Changes looming in New England?

[bubbaramfan]

Get rid of Bilacheat and his underhanded, sneaky cheating ways and the Pats would be just an ordinary middle of the pack football team.

 

[Rainram]

Brady has made do with less than average receivers in the past though. He's accurate enough and they play enough short passing game that average guys can be productive enough to get wins.

Helped when he had that protection provided by the OLine (...and...errr...the refs). I think he gets roughed up this year if he comes back.

 

[snackdaddy]

Brady's skills could come crashing down rather quickly. Peyton Manning went from a 101.5 passer rating in 2014 to 67.9 in 2015. He threw 39 TD's with 15 INT's in 2014 to 9 TD's and 17 INT's in 10 games in 2015. His play dropped off the table very quick. Brady's 41 now. It could easily turn south on him very soon.

 

[RamFan503]

Someday the media is going to learn that Belichick, not Brady and Gronk etc., is the reason the Patriots are in the mix every year. I'd almost say that I hope Belichick restacks things without them and proves that, but it would mean more Patriots' appearances in the postseason which I would detest.

I just have enormous respect for Bill. Dude is the real GOAT in all this, IMO.

I hate to agree with you on any of this but I suspect you are right. My boss says if you watch him, he is about the only coach involved in all three aspects of the game and is involved in every play. He says Bellifat is the best head coach he’s ever seen. And..... yep.... fuck him and everything patsies.

 

[RamFan503]

Helped when he had that protection provided by the OLine (...and...errr...the refs). I think he gets roughed up this year if he comes back.

Oh pretty please?!?

 

[LesBaker]

Helped when he had that protection provided by the OLine (...and...errr...the refs). I think he gets roughed up this year if he comes back.

Brady's skills could come crashing down rather quickly. Peyton Manning went from a 101.5 passer rating in 2014 to 67.9 in 2015. He threw 39 TD's with 15 INT's in 2014 to 9 TD's and 17 INT's in 10 games in 2015. His play dropped off the table very quick. Brady's 41 now. It could easily turn south on him very soon.

Manning was broken down physically though and Brady is not. He is in excellent shape and has not had the stuffing knocked out of him. NE always has a solid if not excellent OL.

I hate to agree with you on any of this but I suspect you are right. My boss says if you watch him, he is about the only coach involved in all three aspects of the game and is involved in every play. He says Bellifat is the best head coach he’s ever seen. And..... yep.... freak him and everything patsies.

He is fantastic, but without Brady the run is over. I'm not arguing that BB is not a fantastic HC he clearly is, but without Brady under center that team is not as competitive.

I'd say it's legit to question the Patriots in 2018

I'd say you are right about what you post here, they have more question marks right now than they have had in 15 years. It'll be an interesting race in the AFC.

Keep your eyes on the Browns..........

So they undersold a franchise QB, and then got top dollar for a WR?

The WR had a resume that quantified that value, the QB didn't..........but a QB deals always have the stamp of "overpaid" on them.

And the last two QB's the Patriots unloaded turned out to be not good. I am SOOOOOO hoping they go three for three.

Fuck the 49ers.

 

[dieterbrock]

Brady's skills could come crashing down rather quickly. Peyton Manning went from a 101.5 passer rating in 2014 to 67.9 in 2015. He threw 39 TD's with 15 INT's in 2014 to 9 TD's and 17 INT's in 10 games in 2015. His play dropped off the table very quick. Brady's 41 now. It could easily turn south on him very soon.

I agree. The lightbulb gets a little brighter before it blows out. Same thing happened to Favre. Can’t beat time

 

[Steve808]

I dislike some NFL teams. Only team I hate...The Patriots!

Are you kidding? I think my hatred for the whiners is about the same as for the Cheatriots.

I almost broke my TV set a few times when the whiners had that long winning streak against the Rams.

 

[Juice]

I do not know. All of this could be a smokescreen for the upcoming year. I do not believe that the Patriots would let these types of disagreements leak out to the media without having a plan. When have we known the Patriots over the last fifteen years to not have a plan.

