AKC

No need to get dizzy- if you look at the stats cited by ATBNG, which in the manner he accrued them removes the RAC from the total pass, you'll see very consistently that the long ball offensesinthe NFL, the true gunslinger led teams who we see throwing the ball vertically every week all year long, have a higher percentage of RAC and also lower "pass inthe air" numbers than the West Coast style teams. New England's stats fall clearly among those of the little short pithc West Coast teams. But the great thing is HD can't possibly answer my challenge to provide back to back regualr sedason games where his fantasy "Long Ball Brady" has thrown 6 deep balls becasue this simply has never happened. Belichick realizes he doesn't want to use Brady's noodle and play the arm out since he's not a long ball guy and instead he wisely saves the few big passes he'll let Brady throw for the post-season. It's good football on Belichick's part, but will always disqualify Brady from being considered a "long ball" QB as the Troll insists.

I'd argue that you can scheme to protect lesser talent on a football team most easily at the running back positions, then after that safety, TEs, QB, LB, OL, DEs, CBs but lastly DTs. No matter how you run your defense, if the middle of your line has one dimensional players like Ron Edwards playing full time you will be abused by the better rushing offenses in the league. If you have one-dimensional run stoppers you'll be abused by the short passing offenses in the league. The nature of the NFL has changed dramatically over the past 25 years and today the best teams have far more talent at their interiror DLine spots than we have, both in starting quality and in depth. NE currently has 5 interior players who are better than anyone on our roster after Sam Adams, and they play a 3-4! Philly-after a Super Bowl season- drafted interior DLine withtheir first pick and San Diego- suffering from a poor pass defense- used a 1st rounder on DLine interior. If at any point this season we're forced to start Ron Edwards and Tim Anderson with Justin Bannon filling out the primary rotation, I believe you can look for teams to run up 200 and 250 yard rushing days against us over the second half of the season- once our Linebackers have been decimated by the injuries they'll suffer from the lack of control of the line by our Defensive interior.

That's odd, I always assumed you were using Dragon Naturally Speaking ;-)

Absolutely, which is the case in almost every dink and dunk short passing offense- the long ball teams topping the RAC category have lower average pass in the air stats while the little dink and dunk offenses like NE have a lower RAC and higher average pass in the air. The stats are almost perfectly consistent in this grouping.

Indeed! The challenge is clear- you asked me to set my standard for a "Deep Ball" rating and I've provided it. Now you must identify at least one set of back to back regular season games in which your "Long Ball Brady" makes 6 or more pass attempts that travel over 45 yards each downfield beyond the Line Of Scrimmage before reaching the receiver. Good Luck- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's no debate- you believe "Long Ball Brady" is a top deep passer in the NFL- that simply makes you silly. And as I pointed out before, I enjoy watching the silly twist and turn. Sorry your bus has arrived and you have to go ;-)

That's odd, I didn't even hear your Clown Horn! My Yankees have given me 9 CHAMPIONSHIP PARADES. I'm surprised you haven't bought one of their jerseys yet. I enjoy seeing the silly and uniformed act even sillier and less informed- it makes the Bandwagon crash so much more fun to watch 8-)

If Sam Adams is hurt we'll be lucky to win 6 games. No one else would have anywhere near that negative of an impact.

You might save a little on Belladonna root- boil 'er up and chew to your heart's content. It should provide the same hallucinations you're getting from the Testor's without violating your court order to stay out of the hobby store ;-)

Yeah, when we see Brady tossing 6 or 7 50-yard balls a game back to back in the regular season I expect we'll have a few calls for a urine sample ;-)

The definition depends upon whether we're including statistical evidence and applying the name or simply applying a fan's observations from field play. I'd approach it from the fan side by saying that since most downfield teams are going to go to the well maybe 5 or 6 times a game on the average and those are typically, with true "Long Ball" QBs like Culpepper tosses that break somehwere in the 45+ yards from QB to Receiver, I could live with a 45+ number without, of course RAC. Obviously we're not talking about any quality issues here, but the dinkers in the league can get maybe one big toss like that in a game without losing their arm over the course of the season but it's only the big boys who can do it any time and with regularity. Vertical passing is simply over the top of the defense and hence with stuffed running formations on the other side of the ball can be 20 yard passes in the right circumstances. The term is open to some intepretation, it surely is used in a variety of ways by game commentators, but a vertical game is simply an empahsis away from the sidelines and instead over the top of the D, in other words Yin to the lateral passing games Yang.

Actually, the stats from ATBNG conclusively show only one thing- that the average pass in the air for NE traveled 8.21 yards in 2004. You can't then extrapolate the number of "deep balls" versus "short balls" from that stat in any way, or where the majority of their RAC came from, etc., those assumptions are not supported by the statistics. A conclusion that CAN be supported from the ATBNG stats is that clearly long ball teams show a higher percentage of RAC than small ball teams. The 40%+ RAC teams are nearly exclusively the downfield passing teams while NE is down in the mix with most of the anemic short passing offenses. But I realize that won't keep you from trying! You still claim the article you posted is based upon pass yardage with no RAC when in fact you know that's a lie. I'm sure it will surprise no one that you'll try to fabricate a conclusion from the other stats which in fact are in no way supported.

