AKC

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.

I remember seeing Edwards cover some line on a couple of plays in the game but it looked to me he was pivoting and running North/South on both of them instead of running laterally East/West. I haven't watched the DEs while keying on the interior but it has been impossible not to catch some of the good- and versatile- work Schobel has done so far. I'm coming up short trying to remember the last time I saw a Bill's WR popping defenders downfield as effectively as Reed has been this pre-season, not to mention that he's become a specimin in the off-season. I never saw an angle of film that caught the stretch-out miss/tip.

Since you insist on being exposed one more time as dishonest, here's your statement: "This is a "pass in air" statistic. I remember hearing it during the playoffs, I believe, and I'm presently trying to dig it up in print form." Here's the link you offered as proof: http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/3763778 I'd wait for you to show me any reference in the article you linked that identifies the passing assumptions as "pass in the air", but then I'd be waiting a long time since there is not one reference that corroborates your original falsehood.

You're still in here choking on your "Long Ball Brady" fantasy? The problem you face is that many of us actually watch football games. Additionally we value others who come here to honestly discuss their views and opinions supported with references. You on the other hand have a different agenda, for instance you represent above some "pass in the air" fantasy in one post, but when your "evidence" is provided it directly contradicts you- nowhere in the Fox article does it suggest the stats are based on "passes in the air". But then, why would I be looking for honesty or accuracy from someone who has designated little skeeter "Long Ball Brady"? As entertaining as your lack of knowledge- and honesty- are, I believe I preferred tha days of well-mannered trolls who offered positive and accurate contributions to our football conversations here. I don't doubt that you've been in a position to call him "Long Ball Brady" in some setting of his choosing, but it surely wasn't on a football field :-0

When nap time is over you might sneak a look into the "RAC" seminar.

I thought the most telling thing about the Pat's coordinator losses was Crennel's first interview after taking this new job- asked -"you've worked with two Super Bowl winning coaches- what is the most important thing you'll bring from that as a head coach"- Crennel- "Without a doubt it was Bill Parcell's ability to relate to his players and get the most out of them- I'll try to model myself after Bill Parcells". It would be foolish to deny the Pat's run but I can surely believe there are other QBs in the league who could have won titles with the same Pat's team- for instance I believe Drew Brees or Peyton Manning would have won there along with others playing today. I'm happy to acknowledge greatness but I believe Brady's is far more hype based upon a team who plays an offense that fits him and buys only hands wideouts. If Tom Brady plays without the guys who arguably made the Pats a powerhouse- their assistant coaches- I'll be happy to admit it if I'm wrong after we've seen it. Better yet let him take a big contract in Arizona and let's see if he's anything more than yesterday's Kurt Warner ;-)

It's always cute when a neophyte fan of the game of football quotes Paul Zimmerman. When you graduate from a school that no longer includes "blankies" as part of your daily routine come back and spend some time with us. Almost anyone at the level we're talking about can give a team 5 or 6 long balls a season- but that in no way indicates a "deep ball" threat. If Brady were in a long ball offense he'd last for a half season before his noodle was fully moistened. There's no shame in being a short ball pitcher- but it's absolutely laughable that you appear to actually believe this guy's name should be mentioned with any big arm QBs. You're simply daft on the subject if you are being honest, then again spending your life on a Bill's board suggests you have limited credibility in any Pat's community so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I begrudge no Bill's fan their right to lick troll butt, I just find it a bit distasteful for myself. Why don't you follow your worship of the troll with some support for his laughable contention that Brady is now a great deep threat passers in the league?

That's quite a feat for a guy who throws 4 deep balls all year. There's a long list of deep passers in the NFL- you've lost any ability to see through your homer goggles if you include Brady in it.

