Because chances are good Brady does not have another MVP caliber season. Brady drives that team DJ, as he goes, they go.
Well, your opinion, facts say otherwise. The team has gotten younger across the board then it was in 08, the Defense trended upwards and ST rarely has back to back poor seasons, as we witnessed in 08 to 09, when the unit went from 28th to 9th in the NFL, in 2010 Ayodele, Porter, Anderson, all were released to clear room for Brandon Marshall's acquisition, Cam Wake and Chris Clemons were taken off of full time ST duty and the results were somewhat predictible. The questions about the running game had no signs that they were coming from 09-10, the collapse of production in the running game was the single largest proximate cause for the down 2010 which is why they added D Thomas, for all of the "Henne sux!" stuff, the fall from #4 to #22 in the NFL in rushing is what caused the scoring problems. That meant games were closer and when Henne did screw up, in the Lions, Bills and Browns games, it was magnified. Add in injuries on the Oline and that is where our opinions differ.
Facts?? Come on. The offense and special teams being terrible were facts. The collapse down the stretch was a fact. The embarrassment to Patriots backups was a fact. The fact about the defense is, that as good as they were at some things they were not good at taking the ball away. That's pretty important. So I guess you don't think Chad Henne is a monkey anymore? Or a fish or whatever?
Pats blew us out..twice, the Offense was in fact middle of the road in terms of everything but points, and you cannot gut the ST then act like the new guys will play as well on the unit, the "collapse" down the stretch amounted to: -1 tipped pass -2 slips -3 missed FG's Yeah, trending downwards, let the D hang onto just half of their dropped int's, add a running game to the offense and the natural maturation process of St players and your "downward trend" will be what it is.. As for Henne, no, not really sold on him, do not really trust him as a Qb, however that does not preclude the fact, he could improve, or a more proven Veteran Qb can be brought in. And this is why I chuckle a bit when folks speak as if they already know what the 2011 season will play out like. We have no young Qb! Well gosh, developing a young Qb is a messy process they screw up and lose games I would like a Vet brought in simply because the schedule this yr is the easiest as it has been since 2008, not trusting Henne means it is logical that I'd support a Vet Qb like Orton/Young/Grossman and maybe Bulger be brought in to compete or take Henne's job, why squander this opportunity if I'm not hung up on the Qb position? But I also think if the running game improves then Henne will be more or less fine at Qb, but won't make the offense as good as it could be.
Well the coaches and FO should have known the dangers of churning the bottom of the roster as much as they did in relation to ST performance. They get paid a lot of money to do this stuff. It seems like they thought ST was just something that would take care of itself. Of course nobody 'knows' what Chad Henne will do in 2011. But this board would be pretty boring if people refrained from pushing their opinions because it might be wrong. I'm on board with getting a vet as well. This stupid lockout is killing us.
The new ST Asst Dave Fipp is a quality coach so I'm not to worried about ST going into this yr. Exactly, lots of back and forth this offseason, no positive news to examine, just the way the 2010 season ended to rehash over and over and over. I really do think if DThomas is a stud, we'll do fine even with Henne behind center, the problem is I also think this could be one of the yrs that we catch the breaks that we have gotten the bad end of over the last two yrs.
Agreed. IMO this was the biggest problem with the STs last year. I think that if there were just a bit less churning that the STs would be about middle of the pack. That's all you really need from that unit. All those calls from Padre to "fix the STs" seem like a waste of time to me. We don't need to spend money on FAs or allocate more roster spots. All we need is to let the players play together.
Better offensive coaching could help Chad Henne as well. I'm concerned obviously that he can't get work in with the new coaching right now and I'm concerned even more with his lack of athleticism. Above all else right now it's why I'm having a hard time getting behind the notion that Chad Henne might be a good QB in this league. You have to be an athlete because you have some of the world's finest athletes pursuing you on every play. Right now a box turtle could run Chad Henne down outside of the pocket. I can't count how many times I cursed him for being so slow and clumsy last season when protection broke down.
Yep, which does make me a bit curious about why the clamouring for Mallet was happening, I liked Mallet but he is a horrible athlete same as Henne. Henne will go turtle quickly once the pocket breaks down, he'll avoid the turnover that way but won't make any plays..
Yeah, because having the worst ST unit in the AFCE is a ingredient that is needed to win the division, better keep an additional Wr.
