P Riv

Striking fear into opponents:

We're not built for smash mouth teams, but we are built to slow or stop the best passing offenses in the league (KC, TB, etc.). If we ever find ourselves behind a smash mouth type of team, we might be SOL (Titans come to mind). We'll get a tough test right out of the gate in week 1.

He looks like he dieted weight off without working out. He has that skinny fat look. He might play himself into shape, but he doesn't even look like an athlete in that pic. I read an article that said he's worked hard to diet and lose weight this offseason, but I'm curious how much working out was involved.

Before the salary cap era, most of the teams that were perennial playoff contenders also had the highest payroll. SF back in the day bought championships and kept trying it when the cap era started (they got busted). I'm pretty sure Miami was up there in payroll when Shula was there.

Shula had Unitas, Griese and Marino. Like thats a handicap. I hope Hoodie ties him so neither has bragging rights.

Saw this today while on the treadmill:

Disclosing a lower body injury is actually a big deal because it directly relates to mobility. If a CB has a hamstring issue? I think the relevance is obvious. If its a RB, then you game plan to plug up the middle and make him bounce it outside and test that leg/knee. In the case of Brady, teams would try to push him outside the pocket or just get him off his spot. Whether they can do it effectively is another thing, but with that knowledge someone would have tried. Seems to me this was obvious rule breaking.

Thats pretty hopeful considering they won 7 last year with bottom feeder talent and upgraded every position grouping, some substantially (LB, TE). They will likely have a top 5 defense, top 5 O-line and running game and only require a game manager at QB. They can't win a shoot out or even compete in one, but my guess is they won't have many of those. My guess is they start fast at like 6-2, then fade down the stretch and win 9 or 10 when its all done. Just enough to threaten playoffs and get a middling draft position. Hoodie needs 36 more wins to tie Shula, so my guess is he gets 10 this year and sticks around. If Jones develops they'll be a threat next year, if not they will be where we were for all those years (not bad, not good).

I always thought the opposite was true personally. Hoodie beat the Tuna in the playoffs. That and Tuna never won anything without Hoodie as his DC/ass't HC. You're probably right about 9-8, they are projected to win 9.5 games by the odds makers. So its 9-8 or 10-7, no threat this year. We're projected to win 11, so not really sure how it all works. That's Leaguewide, maybe even in every sport.... lol Homerism, we have our share too.

We've always had a great rivalry with the Patriots, my favorite one actually. Many great battles in the 80's, always looked forward but kinda hated playing them in the 90's too. I knew we would win, but at what cost was always the question. Tough physical games, great to watch. Doplhins... meh. Jests? Meh...

They went to the SB in 96 with a different QB and coach. So I'm guessing that they are capable of succeeding without Brady at some point. Fact is, they did it before. Now all they have to do is go 1-15 and get the top QB in the draft. 😁

It helps to have an owner that wants to win, but it can hurt too (see Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder). Its a delicate balance between competent ownership that's invested in pursuing a championship, good front office, good coach and staff and the all important franchise QB. Historically speaking its tough to find a SB winner that didn't have that balance. Buffalo has that balance right now, so until someone else in the Div puts it altogether, the outcome is academic.

We still win the division in 99 out of 100 scenarios and KC is who we should be talking about. Its just a thread about Patriots QB's, which I thought had way too much Homerism running wild. So I added a little reality, now its treason...lol meh

Agenda? This thread Patriots QBs suck and the underlying metric is Josh Allen. The point is clear, Hoodie has a recipe for QBs that goes back 30+ years and hasn't changed: They upgraded their whole roster, I'm not underestimating them unlike most people here.

Hoodie's teams usually rely on defense, special teams and competent QB play. Yeah I watched the last 10 years and apparently fans think there's a template that you need super star triplets (QB, WR, RB) to win. I posted QB's as far back as Simms because thats his influence, past and how Belichick operates. Those QBs didn't have awesome seasons in those years, they simply did what he asked (or what his mentor Parcells asked). Their defense and special teams are stacked this year. Their O-line is top 5, and they have talent and depth at TE. They have solid possession WRs now too. All that's missing is competent QB play, which may or may not happen and that's the biggest variable remaining. All I'm saying is last year wasn't some sort of trend, it was one season with all sorts of reasons to explain why it went the way it did. I'm not sleeping on them or underestimating what they have over there... I swear, any sort of reality check is like treason around here, its crazy.

They don't have Brady, they definitely don't have anyone like Allen. What I've been saying is that they don't need that. Here's a look at QB play in Hoodie's past, all SB seasons except 93 which was still playoffs and at least one win: Gms att cpl cpl% yds ypc TD INT rtg 16 259 468 55.3 3,487 7.5 21 22 74.6 Simms 86 14 184 311 59.2 2,284 7.3 15 4 92.7 Simms 90 14 207 376 55.05 2575 6.9 16 18 70.7 Testaverde 94 16 314 522 60.15 3706 7.1 28 15 87.7 Bledsoe 96 14 264 413 2843 6.9 18 12 86.5 Brady 01 16 317 527 3620 6.9 23 12 85.9 Brady 03 Hoodie needs "good" QB play, not MVP or great. Them's the facts. They're going to contest the division... We'll win, but I'm not taking them lightly.

