They’re not bringing in a veteran QB and drafting a QB that high if Belichick is still running the team. He’s not paying a UFA QB $25-$30 million to come in here. This is the guy that wouldn’t bring Jimmy G back because he wouldn’t restructure his $22 million down to $16 or $17.
I only used Barkley, because I was trying to find a running back on a team that's gotten QB play as bad as the Pats have. Guys like Henry and Jacobs and Barkley are able to at least produce something, and folks talk about Rhamondre around here like he's one of those guys. He's not, he's more like Chuba Hubbard and D'Onta Foreman.
He's not one of the top backs in the league, but he's not a JAG either. There's like a whole spectrum of player ability in the middle that you're ignoring.
He'd definitely look different on the Lions, because he'd be sitting on their bench watching two guys who are better than he is, IMO.
Maybe, but it wouldn't make much difference, top guards get paid like RTs anyway, Lindstrom and Taylor got the same AAV, same with Nelson.
I don't think anyone is talking about a top QB. I would guess he meant a vet like Brissett, Taylor or Bridgewater were in recent year (or Dalton) guys in the 4-8M range.
Not at all an accurate description of the Garoppolo situation. Jimmy G and Brady had the same agent, and JG was going to hit free agency to be a starting QB no matter what, as that was his best chance at a big payday.
Jacoby's current one-year contract with Washington is $8 million. He's a perfect vet for next year in my book.
Putting aside the specifics of the Garoppolo situation (which continues to be shrouded in some amount of mystery to me) this final point I have thought about from time to time -- the entire post-Brady era feels like an indictment of Belichick's "next man up," "no player bigger than the team" philosophy (to the extent that that is indeed his philosophy?).
Don’t forget the reports that they thought they could win a Super Bowl as long as they had a top 15 QB because it was all about the system!
Just say BB. There is no Patriots front office. There's one guy. And they went into 2023 with this QB room because of decisions made in 2022. And those decisions probably came from other reasons that go back to the first fish that tried to walk on water and got smacked (hope someone gets this reference).
Is he? The Chiefs are second to last in air yards per completion at 4.3.
Meh. Dude could still have run a QB draw or something if they didn't want him to throw.
is your point that teams aren’t threatened by Patrick Mahomes as a passer? It seems obvious that teams are selling out to prevent 15-20 yard passes to Kelce, rice, etc., and that’s in part why Pacheco is effective
Pacheco faces 8+ man boxes at the same rate as Ezekiel Elliott and he's 11th in the league in rushing yards over expectations. He's just a really good running back.
I’m not saying he’s not a really good running back, I’m just pointing out that a defender has to really think for a split second when he’s at the mesh point with Mahomes while a defender will pay no penalty if they sell out to go after Rhamondre during a handoff.
That's what I was thinking. In fact, the weather yesterday seemed well suited to a running QB who struggles with downfield throws. No one was going to have much success throwing in those conditions yesterday -- objectively, it feels like an offense of screen passes, runs, and designed QB runs could been more likely to gain yards than what they were trying to do yesterday (especially after Rhamondre went out).
Seriously. Throw someone at FB and run Malik out there. He isn’t a better thrower than Mac, his arm is pretty bad, but he can at least make something happen. The bar is just so low…
Brown got about 50% of snaps though, so it would seem he was 3rd on the depth chart.
I look at it like this: I’m driving along. Suddenly my car shuts off. It won’t start back up. I don’t need to know how I’m going to get to my destination to know that my car doesn’t work. And I don’t need a mechanic to tell me that my car doesn’t work.
The Patriots offense is bad for every reason an offense can be bad. Bad players, bad QB, bad OLine, horrible receivers, toothless TEs. The problem is personnel. That falls on the GM.
Rham, Henry, Zeke, Bourne, Douglas, Onwenu. PFF has Brown ranked as a top 10 run blocker and Andrews 6th. McDermott has been perfectly adequate since returning.
Again if you put a good QB on this offense it would be a far different story this year
Love Mac? LOL
This post is exactly how I feel about the offensive talent. I also think there are more holes on defense than people want to admit. They have put great numbers up against bad teams all season.
I think the defensive unit overall is solid but their pass rush stats show how dependent they were on a soon-to-be 32-year-old Matthew Judon to generate QB pressures. They need someone else who can get to the quarterback.
Trent Brown has been dealing with injuries much of the season. Ideally, McDermott is the swing tackle, taking over for Brown or Owenu when they needs snaps off. Note the usage percentages for both add up to 100%, making them the collective LT for the team.
Trent Brown is also a lazy extortion artist. And throwing money at a washed Riley Reiff was another disaster.
I'd definitely disagree on the last statement. Zeke's perfect for this team - vet presence, willingness to back up younger talent and cheap/short money. The fact that he's now the lead back is just crap injury luck. However, the rest of the RB roster has been badly mismanaged as well, with no 3rd down back, no fullback, and no decent plans for next year either.
I have no problem with NFL players getting paid however they need to do so. Their contracts are toilet-paper thin, and teams cut them or force restructures that actively take money out of their pockets. No sport is as cavalier with its treatment of its players. Brown was sub-par last year though, and can't be part of any long-term plans. Planning for Reiff to "compete" for $5M guaranteed was remarkably stupid though.
We can argue about whether the talent is bad or just ok, but even being charitable, if you just have a handful of guys who are ok or maybe kinda good if you squint that means you're going to suck because no one will win their matchups consistently and there is no one that the defense has to pay extra attention to.
Why? They gave back-up money (it's a little over 4m, a little under 1m was game bonuses) to a guy who played 50% of the snaps the previous year. He got injured. It seems like it was a reasonable gamble to me.
Maybe Zeke is ok IF they had another explosive third down back but then with Rham there would be no use for Zeke. Cloud of dust runners are a thing of the past and that’s all he’s been since maybe 2019. His longest run the last 2 years is 27 yards. 17 yards this year in 112 carries. Under 7 yards per reception the last 4 years. He’s an anchor as I posted when they signed him.
Trent Brown's best days are clearly behind him; he'll be 31 next season, not a good age for a lineman that has dealt with injuries for a good portion of the last few seasons. However, he has been playing through them most weeks, so the term lazy should be tossed to the wind.
It's the sort of thing where maybe Riley Reidf would have been a fine signing if the WR were better. Or maybe the WR would have been OK if the OL was good. Or maybe either would have floated if Mac was better. The bewildering thing was having a terrible offense in 2022 and basically standing pat. RT was a hole last year and they added a few maybe guys, not really plugging it. JuJu for Meyers was at best lateral and turned out way worse. Why didn't they try to get better personnel on offense?
When you're not good enough to play more than 55% of the snaps for the Chicago fucking Bears, and they let your 34 year old ass walk for back up money to New England, it should have been clear as day that Reiff was washed.
I certainly thought so. But it’s a good point upthread about a difference maker elevating all the surrounding parts.
Now, to be fair to the O Line, isn't Adrian Klemm still missing with an illness of some kind? I think we're over a month at this point.
I think McDermott was plan A. Reiff was plan B. Anderson was plan C. Rookies were plan D. Reiff and Anderson were signed in March, so they didn't know what if any OL they would end up with out of the draft.
If so, this is the kind of hardo thinking that we don't need. It was a horrible play, but he was trying to make a play and win. The likelihood of that resulting in a score for LV was exceedingly low. Coaching staff should have made it a teachable moment and moved on. The entire organization has made bad decisions for four years, which is why they are where they are. No need to compound it by making an example of Jakobi (or Boutte or Douglas because of their mistakes this year).
