The way he practices, by playing with him for the year that I did, to be so talented but to practice so hard, you don’t see a lot of young guys that have so much talent take the job that seriously because they’re so talented. That’s what I think separates Darrelle. He’s not taking his talent and his abilities for granted. He still wants to go out there and prove that he’s the absolute best week in and week out. He’s not taking that for granted. He wants to be the best for a long time, and I have never seen anyone as competitive as Darrelle Revis, and that’s the honest to God truth. He made me as a veteran pick my game up in practice. … He motivated me at the end of my career.
Which do you think is more important for a defense that is aggressive: sound coverage or great pressure (obviously they work together)
It’s an interesting question because yes, they do work together, but against quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who get the ball out quick, it’s hard for pass rush to get to them in time, at least from the edges.
So in today’s NFL, where the receivers have great size and all the advantages once they get past the five-yard contact window, you definitely need to have multiple cornerbacks who can be physical and press at the line of scrimmage.
But I also think that interior pass rush is vital as well. The guys on the inside can make a difference against quarterbacks who get the ball out quick. I’ve been beating this drum for a while now and I think the Pats have some promising pieces in place with Chris Jones (in a sub-package rotational role), Armond Armstead, and even Chandler Jones sliding inside.
I still dream of what a guy like Dominique Easley could do as well. He explodes off the ball and would really provide instant chaos in the quarterback’s face.
Those are the elements you need and you need them consistently. Especially in the playoffs against the best quarterbacks.
What I continue to hear from team officials is that despite the Patriots working out a number of quarterbacks, they truly feel like that Tom Brady only has a few years left. So what the Patriots really want is a major receiving threat for him so they can take that last shot or two at the Super Bowl.
Mike Freeman/Bleacher Report (h/t @DougKyedNESN)
Mike Freeman’s 10-Point Stance: Attacks on Clowney Stink of Draft Propaganda | Bleacher Report
I’m not ruling out the Patriots taking a wide receiver in the first couple rounds of this draft, but I find it hard to believe they’ll be trading up to get one, regardless of how badly BB wants a top receiver for Brady. This is, by quite a few accounts, one of the deepest drafts in years, and the Patriots have a number of holes at important spots, both short-term and long-term.
You want to get Brady a shot at a last Super Bowl? How about solidifying the interior of his line, the weak spot in most of the recent playoff exits. There’s no linebacker or defensive end depth either. And there are many questions around the defensive tackle spot as well.
So to say the Pats will mortgage multiple picks to move up to take a receiver, a position they’ve whiffed on far more than they’ve hit on in both the draft and free agency, seems extremely risky.
Maybe they’ve met with a high-ranked WR who they really believe can “get it” but I am skeptical that unless they think he has Moss-like football intelligence that they’ll spend a first round pick on a WR, much less trade up for him.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/what-i-continue-to-hear-from-team-officials-is/
Happy Birthday, Coach Belichick!
spikes and talib’s testimonies on the pats have me thinking, maybe the patriot way isn’t for everybody. there are guys who buy into it and they do great (until pats refuse to pay up for them anyway) but then there are guys whose egos are too big for them to put something else above them. basically what i’m trying to get at is, belichick’s not a jerk or something. thats why im curious how revis feels if he sticks after a year. just wondering what goes on behind the scenes in the organization
I definitely agree that playing for the Patriots isn’t for everyone. Tedy Bruschi calls it a “Football Academy” and it’s an environment where every last detail is about winning football games. If you’re not obsessed with being your best and being part of a team, you might not like it there.
For some guys, it’s cathartic to be in an environment like that. Many veterans enjoy being in a place where it is only about football after spending the first chunk of their careers in other franchises.
Belichick was raised at Navy and those are the kind of people and players he was around as a kid and I think that very much influences the kind of organization and players he wants.
A player like Spikes certainly marches to his own beat, and I loved watching him play. I’m not sure there was another defender, outside of maybe Talib, who was as good at one thing as Spikes was at destroying a opposing run game. But falling into line, sacrificing his desire to express himself, those kind of things just weren’t Spikes. Nothing against him, perhaps he’ll blossom even more when he can feel totally free.
But the fact is that when you put a team together of essentially “football nerds” they are very, very hard to beat. They are always well-prepared, don’t get rattled, and it takes a full game to beat them. A legit 60 minutes and nothing less. They’ll beat far more talented teams and they’ll come back on teams that let up once they have a 10-point lead.
We’ve seen it time and time again, with almost entirely different Patriots teams.
Almost every team wants to call themselves a team-first operation but very few really are. The Patriots definitely are.
How will Revis respond in that kind of environment? I’m not sure. It might be perfect for him. Or it might be too much. We’ll just have to let the season play out.
How do you think the extra few weeks now before the draft will effect things compared to last year
More time for more mock drafts and misinformation! The pre-draft period was already annoyingly long before they pushed the draft back into May. It’s no accident that suddenly players who have been atop the rankings all year are suddenly getting destroyed by “scouts” and “sources”. A lot of this is done to try and affect draft stock, most often by teams who want that player.
I don’t love the draft like a lot of people out there. I’ll be far more happy once I can jump in and evaluate the players the Pats pick up, rather than trying to pick a few random needles out of the haystack and try to explain why they will be who the Pats select, when really, they’re probably not selecting them.
I’m not a trained scout. I don’t watch college football film all day. The bit I do watch are YouTube cutups that give little context. I do think I know the kind of players the Pats like and I do my best to find those types of players, but I could do without the surrounding hype leading up to the draft and much of the online draftnik community, especially those who think they have it all figured out.
C.J. Mosley. Is he too similar to Jamie Collins to warrant the first round grab if he falls to 29?
I don’t think so, he probably fits more of a Will linebacker prototype, so if he’s redundant to anyone it’s probably Mayo.
My love/hate relationship with Mayo has been well-chronicled here. Despite his elite athleticism, I’ve just always felt he lacks that special something in coverage that the less-athletic Bruschi had. We’re entering year seven with him and there’s no question he’s the brains of the defense, but really how much worse off were they without him for most of last year? Hard to say for sure, but there weren’t many “man, if only we had Mayo” sentiments out there.
So the short answer is that I’ll take any defensive front seven player BB deems worthy in the first round, be it a defensive tackle, end or linebacker. And I don’t think it’s out of the question to take a player who could potentially back-up, and eventually maybe replace, Mayo.
