Time to trade Tom Brady?

[wickedsolo]

I would be really pissed to see Boldin in a Pats uniform.

[leachisabeast]

I would be really pissed to see Boldin in a Pats uniform.

Yes, he'd be a beast in that offense, but if the Pats offered a 4th or a 5th, maybe even a 3rd, it would relieve us of a large cap hit, and give us even more picks to work with in the draft. I'd rather trade away Jacoby for a 6th rounder, because I love Boldin.

[pslholder96]

Yes, he'd be a beast in that offense, but if the Pats offered a 4th or a 5th, maybe even a 3rd, it would relieve us of a large cap hit, and give us even more picks to work with in the draft. I'd rather trade away Jacoby for a 6th rounder, because I love Boldin.

That's not worth it to me. Down the stretch we've seen Boldin's leadership come forth and his production increase under Caldwell's offense. Frankly the Patriots do not make a good trade partner at all

[Captain Silver]

Pat's don't want Boldin. They want a field stretcher. No offense, Boldin is a monster possession receiver. But they have a Gronkowski as that type of player already. They need someone with wheels, and Boldin isn't exactly young either, sooner or later his production is going to decline. My bet is he figures a way out to stay here.

Everything here hinges on Flacco's contract. If he signs, we will have a lot of room to do things. If he's tagged, the team will be forced to part with keys that contributed to Flacco's success. Williams and Doss are a loss at this point. Fuckers couldn't catch a cold.

[Paintballguy]

I think the reason they have "fallen off", so to speak, is not because they have an improved defense at all. They have fallen off because their defense is no longer hard hitting, and they have tried to become a finesse team. Finesse teams get punched in the mouth in the playoffs.

Everyone keeps saying the Patriots are a finesse team, but they aren't. Their front 7 on defense was shutting down Ray Rice. We mainly had to spread em out and expose their LB's and DB's in the pass game. Plus on offense, they had a top 10 ranked run game with Ridley and a very good o-line.

I would say Brady is a soft player though. Anytime he gets uncomfortable in the pocket, he panics.

Pat's don't want Boldin. They want a field stretcher. No offense, Boldin is a moster possesion reciever. But they have a Gronkowski as that type of player already. They need someone with wheels, and Boldin isn't exactly young either, sooner or later his production is going to decline. My bet is he fiures a way out to stay here.

Everything here hinges on Flacco's contract. If he signs, we will have a lot of room to do things. If he's tagged, the team will be forced to part with keys that contributed to Flacco's success. Williams and Doss are a loss at this point. Fuckers couldn't catch a cold.

Gronk was their only deep threat. When they lost him, they had no way to stretch the field at all. Pats fans kept downplaying losing Gronk, but he was a huge loss.

[Captain Silver]

Everyone keeps saying the Patriots are a finesse team, but they aren't. Their front 7 on defense was shutting down Ray Rice. We mainly had to spread em out and expose their LB's and DB's in the pass game. Plus on offense, they had a top 10 ranked run game with Ridley and a very good o-line.

I would say Brady is a soft player though. Anytime he gets uncomfortable in the pocket, he panics.

I think their offense is a bit soft. Their D to me isn't soft. But the hearing of footsteps of defensive players gets apparent. Who can blame them when Pollard is playing. Makes you kind of wonder if Ref's grew tired of getting the tag they protect Brady. He's gotten slapped around more than I recall without flags, as opposed to when Haloti fell next to his leg. Plus their line gets away with murder as holding goes, when that shit fails they are screwed.

You still need a #1 WR even if you have a killer TE.

[leachisabeast]

they had a top 10 ranked run game with Ridley and a very good o-line.

I agree with your point about their front 7, they are very big and physical, but cant cover for shit. They aren't really great at bringing pressure either. They are pretty physical, but they aren't one of the best at it either.

Anyway, they didn't have a top 10 ranked rushing offense per se, they were the 2nd ranked rushing offense in attempts, their actual run game wasn't as effective this year as many would like to believe. I would say they are still very much a finese team on offense that cant handle a great deal of physicality.

[Teavo]

I think the Patriots front office largely understands the team weaknesses, and have been trying to address them in recent drafts; they've just missed on some of their picks so most of the weaknesses remain.

For example, in the last four drafts, in rounds 1 to 3, the Patriots have chosen:

1 QB (Ryan Mallett)
2 RB (Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley)
1 TE (Rob Gronkowski)
2 WR (Taylor Price, Brandon Tate)
2 OT (Nate Solder, Sebastian Vollmer)
1 DT (Ron Brace)
2 DE (Chandler Jones, Jake Bequette)
4 LB (Dont'a Hightower, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes, Tyrone McKenzie)
3 CB (Ras-I Dowling, Devin McCourty, Darius Butler)
2 S (Tavon Wilson, Patrick Chung)

60% of these picks have been on defense. And the picks on offense were areas of clear need at the time: RB (successful picks), TE (Gronk is a beast), OT (had serious need), and WR (looking for that speed guy they don't have). Even QB Mallett filled a need at backup.

The WRs did not pan out and don't even play for the Pats anymore so they still don't have the field-stretching receiver it's clear they need. But you can see they are trying to get one.

