new england patriots

In case you were wondering Bill Belichick is finally going to stop messing around and actually try to win a Super Bowl this year. At least that’s what Chris Gasper and Albert Breer are saying.

Of course either of these articles could’ve been written in 2004 or 2007. Just scratch out “Haynesworth” for “Dillon” and “Ochocinco” for “Moss”. These are just the kind of paint-by-numbers articles that annoy the sleeves off me.

Things like:

This could be the Patriots’ last shot to win with this current core group, and Belichick knows it. It’s a smart play. (Gasper)

Current core group? You mean Koppen, Light, Welker and Branch? Okay, that’s a core I guess, even though Light will only leave if they think Solder is ready, and they have plenty of cap room to re-sign Welker, Branch and Koppen if they want to. So wait, what is Gasper talking about? The real core on this team is about to be the young defense that is loaded with talent. The old core was gone in 2009.

The acquisitions of Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco represent more than a potential low-risk/high-reward investments for New England. They also signal that a) Belichick now feels comfortable with his team’s rocky recovery from losing the championship leadership of players like Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour, and b) he believes this new group of Patriots is ready to make a run at a championship. For the Patriots, it’s time. (Breer)

Last year’s 14-2 team was not ready to make a run at a championship? Okay. Granted they had a bad playoff team, but come on, they beat every team that played in the conference championship games* (no Aaron Rodgers I know but still).

And it’s not the locker room that needs to handle Chad and Albert. BB has already made it abundantly clear: fall in line or I’ll cut your ass no matter who you are. You don’t need a strong locker room to remind people of that. All you need is a cut off hoodie.

Part of the reason I write this blog are articles with perspectives like this. When will people understand that BB is “all in” every year, even if he doesn’t go out and sign a bunch of name free agents?

It’s the same thing every year. Sign Adalius Thomas, Randy Moss and Wes Welker and he wants to win a Super Bowl. Only sign Alge Crumpler and Gerard Warren and he’s throwing in the towel on that season.

Acquiring Haynesworth and Ochocinco is nothing outside of the norm. They are low risk, high reward players who may or may not pan out. They also both filled huge needs. I don’t care what year it is or what the locker room chemistry is like, if BB sees a potential steal who can fill a need he’ll give them a shot.

We all remember the the ones who worked out, but there have been plenty who haven’t. Jonthan Sullivan, John Lynch, Fred Taylor just to name a few. Just because this year’s guys come with some past attitude issues doesn’t suddenly make this year any more special than last year.

The Patriots are set up to win for a long time. Every off-season they do what they think is best for the team to improve, and as much as every lazy writer out there wants to take the angle of “trying to get Tom Brady one last ring”, the truth is that the Patriots are thinking about getting rings no matter who is at quarterback.