They keep talking about Gronk saying "How did you hear about that" as far as his retirement is concerned. Keep the day job, Gronk. I have had hernias with better acting ability.

These guys always know what is going on, and I am not buying into any of the media circus that surrounds this team. They want everybody to be talking of an implosion while they are on their way to another AFC championship.

 

[Karate61]

Are you kidding? I think my hatred for the whiners is about the same as for the Cheatriots.

I almost broke my TV set a few times when the whiners had that long winning streak against the Rams.

Yeah, as a rams fan I can't stand the 9ers. But other than Ken Norton, Jr. I can't think of anything classless the 9ers have ever done over the years. We have to have a rival!

But, the Patriots...they're just flat out assholes...

 

[OC_Ram]

Patriot gossip should be banned from ROD

Let the great TB be stroked in New England not on ROD

-That is all

 

[Steve808]

Yeah, as a rams fan I can't stand the 9ers. But other than Ken Norton, Jr. I can't think of anything classless the 9ers have ever done over the years. We have to have a rival!

But, the Patriots...they're just flat out assholes...

I hated Ken Norton Jr. I'm glad he got to see his a$$ kicked by the Rams a few times. But I really hated Merton Hanks with his chicken a$$ dance. Sadly his sorry a$$ was off the whiners roster when Kurt Warner destroyed them.

If the refs didn't allow holding of the receivers in SB 36, the Rams would have destroyed the Cheatriots. Of course Martz, could have called running plays against the 8 defensive backs formation and that would have won us the game too.

 

[shaunpinney]

What I don't understand is the Jimmy G. trade with San Fran. I heard that Bellecheat wanted Jimmy G. as the next starter in New England, but Kraft took Brady's side. I get that Bellecheat was upset, but why hamper his team's draft capital in the draft with only a 2nd rounder for Jimmy G? Surely a different team would have gone higher..at least a 1st rounder, especially when considering the recent trade of Brandon Cooks for the Rams 1st rounder (etc...)

So they undersold a franchise QB, and then got top dollar for a WR? I thought it was the Hoody that operated the Draft? Doesn't make sense to me, unless the dude is going senile and the Patriots are sinking by the bow....

I really didn't get this either, they could (and should) have taken SF to the cleaners on this one, JimmyG was touted as the next franchise QB for NE, he'd been learning behind Brady which is not a bad place to be and they basically give him away, should have been a 1st at least, and for a QB hungry team they could have had more.... didn't make sense to me.

 

[Legatron4]

I still believe Brady and Belicheck retire at the same time. I just can’t imagine Brady playing that much longer.

As for Peyton Manning, you saw his decline at the end of 2014. He looked dreadful against the Colts in the playoffs. Brady just threw for over 500 yards in the Super Bowl. The only thing dropping his performance would be an injury.

 

[Selassie I]

I hated Ken Norton Jr. I'm glad he got to see his a$$ kicked by the Rams a few times. But I really hated Merton Hanks with his chicken a$$ dance. Sadly his sorry a$$ was off the whiners roster when Kurt Warner destroyed them.

If the refs didn't allow holding of the receivers in SB 36, the Rams would have destroyed the Cheatriots. Of course Martz, could have called running plays against the 8 defensive backs formation and that would have won us the game too.

Hanks' chicken dance was extra annoying because of his giraffe neck.

Oh how I wanted that thing to get snapped.

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...rady-leading-a-revolt-against-bill-belichick/

Is Tom Brady leading a revolt against Bill Belichick?
Posted by Mike Florio on April 16, 2018

Getty Images

On the 18th anniversary of Bill Belichick’s decision to make Tom Brady a Patriot, is Brady actively trying to unmake the Patriots?

The notion that #Tommy is fomenting Foxborough friction would have been inconceivable a year ago. Now, Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston (read article posted below) connects the dots in a way that suggests Brady resides at the center of the storm that keeps gathering around Belichick and his grumpy old man ways.

