That was then: Celebrating what was

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Pretty cool article here on guys who played during the Pats "drought" (2005-2013).

https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/02/03/oral-history-patriots-players-during-brady-belichick-super-bowl-gap-drought-daily-cover
A few tidbits...

(Brandon) LLOYD: People will absolutely hate Tom’s guts because he beats their favorite team. When I tell them the off-the-field stories ... what an amazing man he is, how thoughtful he is as a friend. When we met, it was like, Damn, yeah he is definitely the flyest dude ever. But then getting on the practice field it was like this switch that went on. It was like everything full speed. It was just the level of intensity at which he prepared and played. The first week of training camp, it was like, Yup, this is intense. Damn, this is good.

WES WELKER, WIDE RECEIVER (2007–12): ’07 was the best team I've ever seen. We were [at Super Bowl Media Day], and I don’t think I even had a booth at that time. That's how good we were.

(Shawn) SPRINGS (talking about Brady v. Belichick): I’m gonna be honest with you: It’s Tom Brady, bro. It was Tom. He's the ultimate leader. He's the ultimate f------ winner. And don't get me wrong, Bill is amazing. But it's hard to say for me how amazing Bill is—I had some great coaches, Coach [Joe] Gibbs and Coach [Mike] Holmgren. If Coach Holmgren had Tom Brady, he’d have six Super Bowls too. I don’t even want to put a number on it because I don't want to disrespect Bill—but, I mean, it’s like 70% Tom. I’m not trying to be controversial. But Tom is a f------ animal, man.
 

jablo1312

New Member
Sep 20, 2005
970
Enjoyable read,I've alwasy referred to this as the "decade in the wilderness" (tm, obv) in my head. It's a bit crazy how this doesn't really get brought up any more but after super bowl XLVI the "they can't win anymore" chatter was so high for a long time. Probs why XLIX will always be the fondest super bowl memory for me.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Just for the record...this nine year period produced...

- a 110-34 regular season record (.764)
- a 9-8 playoff record (.529)
- 8 division titles
- 2 AFC championships
- 5 trips to the AFCCG

I mean, that would be a phenomenal run for any team. But those were the "dark ages" within the larger Patriots' dynasty.

Crazy.
 

OurF'ingCity

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 22, 2016
8,469
New York City
Thanks for linking that @BaseballJones , very enjoyable read.
Hey, SI did something worth reading!

But very much agreed - it's pretty funny that Shawn Springs, a CB, is the most pro-Brady former player they talked to. Come on, Shawn, give your D some credit!

And Ellis Hobbs comes off as very thoughtful and reasonable in pretty much every one of his responses - seems like a really genuine, nice, non-bitter guy.
 

Bergs

funky and cold
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2005
21,613
Just for the record...this nine year period produced...

- a 110-34 regular season record (.764)
- a 9-8 playoff record (.529)
- 8 division titles
- 2 AFC championships
- 5 trips to the AFCCG

I mean, that would be a phenomenal run for any team. But those were the "dark ages" within the larger Patriots' dynasty.

Crazy.
Crazy unlucky run as well. That Denver debacle, the NYG superbowls, Caldwell dropping the pass and 12-men on the field in '06, that idiotic NYJ loss, Brady's knee in '08. The 2 best teams (maybe 3) in the 18-year run faled to win it all.
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,093
Crazy unlucky run as well. That Denver debacle, the NYG superbowls, Caldwell dropping the pass and 12-men on the field in '06, that idiotic NYJ loss, Brady's knee in '08. The 2 best teams (maybe 3) in the 18-year run faled to win it all.
Sometimes the best team just doesn’t win...

 

Seels

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
4,948
NH
I'll never get how they lost that Jets game. The biggest mystery of the entire era is that game.
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,093
I'll never get how they lost that Jets game. The biggest mystery of the entire era is that game.
Alge Crumpler’s end zone drop was such an ominous sign that I overlooked at the time. They just completely melted down. That 2010 team was damn good.
 

rodderick

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 24, 2009
12,751
Belo Horizonte - Brazil
Alge Crumpler’s end zone drop was such an ominous sign that I overlooked at the time. They just completely melted down. That 2010 team was damn good.
The offense was damn good, but that defense kinda sucked aside from generating turnovers. I feel like they never really looked as dominant as their record throughout the season, even if they had some impressive wins along the way. Made many bad/mediocre QBs look good.
 