The Patriots run game is effective but slightly deceptive. It's not a smash-mouth impose-our-will kind of running attack. It's more that they (correctly) expect to face nickel defenses, and want a way to exploit that matchup. It makes their offense more two-dimensional and less predictable. So yes it's a kind of "finesse" running game if you want to call it that. You have to respect it, but likely not fear it.

With all 12 of those high picks on defense, you can see that very few names stand out as noteworthy. Chandler Jones has shown talent as a pass rusher and could turn out to be a very good DE, but that's the only clear success. LBs Hightower and Spikes are decent starters but nothing special. Jermaine Cunningham is also an OK LB/DE. Devin McCourty was a disappointment at CB but he's not bad at FS now. Ras-I Dowling can't stay healthy.

And that's about it. So in other words, they haven't got a whole lot from those 12 picks on defense, but they are trying. Run-stopping is pretty solid now but they still badly need:

• Pass rush
• More speed/coverage at linebacker
• Coverage skills in the secondary

On offense, I agree with the sentiment posted recently above that the Patriots have no need for a guy like Anquan Boldin because they already have Rob Gronkowski to muscle people for the ball (and even Aaron Hernandez to a lesser extent). They need someone more like Torrey Smith.

They were wise to let Randy Moss walk though. At the time, here in New England, Moss had morphed into a shambling, rambling, crazy homeless-looking-and-sounding guy who wasn't putting any effort into his play on the field. He had to go. But their search for a classic speed receiver continues.

Hell will freeze over before the Patriots trade Tom Brady. It would be like the Ravens trading Ray Lewis, but even worse in the sense that the Ravens have several "iconic" players on the team who we identify with. The Patriots really only have one, and that's Tom Brady. The pieces around him change, but Brady (and Belichick) are the core. You don't trade the face of your franchise, because there would be no faster way to make all the fair weather Pats fans get right up and walk away. It will not happen.

When the time comes for Brady to retire, I expect the Patriots to lose a lot of their fanbase unless someone like Ryan Mallett turns out to be very good (and I'm not saying that can't happen). These folks are not prepared for years of searching and rebuilding.

[Ngata Da Vida]

"...are you an idiot Longo?"

Yes, yes you are. No need to read any further.

[Paintballguy]

There are rumors about the Browns trading for Mallett.

Mort expects the Browns to strongly consider a move for Mallett, but did note that Cleveland does not have a 2013 second-round pick after using it on Josh Gordon in the 2012 Supplemental Draft. If Lombardi truly desires Mallett, he could consider sending the Patriots a future first-rounder or future package of picks. Although Mallett has attempted just four career regular season passes, the Patriots aren't going to give him up for peanuts.

[bensmotorcyclehelmt]

If Peyton, Montana and Unitas can be shown the door, so can Brady.

But that's not the big story. ANd it' shouldn't happen. Brady hasn't done anyhting to let down the Patriots. He's actually been expected tro cover too many of their glaring weaknesses.

You can't field a team of superstars, and Brady's contract means the patriots have had to put young and mediocre talent on the rest of the roster.

For the past few years they have had little to no run support. Benjarvis Green Ellis? Steven Ridley? Bolden? Woodlhead? Vereen? IMO, none of those guys should be a #1 guy...anywhere. Lots of "good #2s. But not a #1 guy in the lot.

The other story is that NE's WR corps is just not good enough either. Since moss left they have not had that dynamic go-to guy. Its been going on for a few years now. Heck, they even brought in Ochocinco because they were desperately looking for someone. Anyone.

Gronk and Hernandez are great pass catching TEs, that create mismatches, and Welker is a great slot. WHen all three are healthy its a good combo.

But suddenly Gronkowski (or Hernandez earlier in the season) gets hurt and the whole schme is thrown out of whack. One great pass catching TE is much easier to cover than two. Coverage slides. Welker's short and intermediate routes can then covered by a more competent pass defender.

Who else is there to catch balls?

Brandon Lloyd? I guess he's your best bet, but he needs time to get off the line and down the field He simply isn't a YAC or posession type guy.

Dion Branch? Julian Edelman? Greg Salas? Good luck.

Patriots have been getting by with a mediocre WR crew. If Gronk and Hernandez are injury prone, they need to get more depth at WR. Otherwise it will continue to be disappointment for Pats fans.

[Dirt1]

There are rumors about the Browns trading for Mallett.

Mort expects the Browns to strongly consider a move for Mallett, but did note that Cleveland does not have a 2013 second-round pick after using it on Josh Gordon in the 2012 Supplemental Draft. If Lombardi truly desires Mallett, he could consider sending the Patriots a future first-rounder or future package of picks. Although Mallett has attempted just four career regular season passes, the Patriots aren't going to give him up for peanuts.

That is why the Browns suck so badly. They could have just drafted Mallett themselves. He was drafted in the third round (74th overall), so it wasn't like they had to spend a first round pick on him. If they give up a future first round pick for him, they deserve to be a perennial loser team. Personally, I don’t think that Mallett is going to much better than Derek Anderson was for them. The Browns are also rumored to be considering bringing Anderson back to be their QB.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...afc-north-news