Curran identifies scattered Patriots who revolted in the past, from Adalius Thomas to Randy Moss to Wes Welker to Logan Mankins. This time, it’s very different.

Curran’s column lacks hard evidence that would support the proclamation that Brady is leading a “pushback,” or that he has launched an “open revolt.”

The column contains plenty of quotes from now-former Patriots that suggest a sea change regarding the willingness of players to continuously be mentally and emotionally beaten down by a “zero fun, sir” head coach whose quest to win each and every Super Bowl may not be shared by guys who eventually have a couple of rings (or more) and who decide that life is too short to let it be run by a single-minded, all-consuming, soul-expunging obsession.

Really, how many times can a guy give everything he has to keep scaling a mountain he already has scaled, especially when there’s no clear evidence that all work and no play is the secret to making it to the summit? The Eagles, a far more fun-loving and loose group than the Patriots, won the Super Bowl this year by beating the Patriots, thanks in part to Belichick choosing to send a message to the locker room in a way that kept one of his best defensive players on the bench for four hours.

It’s one thing to process a pair of losses to the Giants that felt like divinely-intervened flukes. It’s quite another to lose the Super Bowl to a team with a head coach who doesn’t expect his players to be robots, thanks in large part to a specific effort by Belichick to remind his robots that they should remain robotic by removing the battery from Malcolm Butler.

http://www.nbcsports.com/boston/pat...cts-bigger-issues-facing-new-england-patriots

Complexity of Gronk situation reflects bigger issues facing Patriots
By Tom E. Curran

At some point, Rob Gronkowski has to articulate what the endgame is.

Because what we’ve got now is a wildcat strike being carried out by a guy who is wavering about continuing to play because he’s A) concerned about his long-term health, B) unfairly compensated or C) weary of the stifling atmosphere under Bill Belichick.

The streetlights have come on, Gronk’s dinner’s already been scraped into the garbage, all the other kids are upstairs doing their homework and Gronk still hasn’t come home. It’s getting dark.

We’ve all been reduced out here to reading smoke signals on social media.

The latest was a retweet of a Deion Sanders mini-rant:


View: https://twitter.com/DeionSanders/status/984859969865551872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcsports.com%2Fboston%2Fpatriots%2Fcomplexity-rob-gronkowski-situation-reflects-bigger-issues-facing-new-england-patriots

OK, so it’s about money. But is it also about atmosphere and culture? Is it about being “FREE” and “HAPPY” as Gronk implored Danny Amendola to be when the wide receiver lit out for Miami?

Well, yes it is.

Part of Gronk’s off-field brand is built on the premise he’s an oversized pubescent dope who blunders into soft-core trouble because he just can’t help himself. And Bill Belichick has been the perfect foil for that persona, playing Sergeant Carter to Gronk’s Gomer Pyle while Tom Brady’s the big brother/protector who’d love to act out like Gronk but just doesn’t have it in him.

But the joke, apparently, isn’t as funny as it used to be. Or maybe it never really was. Whatever the case, there’s no mistaking that, over the past year, we’ve seen the most vocal and obvious uprising against Belichick’s “Do Your Job” “No Days Off” iron-fist rule.

It was one thing when it was Adalius Thomas sending verbal harpoons at Belichick a decade ago, or Randy Moss using his postgame press conference to whine about his contract in 2010, or Wes Welker making foot jokes, or Logan Mankins calling out the owner.

The pushback now is being led by Brady. And it’s not about one thing, it’s about everything. It’s about the culture. A culture we’ve all celebrated for nearly two decades as being the reason the Patriots from 2001 through 2019 will be the standard by which all American sports dynasties are measured.

But when the player whose buy-in is most important -- Brady -- begins an open revolt, then what? What changed? Who changed? How many teammates agree with him? What next?

