I can’t even imagine how much more of a story it would be if it were the Patriots who were caught doing that. The funny thing is that it certainly seems like something the Patriots would totally do, doesn’t it? And Belichick’s connection to Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals only makes it more funny. But yeah, the mob would certainly be calling for a significant Belichick suspension, no question about it.
It seems like most good coordinators have certain positions and themes that they value above all else. Most often it’s between LBs, DL, or cover corners. I’m starting to get the impression that BB loves his Rodney Harrison-esque strong safeties. Looking back at some older games, it’s clear how much BB loves using Rodney and Lawyer Milloy as his chess piece. I think that’s why BB just can’t help himself with reaching for all these safeties in the draft. E.g. Chung, Tavon, Richardson. Thoughts?
Interesting breakdown and I think we might be able to throw Matthew Wells into this mix as well. This position is important in robber coverages, as we saw last year with Patrick Chung doing some great damage against the run. Then there’s the “Money” sub linebacker position but as long as Mayo/Collins are healthy I don’t really see that being the necessary role that it once was when linebackers weren’t as athletic as they have to be today.
So to be honest, I don’t really get it. The trend is clear though, reaching on these guys in the early rounds when every pundit out there had them ranked significantly lower.
The easiest answer I think might just be that it’s an unending search for a strong safety who is just as good in the box as he is on the back end. That’s ideally what you want in today’s NFL and if you have two of them that never have to come off the field it would be the goal.
This is why the safety competition and reps will be so interesting to watch unfold. Richards is really the wild card. Most agree he should bump Tavon off the roster, but what how will he impact Chung/Harmon and how will the evolving secondary have a trickle-down effect on who’s playing the safety spots in certain situations?
The PatsPropaganda 2015 Patriots Season Preview Magazine is now available for $4 here!
My favorite time of the summer is when the NFL preview magazines start hitting the stands. Inevitably I buy all them, turn immediately to the Patriots page and find myself disappointed. The coverage is never as accurate or in-depth as I hope, so this year I decided to do my own book.
Inside you’ll find over 30 pages of pure Patriots – Statistical and scheme analysis for both the offense and defense. Depth charts and write ups on all of the Patriots players headed to training camp.
In addition to that is a breakdown of the Top 5 positional battles for training camp as well as a game-by-game preview of the regular season.
I don’t think you’ll find a more in-depth season preview out there and for a mere $4 (one dollar for each Super Bowl) I think it’s a pretty good bargain considering what you’ll pay for a magazine with maybe two pages of inaccurate Pats stuff.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patspropaganda-2015-patriots-season-preview/
Submit a Question!
Getting ready to spend the next week down the cape so the activity on the blog might be a little slow. Send me your questions and let’s get through this last day of work together!
Will we have any linebackers to stop the run at the beginning of the season? More specifically, are there non-injured depth-LBs who’ve shown they can stop the run in the NFL? (Sorry to see Spikes take himself off the team. Can’t drink+drive.)
The linebacker depth is certainly an area to monitor when camp opens. I’d bet Mayo and Hightower open on PUP, Collins is the question mark as he’s been in and out of OTAs. Not sure what’s going on there.
And then even Fletcher has been out as well. So yeah, we’re really looking at James Morris and Darius Fleming as guys who might be called on to step up. It’s really not out of the question that the opening day linebackers are Fleming (SLB), Collins (MLB), Fletcher (WLB).
The rest are interesting young guys and vet free agents who have mostly been special teamers/fill-ins.
I get into a lot of depth in this area in the Season Preview which will be available in the next week or so.
Dominique Easley looks to improve on tough rookie campaign
Dominique Easley looks to improve on tough rookie campaign
Anticipation and expectations are high for blog fave Easley this season. If him and Malcom live up to their draft status… oh boy.
