ILNFL sandbox thread, because you shouldn't pass up a chance to LOL @ the NY Giants

i do find it kinda lol to watch his proteges fail for whatever reason, like picture him in his office cackling burning pictures of them mumbling did you really think id give you my secret formula

Belichick's assistants are good assistants.

there are 5 magic ingredients. no one else is ever allowed to know more than 4 of them and they swear a blood oath never to talk to one another.

also im of the opinion that the league has to some extent caught up w/him at this point

it also helps to have tom brady continue to be tom brady

oddly great coaches tend to be associated w/great players and vice versa

they still seem like a well-coached team to me, with serious talent issues on defense.

his record before brady was kinda bad wasn't it?

yeah he was a bust in Cleveland.

well imho their talent issues to some extent are caused by belichick taking his schtick too far, like any player who dares look him in the eye or like ask for a ten dollar a game raise is immediately cut or traded for mid round draft picks

his record in like 3 seasons as a head coach in cleveland was bad, but his record as parcells assistant was v good indeed, and parcells record sans belichick is p underwhelming

i was contrasting belichick with andy reid recently in that reid refuses to make any changes to his core approach whereas belichick is always trying to turn things over and find new approaches to keep ahead. he opened a little gap again on offense with the TEs but he has been struggling to make variations click on D. he'll come up with something eventually if he doesn't kill the talent pool with horrible draft picks.

his record in cleveland, contrasted with cleveland's record otherwise towards the death of cleaveland mk1, was not too bad tbh

i feel like occasionally you have to pay to keep yr good doods

they've got edelman playing cornerback. That's a sign that the draft picks are not going well.

xp kinda false to say they don't do that tho. paid big money for mankins and vince, and brady obv. with the secondary being what it is ppl complain about letting asante go but a CB who can't tackle for shit is anathema to bb

it sounds like the only other ppl who ever influenced anything personell wise around there, dimitroff and pioli, are gone and belichik has got carried away with himself, with no one to slap him out of it. he is apparently drafting against scout advice, and like joe says, he has definitely made his message wrt not taking any shit from players, maybe he can relax with the cutting all of the players from one position midseason thing.

if you look here you wont find a patriots player in the top 45 spots, which is p amazing and has served them well, but i think theyve just gone too far http://www.spotrac.com/top-salaries/nfl/

wow srsly there are two patriots in the top 100 paid players in the nfl

why is it just base salaries? some teams pay high base, some teams load bonuses. it is a matter of team philosophy i guess. this is curiously useless information on its own.

o rly i missed that scratch my previous remarks

their plan is fine: build around draft picks cuz non-first rounders are cheap. But they keep drafting guys who kind of suck.

i am worried it is a combo of bad draft and poor player development, because they have had complete suffers from the outset but also promising players that have turned to shit (pls bounce back mccourty)

well i think unless you attempt to retain some of yr good doods thats gonna be the inevitable effect

i am just "enjoying football" this season. as far as NE goes i have seen this movie before. altho even tho i know the ending i will prob still cry into my pillow after the 40-pt playoff defeat by baltimore. i have never seen a 10-3 team play do horrifyingly before, so that has been cool. and there is always gronk. i dunno, bill will come up with something next year. seeing this D must be like hot irons to his pride.

a lot of stuff bill has done recently including the play calling in last years playoff loss to the jets has made me think you know youre not an actual 'football god' right theres no such thing as that

No matter how inventive your blitz diagrams might be, if you don't have someone that can bust someone in the chops with some speed to track down the Qb, you won't have a pass rush. NE's D really has not been the same since

There is a reason that the Colts kept the money on their defense on Freeney and Mathis - their ability to make that big play makes up for having crap linebackers or dbs.

Pats haven't had a real pass rush since Seymour left. They have been a good club, but they lost the bust you in a mouth part of their defense when he was let go and those linebackers got old.

i just like to laugh when the pats and the cowboys get their asses kicked. when they get their asses kicked by teams that i like ... like the Jets ... that's just gravy.

The Pats the past couple of years are pretty much like most of Marinos teams in Miami. The offense can pretty much move the ball at will but the defense usually can't stop bupkus.

eh the patriots do pay, albeit cautiously. they paid wilfork, they paid mankins. i assume they'll pay welker and the TEs when the time comes.

but they're never going to pay for a cornerback, for example, and that drives some ppl crazy.

the fact that BB actually has a "numbers guy" in the booth who he calls upon to help him make 4th down/2pt conversion decisions is reason enough for me to like him

uall cant be all 'the patriots pay guys' and then name the same two guys, no one is saying the patriots have never paid a guy, be serious

o sorry i didn't see rs's post

lol most of the guys on that list of top paid players don't deserve their salaries like, at all.

its true! being suspicious of handing out big contracts is v wise, just think bill has GONE TOO FAR

who should they have paid?

hes just all nbd give me all the draft picks and ill find some more

i dont really follow football close enough to say who they shouldve kept, im just seeing patterns

afaict there are two patriots who have left the org and thrived--asante and big sey. the first one i get, the second one i really don't.

well u need stars but you also need just like a bunch of competent guys

yeah the problem seems to be failing to draft those guys

I wanted to write it all down, so bear with me:

Game 1: Tebow replaces Orton in the fourth. Two quick scores against a lazy Chargers defense in prevent. Chargers win.

Game 2: Bye

Game 3: Down 15-0 with 3 minutes left against Miami backup QB Moore. If Miami goes for 1 instead of going for 2, or doesn't allow onside kick, they win game. If Matt Moore doesn't fumble in overtime, who knows.

Game 4: Lions absolutely destroy em.

Game 5: Raiders start Kyle Boller, and then bring in Palmer fresh off the couch. Defense destroys Oakland, but Oakland is still up 7 when McGahee takes one 60 yards, and then Eddie Royal returns a punt. McGahee runs another one in after a decent drive to go up two scores.

Game 6: Tim Tebow throws 2 completions in entire game but it is enough to beat the Chiefs. Cassel gets hurt late, but Denver beats a bad team fair and square. Cassel out for season.

Game 7: The Broncos had punted on their eight previous possessions when they got the ball with less than 6 minutes and 95 yards to go. If Jim Leonhard wraps up Eddie Royal in the endzone, it's s safety and the Jets probably win. Denver scored one of its touchdowns on a pick six.

Game 8: Nick Novak misses two key field goals. Chargers offensive line is a mess. Prater wins it in deep OT.

Game 9: Tie game, 1:30 left: Christian Ponder with a terrible late interception gives Broncos the win. Tebow played good against a terrible D.

Game 10: Struggle to stay with Caleb Hanie and the Bears. If Barber stays in bounds in the 4th, they win. If Barber doesn't fumble in OT, they probably win.

Tebow renounces Christ, worships Matt Prater

xp thanks for taking the time to do that

i didn't realize it was quite that.....crazy

I guess Bill B. bet that Wilfork was really the irreplaceable part of the d-line in that he is the hardest to block and Seymour's production would be picked up by someone else.

Seymour is still a good player and even though he was 8 years into his career, you will see some good defensive lineman if they can avoid injuries continue to be productive into and past 10 seasons.

Seymour is wildly overpaid now, it wasn't a bad move on NE's part. I think the Raiders should cut him in the offseason

I think it was still ok for the Raiders too, it stabilized a franchise that was in chaos. They don't win 8 games last year without him, that's for sure.

yeah its hard to argue that Tebow's actually played well outside of a few 4th quarters but its possible we'll never see anything like this again

I cannot wait for the Pats/Broncos game.