In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

 

In response to jri37's comment:

 

In response to mthurl's comment:

 

I seriously just want to see all this young high priced talent that will be dumped by other teams, because of salary cap hell land on our roster - that would make me feel better, because we have gone out of our way to prepare for that to happen. So far it hasn't, all I'm seeing is good players restructuring and old players getting released, saving their teams millions. We have 25 million plus to spend - please tell me we are at least going to spend to the cap this year for the first time in three seasons. I'm tired of watching other teams play rough with us in the playoffs while we roll out Deaderick and Love while their Qb's can eat an ice cream waiting for someone to hit them.

 

The problem isn't the money spent. If you look at the playoff teams the Pat's spent more than them all last year and were 8th in the entire league.

 

The problem is the lack of play makers on offense and the D's inability to make a signature play or stop in the playoffs.

 

You forgot one thing.  Tom Brady. Sorry.

 

Look, you can't come in and out of these threads and act like he's had little to work just because Gronk got hurt.  It's high time this offense becomes a chameleon again just like the offense was winning the 3 SBs.

NE was 6-1 without Gronk until the playoff loss to Balt.  Gronk not there isn't enough of an excuse.

I'd argue losing Andre Carter or Jones and Talib this year hurt more than losing Gronk in the SB and Gronk this postseason. It does't mean those player are better than Gronk, it means that our offense is more loaded than our D is.

By design.

What dummy Hurl doesn't get, is if you "spend to the cap" which is the dumbest thing ever (you spend within 5 mil or so which is "to the cap" for knowledgeable GMs), means you alienate your leverage when getting McCourty and Spikes new deals next year.

If you wait for them to go to FA, which you could, you'll probably be seeing some bloated bids on them. That means you can't just go beserk even in great cap position this year and next.

Mt Hurl struggles to understand these concepts. Not surprising coming from a guy who thinks the cap is some myth and doesn't exist.

What's happening right now with the market being overloaded for quality FAS who aren't just 34 and 35, should be embarrassment enough for him, but he's too daft to get it, so he isn't. LOL

 

Couple of things...just tell me who these big name players are that will be cut from the mean old salary cap...don't give me these 34 plus, washed up guys either, but guys in their prime. Can you find any?

 

Second, why can't you spend to the cap? Why when you have an aging hall of fame qb, can't you spend to the cap? Because you have to worry about keeping Spikes and McCourty? You got to be kidding me?! Yeah we are going to go all out to resign a two down linebacker with his own porn video, drug suspension, gay tweats and a knee scope. LMAO!!

And before you talk about "alienating leverage" towards signing our corner (who couldn't play corner) safety....give Patrick Chung some thought...you would of signed that dope to a 10 year contract extension after his rookie season. How about we do this? Spend to the cap, try to win right now and worry about signing our decent young starters after we win something. I imagine by that time we can easily find two or three guys willing to restructure to keep these future hall of fame defenders...and just think, this scary flat cap will be all done by then!! Yippee!!

Hey did you hear your buddy/best friend GM down in Atlanta cut three old washed up players today? Yeah, they cut three guys that you probably thought they over payed for (when in actuality they proved to be very usefull)...and then cut them when they proved to be old and too expensive.

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In response to redsoxfan94's comment:

 

In response to LHNYJ's comment:

 

I just hope that the pats get into the playoffs then s%$t the bed again and everybody blames Brady...again.

It was his fault.

 

while the jets continue to be a circus, the pats continue to go deep into the playoffs every year. it must really upset you.

 

 

 

 

by every year you mean the last two?  Because in 2010, the Jets beat them in the patsies only playoff game and in 2009 the Ravens crushed them in the patsies only playoff game and in 2008, the patsies did not make the playoffs.  Then in 2011, they beat the 8-8 Broncos and the Ravens choked a chipshot kick en route to  losing to the 9-7 Giants, unable to stop Eli from going 90 yards in less than 2 minutes. 

mike wallace in... wes welker out!

