Moss trade, I think its also interesting how certain people will use the Patriots' success in trading for Dillion as an example of Belichick's ability to convert difficult, whiny malcontents into team players who return to excellence on the field of play. I seem to recall that Dillon was always an excellent player for Cincy and he was simply hurt his last year there. Rudi Johnson's strong performance simply made the high priced (and older) Dillon expendable. Anyway, on paper the Pats may look scary right now but as a long time Yankees fan, I've seen plenty of our teams that looked very intimidating (if not unbeatable) on paper but who ultimately failed to get it done when it counted. Interestingly enough, (and with apologies to the many Mets fans here) the Yankees' best teams over the past 10+ years were noteworthy for their team chemsitry and the striking absence of superstar players as opposed to the more recent editions. The best Yankee teams in recent times were much like the best Patriot teams. I will not be the least bit surprised if the current NE squad ends up just like the loaded for bear Yankees teams of the past 7 years: full of superstar talent, expected to win it all, but falling on their asses when it was all on the line. Something to think about anyway. Its alot better than getting into a premature (and quite possibly) totally unecessary panic......
Hard to call what the Pats did as panic. They went head to head with two great teams in the playoffs both of whom are every bit as good as the Pats if not better. It was a weak draft this year so they used the tools at their disposal to pick up proven NFL studs at positions of need make the picks they wanted in the draft and get extra picks at the top of the draft next year for what may be a deeper draft at the top. In many ways the Pats did what we did just a little better.
It could be panic in Patsie land or it could be reload for one or 2 last runs. I think right now most NFL teams are too scared about this whole character BS and unfortunately today Belly did what that piece of shit has been doing for years. Giving the NFL the finger. In this day and age teams need to take chances and that is what New England has done and personally I still think Randy Moss is a top 10 WR and now he actually has a real QB to throw the ball. I'm not a big fan of trading away draft picks during the draft to move up and we not only did it once but twice and because of it we are only drafting 4 players. Not a real productiev draft because we are definately more than 4 players away.
Possibly a panic move. More likely a calculated approach to try and increase fire power to deal wth the Colts. They couldn't match their offense and in order to do so they needed to add burners like Stalworth and Moss. Guys like Bob Sanders and Kerry Rhodes were way to comfortable playing up near the line of scrimmage. Teams will absolutely have to honor the deep half of the field now. I'm not sure why everyone tries to read way too much into these things. Anyone who claims they see the Patriots moving away from a philosophy are reaching to say the least. For every example of home grown draft picks I can point to Rodney Harrison, Corey Dillon, Mike Vrabel, Ted Washington, Roman Phifer, Rossevelt Colvin....
Pats of '07 = Yankess of '01-'06. Adding players to retool for the next run, but fall short. Pats made a no-lose trade of a 4th for Moss. That said, the guy has been on three teams over the last three years and they still play with only one football.
The only thing that makes me think this may not work out for New England is the example i learned by watching the Red Sox Yankees. The Red sox never beat the Yankees during their run. But as soon as the Yankees were a few years removed from the greatness of that team (which was almost all home grown) they started to add the high profile player in order to rekindle that success. It did not work, and in fact, had the opposite effect on them come crunch time. There were a lot of superstars but no results. This also was true of the Redskins attempt to buy success with a long list of on paper super stars. Eventually when you add a lot of 'not so great' chemsitry guys, you get 'not so great chemistry'.
Is it possible that Jets Fans are now scared as hell of the Pats, and are desperatly trying to find something bad about their off-season? These guys had a better off-season than anyone in the NFL to add to a top 4 team, and STILL manage another first rounder for next year.
hey they have a greast team on paper now they really due but we are building also only year 2 remember that. plus these guys they all signed will this year all have big money deals for next year. also wasn't the guy from stallworth a whinner when he wasnt getting balls either. my buddy who is a big eagles fans said most of all his catches where long passes he doesn tlike ot go over the middle. its a good thing they got welker no one on there team will go voer the middle
Here's my take on it: The Pats have not won a Super Bowl since Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame. They're still a dominant team but the magic has not been there in the end the way it was during the Brady-Belichik-Weis collaboration. Last year they lost an important piece in Deion Branch and could not adequately replace him. This year Belichik and Pioli are throwing the kitchen sink at their big hole last year to see if they can get back over the top. They may well be successful with that approach. Or Tom Brady or Richard Seymour may get hurt and it just won't matter. That's football.
And to add to it...they drafted this thug: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9LMB4DnroeI Keep an eye out for #19..
I think this is Belichicks last year in NE and they are giving it everything they have for one more ring. I heard grumblings of a contract issue w/ belly and kraft and with Coughlin only getting a one year extension the writing is on the wall for Belly to be with the Giants next year. This is his last chance in NE
Agreed, he is building his final Superbowl push, after this season he's gone, he doesnt care about what the lasting effects are, as long as they win now.
What about their cap situation with the addition of such high salaried players? They used to let players walk rather than pay them a lot of money. Their philosophy has definetely changed.
There is no positive spin to put on this. We blewthe draft by trying to get fancy and cute by trading around and we ended up w/ only 2 players(great players maybe) when we clearly needed better depth. We were brainwashed all offseason, when the Pats were making all kinds of moves in FA, that we'd be the big winners on draft day. That was not the case...and now the gap is larger between us and the pats than possibly it's ever been. Go head Patriot fans...piss on our ashes like you always do. You win.Again.
Shouldn't a moderator be more... moderate? If the moderators around here start hoisting the white flag quicker than a Frenchman everytime the Patriots sign somebody, what hope is there for this board?
Did you like the Pats first round pick better than ours? What if our second round pick turns out to be as good as the high salaried FA LB the pats got? What if the pats first round pick and Moss turn out to be real troublemakers? What if our FA pickups turn out to be real good players without having had paid a lot of money? We tried to get Colombo from Dallas but he stayed. Not everything you try works out. Can we at least wait until the season is over before?
The lose of coaches augments their play for FA's. They are in a panic move, and when we got TJ it just simply multiplied. They will implode. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. I can't wait till the headline reads "Jets beat Patriots best" I will simply be hystericle!
It honestly disgusts me how most of the Jet fans on this board are reacting. The Patriots have added to their roster yes. Have they done better than us yes. BUT. ARE WE STILL GOING TO BE A GOOD TEAM, YES Remember one thing if paper won you championships the Redskins would be undefeated the last 4-5 years. THE SEASON STARTS IN SEPTEMBER AND EVERYONE IS ALREADY MAKING IT OUT TO BE OVER. DISGUSTING If we have a good season, those that are saying the season is over, dont celebrate because you dont deserve to celebrate :up:
