Might be in the minority but I miss the silver alternates. And with the stupid helmet rules they could still wear them, unlike the red throwbacks.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/might-be-in-the-minority-but-i-miss-the-silver/
Curran: Kraft does the right thing for the wrong people
Curran: Kraft does the right thing for the wrong people
Tom E. certainly has his finger on the pulse of Patriots Nation. I’m not sure even I could’ve predicted how harshly Patriots fans have rejected Mr. Kraft’s actions. This thing just seems to keep getting worse and worse.
I can’t even imagine what it would be like if Marshawn Lynch had rumbled into the end zone for a Super Bowl win, handing the Pats a third-straight miracle defeat in the big game. Thankfully that didn’t happen and that’s all we can hold on to right now as town favorites like Dan Shaughnessy do their victory laps over downtrodden Patriot fans who still believe their team has gotten unfairly put through the ringer.
Prior to 2001, Patriots fans were the low men on the Boston sports totem pole. No one really cared who they were or what they stood for. Now, it seems like we are the favorite punching bags of not only a league that our team has systematically destroyed over the past 15 years, but also of many members of the Boston sports media, who delight in sticking it to “fanboys” almost as much as they like sticking it to the teams.
Tom Brady’s appeal still looms large, and from the sounds of it, he will certainly not go quietly into the night like Mr. Kraft did today. If Brady’s suspension is absolved by a neutral arbitrator, it won’t look good for Mr. Kraft.
An Open Letter To Mr. Robert Kraft
An Open Letter To Mr. Robert Kraft
Strong letter from Bruce Allen, one of those fighting the good fight for Patriots fans who just want to cheer and support their team without being torn apart by various writers and sports talk radio show hosts. It’s hard to disagree and Mr. Kraft getting everyone fired up over the past couple weeks only to back down now is what hurts the most.
Are you saying that this year you think instead of bringing in another corner they will keep the three LB on the field and shift say Collins out to that third corner spot and play zone
In spots, yes. And it doesn’t have to be Collins, I think more significantly it’s Mayo because there wasn’t another linebacker who could run like him after he went down. Assuming full health this year, I’d predict the sub/regular numbers will shift down closer to what they were the last few years – regular 60-65% of the time.
It’s not a coincidence that the last two seasons when Mayo went down they’ve gone to their sub defense the most.
Still, when it comes down to an obvious passing situation I think they’ll probably pull Hightower most often for the extra DB, though he could have an additional role as a sub-rusher in some spots.
With essential 4 good LBs, how do you see them rotating
Assuming we hit a point where everyone is healthy and ready to go by somewhere in October, I think you’ll see more of a dip back toward the regular defense. Last year they were in sub over 70 percent of the time. I think that related a lot to Mayo being out and no reliable third linebacker.
Really they can rotate however they need to. Spikes could play in more 34 looks, while you can rotate Ninkovich/Sheard/Chandler/Hightower/Collins at the edge spots as necessary, whether they’re standing up or have a hand down.
The defense I think we’ll see vs. passing teams will be more of the double nose 43 we’ve seen in recent years looking like this: Ninkovich/Sheard -Brown/Siliga/Branch – Easley/Siliga/Jones – Chandler/Sheard, then at LB Hightower – Mayo – Collins.
Might be a sprinkling of Flowers at DE or Grissom at LB, but I’m not convinced either will play much on defense this year.
Robert Kraft says New England Patriots won’t appeal Deflategate punishment
Robert Kraft says New England Patriots won’t appeal Deflategate punishment
Well that’s that then. Hard to feel good about it when all the Patriots haters will simply use this as an admission of guilt. What most are speculating is that this boils down to “fine, here’s $1 million, a first- and fourth-round pick even though you can’t prove we did anything wrong, just knock the Tom Brady suspension down”.
I get that Mr. Kraft is one of the most influential owners in the game, and no matter how Pats fans or haters feel about it, this decision was made for the good of the game. It’s leadership and I’m sure that the other owners appreciate Mr. Kraft falling on his sword to finally put a major piece of this to bed.
Now Brady’s appeal remains and really that is the heart of the entire case. Does Goodell simply reduce the suspension to 2-games or could he even wipe the entire thing out? Either way it’s going to look strange because the NFL will essentially be admitting the Wells Report wasn’t the slam dunk the original punishment made it out to be. And if that’s the case then Mr. Kraft really bit the bullet when he didn’t necessarily have to.
The fact is that the Patriots were implicit in blowing this up the way it has since the Wells Report was released. Had they not released a full website designed to counter each and every point, or talked to Peter King or leaked how furious Mr. Kraft was, then they might’ve pursued an appeal with a little more grace.
Once they started escalating there was no other way to put the fire out than either publicly relenting (like they did) or taking it to the highest court necessary to get a fair ruling which would unquestionably be terrible for the entire NFL.
Now all focus turns to Brady’s appeal and just how Roger Goodell plays it. If there is a secret agreement that the Pats would relent if Goodell reduces Brady’s sentence, the end might just be in sight. If not, the fight will get ugly and the Patriots could come out looking even worse for not pursuing an appeal when a higher court finds no evidence they did anything wrong.
This is just the latest unexpected turn in a saga that has dragged on far too long. As Mr. Kraft said, that is the only thing we can all agree on.