Ralphwiggum

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 27, 2012
9,827
Needham, MA
Great article. It's so much easier as a fan to have let go (sort of) of the Scottish game. Well, not really, but three Super Bowls since then makes that shit-tastic memory fade a little. When that's the only SB you played in it has to be a lot tougher.

I was at both the Scottish Game and the Jet debacle. The two worse in-person experiences of my sports watching life. As a 20+ year Red Sox season ticket holder and someone who is the beneficiary of family Pats season tickets for the last 15 years, I have been lucky enough to be at some amazing games in person, yet those two experiences stand out in terms of how awful I felt after both.
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,093
The offense was damn good, but that defense kinda sucked aside from generating turnovers. I feel like they never really looked as dominant as their record throughout the season, even if they had some impressive wins along the way. Made many bad/mediocre QBs look good.
I dunno. They finished like gang busters:

45-24 @ Lions
45-3 Jets
36-7 @ Bears
31-27 Packers (Matt Flynn so that was a poor performance)
34-3 @ Bills
38-7 Dolphins

They also had 4 double digit wins before that stretch too, including Gronk’s coming out party at Heinz.

I wasn’t expecting a laugher against the Jets like the 45-3 game but I certainly wasn’t expecting such a terrible performance either. I’ll always irrationally blame Welker for creating that distraction. Bad mojo all around culminating in that Chung debacle.
 

Marbleheader

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2004
11,726
Those years just go to show that a dropped pass, a missed tackle, one small thing can be the difference between winning and losing. I almost missed Butler's pick because I was ready to turn the tv off after Kearse's catch. It was 3 trips to the Super Bowl and 3 fluke catches doing them in. There's a clip of Blount after that catch in disbelief saying there's always one crazy catch that kills us. You can see it on Bradys face. Here we go again. Butler's pick is my single most joyful sports moment and part of it was relief after those years of just falling short.
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
SoSH Member
Feb 4, 2012
38,144
Watched it all. Some random thoughts.

1. I can’t believe that is 16 years ago. I hate that.
2. Manning Face everywhere.
3. Colts were never in that game.
4. Asante Samuel was a stud.
5. Brady is much more skittish with his feet. He’s a lot more smooth and casual now. Like he sees the game much slower.
6. Peyton always looked like an idiot, his stiff body shimmy and shaking the ball to receivers always felt like magic because he looked like such a dumbass.
7. The broadcast graphics are hilariously dated.
8. Some unbelievably monster hits in the game.
9. The Pats D was a verifiable who’s who of Patriot All-Stars
10. Dillon was a lot faster than I remember.
11. Faulk and Dion Lewis are the most shifty mother fuckers alive.
12. Bruschi is goat.

And that’s all.
 

Preacher

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 9, 2006
6,411
Pyeongtaek, South Korea
I’m watching the Championship game against KC right now on nfl network. We’re in OT. I miss Tom.
My wife and I watched that game in the middle of the night in Cervinia, Italy. I mark my life by where I was during some significant Patriots game. I watched a previous Patriots v Chiefs playoff matchup back in 2016 (2015 season) in Kyoto, Japan.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,059
Hingham, MA
The 2003 AFC championship vs Indy is an even better rewatch IMO. The Pats made Indy look absolutely awful for most of that game.
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,093
The 2003 AFC championship vs Indy is an even better rewatch IMO. The Pats made Indy look absolutely awful for most of that game.
The amount of absolute ownership the Pats would have had over the Colts had the 2006 AFCCG lead not been blown would have been off the charts. Would have been 3 high profile and embarrassing playoff eliminations in 4 years. Still annoyed by the BS OPI on Troy Brown as we were about to put that game away in the first half after the Asante pick 6.
 

CantKeepmedown

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
2,581
Portland, ME
The amount of absolute ownership the Pats would have had over the Colts had the 2006 AFCCG lead not been blown would have been off the charts. Would have been 3 high profile and embarrassing playoff eliminations in 4 years. Still annoyed by the BS OPI on Troy Brown as we were about to put that game away in the first half after the Asante pick 6.
And Brady would be going for ring # 8 and Manning would only have 1.
 