In response to nomadfan's comment:

Anything less than the '03 or '07 offseason will be a dissapointment to me

If the pats grab 2-3 top free agents while keeping their own it will go a long way to making me excited about the season. When you bring in Rosie Colvin/Rodney Harrison one offseason or Moss/Adlius Thomas another, fans have the right to be excited.

Get Jairus Byrd, Dashon Goldon or Ed Reed while keeping Talib. Add Henry Melton or Randy Starks to the interior or Cliff Avril or Michael Bennett to the edge. Get Welker at a discount (6-7m per year 3-4 years) and only move on from Vollmer if you add a cheaper LT (Long, Smith, Albert) and move Solder over to the right side

Do all that and draft the front 7 player at a position you didn't add in free agency and a big play WR and THEN I will be REAL excited.

In response to rameakap's comment:

FYI I believe Byrd and Melton are both getting the franchise tag from their respective teams.

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

Just go back and watch "The Dark Knight Rises" if you want to see Heinz Field crumble like it will in the near future. Might as well be the Ravens on the field with them too when Bane pushes the button.

Thanks king for article.  Good read.  

I believe the true king of the jungle lurking in the bush this draft day will be SF. I was told that they now have 15 picks in this year's draft including the 33rd pick after the Smith trade to KC. They have a propensity to evaluate and draft well. Next year's SB champs.

 

 

Another perspective . . . the Pats have managed the cap well, but have they also managed the talent well? And is that $25 million in cap space enough to make up for current deficiencies on offense and defense? I'm a bit on the fence myself, but it's still an open question whether the Pats have truly had the talent it takes to be a strong postseason contender.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8998804/nfl-patriots-dynasty-decline
 ______________
Update: I see that the Chadiha article has already been mentioned.

You can debate his conclusions, but I do think the talent level, especially

on defense, deserves to be questioned. The diversity of the offensive

weapons has also been an issue at times.

In response to dapats1281's comment:

Agree.

After beating up on 2nd tier teams all year, it will come down again to be able to perform at their potential against good / smashmouth teams. SF, Seattle being likely SB opponents if NE gets there means TB and BB and co need to figure this out.

MAybe I just blurted out the problem...to beat a smash mouth agressive team you have to smash them back.. finness and strategy only get you so far. They "figure" things out better than any team in the league . Once in a while that is not good enough, in those cases you have to be aggressive and force your will.

I think the last 6 important losses have been to teams that simply smashed the Pats harder than the PAts smashed them.

With all this cap money the pats need to bring in some terror.

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I've been gone since the extremely dissapointing "team" loss in the afc game, but I have to say that Rusty is 100% correct with his take and Carl Banks agrees with the author of his link as well. http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4740434/banks-view-of-patriots-outlook

The lack of talent argument is the worst view point I have heard from fans on this forum. BB the GM gets blasted while BB the coach(and more importantly his staff) gets a pass for our VERY disappointing post season outcomes? It is a chicken/egg argument but the fact is that BB has managed the cap and put his team in position to compete for a SB every year since 2001(2002 injury plagued year wasn't a great team)

We are sitting at 25 million in room and are coming off a SB and AFC championship game appearance in the last 2 years. NFL analysts like Kirwan, Carl Banks, and a slew of others are 100% accurate in their depictions of the Pats situation going forward. We should all be very excited about this off season and the 2014 season.

We just need to coach better imo. If a team can average 35 ppg and lead the LG in turnovers the entire season but then gets spanked at home in the afc game, and spanked in the SB the year before then that team was not prepared and or not coached well enough to execute in a pressure situation. We all saw that this team can play as the best team in the LG on more then 1 occasion, but we are clearly having problems on the biggest stages. This has nothing to do with the GM and everything to do with a coaching staff's inability to prepare its team.