Yeah, it's a real Dan Pastorini Offense you're running up there. Hell, I can toss 15 yard balls on the numbers when there's no pressure. At the same time I've seen loafer-boy in the instances when the scheme broke down and he faced the same pressure others QBs play with all the time- and he's looked a lot more like Rick Mirer than a solid NFL starter. His WRs bail him out regularly and that's a huge plus for the Pats. BTW-We're all looking forward to seing him without Jabba Da Hut running the offense ;-)

Refresh my memory on the Indy game- I seem to recall a downfield tackle and a backfield tackle well into the life of both plays- I must be missing something as far as a high-light. I'll have to cue up that scrim with Green Bay again because I thought like in Saturday's game he was getting pushed off the ball with regularity-

Pat's primary function last season was as a stopper on the most important downs for a defense- if you believe that first and ten are the most critical downs to establishing your defense, which I fully embrace. Putting your opponent in a second and 9 or 10 allows the D to take higher risk/reward chances on 2nd down, and has the same effect on 3rd. So in the area of importance, for my money Pat played the most important downs. We show no sign of having someone who can control a gap like PW did and I think sooner rather than later in the season this will hurt us dramatically. Anderson might develop- he surely has a lower center of gravity than Edwards and that will help him against the run, plus he has much better lateral movement. Edwards is a north south player with a very high center and once he's knocked off his balance he's cooked. And the bigger problem is he's very easily knocked off his balance. I don't see any bigger hole in our team and the nature of pre-season is hiding it effectively in our stats against the run- but the film, as they say, "don't lie". I'm cringing through this pre-season watching Edwards get Weebled on running plays with far too great a frequency.

It was refreshing to see the nice touch and accuracy on a little flip he tossed in the GB or Indy game over a LB, but he sure is hanging out his receivers at this point in time. He should get over that to some degree with confidence. Hope he doesn't get anyone hurt in the meantime. He does use a little more mustard on a lot of balls than I'd like to see. It's another one of those Yin/Yang things, great to see the strong arm- not so great to see it overused.

It's not just the team working on their form in the pre-season ;-)

It's always nice to have an intelligent response to specific game film evidence that's been offered in a conversation. Good thing I'm patient!

To be honest with you I've really only been watching our line play so far this season and that's why I'm seeing the pockets wasted when he drops out- I haven't watched his read progressions yet.

It's clear the kid is driven to win; if that can be funnelled correctly it can be a huge positive but right now it's disappointing because we'd like to see some sign that he's recognizing that Jim Kelly played against a lot of linebackers who hit like today's safeties. On the slide issue, the reality is JP being on the sidelines is a worst case scenario for us this season as it simply stunts his learning, and the best way to keep him on the field is to convince him to slide- if he won't do it in meaningless scrims and pre-season games you can bet the farm he won't do it in the regular season. But I'd go so far as to say the sliding is much less of a concern- I really want to see him move up to the pocket- it helps your line develop alos instead of the Tackles finding their man taking a poor angle upfield and still having a shot at a scrambling QB. You just can't ask your line to do to many things, and it's far too much to ask our OTs to block for a traditional passing pocket only to realize the QB's run off behind the protection.

Not at all- Pat was in for our first down/running primary set plus our goal line D and he sat for passing situations. It appears they're running similar packages this season, with a rotation of our DTs getting the lone down spot on most passing downs and an extra DE coming in since we've fallen so in love with letting Aaron Schobel drop into coverage. I should mention that it's Aaron that Favre burns for his TD pass. Something else to take notice of Bill, on the Pack TD watch Edwards give the play up even though he has a clear line of vision to Favre holding the ball, pulling it down and moving towards the line as if he's going to run- There's one thing any good DLineman does here and it's cut the runner off by decreasing the angle while keeping him inside- not only does Edwards fail to cut the angle down, he doesn't even take any action to contain Favre! He's already given up the play and he never gets back into it- he sure has a great seat for watching the Bills defense play ;-)

Grab the tape of the Green Bay game. First series- first running play- Edwards is knocked easily three yards off his stance and completely out of the play. He's not in the package for the second running play but the third comes right up his gap, where he's been knocked two yards downfield giving the Pack a 4 yard gain- the tackle is made by LBs and DBs. This series is indicitive of his play throughout the game. In fact later he's taken sometimes 5 or 6 yards downfield with single team blocks. He just isn't playing well if you iso on him against run blocking. He is getting substantial help from our LBs, but as I mentioned before that situation has no long term promise since the LBS will become victims late in games where a first team offense has been pounding us all day.