Phil Plantier

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 7, 2002
3,419
These threads occasionally give me the chance to repost my all time favorite SI cover.

View attachment 38487
We ended up not hearing from Demetrius Walker, although it sounds like he's doing OK:

https://www.slamonline.com/archives/demetrius-walker/
On the outside looking in, people maybe had different expectations for me in high school. For me, though, I was happy. In my sophomore year at Fontana (CA) High, I embraced who I was and realized I was a Division I player. I made the decision to transfer to JSerra for my junior year, where I got to play against the Wear twins, Klay Thompson and a bunch of D-I players. After my junior year, I transferred to St. Mary’s in Phoenix and finally won the state championship I wanted my entire high school career.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
I dunno. They finished like gang busters:

45-24 @ Lions
45-3 Jets
36-7 @ Bears
31-27 Packers (Matt Flynn so that was a poor performance)
34-3 @ Bills
38-7 Dolphins

They also had 4 double digit wins before that stretch too, including Gronk’s coming out party at Heinz.

I wasn’t expecting a laugher against the Jets like the 45-3 game but I certainly wasn’t expecting such a terrible performance either. I’ll always irrationally blame Welker for creating that distraction. Bad mojo all around culminating in that Chung debacle.
@rodderick is right, though - so much of that streak was turnover-driven. The D forced 20 turnovers during that streak, and the offense only turned it over once (the whole year, the D forced 38 turnovers and the O only turned it over 10 times). The 2010 D was a wretched 30th in yards per drive and only 16th in points per drive. And in the playoff game, a rare Brady pick, a weird not-technically-a-turnover-but-basically-a-turnover on the Chung play, and the D coming up small and not getting any takeaways. And then the same thing happened the next year - the D had forced turnovers in 13 straight games, and then dried up in the Super Bowl. Relying on turnovers is a tough way to live.
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,093
@rodderick is right, though - so much of that streak was turnover-driven. The D forced 20 turnovers during that streak, and the offense only turned it over once (the whole year, the D forced 38 turnovers and the O only turned it over 10 times). The 2010 D was a wretched 30th in yards per drive and only 16th in points per drive. And in the playoff game, a rare Brady pick, a weird not-technically-a-turnover-but-basically-a-turnover on the Chung play, and the D coming up small and not getting any takeaways. And then the same thing happened the next year - the D had forced turnovers in 13 straight games, and then dried up in the Super Bowl. Relying on turnovers is a tough way to live.
Not disagreeing but turnover differential is pretty much a hallmark of the BB/TB era. We forced turnovers and we protected the ball very well. The 2010 team seemed to fit that mold pretty well. Definitely agree that they probably weren’t as good as the record or margin of victory indicated. Matt Flynn certainly moved the ball with ease, which was jarring to watch at the time.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
Not disagreeing but turnover differential is pretty much a hallmark of the BB/TB era. We forced turnovers and we protected the ball very well. The 2010 team seemed to fit that mold pretty well. Definitely agree that they probably weren’t as good as the record or margin of victory indicated. Matt Flynn certainly moved the ball with ease, which was jarring to watch at the time.
That's true, but I think there's a difference between "we take care of the football and create turnovers" and "our defense is probably the worst in the league if you take away the takeaways," which is where they were at in the early part of the 2010s.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
That's true, but I think there's a difference between "we take care of the football and create turnovers" and "our defense is probably the worst in the league if you take away the takeaways," which is where they were at in the early part of the 2010s.
I'd always rather have a team with just a solid defense that gets stops without the need for takeaways, than a team that gets a lot of them, but relies on them. Because in that big game where they aren't getting them, it's going to go very poorly.
 

BigSoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
May 31, 2007
47,093
I'd always rather have a team with just a solid defense that gets stops without the need for takeaways, than a team that gets a lot of them, but relies on them. Because in that big game where they aren't getting them, it's going to go very poorly.
Yup. And that's exactly what happened. Offense couldn't get it going and defense got smoked by Sanchez/Braylon when they desperately needed a stop. With normal turnover luck, that's probably an 11-12 win team that's solid but not nearly as good as the 14-2 juggernaut that they appeared to be. Still shouldn't have lost to the Jets in any event though. That game was just terrible all around.
 

