Patriots 2023 Season Thread

Lol

Damien Harris carted off with a neck injury

The good news is that he has movement

Over the last ten years 0-16 has happened once and 1-15 has happened twice. Last two years with extra game on schedule, 3-14 was the worst record.

If you want 1st pick with this team you need to trade a bunch of players, even then that might not work. As bad as this team has been, they have been in most games. JC Jackson was a good pickup, he looks much closer to player we had, then a guy a team was just going to release. Go trade some of Parker, Bourne, JuJu or Henry, guys like Douglas, Boutte, Thornton and Gesecki could easily step up. OL could finally get healthy and go from horrible to just bad. Example Barmore finally showed up last game, Jack Jones is close to coming back.

Shocker for me was making Cunningham QB#2 and signing him to 53 man roster. If you trade Mac Jones, then play Cunningham and Greer, that would certainly help you tank. Even then you likely win a few more games.

Sure it's possible but other teams on the Sched' are not as good as Bills/Miami and they may want to lose, ie. tank. Bill wants to win: I doubt tanking, even if asked about it by the Krafts, will interest him.

So 2-4 additional wins are a probable end to NE '23 season. Correction:Carolina has the current #1 pick which was dealt to the Bears.

Link just takes me to msn main page

I find unusual the claims of Mac being "broken," because of some lack of comfort provided by the organization. Competition is hard; succeeding at competition is harder. Strong survive, and all that, choose your cliche.

I recall a conversation I had with a HoF billiard player, a multi-time world champion. He was telling me about a road-trip he had taken & some young kid he had lost to on a Mississippi river boat, or some such. "The kid was too young to choke," he lamented, suggesting his young opponent was too full of himself, hadn't tasted enough of elite competition to fully appreciate how tough it was, and to properly place himself in the pecking order. The kid didn't know what he didn't know. Like the cartoon Roadrunner, he was running on air, not knowing that was impossible.

But this matter of fact tone suggested choking as all too common among tournament & road players. I was shocked by the implication: This great player (I truly don't recall ever seeing him miss a shot) admitted to choking as an issue. In pool they used to call it "the dog stroke," when someone would miss a shot they should make. "It came to game ball and suddenly he got the dog stroke," and everyone would nod and have a good laugh. I'd get up and walk away because nobody wants that label, or to admit they've dogged it, even once. Like a shank in golf, nobody wants to talk about it, lest you catch it.

But here the greatest pool player living (at the time) was admitting to it, even if in an abstract way. I thought him so beyond that. It was magical thinking on my part. He was human. Humans choke. They do. All of them. But then if they are champion material, they learn to deal with it. They learn ho fight it. To overcome it.

So if Mac Jones is "broken" because he's is incapable of resetting his internal messaging, then I would argue this is a good thing to know now. He is likely not mentally tough enough to lead a championship team. I wish we were 5-1 instead of 1-5, but if the record is to be so, then let's learn what we can about the players now dealing with the tough times.

Quarterbacks can get Shellshocked after taking a prolonged beating, and that’s what we are seeing with Mac

His sack percentage is currently 10th, like his rookie year. The offense being quick passes is limiting a ton of big hits, even with a crap line. Brady with pressure would stand in pocket and take the hit to make a big play. If Jones sees a hit coming he panics and does something stupid. Same crap he did against good teams as a rookie, we just overlooked it because he was a rookie. For Mac Jones to even have a chance he needs elite OL, elite running game and elite weapons. It's easier to get a new QB than build an offense with that much elite talent. Even then, you likely get Kurt Cousins if everything goes right.

You need a mobile QB and if they are a good runner, all the better. That's the easier and quickest way to get a lot better. QB buys time for WR to get open.

Love the story but football is different when you’re the QB and 250lb+ balls of muscle are taking your head off. It’s not simply about being mentally tough. Prime Tom Brady would be struggling behind these lines the last 2 years - let a lone a kid - not to mention the 3 different coordinators. In pool it’s all you and your headspace that’s not the situation with a NFL QB.

I think Brady with this team would look similar to 2019 Brady and that's him at 42 years old. We couldn't run that year and we have more weapons this year. Huge difference? Brady would make O'Brian do certain things. Example that safety to end last game, no way given the way Lowe was manhandled would Brady allow a crappy blocker like Gesecki to be helping, he would demand Brown. We had blocking TE and used them a ton for most of Bradys career. Helps make line look better. We'd use fullbacks for our power running game. No fullbacks, it's why Patricia changed up the blocking scheme. They are trying to play like they did with Brady, yet not using many of the tools they used to make it work with Brady.

Last game Henry 62% of snaps, Gesecki 60%, Brown 32%. Given how Lowe was getting destroyed all game, Brown should have been in most of the game helping him! I'm just amazed I have to even bring this crap up. Last year we didn't have any good blocking TEs, this year they won't use him. That's O'Brian being bad at his job! Just like not playing Douglas enough and replacing Douglas/JuJu, with Thornton and Reagor, not Boutte. I'm kinda of amazed he's thought of as a great OC.

Not only does our OLine (Trent Brown excluded) stink, our DLine is pretty bad too. Pff had Guy ranked 121 and Gaudchaux ranked 119 of 121 IDLmen. Wise ranks 96 of 100 Edge rushers. Barmore, White, Uche, Jennings, and Judon have all been ok. No one has excelled. In limited snaps, Roberts and Pharms have been pretty bad and Ekuale has been ok.

I have been wondering if BB relies too much on the team concept. He is quoted as saying "On a football team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function together." Does that result in a bias toward keeping players who know the scheme rather in favor of players with more talent? Maybe that works when you are the best team in football but not when you are sub-500. Im trying rationalize why he keeps and even resigns guys like Gaudchaux, Bryant, Mills, Guy when it seems like you could do better in the FA market. Is it because he places a much higher value on the guys who know the scheme? Just a thought.

Kyler doesn’t strike me as a BB guy but there’s a chance BB isn’t here next year.

If the injury impacts his mobility I don’t want him though. If he’s still as dynamic as he ever was then sure, I’d take a flyer on him in a trade like that one where we only move down a couple slots and give up some 2nds- I don’t think he’d cost that much though with his contract and current status