DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum The Patriots

With them drafting defenders early, it’s clear they want to be ball control/defensive team. I think Bill B will want to buck the trend of spread offenses and spacing ... and turn back the clock to grind it out.

He may try to go BIG and physical to take advantage of teams having smaller/quicker personnel

Drew Bledsoe got hurt, Tom Brady won the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady got hurt a few seasons later, and Matt Cassel helped the Pats to a 11-5 record.

Their defense will be formidable, (they only allowed just over 14 PPG last year) and while their offense won't be as good as last year, but they should be good enough to win 9 or 10 games. Belichick is a generatyional talent as a coach. As was once said about Bear Bryant: (He) "can take his'n and beat your'n, and then he can turn around and take your'n and beat his'n."

I think Billy is a great coach, but I think some of the personality flaws/rough edges will start to show. It's so much easier to deal with the crazy personality when the team is winning and things are going well. Easy to believe in the process when it's giving you the results. What happens when that program encounters real adversity? I think that happens this year, with Brady gone. That offense, even in the leanest years, was at least "good enough", and when necessary could lean on other parts of the team (defense, run game). The defense is good, but that offense is going to struggle. And when offensive struggles lead to some losses, I wouldn't be surprised when you start to hear murmurs of discontent in the building.
I think this because it's really curious how Gronk up and retired out pretty much out of the blue, but now is suddenly good to go with TB in TB.

Exactly...if Baltimore can win a SB with Dilfer and a great D, I think New England and Hoyer has the potential to do the same.

This being said, I don't think they will

The Pats will still be competitive because of BB and the fact they are still in a weak, albeit improving, division. If the Pats had to play in the AFC North all these years with it's physicality, and yes including us, instead of that cream puff division I don't think they would have been as successful. I can still see a 9 or 10 win season for them. JMO

I can’t stand them, I just hate Boston teams, and tired of hearing about Brady.
Respect them? Of course, but I’m glad their run is over. I think buffalo will win that division next season - whenever next season is.

Amen to this, Dawg.

I hope Buffalo wins it too

Can't wait to finally stop hearing about 'the patriot way.'

I live in Pats territory and I have to say I also hate Boston teams. There is a sense of entitlement that their fans have that is sickening. The Pats didn't bother me too much over the years but now I'm really sick of hearing about them. It's almost intolerable with the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins. I enjoyed seeing my Blues beat the Bruins last June especially in Boston. Sweet!!! Of the 4, the Red Sox are the ones I hate the most.

The Sox are unbearable. Boston fans always seem so arrogant to me, even more so than NY or LA or whatever. There’s a sense that they’re spoiled and yuppies

Truthfully....I really don’t care.

BB's wheels won't come off the wagon, but I expect real wobbles. Amazing history of plug and play in the franchise historically; but realistically, there must be some limits to that success. It will carry them while the Pats re-tool. But the defense should be tough enough to win some toss ups IMO.

I to am an equal opportunity hater. Few teams (other than Ravens and Yankees) produce more ire than any particular other.

It will be very interesting next year. Bill will have only proven mediocre QBs at his disposal, assuming he doesn’t acquire another before the start of the season. I’m betting Hoyer is the guy, he’s smart and knows how to do the job without question or complaint. I’ll bet the offense is going to be ground and pound and small-ball all the way. I feel like I could pretty much guarantee they’ll be at least a middle of the road team... 7-9 to 10-6 with no QB to speak of. Bill is the most opportunistic coach ever. He will exploit every advantage he can find and he’ll catch teams sleeping on their own deficiencies.

The bigger question for me is Brady in Arien’s system. It being a doozy of a year 1 and Brady showing the first signs of age last year, there’s just so much possibility for disaster. I’ll bet it’s a humbling year for all involved.

I like everyone writing off the Pats.

the Pats have "a lot" to look forward too.

Jarrett Stidham is a 6'3 215 lb pocket passer. The kid only threw 2 passes last year, this is a guy Bellichik has been developing. He fits the mold of what Bellichik wants in a system QB for his system. I wouldn't be one bit surprised he has a better year than Mayfield. This kid is not going to run around and do what he wants, he will run the plays as designed and to what he is told and thats why the Pats do as well as they do because they disciplined.

Brady was/is obviously the goat, but there is no reason to assume this Stidham kid won't be an above average QB and an above average QB can most certinaly win the SB with the type of D the Pats have.

Far too soon to write off the Pats, as long as Bellichik is there, they find ways to win.

