I decided to put this statement to the test and purchased NFL Game Rewind. In the Dolphins game (week 4), I have seen this guy flying around like a missile. 

He laid a out a TE going over the middle and jarred the ball loose. The TE (Clay) was slow to get up. Even though he was hitting a bigger TE, the guy was flattened. Just imagine what he will do to a WR.

He made an impressive diving interception which was overturned, but it looked clean to me.

He blitzed up the middle, blew the RB up who tried to block him, and sacked Tannehill with ease. Very impressive.

I'll continue to watch, but I see little reason to be concerned about how much this guy has left in the tank. Flying around to the ball last season looking to inflict pain on others. I'm impressed. 

there's been alot of negativity about BB's choices so far, but gotta be better than what we been putting on the field the fast few years

 

he a seasoned vet, and that's probably what BB was looking for.

In response to dreighver's comment:

Good post.  Please post more after watching more. 

 

I read an article on yahoo about the Wilson signing. The most interesting part were the comments. All the AZ fans love the guy, still think he has plenty left, were sad to see him go...but one guy even said "he deserves to win a ring". Gotta love that!

I trust the majority, AZ fanbase on this one. They seem to believe the guy can still play. I'm excited! I think of Rodney, not so much When he arrived, but more at the end. He was still very effective, but Harrison kept getting hurt. Will Wilson suffer the same fate? Possibly. But if not, I think they got a very, very solid SS for his playmaking. His experience and leadership make it an even better signing.

I hear people comparing him to Rodney Harrison when he came to NE, so I looked up the career numbers. I have to say Harrison is probably the better player, but the comparison is fair. I'd even say Wilson is more durable. 

Rodney is 6'1" 220lbs

30.5 sacks 9 w/ NE

34 ints. 8w/ NE

919 solo tackles /286 assisted tackles ( 317/129 in NE)

He came to NE when he was 31 years old and played 6 seasons here. Harrison only played in at least 14 games in a season 7 times in his 15 year career. 

Wilson is  6'3" 222lbs

25.5 sacks

27 ints

721 solo tackles/171 assisted tackles

He is 33 years old and has played 12 seasons all with ARI. He has played at least 14 games in EVERY season except 2007 when he played 9. 

 

I thought I had read at one point that Rodney was the only NFL player to have 30 sacks and 30 picks, but I believe Ray Lewis might be there too as of last season. Anyways, my point is that Wilson is a solid season away from achieving the same goal. I wouldn't say he's washed up, in fact I hope he thrives here. Go Pats!

 

I heard a lot of positives from the AZ fans as well about Wilson.  Tough guy, team leader, loves football.  A lot of the same things that we are hearing about Washington from Seattle fans and DA from St Louis fans.  These are guys that love football and I think you can never have enough guys like this on your team.  BB seemed to get away from that for awhile with his pursuit of guys like Chad Johnson (who may have loved football but just didn't understand it very well) and Fat Albert (who only loved money).  These guys seem like the Vrabels and Rodneys who are film room junkies and gym rats.  We haven't had enough of those guys around lately and we are losing two good ones in Wes and Woodhead so they needed in infusion of high character football junkies to go along with the young guns like Talib and Gronk who may not get how important football can be as you get closer to the end of your career.

" I have to say Harrison is probably the better player, but the comparison is fair"

I disagree, the Harrison comparison is not fair - he was three years younger and juiced to the hilt. 

The good news is we don't need as much from Wilson. We need 2 or 3 years, and we don't need him to play at Harrison's level, we just need him to set a tougher defensive tone. I think it's a good pickup. I'd prefer a marquee type player but I am not complaining about a savvy veteran hungry for a ring.

i've always been an adrian wilson fan and have nothing bad to say about the guy. i think he's got plenty left.

I liked the signing without knowing a great deal othere than the guy's career history.  Think I've seen him play twice on tv.  Good stuff here and look forward to further observations dreighver.  Thanks.