Seels

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
4,948
NH
The Troy Brown OPI is the most offensively bad call of the entire era. It's not like it was the only bad call either, Hobbs had the friggin face guarding call on Wayne that game as well.

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy, but refs absolutely played a role in 2006.
 

wiffleballhero

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 28, 2009
4,530
In the simulacrum
This passage in the NYTimes' story about the SB, with respect to Brady's last 'few' years in NE struck me as pretty funny. I bet every QB in football history would like to struggle as much as Brady did in the last 3-4 years in NE (three SB appearances, 2 wins).

The quote:

"It is not hard to figure out why Tom Brady wanted to play with the Buccaneers.
After struggling to get anything going with a mediocre group of wide receivers in his last few seasons with New England, Brady saw limitless opportunities in..."
 

Shaky Walton

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 20, 2019
717
This passage in the NYTimes' story about the SB, with respect to Brady's last 'few' years in NE struck me as pretty funny. I bet every QB in football history would like to struggle as much as Brady did in the last 3-4 years in NE (three SB appearances, 2 wins).

The quote:

"It is not hard to figure out why Tom Brady wanted to play with the Buccaneers.
After struggling to get anything going with a mediocre group of wide receivers in his last few seasons with New England, Brady saw limitless opportunities in..."
To play devil's advocate, the last two years were a little rough. Yes, of course, they won the SB in his second to last year, but defense and the running game were huge that season, and the offense was not in any way dominant. That 13 points was enough to win the last Brady SB tells us a lot about the weapons Tom had and did not have. And his frustration was obvious in his last season in NE. So yes, there is huge overstatement in that piece and sentence. Still, it's not hard to see Tom assessing who might have been coming back last year and wanting to play with a more talented group in his last few seasons in the NFL.
 

Hendu for Kutch

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 7, 2006
6,920
Nashua, NH
This passage in the NYTimes' story about the SB, with respect to Brady's last 'few' years in NE struck me as pretty funny. I bet every QB in football history would like to struggle as much as Brady did in the last 3-4 years in NE (three SB appearances, 2 wins).

The quote:

"It is not hard to figure out why Tom Brady wanted to play with the Buccaneers.
After struggling to get anything going with a mediocre group of wide receivers in his last few seasons with New England, Brady saw limitless opportunities in..."
Funny thing is, beyond the stupidity of including anything beyond last year, people were genuinely talking about if they had one of the great WR corps ever early in the 2019 season.

Antonio Brown at the #1, a revitalized Josh Gordon at the #2 and Edelman in the slot was a mouth-watering display of talent and production. Dorsett was a great fit as a 4th WR and they had a 1st round pick at WR waiting in the wings.

The full Michele/Burkhead/White trio was available, and there's a potential Gronk return on the horizon!

It fell apart fast, that's for sure.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Funny thing is, beyond the stupidity of including anything beyond last year, people were genuinely talking about if they had one of the great WR corps ever early in the 2019 season.

Antonio Brown at the #1, a revitalized Josh Gordon at the #2 and Edelman in the slot was a mouth-watering display of talent and production. Dorsett was a great fit as a 4th WR and they had a 1st round pick at WR waiting in the wings.

The full Michele/Burkhead/White trio was available, and there's a potential Gronk return on the horizon!

It fell apart fast, that's for sure.
That actually would have been a pretty awesome offense, had it all come together and stayed together.

-sigh-
 

Ralphwiggum

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 27, 2012
9,827
Needham, MA
The Pats started 8-0 in 2019 and at one point were 10-1. It fell apart at the end in very un-Patriot like fashion and of course they lost in the WC round, but for most teams that's a good year. Brady had obviously become frustrated with the team for what I am sure are a myriad of reasons. The relationship with BB had obviously become complex and strained, and I understand why he wanted a fresh start with another team. But painting his last few years in NE as any kind of failure is a massive overstatement.
 

