PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Clare Cooper

Opponent Crushing Patriots for 2021?

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Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

It’s no secret that the Patriots stocked up in free agency and the draft on some big guys who may be making their way to Foxborough this season.

There’s some talk around town of a bit of bully ball maybe being the Patriots way this season and heck I love it.

Sure the league maybe getting quicker, leaner, but you know what they always say, Bill Belichick plays chess whilst everyone else is playing chequers, or something along those lines.

For starters, fullback is rather an under used position in the NFL now. It doesn’t even exist in some teams, only approximately 14 of the 32 squads regularly line up a fullback, but the Patriots sure do! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Dan Vitale play in 2020 with a Covid opt out season, but this guy is a bit of a beast, and I’m pretty sure he could make a couple of holes in a defence to get a running back through, not to mention taking hold of the ball and making himself a bit of space! Fancy a spot of Dan Vitale in 2021? Yes please!

Then, there’s the fact Coach brought back the, well, rather huge Trent Brown. Can you imagine trying to rush the passer and hitting that brick wall of 6 feet 8 inches and 380 pounds!?

So offences may be speedier, how about they go up against some of the newest signings onto the Patriots roster? 6 feet 6 inches, 300 pounds of Henry Anderson as well as 6 feet 3 inches, 311 pounds of Devon Godchaux and thats only naming a few of the defence guys!

I mean heck it doesn’t matter how fast you can run if you’ve got 6 feet 4 inches and 310 pounds of Christian Barmore clinging to you right?

Even the running back the Patriots selected in the draft, Rhamondre Stevenson is 6 feet and 244 pounds, a little bit of Blount force trauma style coming back? Big and solid? Yep, box checked, thank you very much.

I don’t know about you lot but I’m ready to watch my team crush the opponent, literally, figuratively… both? Bring it on… LFG baby!

Here’s what went down in round 1 of the 2021 NFL draft…

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(AP Photo/Steve Luciano)



And so there you have it folks. Round one complete. Records were not broken; four quarterbacks were not taken in the top four, but five were taken in the top 15. The positions were pretty spread out with the top 10 seeing three wide receivers and two cornerbacks selected.

If you missed the full breakdown, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered:

Pick 1 Jacksonville Jaguars – Trevor Lawrence QB Clemson

Pick 2 New York Jets – Zach Wilson QB BYU

Pick 3 San Francisco 49ers – Trey Lance QB North Dakota State

Pick 4 Atlanta Falcons – Kyle Pitts TE Florida

Pick 5 Cincinnati Bengals – Ja’Marr Chase WR LSU

Pick 6 Miami Dolphins – Jaylen Waddle WR Alabama

Pick 7 Detroit Lions – Penei Sewell OT Oregon

Pick 8 Carolina Panthers – Jaycee Horn CB South Carolina

Pick 9 Denver Broncos – Patrick Surtain II CB Alabama

Pick 10 Philadelphia Eagles (trade) – DeVonta Smith WR Alabama

Pick 11 Chicago Bears (trade) – Justin Fields QB Ohio State

Pick12 Dallas Cowboys (trade) – Micah Parsons LB Penn State

Pick 13 LA Chargers – Rashawn Slater OT Northwestern

Pick 14 New York Jets (trade) – Allijah Vera-Tucker OG USC

Pick 15 New England Patriots – Mac Jones QB Alabama

Pick 16 Arizona Cardinals – Zaven Collins LB Tulsa

Pick 17 Las Vegas Raiders – Alex Leatherwood OT Alabama

Pick 18 Miami Dolphins – Jaelan Phillips DE Miami

Pick 19 Washington Football Team – Jamin Davis LB Kentucky

Pick 20 New York Giants (trade) – Kadarius Toney WR Florida

Pick 21 Indianapolis Colts – Kwity Paye DE Michigan

Pick 22 Tennessee Titans – Caleb Farley CB Virginia Tech

Pick 23 Minnesota Vikings (trade) – Christian Darrisaw OT Virginia Tech

Pick 24 Pittsburg Steelers – Najee Harris RB Alabama

Pick 25 Jacksonville Jaguars – Travis Etienne RB Clemson

Pick 26 Cleveland Browns – Greg Newsome II CB Northwestern

Pick 27 Baltimore Ravens – Rashod Bateman WR Minnesota

Pick 28 New Orleans Saints – Payton Turner DE Houston

Pick 29 Green Bay Packers – Eric Stokes CB Georgia

Pick 30 Buffalo Bills – Gregory Rousseau DE Miami

Pick 31 Baltimore Ravens – Jayson Oweh LB Penn State

Pick 32 Tampa Bay Bucs – Joe Tryon LB Washington  

Are the Patriots hitching a ride to quarterback crazy town this 2021 draft season?