Well he wasn't good enough for the great Arizona Cardinals, But I guess he's good enough to turn around one of the worst defensive units in the league in NE.

I certainly hope he is going to give us what Harrison did, but the age difference is the problem. People don't get better and faster when they are 34...they get slower and more injury prone. Wilson looks like one of the better defined athletes in football, so maybe it will be different for him.

In response to mthurl's comment:

 

I certainly hope he is going to give us what Harrison did, but the age difference is the problem. People don't get better and faster when they are 34...they get slower and more injury prone. Wilson looks like one of the better defined athletes in football, so maybe it will be different for him.

 

34 is old, but I doubt the Pats are expecting him to be with the team more than a year or two. This is almost like signing Seau.

 

In response to prolate0spheroid's comment:

Yeah, I agree. And the Seau thing is a good example - the guy helped - and he was that same type of freak athlete/conditioned physique. So maybe he will work out for us, but I just can't get out of my head all these older veteran players that we've brought in recently that were suppossed to add presence, but instead couldn't make it out of training camp....John Lynch, Gallery, Addai, Fred Taylor, Shawn Springs, Galloway, Haynesworth. All those guys were suppossed to help, half never made it out of camp. Even a guy like Crumpler did a fine job until his old legs gave out in the playoffs and we ended up cutting him a month later.

In response to mthurl's comment:

Crumpler's legs didn't give out. He dropped the ball in the Superbowl. BB tends to get rid of the guys that drop catchable balls in important games.

In response to DontQuestionBB's comment:

Mate, is there a black could over your place 24/7 or what?  Donny Downer, FFS.   

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You have to go deeper into the season to see he was wearing down in Ari. By the end of the year he was primarily an in the box defender only. Week 4 everyone is still fresh and looking good, they me what he looks like weeks 12-17.

Now Pro is right with the Seau comparison and if they use him situationally and limit his reps so he can last a full season then he's going to have a great season and be a great player for us. I have no doubt BB will use him to maximize what he has left but he is no Rodney Harrison when Rodney joined the team. Rodney was 3 years younger joining the team and still putting up numbers at or above his career average, Wilson's number have started to dip the last couple years. So temper the expectations a little, he's a big name but he's closer to where Seau was in his career joining the Pats then Rodney.  

In response to BostonTrollSpanker's comment:

     Where's your evidence that Rodney was "juiced to the hilt"?? As far as I know, Rodney  never was suspended after submitting a positive drug test for roids. He just had that HDH thing, where he took the drug to heal quicker from an injury...and was suspended for 4 games.  

 

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In response to PatsEng's comment:

 

You have to go deeper into the season to see he was wearing down in Ari. By the end of the year he was primarily an in the box defender only. Week 4 everyone is still fresh and looking good, they me what he looks like weeks 12-17.

Now Pro is right with the Seau comparison and if they use him situationally and limit his reps so he can last a full season then he's going to have a great season and be a great player for us. I have no doubt BB will use him to maximize what he has left but he is no Rodney Harrison when Rodney joined the team. Rodney was 3 years younger joining the team and still putting up numbers at or above his career average, Wilson's number have started to dip the last couple years. So temper the expectations a little, he's a big name but he's closer to where Seau was in his career joining the Pats then Rodney.  

 

     The guy loves football, is tough, durable, and has been a great player. But, the operative phrase is "has been". He's 33, and has lost a step.  He can't cover. Other than durability factor, isn't that pretty much what we had, in the younger Patrick Chung?  

 

 

In response to TexasPat's comment:

The often injured Chung?

In response to CablesWyndBairn's comment:

Not black cloud. Just a Jets troll. Put him on ignore.

In response to NoahJustin's comment:

     Do you understand what the word "durability" means? If you had bothered to fully read my post, you would have seen that I said that, "other than durability, isn't that pretty much what the Pats had, in the younger Patrick Chung"?  

 

Your right, my bad! Is there any FA Safety out there now that you think we could afford now that you like?

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