1. There is no question that, if he stays healthy, Laurence Maroney is going to be one of the 10 biggest offensive forces in the NFL this year. Think when the Pats use a formation with Stallworth and Moss as bookend wideouts, with Welker in the slot and Watson at tight end. Let's say you're in the nickel, and your strong safety comes down for Watson. Let's say you hand Stallworth to your second corner (risky in itself) and man-cover Welker with your third corner. That leaves Moss with a corner, maybe trying to bump him, with a safety over the top. That's five defenders accounting for four receivers. So that leaves six in the box to account for the shifty and powerful Maroney. With one caveat: Maroney's right shoulder, a source of concern early in the offseason with the ultra-secretive Patriots, still seems to bother him. He favored the right arm in practice last week, seven weeks from the start of training camp. 2. I wrote about Moss in Sports Illustrated this week, and I came away from here thinking it's going to work -- so long as he stays healthy and Brady gives him enough chances to score touchdowns. Those are big ifs, but not monumental ones. I asked Rodney Harrison if he thought Moss was still Moss. "Are you kidding me, Peter?'' he said. "Are you kidding me? He runs the same as I've seen him. You watch him this year. Watch any team that tries to put its best cornerback on him one-on-one. I can't wait to see that. He will eat you alive. Ain't no way he's lost his legs.'' Tom Brady has a lot of work ahead of him at training camp as he tries to get used to his new receiving corps. 3. Brady's so clearly the leader of the pack it's not even debatable. "Tom's so competitive that you don't want to mess up around him,'' said Stallworth. "He's playing like he's trying to make the ballclub -- even here in the spring. He's so serious. He figures we don't have much time out here and he's not going to waste any of it.'' 4. Gut feeling: Moss is going to keep his nose clean, shut up, and stick everyone's negative opinions about him (including mine) where the sun don't shine. 5. Harrison, recovered from his broken shoulder blade seven months ago, is running free and easy. He didn't look 34 last week. 6. I still worry about the defense's ability to get off the field on third down. Particularly against Peyton Manning. They're not alone, of course. But it's dangerous when you know your offense is probably going to have to score in the high 30s to beat anyone, and that's how I see New England's chances against Indy right now. One final Patriots note: the dumbest thing you could write about New England right now is that owner Bob Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and personnel veep Scott Pioli are loading up for one last Super Bowl run. I don't know how long Belichick is going to coach, but it's not like he signed a bunch of RogerClemenses. Moss is 30 and may be past the midpoint of his career, but other additions like Stallworth, Welker and Adalius Thomas are basically at their prime. "This program's not falling off anytime soon,'' Harrison said. Sorry can't post link....Your thought??
Here ya go. :up: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/06/11/mmqb/index.html This was at the end of the article. Smart move by the Duhfins in terms of money. .
This is the same Peter King that blasted the Randy Moss deal when it first went down and who often complains about there being no depth behind Brady. Peter King - an inconsistent homer through and through.
I am not convinved mauroney can handl the load of being a feature back. he did nothing in January last year and he had his success as a change of pace for Dillon. If the new WRs live up to their hype then obviously it's going to be alot easier to run but I am not sold on Mauroney.
He had a shoulder injury at that point. If you are going to voice that opinion (which btw, I kind of agree with), you need to at least present all the facts.
Mauroney missed 2 games late in the year w/ a rib probem, he had shoulder surgery in the offseason which is still limiting him(which should a concern) but his final 2 reg season games(after missing the 2 games) he rushed 20 times for 121 yds(6.1 YPC) and 2 TDs then in his next 3 games(playoff games) he rushed 31 ties for 87 yds(2.8 YPC) and 0 TDs. Why did the injury affect him in January but not the last couple of reg season games?