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(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)


And with the 15th pick in the 2021 NFL draft the New England Patriots select….

Ahh the words Patriots fans are longing to hear, with much more concern, wonder, trepidation, and perhaps even downright fear than maybe they have for a long time.

Another thing that has definitely not happened in a long time (possibly ever) is the top four picks in a draft being quarterbacks, online Michigan betting sites such as GambleOnlineMichigan.com feature the best options for bookmakers that give odds on who they might be. You have to go back to 1999 to where quarterbacks were the first three picks in the draft with Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith. Now if you’re simply talking the first round, then yeah just in the last decade, 2018 and 2020 were both years of four quarterback picks with Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold and Lamar Jackson taken in the first 32 of 2018 and Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love wrapping up 2020. But the actual top four picks? Are we heading to crazy town this season?

More ghosts of histories past shows the Patriots first round picks being rather tackle (defensive and offensive) orientated. Not exclusively of course, and you could argue a lot of that was due to the success of Tom Brady at quarterback. A young new talented quarterback was not required early in the draft for quite a while, and the last time the Patriots addressed any quarter back selection in the first two rounds was pick 62 in 2014 with Jimmy Garoppolo.

But how different is 2021, right!?

Cam Newton and Jarett Stidham are still in the fold, but the production for both in 2020 left a lot to be desired. The question is what could they produce in this coming season; many fans are still very skeptical that it will not be much at all, and so fans look to the quarterback draft prospects with crossed fingers (and some of them, toes too!).

The situation is: the top four picking teams, Jacksonville, New York (Jets) San Francisco and Atlanta could all take a quarterback and pretty much could do with taking a quarterback. The next few picks, Cincinnati, Miami, Detroit and Carolina are arguable teams that wouldn’t be in the market for a rookie ball thrower. Selection number nine goes to Denver, the next team on the list potentially requiring a quarterback.

We are already seeing the jump of a previously second round rumoured player Mac Jones being in the choice of those top four (to clarify, some people predict him being taken third by San Francisco); could we see second or third round quarterbacks coming off the board within the first thirty two? Did I say next stop crazy town already?

With ten draft picks this year and a closing window of roster spots it isn’t in the realms of impossibility that the Patriots trade up. This year’s draft class is heavy with talent at certain non quarterback areas and although free agency spend was high there are still a few holes the Patriots could do with filling with some of the fruitful young talent. 

So here we are, single digit days away with so many unheard ofs in this up and coming draft. Fans agonize as we await that loaded sentence and just know there is a seriously good chance the pick will be… a tackle!

Have the Patriots lost their identity?

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Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports


Patriots fans saw a season without Gronk, then one without Gronk and Brady. Well now there will be one without Gronk, Brady and Edelman. Three of arguably the best Patriots of the last decade. 

As a tight end enthusiast, losing Rob Gronkowski was harsh for me but Tom Brady was our leader, our quarterback, he drove the team. And now Patriots fans, now maybe it’s the heart…

Julian Edelman is small and tough, focused and driven… He is passionate. A passionate Patriot, there’s not much better. 

He wasn’t THE best wide receiver in the league if you go by statistics. But who cares about statistics right now? This guy is fearless. He is simply put… Awesome. 

And now Patriots fans, have we lost our identity? 

Who remains from the Patriots way? 

WE DO!!

Sure, we’ve loved and lost. We will never forget those that fought passionately. Gave themselves on the field. Six Super Bowls baby!!

We have bore witness to greatness, over and over again. And it’s difficult sometimes to not look at the past, the future is so unknown. 

Now it’s fair to say the stock of passionate Patriots isn’t fully depleted. There’s plenty of love for the defence, the offensive line and the secondary. David Andrews, Matthew Slater and James White to just kick off the list. 

But! Players will come and go. We will cry, we will cheer, we will be here. We are Patriots Nation and we will go on! 