If we say it enough maybe its a self fulfilling prophecy? Future comparison will be....Matt Cassel. https://www.nfl.com/players/matt-cassel/stats/career Who's with me? lol

NE, MIA and NY all suck at 1st rd picks. NE drafts well on defense and O-line, but WR, RB and sometimes CB has a pretty bad record of success. Reality is we sucked at drafting QB's until we struck gold with Allen, and even he was considered taking a chance with high upside.

I like your confidence, maybe I still have the 20 year hangover. As far as O lines go, here's an example of what the world outside B'lo is thinking: https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-line-units-entering-2021-season As far as NE's O-line coach is concerned, he left in 2019, not 2020. They're over that hump. I can't see them going 3-7 down the stretch, especially starting with a LAC that they crushed last year 45-0 with a bad team. Just checked the replay of the Newton fumble, if he had it tucked it would have been either 3rd and 1 or 1st and goal. It was slapped out of his hand and no one was within 2-3 yards in front of him. So, the strip saved the game.... Awesome play.

The first game NE had us on the ropes in the last minutes, then Newton got sloppy carrying the ball near the goal line. Second game was two teams headed in completely different directions and we spanked them (felt GREAT). This year, different season and different teams, can't really predict it. Their defense last year in a bad season for them...was still number 7 in scoring defense. If you look at what they added, its going to be rough sledding against them, and their punter is a weapon. Their WRs don't scare me either, but aside from Moss and Welker, who ever did? Thats not how they play and I suspect they will use their TE's and RB's in such a way that they don't need a traditional WR1 and never really have. Our number one and two cover guys may be better than their receivers, but they'll throw to options three and four where it favors them, thats how they work. Quality low budget guys, lots of depth. Their Achilles heal is QB, otherwise their overall roster may be better than ours. We outclass them really badly in QB1 and WR1 and thats all, they have us in just about every other position grouping. I think having to play them twice a year is a great thing for us, a great measuring stick and challenge that will make us better. I agree on the Jets and also think they should have kept Darnold, drafting a QB was a mistake. Now they have a rookie QB and two unknowns backing him up with no veteran to mentor...thats just dumb. Their D-line looks good, if CJ Mosley can make a comeback their front 7 isn't bad. They might win 5-6 games and hopefully steal one from NE or MIA. They don't have much offensive firepower, but they might sneak up on some people and win with Saleh's enthusiasm (the intangibles). Dolphins....meh, I think Tua will be a low success/not quite a bust and isn't the answer for them. I think they regress, maybe badly. We win 12 games, the division, host a home playoff game, maybe even home in the Divisional round again. AFCCG repeat.

Sounds good to me, but I don't believe we did much of anything to improve our run game or defend against it either. We're going to have some high scoring games IMHO. KC's weakness was their O-line, look what they accomplished this offseason. Everybody tries to improve, we more or less kept the status quo. We needed a stud D-lineman or a beast at RB to get closer to pushing over the hump. Maybe we'll get lucky with few injuries, everything goes right, etc. Every season is different and pre-season hype based on last year is usually wrong.

We still have to beat a combination of KC, Tennessee, Cleveland, in the playoffs, then there's TB or GB to get past if we reach the SB. Tall order and we have a good solid team, but we're putting all of our hopes in the QB to carry it all. Need Josh to be Aaron Rodgers, and even he's only been able to pull it off once.

Aside from QB and WR1 NE currently has a SB roster in any Brady year. They are a total wild card this year depending on how their QB situation develops. Their scoring defense was #7 last year and they got a lot better through FA and the draft. I read an article a while back that every year that they had a top 5 scoring Defense or above, they at least made the AFCCG. Aside from Allen and Diggs, I think their roster is better than ours (assuming Gilmore is there and 100% healthy). So, clearly a lot is riding on their QB situation. I started looking further back into Hoodie's past, he builds teams a certain way and you can see it all the way back to his time with the Giants. Did the 86 or 90 Giants have a star WR1 or QB like Brady? Nope... The defense and running game, TE's, possession WR's, all seem to look like very familiar types of players to what they have now. Just sayin, the methodology is distinctly clear.

Pretty sure we're going to a see a lot of play action and screen from NE this year, that and short pick plays. I'm sure we'll also see the intermittent overthrown bomb to agholor to keep that threat alive. run, dink dunk, screen, run, run run, run.... They have RBs that can catch, good TE's and possession WRs, so this isn't too tough to figure out. In reality, an accurate noodle arm could actually do well.

Jackson had one season where he looked like a running QB, the rest look like a RB who can throw occasionally. I hope they sign him to a big contract, then its bye bye Harbaugh, back to the draft... lol