Fans seek safety

Page 8 of 19 -- A: Good points Patrick. I would have to agree with your asssessment of why they released Milloy. Your anaology is also pretty good with Varitek. I've never seen this bunch of guys so down after they heard about Milloy. The last time I ever saw Tom Brady that emotional was after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. This wasn't that happy emotion, but he knew he had lost a dear friend and a great teammate.

ADVERTISEMENT

Great collumn ! I look forward to the Q+A every week. I know there probably is a million folks ahead of me to ask the Milloy question...but in your opinion was it just money or was it performance based? Also a Tom Brady question if I may. With the way the Pats tried to toss the long ball all preseason do you think it will be an important part of this year's game plan or is it just to have the other teams think we plan on throwing deep more to keep them honest on D?
-- Tom Sullivan, N. Oxford

A: I'll skip Milloy here. On Brady, they're definitely trying to incorporate it into the game plan. There's no doubt Brady can throw it. As Charlie Weis said recently, "Now we have to complete it."

The Milloy release was a stunner, and you've probably received a lot of mail about it. It seems unbelievable that someone of his profile and importance to the team couldn't have been retained. In your opinion, who was to blame for his release? Milloy? His agents? The team? Kraft himself (who has been noticably silent on this)?
-- Joseph Curtis, Wilton, CT

A: I think it was two hard-headed, competitive individuals in Belichick and Milloy, who wouldn't budge. I think that's what makes both of them so good at what they do.

I think my cold medicine might be doing things to my head. Am I hallucinating? Or did the Pats really cut Lawyer Milloy? If so, I'm having flashbacks to the Sullivan years, when they let go of Mike Haynes and Leon Gray. Is Lawyer overpaid this year? Maybe. But, so what? I say, keep him for this year, take a run at the Super Bowl, then let him go next year when his salary goes even higher. I can't believe they cut him now, just days before the start of the regular season! Let's forget about his level play. Let's think about what this does to team morale, which, I believe, is one of the most important things in football. A decision like this has got to suck the air right out of the team. It has to create an air of betrayal amongst the veteran players, and it might take them two games to fully recover. Surely, this team will be going into week one with their shoulders slumped just a little bit, and their focus a little off. Didn't Belichick take this into account? Or is he that arrogant that he thinks he can just flip a switch, and turn these players into robots who perform at will, no questions asked. Also. Quick question. You think some of those pre-season prognosticators are asking their editors for a do-over now that this news has come down? I noticed many of them picked the Pats, but one or two games could make a big difference in the AFC East, and the loss of Milloy (and the cloud it sets over the Patriots locker room) could easily move the Pats from first to third.
-- Warren Taylor, Demarest, NJ   Continued...