The AFC West is not as bad as you seem to think. SD can do some damage, especially if you get them late in the year. The NFC North had only one legit team last year, GB.
The NFC North had 2 teams in the NFC Championship Game. That division last year was better than the AFC West should be this year but I do agree the West is getting better.
clearly the Pats did deal with injuries -- all the way to a 14-2 regular season record. I don't see anyone crying about those injuries as an excuse. the point is that despite the injuries they still had the best record in the league, and with those players coming back and the additional players they have coming in, the team should be better. probably even better than the Jets. doesn't mean that is how the season will play out, but predictions aren't based on empirical reality, simply speculation. speculation clearly benefits the Patriots. sure, we beat them 2 out of 3 times last year, but during the regular season still finished 4 games behind them. even Rex said it -- somebody else also is going to have to beat the Patriots. why? because if they don't, the Jets still won't finish in first, because it is going to require more than the two possible losses the Jets may hang on them to win the division. we beat them in the playoffs. that's all any Jets fan needs to hang our hats on, so no need to make ridiculous arguments to attempt to reduce how good the Pats probably will be to feel better about the Jets, otherwise it simply reveals that you aren't as secure in your beliefs about the Jets ability to come out ahead of the Patriots as your boasts want to convince people of.
Pats IR 2010: CB Leigh Bodden DL Ty Warren K Stephen Gostkowski DL Mike Wright DL Ron Brace RB Kevin Faulk OT/G Nick Kaczur S Brandon McGowan G Stephen Neal CB Jonathan Wilhite S Brett Lockett S Josh Barrett DL Darryl Richard DE Kade Weston Jets IR 2010: DL Kris Jenkins SS Jim Leonard QB Kevin O'Connell DL Ropati Pitoitua Yeah everyone deals with injuries, but some get luckier than others. No one is whining about our injuries, we went 14-2 with those injuries, and had every opportunity to compete for a superbowl. As JetBlue said, we just believe that our team will be better with Bodden, Wright, Brace, Gostkowski, McGowan, Faulk (???), etc. than we were last year without them. You guys are using the same logic in suggesting that your team will be better with Leonard back. Haynesworth was only a sack of crap the past 2 years... 3 years ago he was a top DL in the league... if he found his way to the Jets, you might think of his POTENTIAL a little differently, although that is obviously no sure thing. Stroud never played a single snap for us... his loss doesn't hurt us. We had another Warren who played very well and consistently for us last year... so right now our DL has two proven starters (Wilfork, Warren), one potential monster (Haynesworth), one pass-rush specialist with starting talent (Wright), and AT LEAST one backup who seems to have the coaching staff's confidence (Brace), plus more depth players with game time experience (Pryor, Love, Deaderick). Even if Haynesworth doesn't work out, our defense should be better than it was last year across the board with young players gaining experience and others returning from injury. Even if Ochocinco doesn't work out, we still have the same RB, TE, and WR weapons from last year to propel our offense PLUS more options in our rookies and 2nd year T. Price. What have the Jets done to IMPROVE their team from last year? (remember how you guys were still two victories away from hoisting up a lombardi?) Swapping Edwards for Plax? Losing B. Smith? Declaring backup E. Smith a starter? You guys are depending ENTIRELY on development from Sanchez and big contributions from rookie players to improve upon last year (where, again, you guys fell short). You are depending on some guys to stay out of trouble for the entire season. Remember that late in December last year it was up in the air whether you guys would even make the playoffs. If a couple other teams in the conference improve a bit, your team may need to play MUCH BETTER throughout the regular season to even MAKE the playoffs (where you are supposedly so good). I honestly don't care at all who gets the title of 'Favorite' to win the division. If you have complete faith in Sanchez, then I can easily understand the argument for it to be you guys. But to act like the Jets are clear winners because of one game last season is nothing but blind bias, and you are clearly in denial that our FA gambles and returning players could POSSIBLY help the team.
the only thing i fear is the bellicheck system of making players work well with each other, which he is the master of. What i hope for is a passed his prime haynesworth and a twitter crazed locker room cancer in ocho headacheo. it doesn't matter, as long as Brady is there, they are the number 1 obstacle for the jets.
I think people are really stretching if they think Ocho is some sort of team cancer that will bring down the Patriots. he is an attention seeker, not a lazy worker. obviously when you are on the Bengals you have to do more self-promoting to get that attention, but now that he is on the patriots he will get it without having to put any theatrics into it. Haynesworth, though, is a shit-bag who got paid and probably doesn't have any fire left. I have a hard time believing he will put out an effort that the Patriots will be satisfied with.
Throw in you didn't have Mankins for half the season either. The Pats will be good and I think they'll be better then the Jets. I'm not sleeping on Haynesworth although obviously I'm rooting for him to be exactly what he was in Washington. I think Ochocinco just gives Brady another weapon. If guys like Deion Branch, Jabar Gaffney and Wes Welker can be good players in this offense there is no doubt 85 will be. He's more gifted then any of those guys. The question with him will be can he keep his mouth shut? My money is on no but the bigger money is on Bellichick ignoring it if he produces and buys into the team concept.
Ochocinco is a personal friend of Belichick's. There is Youtube clip of the two talking before a game that is kinda funny. I can't post a link yet though. But it's easy to find via Google - search on belichick occhocinco youtube. Apparently they hit it off at one of the Pro Bowl games. There has been speculation for a while that he was going to end up at NE because of this relationship. How that translates into locker room cancer? Now Haynesworth - that's a different ballgame. He may make it or not. Personality issues don't go away.
