The New Patriots

Adalius Thomas, Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker and Randy Moss are the veterans Belichick has brought in for the 2007-08 Super Bowl run, and for a moment today I wasn’t too sure it could be THAT easy to lock up the last name on that list…a 4th round pick for Randy Moss is about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Remember for a moment that the Pats got a 1st round pick for Deion Branch, so the market for Moss was at least on par with Branch, right? Wrong…because you have to factor in the state of Al Davis’ mind, which at this point doesn’t seem to be the kind of thing a Raiders fan likes hearing about, let alone having it running through their own minds every game that following year and the next. Because it’s not like Randy Moss just got bad all of a sudden, and even though the situation in Oakland is as bad as it gets, the man who used to be lumped in alongside Terrell Owens cannot be considered as such. Randy wiped his ass on the goal post in Green Bay, whereas Owens called out the franchise player (he had plenty of reasons for being pissed at McNabb, but…) and carried on like he had his own reality TV show for a while, leading to his being kicked off of the island.

I know I’m understating the history here, but it is my policy to never talk bad about a hometown athlete unless they talk bad about me first. Aside from the insults I had to endure from Drew Bledsoe, that type of thing hardly ever happens. Dominick Barbara, my attorney, went through all the documents, and as it turns out I didn’t start bashing Drew publicly until he was ruining good teams in Buffalo, so I currently occupy the high ground and always will. He insists that I still owe Trot Nixon an apology, but that one is pending an apology I am still waiting for from Dan Duquette, who has been ducking deadissue’s staff for years now.

Back to the matter at hand though – there are too few hours in the day to waltz down memory lane, especially in the condition it’s in – there’s something about the playoff run from this past year that troubled me, and it was always about how they came out with these formations of 5 wide, 4 + Faulk, instead of lining up and pounding it up the middle. In the game versus the Colts, I thought they favored the pass when they didn’t really have to in the second half. This was my complaint even back when they were running Antwain Smith 20+ times a game and Charlie Weis was calling plays, but I have to assume that they know more about it than I do. It’s just what they want to do, and as long as that’s the case, coming into this year they’ll have the weapons to go with the plays. Aside from Moss and Stallworth, this guy Wes Welker is a gamer, and a hell of a return man. I’ll delve into defense later on…one thing I will point out though, is that they franchised Asante Samuel, meaning he’s going to hold out this training camp.
Bill Simmons on the Patriots