IMO, the Pats will have a team that emphasizes the run and short to intermediate passing game along with a good D. That will still make them competitive with a good chance of winning their division again.

Boston fans are arrogant and classless. When another teams fans go to Boston to watch their teams they are usually treated rudely and abused verbally. I'm sure it goes on in other cities but Boston is one of the worst. I've traveled to New York to see my Cardinals play both the Mets and Yankees. Not once, in either of the New York stadiums was anything ever said to me or my Family and we all had Cardinals hats and shirts on. When Cardinals fans went to Boston for the World Series they were treated rudely. Just the way it is in Beantown. Hate to see any of their teams win.

Fair and balanced and neutral towards Baker as always.

Baker is a flash in the pan bum until he proves otherwise. He should be "competing with Keenum" for the starting job not having it handed to him.

Of course I fully expect Stephanski and Berry to pull the plug on Mayfield fairly early on if he sucks, afterall they didn't draft him. Mayfield is on a short leesh.

The Pats were blessed by having arguably the greatest HC/QB combo in the history of the league. There are others, such as Walsh/Montana, but Belichick/Brady are right there.

Belichick has always been intelligent, organized, able to remove emotion from business decisions, and the King of developing a culture. He got luck that Brady bought into the things he was selling. For his part, Brady was highly competitive, accurate, football intelligent, an extension of his coaches on the field, etc.

I don't think you can value one over the other. They were/are both great. I don't think what happens moving forward should distract from the legacy of either.

Moving forward, I will never count on BB, but man, their talent is lacking. They haven't drafted well recently. They lose a lot of FA and get a lot of Comp picks. Some people think that is smart. I do not. They lost their OL coach who was one of the best in the business and their OL already was deficient. Losing Brady has to hurt.

I think they are in a bad way. Culture and good coaching go a long, long way........but, at some point...inferior talent catches up to you.

I think Bellichik is a very driven man.

He has one goal:

To win a Super Bowl without Brady

Thats it, and I think he does it before he retires just to prove that it wasn't just because of Tom. Just like Tom wants to win one without Bill just to prove it wasn't all Bill. I think Bill has a better chance of doing that than Tom simply done to him having more chances.

You could be right but I think there is one huge variable here. Arians too is a great HC. Not BB great, but great none the less.

Right now it would be hard to argue that Tampa Bay doesn't have a lot more talent than NE. So the question becomes, is part of the reason Arians signed Tom Brady to pick his brain on what and how BB won those SB's?

Could it be that Arians in part wanted what Tom Brady knows about the "BB way" of doing things as much as he wanted him as a QB? If so, Brady and the Bucs may have the advantage here.

I don't know, either... but I'd argue that Arians is just fine with the "Arians way".

I think it was just as simple as Arians wanted an upgrade at the QB position, and it just so happens that the GOAT was available.

I'm sure they're looking forward to some of the Brady/Patriot discipline and work ethic rubbing off on that locker room.

If Rodgers ever goes to the Pats I'll be done with NFL football.

j/c...

We interviewed him for the GM opening before hiring Andrew Berry.

They are going to be what they have always been. Well coached, defensive football team that uses what they have on offense to their best ability.

I think people saying Brady is going to be an MVP in Tampa are going to be very sorely mistaken. We've seen this....literally.....in Cleveland from Bill before....he knows when it's time to move on from an old QB.

Frankly I'd be stunned if the Buccs won their own division.

Not me.

So u know it was Bill that wanted to move on ... got it ...

I wouldn’t necessarily say that. He gave up on Kosar when we were in first place. Kosar’s last throw as a Brown was a TD. Kosar went on to play well enough in Dallas to get them through a playoff game when Aikman went down....

...and we were left with Vinnie Interceptiverde.

Just sayin.

I totally disagree w/this post. Vinny was much better than Bernie when BB made the switch. Bernie never earned a starting job in the NFL league again. He only played after the starter got hurt. Vinny had many more years of earning a starting job in the league.

Agreed. By moving on from Bernie to Vinnie it helped our O because the D had to respect Vinnies strong arm. Bernie had trouble making all the throws in his prime and it just got worse with age. Vinnie could always make the throws.

Bernie calling his own plays in the huddle instead of calling the plays sent in from the sideline had nothing to do with that ...

And Bernie went on to ba one heck of a back up after that ... i don’t think he ever was a teams stater again barring injury ....

Other than that ... your spot on ...