Hightower out for the year
- Thread starter tims4wins
- Start date
Regarding trades, I don't see it happening. BB doesn't usually sacrifice future flexibility for any one single season. Unless he feels he can find 75% of DH for a 6th or 7th, but at that point just roll with what you've got.
Schefter just tweeted that the Pats still don't know if Hightower is out for the year. Interesting.
BB makes small trades almost every single year. It wouldn't be suprising at all for there to be a trade
this feels like a killing blow for SB aspirations. they'll fight but it's going to be really hard at some point in the playoffs.
but we almost won it all in 2011-12 and there doesn't seem to be a super elite team this year, so...
but we almost won it all in 2011-12 and there doesn't seem to be a super elite team this year, so...
Well this is not ideal especially as the D was showing improvement.
1) is there a benefit of announcing ‘out for the year’ now as opposed to just sitting him this week and seeing what happens through the bye week??
2) McClellin is eligible back Nov 12 so they do get some LB reinforcement soon. Of course that is the Sunday night in Denver game.
1) is there a benefit of announcing ‘out for the year’ now as opposed to just sitting him this week and seeing what happens through the bye week??
2) McClellin is eligible back Nov 12 so they do get some LB reinforcement soon. Of course that is the Sunday night in Denver game.
It will be hard for others too, and health is relative. The Eagles had a great win but a lousy week. And no, we haven't had the second worse fortune apart from GB.
Scary thing is, we're not even half way thru.
Certainly fits with the Harris signing.
In terms of 'why announce now?' I suspect two reasons: First, there may be surgery or some other obvious event or clear timeline that makes his unavailability indisputable. Second, I wouldn't be surprised if BB has a belief it is better for team to know who is (and isn't) a possibility and move on as quickly as possible. I feel like they've done this in the past with guys as well. As opposed to, say, the Colts approach with Luck this year where it is a cloud constantly hanging over the team
I'm having trouble visualizing the Super Bowl introductions and seeing the names Van Noy, Harris, and Marsh. Oh and Elandon Roberts rounding out the rotation (actually not as down on Roberts as most). Shea McL played decent last year so maybe he can be a piece of the puzzle.
Brown, Gilmore and Rowe (who sounds like longer term) need to get healthy.
Brown, Gilmore and Rowe (who sounds like longer term) need to get healthy.
Not gonna lie-- I never expected that I would read that "player X is going to see Dr Andrews" and be glad for it.
Key being small trades and not replacing Hightower. I was responding to the idea that they would go out and look for a DH replacement, which would be very unusual for BB to do given the cost. I did mention the possibility of a small trade, which is whatever.
Just give me a healthy Brady/Gronk come playoff time and I’ll take my chances no matter who is suiting up on defense.
When Gronk looks back after running every route only to see Brady getting up from another brutal sack, you might. But the OL is a different issue.
I'll let DRS speak to Andrews in particular, but with a lot of surgeries one of the top factors in prognosis is how many times the surgeon has done that procedure before. Experience matters, and lots of it. Andrews, by dint of reputation, probably has a higher volume of a lot of these sports-related surgeries than most other docs. Of course, that's essentially nonresponsive--it doesn't speak to why he became the go-to guy to get that volume in the first place..
http://www.mexicobariatriccenter.com/analysis-research-shows-8-eight-criteria-highest-surgical-outcomes/
Texans just brought him for a workout a couple of days ago. BB may need to hurry if Ayers is the answer.
Perhaps was but with Hicks out, I'm not sure if Eagles still want to trade out their depth.
Last I heard, Schefter was reporting he was headed to visit James Andrews. Did Dr. Andrews throw High down on the table and cut him open upon arrival?
This blows. Pretty sure this is all because Brady is so much of a football god the Madden/SI curse has bounced off of him and is taking out the rest of the team one by one.
Seriously though. Fuck.
Ayers looked damn good when he was here, not sure what he has left. Kendricks is really good but cost plus a less than stellar injury history scares me. Jags just signed Jonathan Freeny who I would have welcomed back.... McClellin coming back should help.
Fuck
Seriously though. Fuck.
Ayers looked damn good when he was here, not sure what he has left. Kendricks is really good but cost plus a less than stellar injury history scares me. Jags just signed Jonathan Freeny who I would have welcomed back.... McClellin coming back should help.
Fuck
I’m talking about overall talent, not number of players. I will grant you Houston, but Pats have lost Edelman, Hightower, Mitchell, probably Rowe, and their highest draft pick. That combines for more than just Thomas or Berry or even ODB plus Marshall imo. Miami’s had some bad luck, too.
Last edited:
Just for IR players, Arizona for sure is worse with Johnson, Palmer, Iuapiti. Giants losses are clustered at one position (Harris got IRd too along with ODB and Marshall. Dolphins lost their starting QB for the whole season. Then teams like Eagles, Bears, Chargers, Ravens, Browns are more debatable or luckier but its somewhat close.
Id say, just in terms of the IR'd guys, the Pats are probably 5th-10th worst in terms of guys lost, but they arent some kind of huge negative outlier or anything.
Id say, just in terms of the IR'd guys, the Pats are probably 5th-10th worst in terms of guys lost, but they arent some kind of huge negative outlier or anything.
No, not an outlier, but the luck has been bad, not below average. I was wrong to say second, but I think top 5.
Regarding AZ, Johnson should be back and Palmer kinda stinks, but I can see it. Now we get into loss versus replacement to weigh the cost, but that punishes more talented teams.
Johnson, if he comes back, its going to be like December. Losing the starting quarterback sort of trumps all for most teams: maybe Palmer stinks, but they threw the ball more than any team in the league (Peterson will reduce that a little, but still), and the backup is Drew Stanton. They also lost Iupati for the year, and he's probably their best OL and Golden had 12.5 sacks for them last year and is out for the season.
Actually, BB has made a trade for a LB or rusher each of the last three years, and for a defensive piece every year back to 2012 (Talib). Some of these have been opportunistic pick-ups (small trades), but some have been responses to need (weaknesses exposed during the season) and injury. Of course there is no replacing Hightower with a trade, but it seems like a good bet that BB is interested in picking up a defensive piece at the deadline if one is available.
2012: 11/1: Talib (cb)
2013: 10/29 Sopoaga (dt)
2014: 10/22: Ayers (lb); 10/28 J Casillas (lb)
2015: 10/1 Hicks (dl)
2016: 10/26 Van Noy (lb)
The problem is these kind of low-rent moves aren't really going to move the needle at LB. They already have bodies: Roberts, Harris, McClellin, Marsh, now Reilly, Flowers for ST. Maybe you can get a guy a little better than those, but probably it's going to be a guy of similar quality, which isn't going to do much.
DT is the position that makes a lot of sense to me as a midseason target. Brown is hurt right now, Valentine has been on IR, Branch has dropped in effectiveness, and Butler is a rookie. Just adding an adequate two-gapping 300-pounder for a fifth or something to throw in the mix with Guy and the others would help.
Per Reiss, it seems as if Harris is going to be the next man up here. Good showing on Sunday night, but guess we are going to see how much is left in the tank.
Agreed on DL need, but Van Noy was one of those pickups just last year. It's not at all inconceivable that they will grab someone similar at a reasonable cost now.
My point is just that BB is almost certainly scouring the league for this year's version of Van Noy, Ayers, or Hicks, all of whom were at least somewhat useful. Sopoaga and Talib were opposite in terms of results, but both were picked up to address very specific needs. The odds of picking up a true impact player who can learn the D quickly aren't great, but BB has managed to at least address a need in most recent years.