I agree, ocho has always been a hard worker and a good teammate, he isn't Moss or Owens, he's a clown off the field, but he's great in the lcckerroom. Haynesworth is hard to gauge, he is huge on respect, part of why he was such an asshole in WAS is he felt Shannahan treated him with no respect and tried to embarrass him. So he could keep being lazy, or if he feels he has something to prove he could be a monster. He is exactly the kind of guy who turns it on for a year or two because people talk shit about him.
I thought the Bears were damn lucky to get where they were. They were completely humiliated against the Patriots. It was 33-0 in the 2nd quarter in a blizzard. The Bears were 7-9 the previous year, and lost to the Seahawks and Redskins last year. The only team of note they beat last year was the Jets, and I attribute that the hangover from the previous week vs the Patriots. The Bears could easily go 6-10 this year.
I don't really think Ocho will be a problem. I just don't think he'll add anything significant. You can't go 4 wide on every down, so someone will have to sit. That means less Welker, less Branch, or less of the TE tandem. Haynesworth...he's a joke. They were better off keeping Banta-Cain.
Haynesworth will check out mentally after 3 series vs Mangold. Ochocinco is decent. Definitely nothing there to tip the scales as much as the media make it out to be
Only a few of those Pats guys were key guys, we lost Calvin pace for 4 games and he was never healthy, Holmes missed 4 games, Cotch missed games, we lost Damien Woody for a key stretch and in postseason, we lost revis for games and he wasn't normal until the 2nd half. No excuses on the injuries. Maybe they were lucky but they got there so it proved there were a good team. NE is going to be really good b/c they always are w/ Brady but talent wise it's very close and we probably have the edge.
And how many of these guys were actual contributors and not just bench warmers or spot players? I count 4, not including the freaking kicker (really? gimme a break). Bodden, Warren, Neal, and Faulk. Even Faulk is arguable considering Woodhead did a pretty damn good job filling his role. My point is, adding Haynesworth, who isn't worth the plane ticket the Pats bought to fly him up there and definitely wasn't worth losing your best pass-rusher for, and Ocho, who adds a maginal improvement to an already good group of receivers, doesn't really add anything to the Pats. I don't see the huge improvement people are spouting off about. All this "young players getting better" crap is just speculation and can be said about every team that had rookies last year.
he wasn't crying either. how the hell was he crying about injuries when the team goes 14-2? what do you think he was excusing, that the team could have gone undefeated had they not been injured? what he was saying was that even with injuries the team went 14-2, so with those players coming back there is no reason to believe they won't be as good, or better. that isn't crying about injuries, that is stating why he thinks the Pats will be just as good this season, and the Jets will still finish behind them.
How many years do you need a guy to suck before he just plain old sucks now? Face it, he peaked 3 years ago. He's done nothing but bitch and eat donuts since. Actually, you don't. Both Warrens are gone. So that leaves one decent DL and bunch of guys you are assuming will improve. Good luck there. Swapping Bray for Plax is probably a wash. Losing Smith is not really losing anything as he was a below average 4th WR and decent KR. No one declared E. Smith the starter, they just resigned him. How did we get better? Well, we beat you guys twice, so clearly we were already good enough. As for specifics, I don't really know. No one does. We'll have to wait until the season starts to see. Is there potential? Sure. Plax was a better WR than Bray before prison, maybe he will be again. Our new guys on the D-Line may be studs. The specifics was never the point of my post. Really? This Bullshit again? You act like the only QB who is any good is named Brady. Oh yeah, we fell short. So did 29 other teams including the Pats, so stow it. And this ridiculous "character issues" argument didn't pan out last year, and I'm pretty certain won't pan out this year. You're reaching. If a couple other teams get better huh? Again, speculation. I could say the same for the Pats. When was I acting like the Jets were the clear winners? My point was the exact opposite. That crowning the Pats over two marginal signings is ridiculous. And I DON'T think they will help the team. I think Haynesworth will make the Pats WORSE and Ocho will only be a small improvement over what they already had. As for all these great returning players...I'll believe it when I see it.
Going into 2010: Bodden - #1 CB Warren - #1 DE (Warren wasn't our top rusher as you stated, and he was nowhere near his early career form) Ghost - #1 Kicker (lol) Wright - #1 Pass Rusher Brace - #2 Interior lineman (often on the line as pats rarely were in a 3-4 base, used 4DL a lot) Faulk - 3rd down RB, best pass catcher out of backfield (pretty important in the offense obviously) Kazcur - #1 RT (debatable who would have started at RT if mankins didn't hold out, he was projected starting LG with Vollmer taking over RT) Neal - #1 RG Haynesworth has been blowing up the backup Oline (all hes had the chance to do so far with Light/Mankins not able to practice til the 4th) in his limited practice so far. He sounds to be in much better shape and more motivated than he ever was in Washington.
actually, Grotowski is a weapon for the Pats. He usually has one of he highest averages for touchback percentages in the league and the Pats lost about 10 yards on their FG attempts. The biggest improvement is the addition of Bodden as he was their top CB last season. Ocho is a nice addition but he probably won't be earth shattering. His biggest contribution will be on the sidelines. The pats don't really have anyone who can do those toe catches. Haynesworth...who really knows. If he plays with a chip, he could be devestating but then again, he could run out of gas by the third quarter.