I'm glad to see you finally acknowledge that the stats you were trying to pass off as supporting your positon were in fact a direct refutation of your representation. As far as your honesty issues the first step is in acknowledging them. One step at a time, Pinocchio!

My understanding is it took more like "minutes" to confirm the "bet" in question had been rejected. I would agree that it's very similar to stats that directly contradict the purpose they've been presented for.

I see you've opted to accept your proper title as "Liar". Nice RAC Pinocchio ;-)

I simply won't allow you to make these complete fabrications of the facts- you said the stats YOU would provide would be for "balls in the air", yet you can't show a single reference in the article that mentions this as their tool of analysis. Where does it talk about the methodology of your fantasy set of stats- stats they would have had to research exclusively for this article? If your premise was in any way believable, and if, after developing a set of statistics other than the league stats, in fact a set of stats that supported their asseritons in the article, you would have us believe that they would make NO REFERENCE AT ALL TO THOSE STATS OR THE NUMBERS THEY CAME UP WITH! If you believe what you are saying you are a fool. If you don't believe what you are saying (as I suspect) you are a liar.

While he's active in Pass Pro he's got a god-awful slide, and it's more excruciting to watch in replacement of the smooth feet of Jonas, but at the same time he's a willing and mostly competent run blocker who gets surprisingly out in front of plays and makes contact- something Jenning sucked at. In our scheme I think he's got a good chance to end up the season as more valuable to our team than Jonas would have been, regardless of the cap implications.

I think that exemplifies exactly how tenuous their success to date has been. We were as close as they were to the big win but, unlike the Pats, the best player in a Bill's uniform in the big game wasn't our kicker.

I could hardly get through the whole article- thanks for taking the time. Now find your own troll to piss on, this one's mine ;-)

I always begin with the presumption that QB is easily the most overrated, surely the most overwatched, position on a football team. It's amazing to me that fans of the game would assume that an efficient QB like Drew Bress, who threw half as many INTs as Brady last year in similar attempts, wouldn't walk right into NE and be as effective as Brady. I also find it puzzling that some would assume that a complete NFL QB like Peyton Manning wouldn't suceed there. The toughest thing to listen to though is the comparison to the historic greats. What an insult to complete QBs in our own time like John Elway or great system QBs who didn't crumble like Brady when facing pressure like Joe Montana. What I see when I see Brady is another Rich Gannon or Kurt Warner clone, a guy who got into a system that fits him well but who couldn't start at a lot of NFL addresses. If you do buy the Brady hype you'd have to believe he would start in Minnesota or Arizona, and for that matter be succesful if he did, and I don't buy it. He does some things very well on a team that has done an awesome job protecting him enought to allow his own good instincts to limit the little pressure he has seen. But when team's have beaten the Pat's front line Brady has looked more like Bob Avellini than Joe Montana. Will I get a chance to see Brady play on a declining Pat's team to measure my assumptions? I'm betting I will, and sooner rather than later. At the same time it's possible Belichick has become a much better coach over the course of the NE years and if he doesn't get dinged up too much from the OC and DC losses I may have to eat crow and watch Brady break records. I just have a gut feeling that his career might end up looking a lot more Kurt Warner than John Elway or Joe Montana.

You boasted that you would offer evidence supported by stats compiled that included "ball in the air", further qualified by you as pass stats that WOULD NOT INCLUDE RAC yardage. The evidence you offered includes RAC yardage, hence your boast was absolute BS. You could simply admit that you made an error, maybe say you meant some OTHER story that you now can't locate, or I will continue to point out that you're full of sh-- for lying about something you can't produce.

The clock is ticking- Produce even a single piece of evidence that the story you referenced is based upon anything other than the official NFL pass stats (which have ALWAYS included RAC)- if you are unable to you are either incoherent or simply a liar.

If you can get to San Diego before midday Friday there'll be the usual cast of TBD characters and guests from out of state going to Tijuana. We'll leave from the Old Town Trolley stop at 1:00 p.m. and return at 7:00, if the last outing was any reference point your girlfriend will want to bring along plenty of singles to tip the friendly female dancers. I believe the going rate for French kisses was 2 bucks and anything involving alternative orifice penetration came it at about 5 bucks. The men's rates were a little higher ;-)

Wrong again! Pass stats in the NFL are based upon where the tackle is made, not where the ball is thrown. You've tied yourself to a losing argument and you're now trying to bail out. Sorry but 'm disinclined to allow that. You represented- in fact based your whole "Long Ball Brady" premise on some stats you promised to come later- when they came they directly contradicited your premise. It's hardly surprising the Pat's fans have run you off and you're now trapped in the Troll existence- the inability to tell the truth often leads to vagrancy.

I understand it perfectly Pinocchio- you make claims that are nothing but BS and then try to hide it instead of owning up to the fact that the article NEVER limits it's assumptions to balls in the air. That RAC class I suggested for your earlier has just become mandatory.