View from Tampa

It boggles my mind how this article talks about getting rid of Samuel and nothing about Ellis Hobbs. In fact Hobbs, who was clearly the Patriots' weak link this past season, seems to slip free of the criticism that he deserves. Anyone who watched the games this season saw that teams were constantly picking on Hobbs, who has no cover skills or instincts that I can see. It is no surprise that he was the one that got burned to lose the Super Bowl. In fact it was my greatest fear going into the game, Burris vs Hobbs. Why was he allowed to keep going out there game after game when he so clearly was not up to the job?

Hobbs doesn't claim that he is the best cornerback in the NFL and deserves to be paid like Champ Bailey. Hobbs is not a great corner and was beaten at times last year but Samuel was also badly beaten on a number of ocassions last year. If you run your mouth about how great you are and deserve to be paid, you have play great - Samuel may have been better than Hobbs but he is no Champ Bailey and never will be. Also just because you see a CB chasing an open receiver doesn't mean it was his man - a blown assignment by someone else looks exactly the same way. As for Burris's TD catch? That catch was a tribute to the utter stupidity of the Pats in calling a full house blitz, knowing it would leave a 5'9" corner against a 6'5" receiver in solo coverage. The odds would have been in Burris' favor regardless of who was stuck trying to cover him one on one with no help!