12/21/24
January 14, 2015
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Rex thinks he's going to be in position to guide the reemergence of Buffalo upon the retirement of Brady and the subsequent decline of Belichick's empire.
Brady's got more gas left in the tank than Manning. Doing all the dorky ads that Peyton has done over the years takes a toll on a man.
Belichick went 11-5 with Cassel. Rex would need another Jim Kelly to be competitive.
Rex also no longer has sufficient body mass to endure late season home game weather conditions on the Bills' sideline.
posted by beaverboard at 09:37 AM on January 14, 2015
Prediction : New England to win the AFC East in 20XX
As long as Belichick is around Patriots win the AFC East. No other team has the organizational strength to overcome NE. Brady fits well into the system but anyone who thinks NE would drop off the way Indy did in Manning's absence is delusional.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:39 AM on January 14, 2015
The combination of Rex and Greg Roman are going to lead to a lot of 7- and 8-man fronts until one of them show they can build the semblance of a consistent passing attack to be feared.
Should be a hell of a D though.
posted by dfleming at 12:05 PM on January 14, 2015
Organizational strength doesn't create Tom Bradys. Whether New England stays atop the division after his departure is too dependent on finding a good quarterback to take the team's post-Brady success as a given.
As for Indy, I've assumed that they sucked after Manning's exit by design because they wanted Andrew Luck.
posted by rcade at 12:18 PM on January 14, 2015
I agree - I think one year of managing Matt Cassell is a lot different than systemically dominating a division year after year. Wilfork, McCourty, Gronk and the other key guys who make this tick right now will likely be retired, elsewhere, or getting on in age.
The pipeline of good talent needs to flow, and a QB to bring some consistent magic is paramount.
posted by dfleming at 12:35 PM on January 14, 2015
Organizational strength doesn't create Tom Bradys.
Organizational strength does identify, procure, and develop Tom Bradys, however. Wherever on the draft board, free agent dim sum cart, or scrap heap they happen to be. Won't find Belichick getting all starry eyed over any Klinglers or Andre Wares.
The landscape is littered with players who excelled for the Pats (sometimes beyond the rest of the league's expectations), then slid when they went elsewhere. It's interesting to watch GM's overpay for free agents that buffed up their market value while rostered as a Patriot, then couldn't deliver the goods in another system.
It goes the other way as well. They sometimes bring in talent that is a good value, then find out that their staff can't do anything to develop the player. Case in point: Andrew Walter. They saw he had ability and potential but cut him loose fairly quickly because "he had picked up too many bad habits in Oakland". Habits that apparently couldn't be corrected at the New England Redemption Center located at One Ochocinco Drive.
(I don't know where Albert Haynesworth picked up his habits, but Ndamukong does).
posted by beaverboard at 01:18 PM on January 14, 2015
The landscape is littered with players who excelled for the Pats (sometimes beyond the rest of the league's expectations), then slid when they went elsewhere.
Sometimes this is true because it is easier to excel on a good team and harder on a bad one. I've been amazed at how some of the Jaguars have performed since leaving the franchise. Put them on a team where they don't get more of the opponent's focus and they're a different player.
I remain unconvinced that organizational strength will definitely find another Tom Brady when the original model is decommissioned and left docked in the harbor as a museum.
The Patriots are a great team led by a great coach. They're on one of the longest sustained runs of excellence in NFL history. The Cowboys once fit all those descriptions, too, but when they went from Roger Staubach to Danny White to Steve Pelleur, losing some quarterback talent with each shift, suddenly a genius coach like Tom Landry is looking as if the game passed him by. It only took three seasons of mediocrity for many Dallas fans to be ready for change at the top.
posted by rcade at 01:39 PM on January 14, 2015
The Jets have hired Arizona DC, (and former Dolphins' interim head coach), Todd Bowles to be their new leader. Heaven knows hiring a defensive specialist hasn't gone wrong for them before.
Meanwhile, Rex Ryan finally gets his wish to lead a New York football team, as he's in in Buffalo.
In Florida, Miami Head Coach Joe Philbin cooked a pancake without burning it.
Prediction : New England to win the AFC East in 2015.