They have for years vocalized how they are different - 'we do it with character guys.'.. 'we may not choose the most talented'.... 'we are proud of the high character guys in our lockerroom'. You only have to live up in the Boston area for 1 week during the football season to hear this. When they won the SBs they have always highlighted their blue collar, team first character guys - that was the type of player they want in their organization. Sportswriters crooned over how the Patriots won with less talent and applauded them for their choices. Teams like Oakland and the Redskins were ridiculed and viewed as high priced selfish players and teams that did not do it the Patriot way (they are right by the way). Now as the Patriots evolved they are finding out the formula may not be working as well. Thus there has been a change in strategy - they now have a strong history that gives BB unprecedented respect and they have a disciplined core - they are bringing in bad apples that they can control. No longer are they looking at the blue collar guy high character guy, rather can they are selecting a few 'exceptions' with loads of talent and are able to exploit the situation to control them. They don't have to do it this way, but they are. The main point being - if this is what you want to do - fine, but please get off the high horse and call it for what it is. As Shaughnessy says they are now no different than most NFL teams - they just have different window dressing.
No Examples don't win championships but they do set the standards for the youth in society to follow. In the back of my mind, I've rooted for the Pats because of the moral ground that they've decided to stand on. It is time to put an end to the knucklehead pro athlete. Whether they care to admit it and accept the moral obligation that comes with the privilege of being a pro athlete or not, they are very visible in society and are seen by our youth as examples. Pardon me from pontificating but the Pats' new level of hypocrisy has just turned off one of their more ardent admirer???me.
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons I want to keep him on board. I want Revis eventually to be our #1, lockdown guy. But after that, the other CB(s) on the field should depend on who we're matched up against. Does the team have a big, deep threat like Matt Jones as their #2? In that case, let Barrett play. Or is it a smaller, quicker, YAC type of WR like Ted Ginn as the #2? In that case, Dyson's on the field. Or maybe they've got the tall deep threat as the #3 in the slot. In that situation, Barrett comes on as the nickel. I like the flexibility we have right now in our CB corps.
That would probably be very effective, as Moss would no doubt break off his route to try to stomp the dog to death. Maybe 30-40 poodles a game and you might shut him down completely. Not to mention getting all the "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "World Championship Wrestling" crowd to watch the same event for the first time in a generation.
Amen. All this crap about "standards" doesn't amount to wins on the football field. There HC slept with a married woman for years, but that certainly didn't stop him from coaching his team to multiple SB wins. Aside of that, it's one things to talk about a rivals moves on this board, but to talk about there morals and standards is a whole different animal. I could understand if it was in relation to how in might translate onto the field next season, but it wasn't. It was about how the media lets them get away with things. As fans of a team that more often then not gets the short end of the stick from the media, I would have assumed we could look past stuff like this by now. Especially considering it's not even about us.
shaugnessy is such a prick, he always just takes an opinion in opposition of whatever the local teams do, he probably cries himself to sleep any time the Red sox or patriots win. ont he point of this, the patriots always say they are about player accountability, they take in guys with problems if they think they can reform, if you don't you get cut.
Yeah but nobody is claiming that the Jets have these high moral standards. The Jets are not a media darling, hell the Jets are one of the most hated teams in the media.
I don't think that the Jets are hated by the media, but rather they get no respect or attention from the media.
No, I think they're pretty much hated by most of the media at this point. Nobody likes being made to look a fool and the Jets have done that repeatedly by being good when they were supposed to be bad and vice-versa.
It's probably a bit of both, I can specifically remember a few years ago watching those 2 blabering idiots on Cold Pizza saying the Jets had no chance going to San Diego and beating the Chargers, then it was luck they won and then they had no chance in Pitt but the follwing week Pitt was the better team and deserved to win the game.
Are you speaking of Skip Blayless? How can you not like Skippy?.. Joke:.. I can't stand him.. I just wanna punch him in the throat:breakdance:
Miller's play was considerably better later in the season when he was used in situationally and via injury...He helped shutdown Roy Williams to 2 receptions...His 3rd year in the NFL, 22-23 years old, 2nd season under Mangini...Now we can have a bar set.
Here's a theory for you, the Pats won SB's because they had the most outstanding talent on their team and the best QB in the league for their run. The idea that the Pats are an ordinary team loaded with great character guys is a bunch of nonsense. They have been loaded and the last couple of years they haven't been as talented. The reason they are bringing in guys who are not "character" guys is because they have talent and they are coming to them at bargain basement prices with the ability to cut them with very little downside to their cap. The NFL is a team game but it has always been about talent and that has been the Pats formula just as it was when Denver won, GB won, Dallas won, etc. The Oakland Raiders prided themselves in wining SB with guys who lacked character and were misfits, the fact is that had nothing to do with them winning either, they won because they had the most talent.
Every team in the league is loaded with talent, the trick is to keep that talent disciplined and in control and functioning effectively enough to execute a gameplan. There are millionaire athletes on every team. The Pats' ability to keep a unit with that kind of talent through self-management in the lockerroom is in my mind the difference-maker that set the Patriots apart. That team was so cohesive that they executed with near-perfection for 2 straight seasons. From the top of the talent spectrum to the bottom. It wasn't just the studs that made that team so successful, it was cohesion throughout the ranks. I think the insertion of all of these new variables will have some effect on that.
