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Just a few quick thoughts that probably are only of interest to me.
1. When you saw what Bush signed for in SF (about half of what Vereen signed for with the Giants), it kind of made you wonder why Cadet, instead of Bush. On the surface Bush is much more of a dynamic runner both in YAC and the ground game. I couldn't have been just the money.
I can only speculate that Bush doesn't have the work ethic to be a Patriot. The team is very up front that the "patriot way" isn't for everyone, and that doesn't make them bad people. OR the Pats see something in Cadet that everyone else missed. It can't be his speed, or his running ability since he's got a 4.67 40 time and only about 10% of his offensive plays were runs
Another possible thought is that Cadet at 6'1 is a larger target with a larger catch radius, and since he's bigger, he could be a more sturdy pass blocker. But I'm just guessing here
You know me, I rarely question the FO , but on the surface it was a curious choice
2. Lost of speculation about a Possible trade that would send Phillip Rivers to the Jets or Bills. It was fueled by the fact Rivers is showing his dislike of potentially moving to LA from SD. Well if Rivers is unhappy about moving his large family from SD, to LA., I can't imagine any scenario where he'd want to move them to Buffalo or NJ.
3. Since it seems like the Welles report is never getting published, the Owners meeting still gives us hope for having a couple of other issues being resolved. By the time they finish we should know what our comp picks will be.. Right now most "experts" think we will get the top 3rd for sure, and possibly a 7th.
There is also a decent possibility that the league will announce what tampering punishments will be given out for what went on both with Revis, and the Eagles and Cowboys. Given the nature of WHO they tempered with and the fact they are repeat offenders who have be warned recently, its almost impossible to believe the Jets won't get hammered. One would have to think a swap of 2nd round picks the loss of a 5th or 6th and money would be the BEST scenario the Jets could hope for. Any thing less that that would be a joke.
4. If I am right about the potential punishment, we won't have to worry about what we will need to do for our off season entertainment, because the attendant out rage and whining from the NY media and Jet fans will provide months of enjoyment and pleasure.
5. I wouldn't be so sure that the Pats are going to give up on press man coverage so soon. Chekwa and Fletcher are both 6 footers who were primarily know for their physical play when they were at their best. As was Dennard when he was healthy, though he is only 5'10.
6. I'm not sure what the Pats secondary is going to look like right now, except that it will be "safety-centric, rather than CB-centric as it was last year. It should be noted that it has been strong Safety play more than strong CB play that has highlighted most of the recent SB winners. And the Pats have had very strong S play that has gone beyond just McCourty and Chung. We got excellent work out of both Harmon AND Wilson when they got snaps.
What you get when have a strong and deep safety group is the ability to be more creative, aggressive and versatile on defense. And it will enable you to get by with "just" solid CB play
7. Its been mentioned in some other threads, but the numbers are worth repeating, since the fact of losing Revis and Browner still makes some believe we will need to score 30+ points in order to win any games
a. The Pats improved a mere 3% between having Revis and not having him.
b The Pats allowed only 23 FEWER points in 2014 than they did in 2013
c. But here is the real shocker. Remember the historically BAD defense of 2011. You know, the one that set records for allowing total yards. The one that was so thin at CB, they had to add Julian Edelman to the mix mid -season. The one where Pat Chung was our best DB, and Devin McCourty was experiencing his worst season as a pro, and 3 of our top 5 DB's were UDFA's. Remember them? Well that sorry assed group with a front 7 that wasn't close to being a good as the one we have now, only allowed 29 more points than the stellar group we had last year. Or LESS than 2ppg.
8. Not to diminish what that 2014 accomplished. They DID give us one stat that I doubt ANY team is likely to duplicate soon. That was a defense that allowed only 12 4th quarter points in the last 10 games they played INCLUDING the playoffs. What makes this stat even more impressive was the Seahawk D, which was supposedly the best of our generation, gave up 27 over the same 10 game period, including 14 in the superbowl.
9. The point is you don't HAVE to have HOF CB's or a lot of big names to have an effective scoring defense. It sure helps, of course, but we've seen over and over again, that its not a NECESSITY. Its a lesson we should all take to heart.
10. It boggles the mind that it's taken this long for the Welles Report to get published, and there is still no end in sight. I mean WTF. All that needed to be investigated was the 2 hr time period between when the officials "supposedly" checked that air pressure of the balls and the start of the game. PLUS whatever Kensil did at half time. I shouldn't take over 2 months to investigate about 2 and a half hours of time.
11. Is it just me, but why am I so offended that Jeff Fisher gets to keep having such a critical position as chair of the rules committee. This is a HC who REEKS of the Peter Principle. Just 6 Playoff runs in NINETEEN seasons as a HC!
Yet for some reason, he is considered a "well respected HC" by the media and allowed to oversee the critical rules changes that have for the most part not only ruined the game we love, but have given "unfair advantages" to certain teams over others. WHY is this guy even have a job??????
12. Going after what the Pats did to the Ravens and legislating it out of the game is a perfect example of the "dumbing down" of the game. Despite the misleading headline in PFT's article, Rooney of the Steelers said it best. "Maybe a better way to handle this would be for the coaches to better prepare their players to know the rules and their effects" (paraphrase) What's next, lets get rid of every innovation when it proves to be too hard. How about the play action pass, or the flea flicker, or unbalanced lines.