Fandom – A love affair with passion

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(Staff Photo By Faith Ninivaggi/ Boston Herald/ Media News Group)

Patriots fans are passionate, opinionated, smart and a multitude of things mixed together. Whoever they may be, we are all one, we are all Patriots. 

Free agency is really only a few days of action and we are whipped up into a frenzy of excitement, of what ifs and trepidation, of musings, of mock line ups of who will fit the Patriots way… 

Temperatures rise, minds race and tears flow… and as fans we have a love affair with our team. We agonise, we desire, we hate… the torrent of emotions that we have to go through is crazy, so why do we do it to ourselves?

PASSION

We get attached to a player, only for them to leave or get traded and we holler, we get angry, we shed tears. And the sheer variety of fans opinions of players makes it even worse sometimes.

You adore a guy, he’s your favourite… another fan thinks he’s trash.. HOW DARE THEY?! 

PASSION

We spend hours tolling over lists of college kids, mock draft after mock draft of who we think our team should chose, who we want our team to pick. 

Taking on board piles and piles of information, of statistics, opinion pieces, podcasts, columns, social media posts, we drink it all in unable to quench the flames of curiosity that burn.

PASSION

At the end of the day we all want the same thing; we want our team to win. The team we love.

They suit up in the colours we wear, the jerseys we buy and they take to that field and they fight for us with passion.

It binds us together as a community, we argue with each other, we disagree but we support and we are together, as one, as Patriots fans. We believe, we insist and most of all we never, ever give up.

Stay Passionate Patriots Nation!

Dancing through free agency – Are the Patriots taking too many steps back in moving forwards?

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Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports


The signing of Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry had the world of Patriots fans spinning (not all, granted but I’m thinking a lot.) Whilst this is obviously not a step backwards, the tight endage for 2019 and 2020 had been classed as kinda sketchy, the taking of two seriously productive, almost ‘star’ tight ends ventures back to those days of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Now, no one (well I hope no one) is saying that the recent tight end signings of the New England Patriots are the same as the two aforementioned tight ends but Smith and Henry do give the option of a heavily talented two tight end match up. Back to how they once were… maybe?

Now the signings at wide receiver have some people mildly puzzled, whilst dropping a reasonable amount of cap space on Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor, Coach left some serious names out there like Kenny Golladay and JuJu Smith-Schuster, just to throw around a few names. But, but… is this the way of the Patriots? The last time they picked up a Mr Super Star Wide Receiver may be back in 2007 when they traded for Randy Moss (so not a technical free agency signing) and we possibly have to head all the way back to 2002 in the drafting of Deion Branch to really feel any wide receiver appreciation trembling!

So, conclusion on the current receiver signings, same as usual I guess, dancing on the spot. Besides, they signed two serious tight ends… it’s all groovy baby!

A few familiar names will remain in the locker room Deatrich Wise, Carl Davis, Cody Davis… defensive spots kept there.

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Diagnosis: Free Agency Fever

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Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

With five guys on the defensive line hitting free agency, as well as let’s count, two quarterbacks, two running backs, two wide receivers, four pieces of offensive line a couple of linebackers, two cornerbacks, two safeties and a kicker (phew!) it’s no wonder we are starting to panic a little on how the Patriots are going to quell the bleeding this 2021 season. 

Sure it would seem that free agency is starting to heat up all over the NFL at the moment, with many teams struggling for cap space, there are some big cap casualties that are going to be hitting the market.

Of course not all gashes left in free agency need to be bandaged with a current NFL player, with just (at the time of writing this) 8 weeks from the draft, interest in the fresh young college talent is reaching fever pitch too.

Speculation is rife around the Patriots, and we all know a lot of that hinges on the fact that no one (well hopefully not NO ONE) knows who will be the starter at quarterback. If you go on simply signed at the moment the guy who throws the ball will either be Jarrett Stidham or Jake Dolegala……… and a lot of fans feel that’s a total flat line. Personally, my perspective is without giving him plenty of starting games, the true picture on Stid the Kid isn’t fully developed, but I know many disagree and that the very reasonable argument is if they thought he was good he would have played more…. that’s fair, still subject to argument that Cam Newton was an opportunity they just didn’t want to pass up. Ifs buts and candy and nuts I guess.

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