Oh Dear… Oh Dear… Where do the Patriots Go From Here?
Admit it.
You are at least a little bit peeved with the New England Patriots.
And you should be.
Man, I am starting to write like a Boston Globe sports writer. But there will be no “I am cheering for the 2010 NY Jets and so should you” or “Welcome home Vincie”.
This Patriots team has been completely uneventful here in the off-season. Losing out on sweepstakes for the few available free agents there actually are, coupled with some questionable releases, there are a lot of questions surrounding this team leading up to the April 22-24 NFL Draft.
The one thing that they have been able to do is re-sign their own guys and make Asante Samuel feel like an idiot for ever tattooing “Get Paid” anywhere on his body. With the franchising and eventual extension made on Vince Wilfork, new deals for Tully Banta-Cain, Kevin Faulk, Leigh Bodden, Stephen Neal, and a few other minor parts, this team has kept the pieces they have wanted to keep.
But the question lies in how they will fill the numerous holes that they have left behind?
There are three places where the Pats are lacking as of right now and these three places may make it difficult to win… as they are coaching, offense and defense. Seriously.
The Patriots are currently without a Defensive Coordinator, Offensive Coordinator, and Tight End Coach. Holy crap. For a guy who has seen more criticism in his calls then ever over the past season, Bill Belichick is sure piling his plate pretty high for himself in 2010, and here I was thinking only Rex Ryan ate like that!
I am a firm believer that Wes Welker will not see the light of day this season. Maybe if the Pats make it into January he might be able to put down the clipboard but otherwise, I think he may be playing the part of unofficial Offensive Coordinator this season. At least that will take care of one problem on the coaching end.
With ‘White Wes‘ on the sidelines and Randy Moss starting to feel as old as the number on the back of his jersey, this team’s only other receiver options lie in Sophmores Julian Edelmen and Brandon Tate. Pardon my excitement, but “wooooo..”.
The Pats missed out (if you want to call it that) on the big name that they were rumored to be in the lead for, Anquan Boldin, before Baltimore swept in and scooped him up to add him to their newly improving lineup. Baltimore also added free agent Donte Stallworth a few weeks earlier, who will be coming back from his season-long vacation for vehicular homicide… while drunk. This league is fun, isn’t it?!
Many fans don’t really see the Boldin signing as a missed opportunity but I most certainly do. In a season where it seems that the Kraft family is trying to play ‘Deal or No Deal’ and the banker just ain’t payin’, the Patriots could have gotten Boldin for almost nothing like Baltimore did and left with a plan for this year and a couple to come. Baltimore traded third and fourth round picks (one of each) to Arizona in the deal and re-signed Boldin to a four-year deal with only $10M guaranteed. The Patriots could have done that just with the money they make from CBS Scene rent in a month. In fact, they don’t even have a third round pick, but they do have one in the first round, three in the second round, one in each the fourth and sixth rounds, and two seventh round picks. You do the math.
Will we see this guy with a Flying Elvis on his helmet in 2010?
Who are the current receivers on the open market? Laveranues Coles and Torry Holt are the most notable names that have been released so far but both have at least 10-years experience already and for once, that may be something this team doesn’t need. As for Unrestricted Free Agents, the biggest names that are still available are Terrell Owens (14 seasons), Derrick Mason (13 seasons), Josh Reed (8 seasons), Bobby Wade (7th season), Kelley Washington (7 seasons + I would still take him back, even after taunting Pats fans on the Baltimore sidelines last year), and last but not least, Joey Galloway (yea, you’re right, I AM just kidding!). So odds are, if the Pats are going to make a move for a WR, it will be done on draft day and we will have to live with it.
The tight end situation is a completely different kind of problem. Or is it? The Belichick/Brady offensive package has never been “tight end friendly”… unless you count Giselle… eh? Am I right?! Anyways… After this past season, the Patriots sent both Chris Baker and Ben Watson packing, cutting them outright and opening themselves up to a lot of questions. The main hilarity behind this whole situation is that the team doesn’t have TE coach either! No coach, no players. Imagine if we were in this situation with the receivers or backs? There would be trash cans on fire outside of the uBid.com Gate on the south side of Gillette.
The defensive issues on this club are no secret. Losing the Old Faithful crew of Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Richard Seymour, and Junior Seau (trust me, that wasn’t him in those pads) last season clearly proved to be too much for this Patriots’ defense. After then losing Jerod Mayo for a few games to start the 2009 season with a sprained MCL that was supposed to sit him for 6-8 weeks, the defense was never able to really materialize. But good news Patriots fans, we have re-signed most of the pieces on D that the team wanted to keep. A wishful maturing process should take set this season and allow this side of the ball to be more successful in 2010.
The main point on this end of the field was to not only keep Vince Wilfork, but keep him (and his wife) happy. It was a little sketchy there at first when the Pats decided to franchise him, his wife started chatting on Twitter, rumors swirled about potential long term deals, and things were materializing behind the scenes. But it all worked out and Vince can stuff his mouth and wallet for years to come.
Keeping Leigh Bodden was also a smart move by the Patriots that was almost too little, too late. With Bodden visiting the Houston Texans a couple weeks ago, the Patriots were waiting at his open garage door like Ed McMahon and the Publishers Clearinghouse people with a big check and probably some Red Robin to go.
So where do the Patriots go from here?
Fans have to believe that this team in 2010 is going to mirror the mentality that we have been brainwashed to start believing in with the 2010 Red Sox. a “we did what we could with the market” approach seems more than likely and with Tom Brady only getting another year older, odds are that the Patriots are looking at regaining talent around him too late, if it is not this season.
Can we get used to mediocrity here in New England again? I don’t think so. But I am starting to think that we better.
One Response to “Oh Dear… Oh Dear… Where do the Patriots Go From Here?”
Leave a Reply
This team became a dynasty with TB tossing TDs to the likes of Troy Brown, David Patten and smash-mouth Antoine Smith and Corey Dillon running, with a bend-don’t-break D. When I look at the D, I see a bunch of young guys. They way Favre is playing, TB should be on top of his game for the next 5-7 years, which is how long he wants to play. Sure we lost a bunch of veteran leadership, but now they’re retooling and the young guys that came together to form a top-5 scoring, top-10 yards, and top-15 overall D will only be better next year. Don’t fret, chicken little, the world’s not over yet.