What they are doing is essentially trying to protect the inept from the able. It is stuff like this that is starting to actually make me believe that the League is out to get the Pats because they aren't coming back to the pack like everyone else. Not only that, it is these kinds of actions that caused the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Well so much for this being an "abbreviated edition"
1. When you saw what Bush signed for in SF (about half of what Vereen signed for with the Giants), it kind of made you wonder why Cadet, instead of Bush. On the surface Bush is much more of a dynamic runner both in YAC and the ground game. I couldn't have been just the money.
I can only speculate that Bush doesn't have the work ethic to be a Patriot. The team is very up front that the "patriot way" isn't for everyone, and that doesn't make them bad people. OR the Pats see something in Cadet that everyone else missed. It can't be his speed, or his running ability since he's got a 4.67 40 time and only about 10% of his offensive plays were runs
Another possible thought is that Cadet at 6'1 is a larger target with a larger catch radius, and since he's bigger, he could be a more sturdy pass blocker. But I'm just guessing here
You know me, I rarely question the FO , but on the surface it was a curious choice
2. Lost of speculation about a Possible trade that would send Phillip Rivers to the Jets or Bills. It was fueled by the fact Rivers is showing his dislike of potentially moving to LA from SD. Well if Rivers is unhappy about moving his large family from SD, to LA., I can't imagine any scenario where he'd want to move them to Buffalo or NJ.
3. Since it seems like the Welles report is never getting published, the Owners meeting still gives us hope for having a couple of other issues being resolved. By the time they finish we should know what our comp picks will be.. Right now most "experts" think we will get the top 3rd for sure, and possibly a 7th.
There is also a decent possibility that the league will announce what tampering punishments will be given out for what went on both with Revis, and the Eagles and Cowboys. Given the nature of WHO they tempered with and the fact they are repeat offenders who have be warned recently, its almost impossible to believe the Jets won't get hammered. One would have to think a swap of 2nd round picks the loss of a 5th or 6th and money would be the BEST scenario the Jets could hope for. Any thing less that that would be a joke.
4. If I am right about the potential punishment, we won't have to worry about what we will need to do for our off season entertainment, because the attendant out rage and whining from the NY media and Jet fans will provide months of enjoyment and pleasure.
5. I wouldn't be so sure that the Pats are going to give up on press man coverage so soon. Chekwa and Fletcher are both 6 footers who were primarily know for their physical play when they were at their best. As was Dennard when he was healthy, though he is only 5'10.
6. I'm not sure what the Pats secondary is going to look like right now, except that it will be "safety-centric, rather than CB-centric as it was last year. It should be noted that it has been strong Safety play more than strong CB play that has highlighted most of the recent SB winners. And the Pats have had very strong S play that has gone beyond just McCourty and Chung. We got excellent work out of both Harmon AND Wilson when they got snaps.
What you get when have a strong and deep safety group is the ability to be more creative, aggressive and versatile on defense. And it will enable you to get by with "just" solid CB play
7. Its been mentioned in some other threads, but the numbers are worth repeating, since the fact of losing Revis and Browner still makes some believe we will need to score 30+ points in order to win any games
a. The Pats improved a mere 3% between having Revis and not having him.
b The Pats allowed only 23 FEWER points in 2014 than they did in 2013
c. But here is the real shocker. Remember the historically BAD defense of 2011. You know, the one that set records for allowing total yards. The one that was so thin at CB, they had to add Julian Edelman to the mix mid -season. The one where Pat Chung was our best DB, and Devin McCourty was experiencing his worst season as a pro, and 3 of our top 5 DB's were UDFA's. Remember them? Well that sorry assed group with a front 7 that wasn't close to being a good as the one we have now, only allowed 29 more points than the stellar group we had last year. Or LESS than 2ppg.
8. Not to diminish what that 2014 accomplished. They DID give us one stat that I doubt ANY team is likely to duplicate soon. That was a defense that allowed only 12 4th quarter points in the last 10 games they played INCLUDING the playoffs. What makes this stat even more impressive was the Seahawk D, which was supposedly the best of our generation, gave up 27 over the same 10 game period, including 14 in the superbowl.
9. The point is you don't HAVE to have HOF CB's or a lot of big names to have an effective scoring defense. It sure helps, of course, but we've seen over and over again, that its not a NECESSITY. Its a lesson we should all take to heart.
10. It boggles the mind that it's taken this long for the Welles Report to get published, and there is still no end in sight. I mean WTF. All that needed to be investigated was the 2 hr time period between when the officials "supposedly" checked that air pressure of the balls and the start of the game. PLUS whatever Kensil did at half time. I shouldn't take over 2 months to investigate about 2 and a half hours of time.
11. Is it just me, but why am I so offended that Jeff Fisher gets to keep having such a critical position as chair of the rules committee. This is a HC who REEKS of the Peter Principle. Just 6 Playoff runs in NINETEEN seasons as a HC!
Yet for some reason, he is considered a "well respected HC" by the media and allowed to oversee the critical rules changes that have for the most part not only ruined the game we love, but have given "unfair advantages" to certain teams over others. WHY is this guy even have a job??????
12. Going after what the Pats did to the Ravens and legislating it out of the game is a perfect example of the "dumbing down" of the game. Despite the misleading headline in PFT's article, Rooney of the Steelers said it best. "Maybe a better way to handle this would be for the coaches to better prepare their players to know the rules and their effects" (paraphrase) What's next, lets get rid of every innovation when it proves to be too hard. How about the play action pass, or the flea flicker, or unbalanced lines.
What they are doing is essentially trying to protect the inept from the able. It is stuff like this that is starting to actually make me believe that the League is out to get the Pats because they aren't coming back to the pack like everyone else. Not only that, it is these kinds of actions that caused the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Well so much for this being an "abbreviated edition"
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