OurF'ingCity

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 22, 2016
8,469
New York City
To play devil's advocate, the last two years were a little rough. Yes, of course, they won the SB in his second to last year, but defense and the running game were huge that season, and the offense was not in any way dominant. That 13 points was enough to win the last Brady SB tells us a lot about the weapons Tom had and did not have. And his frustration was obvious in his last season in NE. So yes, there is huge overstatement in that piece and sentence. Still, it's not hard to see Tom assessing who might have been coming back last year and wanting to play with a more talented group in his last few seasons in the NFL.
I think the weird low-scoring Super Bowl, and the struggles the following year, makes it seem like the bolded was true, but it's absolutely false to say the offense was not good that year. They were 5th in offensive DVOA. Other than TDs, Brady's stats that year overall were very similar (only slightly worse) to the stats he has this year.

And in the playoffs specifically, Brady actually was much better in the divisional and AFC champ games than he was in the divisional and NFC champ game this year.

Brady left because he knows he only has a few more years in his career and wanted to maximize his chances at more rings (the obviously correct decision in retrospect). And he probably was a little tired of BB/the "Patriot Way" at that point and I'm sure there was an appeal to living in Florida and playing for Arians who, by all accounts, basically just lets Brady do whatever he wants. But somehow for a lot of media members that has turned into "the Pats offense wasn't good for years before Brady left" which is demonstrably incorrect.
 
Apr 24, 2019
1,278
I think the weird low-scoring Super Bowl, and the struggles the following year, makes it seem like the bolded was true, but it's absolutely false to say the offense was not good that year. They were 5th in offensive DVOA. Other than TDs, Brady's stats that year overall were very similar (only slightly worse) to the stats he has this year.

And in the playoffs specifically, Brady actually was much better in the divisional and AFC champ games than he was in the divisional and NFC champ game this year.

Brady left because he knows he only has a few more years in his career and wanted to maximize his chances at more rings (the obviously correct decision in retrospect). And he probably was a little tired of BB/the "Patriot Way" at that point and I'm sure there was an appeal to living in Florida and playing for Arians who, by all accounts, basically just lets Brady do whatever he wants. But somehow for a lot of media members that has turned into "the Pats offense wasn't good for years before Brady left" which is demonstrably incorrect.
The above paragraph is of course true, BUT ALSO, and perhaps more importantly: Brady left because the Patriots wouldn't give him the three-year contract he wanted and asked for. Three years, 80-ish mill probably would've gotten it done - and would've been a bargain. BB refused to commit the team to a 40-something QB for that long. That is when this all really kicked off, IMO. That Brady wound up arguably better off going to a team that had drafted well enough to surround him with a formidable array of weapons was a benefit and, by the post-2019 off-season, clearly a draw.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
I think the weird low-scoring Super Bowl, and the struggles the following year, makes it seem like the bolded was true, but it's absolutely false to say the offense was not good that year. They were 5th in offensive DVOA. Other than TDs, Brady's stats that year overall were very similar (only slightly worse) to the stats he has this year.
The 2018 team was really a weird Jekyll-and-Hyde group, both offensively and defensively. Counting playoffs, they had 7 games where they scored at least 37 points; they also had 4 where they scored 13 or fewer. The O was fine when they had Gordon and Edelman, but it struggled before Edelman come off suspension and before Gordon got ramped up / after he got suspended. Overall they slipped from 2.61 points per drive in 2017, best in the NFL, to 2.27, 8th, and that dropoff showed up as inconsistency week-to-week rather than a general decline.

And in 2019, the offense was fine half the year, and then fell off a cliff down the stretch once they started playing Harry and a hobbled Sanu instead of Gordon and Dorsett / Meyers. Obviously we saw those struggles continue into 2020 as well.

And in the playoffs specifically, Brady actually was much better in the divisional and AFC champ games than he was in the divisional and NFC champ game this year.
Yeah, the Super Bowl wasn't a great offensive game, but the O was really good in the preceding two games, and the "D and run game carried them" narrative is way overblown.
 

rodderick

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 24, 2009
12,751
Belo Horizonte - Brazil
I think the weird low-scoring Super Bowl, and the struggles the following year, makes it seem like the bolded was true, but it's absolutely false to say the offense was not good that year. They were 5th in offensive DVOA. Other than TDs, Brady's stats that year overall were very similar (only slightly worse) to the stats he has this year.

And in the playoffs specifically, Brady actually was much better in the divisional and AFC champ games than he was in the divisional and NFC champ game this year.