In Tom vs. Time, Gisele Bundchen stated that her husband just wants to go to work and have “fun” and be “appreciated.” The inference is obvious. He isn’t feeling either of those. And the fact he took the initiative to get that out there (though it would be most effective if he articulated it clearly himself) emboldened others.

Gronk is the one most obviously emboldened and his situation is ongoing.

But Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola and Nate Solder -- all free agents who departed this offseason -- laced their praise of the Patriots program with laments about how hard it was to play here.

Solder:

Before I tell you what happened next, I need to let you know a little about what it’s really like playing for the Patriots.

It can be a tough environment. It’s very businesslike, and at times it can be cold. Everything in New England is predicated on performance. It’s a place where people sometimes treat you differently based on how you practiced that day or how you answered a question in a meeting.

One day, you could walk around the facility feeling like a Pro Bowler — the next, like you’re about to get cut.

I don’t mean that to sound harsh or negative. It’s also an incredible place to play, and I’m grateful for the years I spent there. It’s just that it could be tough sometimes. The Patriots have set a standard, and the pressure is very real. That’s the culture they’ve built — a winning culture — and it’s why they’ve been so successful.

Amendola:

I understand Bill [Belichick] runs a tight ship, and he hasn't been known to pay his players, really. I understood that I gave money back to him so I could play for him and play for my teammates and fulfill my side of the contract, and at the end of the day, I had faith that he was going to give me an opportunity to stay,"

It's not easy, that's for sure. He's an a--h--- sometimes. There were a lot of things I didn't like about playing for him, but I must say, the things I didn't like were all in regards to getting the team better, and I respected him. I didn't like practicing in the snow, I didn't like practicing in the rain, but that was going to make us a better football team and that was going to make me a better football player.

It wasn't easy, and he'd be the first to admit, at the [Super Bowl] ring ceremony, that it wasn't easy playing for him. The silver lining was that we were at the ring ceremony.

Lewis:

I just wanted to be in a place where I felt comfortable and felt wanted. That's what I felt (in Tennessee) so I'm going to work to make this situation right.

Obviously, we’ve all known that the grind in New England has always been very real. But the fact so many players are speaking on it is unusual.

Still, if the “cultural issues” were confined to a few very important players growing weary of Belichick’s bedside manner, it would easier to believe the problem was easy to quarantine.

But Amendola’s comments to Mike Reiss on the Super Bowl benching of Malcolm Butler hint at a more widely-shared belief on the team that Belichick’s iron fist did real damage.

I have my thoughts about it because I was out there putting my blood, sweat and tears out on the field that night, and one of our best players wasn't on the field," he said. "To tell you the truth, I don't know why. I did ask, but I didn't get any answers. I can't make decisions like that, so I don't necessarily worry about it, but I know Malcolm is a great player and he could have helped us win. For whatever reason, he wasn't out there . . .

“Nobody really got an explanation for it. He's a brother of ours. He was a brother of ours that year. And I hate to see a guy who worked so hard throughout the season not get a chance to play in the biggest game of the year and really get no explanation for it. With that said, I don't know how the business aspect went into that decision. I don't know how the personal aspect went into that decision between him and Bill. But as a friend, I would have loved to see him on the field that day.

If Brady, Gronk and assorted other Patriots are pissed at the exile of Alex Guerrero or find their off-field “brand” stifled, that’s an issue but it doesn’t really rise to tearing at the fabric of the team.

And it’s not breaking news that the Patriots can be tight with the contractual dollar and really demanding on their employees. That’s barely an issue.

But Amendola’s comments on Butler make it clear that he felt -- at the very least -- let down by the decision to bench Butler. At worst, he felt betrayed.

If one of the Patriots’ most loyal soldiers of the past six seasons felt that way, how many others feel that badly or worse?

The 2018 season unofficially begins this week with voluntary workouts. But it feels like there’s still so much unfinished business left to address from 2017.

Maybe that’s why the reason for Gronk’s absence and pinning down his endgame is so difficult.

It’s a little bit of everything.