Until we figure it out, it doesn't matter how many pro bowlers we have, we will continue to choke in SB's and AFC games. We won Sb's 10 years ago, because we were the best coached team in the LG on a yearly basis. This is a "coaches" LG. The loss of several coordinators has had a negative impact on this team, and unfortunately we must wait for guys like Patricia, McD Pepper and others to develop. i would love to see BB add RAC but realize that probably won't happen.

Anyway, I agree with the OP and several brilliant NFL minds who accurately portray the situation BB the GM has put this organization into moving forward. I can't wait to see what happens...again!

rameakap

Even the expanded cap space of the Pats have right now cannot accomodate your list of free agent acquistions.

 

So now the argument is that BB is the world's greatest GM, who has assembled a fabulous collection of talent (guys like Marquice Cole and Kyle Arrington and Kyle Love and the great Julian Edelman) but who apparently presides over a wholesale coaching failure, having a staff of incompetent assistants and a mistake-prone QB he can't control?  The Patriots haven't won in the post season because of poor coaching?

Okey-dokey.

 

Pro, the team that won the super bowl lost 4 of their last 5 regular season games. The year before that the super bowl winner lost 5 of their last 8. Both teams barely made the playoffs. Were they really that more talented than the Patriots?

In response to nomadfan's comment:

 

rameakap

Even the expanded cap space of the Pats have right now cannot accomodate your list of free agent acquistions.

  

So 5 guys can't have salary cap hits of 3-5 million next year with 5 million to sign draft picks and fill out the roster?

Just b/c they want 5/40, doesn't mean they will get that (Wes and Talib especially), and it doesn't mean they would all count on next years cap the average amount of their deals, more like the average amount of their signing bonus + the veteran min.

Wes 4/30 w/ 15 guaranteed, really sees like 3 and 20 of that, with a cap hit of 3.5m next year

Byrd 5/37.5 w/ 15 GT, sees 4/24 of that, cap hit of 4.5m next year

Bennett or Avril - 5/40, 18 GT, sees 4/30 of that, cap hit of 5m next year

Vollmer or Jake Long - same deal as Wes

Talib - same deal as Bodden, 4/22, 10 guaranteed, 3.5m cap hit next year

5 million in space remaining

In response to rameakap's comment:

byrd got tagged

In response to rameakap's comment:

will everyone please stop mentioning jairus byrd.. thank you.

Bills FS Jairus Byrd's franchise tag is non-exclusive. This means other NFL clubs could try signing Byrd to an offer sheet. Buffalo has the right to match any offer, but would be awarded two first-round picks if they chose not to. The chances any team is willing to part with two first-rounders in exchange for a safety are nonexistent. Byrd will remain a Bill.

In response to rameakap's comment:

melton tagged, bennett signed i beleive

In response to digger0862's comment:

I think so.  The Pats do as well as they do because they are so well coached, not because they have great talent.  If you read this thread, you'd think some fans believe Belichick is a great GM but a terrible coach.  That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard . .  .

my short FA list:

WR- Bowe, Wallace, Hartline, Edelman, Amendola

DE- John Abraham, Dwight Freeney, Osi, Michael Bennett

CB- Talib, Grimes, Bradley Fletcher, Keenan Lewis, Quentin Jammer, Tracy Porter, Jerraud Powers 

OT- Vollmer

DT- Cullen Jenkins, Glenn Dorsey

 

In response to bredbru's comment:

DARN

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

Being in a prime position entering the season is different than being in a prime position entering the playoffs.

You can say the 2010 Pats were in a rebuilding mode, but they beat the Packers, Bears, Steelers, Jets, Ravens, Colts...they were 6-1 against the playoff teams.

I don't care how much experience the players had coming into the season. They were the 1 seed and beat all the good teams in the playoffs, they were in a good position.

2011, they drew an extremely easy schedule. Got Tim Tebow in the divisional round and drew a team that gave up more points than they scored during the regular season. Patriots weren't a juggernaut that year, but neither was their competition. I'd say that 2011 team wouldnt have made it to the Super Bowl in most years...but they drew a favorable schedule, which put them in prime position

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