I wonder what the averages are of teams who pick number 1 in the draft, 3 years later..I wonder what their average record is during that 3 year span..I wish I had the brain of Disnardo, I' don't, but I'd be willing to be on a few things.. So three years for you huh?..Thats pretty damn quick from where we were, where are you getting your basis for this argument?..I don't see that being reasonable, logical, or fair in this situation. I really do think its a good topic to discuss, and would like to hear your 3 year blueprint?..I think there are so many differences from other teams that had 1 and 15 seasons, its really hard for me to apply that tag before this particular gig.
once again, I see no room for any type of timeline from 1 and 15 in your analysis...you want you want you want..and you want it all in the 3rd year..How bout we take our very young team with a potential great defense, into free agency, let them play half a season, and judge your young players after a proper rookie to veteran evolution.
Yep, the NFL is just to quick to catch onto things Al, like Matt Cassel only having 4 int's, that sort of success just doesn't last, not to that degree.
I completely disagree with your assessment. There are very few holes on this team and the ones we have may have solutions already in place. 1 OG: it is not out of the question that Jerry will develop to fill that last weakspot on the line keeping it from being elite. RB- easiest position to fill and a rookie that may be solid already in the mix Receiving TE- Clay may be perfect for that role FS- Clemons and Jones have potential and may develop Those are the weaknesses as I see them other than overall depth, I am not delusional about how good this team is or even that optimistic about the season. The lock out will definitely hurt the offense and we never know just how good of a OC Brian Dabol is because the whole staff may be gone after this season. That does not change the fact the the last 3 years has built a solid nucleus of a team to move forward with.
What makes you think that ? Brady has shown zero signs of regression as far as I am concerned. You can drag out as many stats as you want, what counts is wins, and he is in those playoffs and a contender every year.
No I want something in the fourth year and I'm not likely going to get it. By something I mean I'm so beaten down I would be elated by a playoff appearance. Hell I'm not even looking for championships anymore, just something. You continue to ask me to look past the 7-9 and 7-9 yet you refuse to look past the 1-15 when excusing Tony Sparano and company. That was FOUR years ago. That's an eternity in the NFL. If you're doing things well.
Ask and you shall receive, since 1990. The team that picked first each year and their record three seasons later: 1990 colts - 93 Colts 4-12 1991 cowboys - 94 cowboys 12-2 [won super bowl] 1992 colts - 95 colts 9-7 1993 Pats - 96 Pats 11-5 1994 Bengals - 97 bengals 7-9 1995 Bengals [obtained pick from carolina] 98 bengals 3-13 1996 Jets - 99 Jets 8-8 1997 Rams [obtained pick from Jets] 2000 Rams 10-6 1998 Colts - 2001 colts 6-10 1999 Browns [expansion team] 2002 Browns 9-7 [playoffs] 2000 Browns - 2003 Browns 5-10 2001 Falcons [obtained pick from san diego] - 04 falcons 11-5 2002 Texans [expansion] - 2005 Texans 2-14 2003 Bengals - 2006 Bengals 8-8 2004 Chargers - 2007 Chargers 11-5 2005 49ers - 2008 49ers 7-9 2006 Texans - 2009 Texans 9-7 [no playoffs] 2007 Dolphins - 2010 Dolphins 7-9 That puts the average win total for teams picking first overall since 1990 three years later at....... 7.72. So the Sparanofins in year three were slightly below average. And a lot of those teams in that twenty years were terrible and/or expansion teams. Some of them were absolutely as bad or worse off than the 07 Dolphins. You can thank the horrible Bengals and Texans franchises for us not being significantly further below average in our third year's effort.
If you do enough things well from a personnel standpoint, 3 years should be enough to get you a playoff caliber team. You should have a team truly capable of competing for a championship in 4. The staff and front office have done a lot of things well from a personnel standpoint. But they've also had more than their share of missteps and setbacks, taking a few too many chances on players with some type of inherent flaw and potentially missing big on the most important position on the team, QB.
Let me tell you something General, this topic is so deep, and so complicated, that we cant even conceptualize what is the proper amount of time is fair from this type of rebuild.. Your response in this case is so simple, and leaves out so much of the process, I don't even know how to respond.. I think its hilarious that people are trashing our staff after the 3rd year...after posting a winning record in the process of rebuilding, going INTO the 4th year, what a bleepin self righteous joke.. None of that was directed to you bro, Iam just ventin.
2008 was bogus and you know it DJ. That was the easiest schedule maybe ever. Take that out, and they don't fair so well.
and on top of that, what was the winning record against winning teams in 2008 ? I guess San Diego was one of them, who else ? NE in the Wildcat game, but what happened when we played them the 2nd time ?
The regular season schedule played by the 17-0 team was also one of the easiest in the league that year. Do you want to denigrate them too?
Never because when they needed to beat really good teams, they obviously did it. AND they won the AFC Championship & Super Bowl on the road.