Brady left because he knows he only has a few more years in his career and wanted to maximize his chances at more rings (the obviously correct decision in retrospect). And he probably was a little tired of BB/the "Patriot Way" at that point and I'm sure there was an appeal to living in Florida and playing for Arians who, by all accounts, basically just lets Brady do whatever he wants. But somehow for a lot of media members that has turned into "the Pats offense wasn't good for years before Brady left" which is demonstrably incorrect.
Yup. 4th in passing DVOA too. This narrative that the running game won them the title in 2018 (which even the coaching staff seems to have bought into) makes little sense to me. Yeah, they struggled a little down the stretch in the regular season after losing Gordon, but their WR corps was Edelman, Patterson, Dorset and the ghost of Chris Hogan. I think Brady got a lot out of what he had that season and they won their first two playoff games throwing the ball.
 

OurF'ingCity

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 22, 2016
8,469
New York City
The 2018 team was really a weird Jekyll-and-Hyde group, both offensively and defensively. Counting playoffs, they had 7 games where they scored at least 37 points; they also had 4 where they scored 13 or fewer. The O was fine when they had Gordon and Edelman, but it struggled before Edelman come off suspension and before Gordon got ramped up / after he got suspended. Overall they slipped from 2.61 points per drive in 2017, best in the NFL, to 2.27, 8th, and that dropoff showed up as inconsistency week-to-week rather than a general decline.

And in 2019, the offense was fine half the year, and then fell off a cliff down the stretch once they started playing Harry and a hobbled Sanu instead of Gordon and Dorsett / Meyers. Obviously we saw those struggles continue into 2020 as well.
Right. On the one hand you could make the argument that a lot of the offensive struggles in 2019 were out of their control (Gronk retiring, Brown essentially forcing the team to cut him, Gordon's issues, Sanu turning into a pumpkin) but on the other hand they made their own bed in that regard due to their complete and total inability to draft a top-tier wide receiver (or TE after Gronk).
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,059
Hingham, MA
Right. On the one hand you could make the argument that a lot of the offensive struggles in 2019 were out of their control (Gronk retiring, Brown essentially forcing the team to cut him, Gordon's issues, Sanu turning into a pumpkin) but on the other hand they made their own bed in that regard due to their complete and total inability to draft a top-tier wide receiver (or TE after Gronk).
Even with all of that, they would have been better in 2019 if not for the injuries to the OL + Develin. Andrews barely played, Wynn missed a ton of time, everyone was hurt at one time or another.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
Even with all of that, they would have been better in 2019 if not for the injuries to the OL + Develin. Andrews barely played, Wynn missed a ton of time, everyone was hurt at one time or another.
They would have run the ball better - and they did run the ball better later in the year after Wynn returned from injury. However, it did not help the passing game, which continued to deteriorate after Gordon went on IR.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,059
Hingham, MA
They would have run the ball better - and they did run the ball better later in the year after Wynn returned from injury. However, it did not help the passing game, which continued to deteriorate after Gordon went on IR.
Right and I assume there would have been some trickle down effect to the passing game. I know running effectively doesn’t affect play action passing but I would assume better pure pass blocking would have helped (Newhouse was a turnstile). Top 5 offense? No. League average? I think so.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,012
Mansfield MA
Right and I assume there would have been some trickle down effect to the passing game. I know running effectively doesn’t affect play action passing but I would assume better pure pass blocking would have helped (Newhouse was a turnstile). Top 5 offense? No. League average? I think so.
Wynn was back and Newhouse was on the bench for the worst stretch though. The improved pass-blocking didn't matter with Brady throwing to Sanu and Harry.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,059
Hingham, MA
Wynn was back and Newhouse was on the bench for the worst stretch though. The improved pass-blocking didn't matter with Brady throwing to Sanu and Harry.
True, Sanu’s ankle injury was a major killer too.

Edit SO many things went wrong yet they were a defensive stop against a bad Dolphins team away from the 2 seed. Argh. Who knows though. Maybe better off they lost and not get embarrassed by KC. Shrug.
 

Seels

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
4,948
NH
Sanu didn't turn into a pumpkin. Sanu's trade was the worst of the era. A 2nd for a guy with ~24 games left on his contract, who plays the same inline type of receiver you already have too many of. The injury exacerbated it but Sanu wasn't a fit in the first place (and for the record, I'm not sure Emannuel Sanders was either, but he would have been a better fit)