NFL Roster Cuts: Patriots Down to 75, Place Leigh Bodden on Injured Reserve

Is it me, or does it seem that a LOT of players are getting hurt this year more than others. Is it the shoes, the turf, or bad conditioning?
My confidence level just went down a few notches.
I don’t think bringing Springs back on board is the best idea. IIRC wasn’t he the cause of some of the locker problems from last year? I’m sure Hoodie will find a replacement or coach this defense real well. It’s time for some ole’ New England ingenuity!

Here’s something to ponder – if Bodden played pretty well on what was a season-ending injury, just how good is the guy?

is the dummy stuffed with Bob-ombs…

cause if it is the knee injury…i would have expected him to be on the PUP

And comparing a QB position to arguably the hardest position to play in football, CB, is kind of far fetched.

Our secondary is a complete question mark now, and thats not a very good thing to have going into the season. Especially that we have to face:

Wk 1: Chad and TO
Wk 2: Edwards and Cotchery
Wk 3: It’s the bills. I hope their WRs don’t suddenly get awesome.
Wk 4: Marshall and Bess

Lovely.

It’s not like we have Deltha O’Niel and Wilihite as our corners

Amen.

in 3-4 years.

This season, the D could really, really use at least one proven cover guy holding things down. We’re in for some real shootouts this year. Here’s hoping the offense solved whatever problems it had last year and can move the ball when it matters, because the defense is not going to be stopping any of the league’s better passing attacks.

McGowan can play ‘big-Nickel’, usually on a TE or TE/WR hybrid. Meriweather and Chung both took snaps at nickelback and CB in their rookie years, too.

If push came to shove and the Pats ran out of CBs, Sanders probably gets put into Safety and Chung slots into nickelback. Not ideal, but Chung’s had the most recent experience at CB/Nickelback (and he can pass-rush!)

Just out of interest, would you trade in an 8-8 2010 Patriots if they won the Superbowl in 2011? I’m not saying I would, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility either, especially considering how young the Pats D is at the moment.

loosing that is kind of a big deal, because we don’t know really know anything about butler and mccourty , and how they’ll do, but it’s also not just that but the fact that we are now throwing mccourty into the starting role right away, and with the loss of bodden just further increases the pressure upon our very young secondary.

If anything, loosing bodden is loosing a guy who has more nfl experience, and has been in the system for a year is considered BIG due to or current youth in the secondary.

He was never intending to be a ball-hawk, but he would stick on his man and keep great tackling position at all times. He was the best in the league (yes, #1) at restricting yards after catch – every receiver he covered he stopped a little over a yard after they caught it on average. He was fourth best in the league at restricting his man in total yardage – Revis was #1, Bodden was #4. That’s not bad by any account.

He didn’t go after the pick and preferred to keep good tackling position. It doesn’t make for Madden-like interception stats, but it wins games.

also he didn’t start til later in the season and he was pretty good when he played. solid player, not flashy but rarely made any mistakes and was good in cover

During our SB winning years we had great defenses and a potent enough offense (the WRs assembled weren’t exactly world-beaters but worked good as a group).

Arguably, the defensive players “weren’t exactly world-beaters but worked good as a group” too. As one-eyed as Pats fans can be, I still wouldn’t think anyone would suggest Bruschi, Phifer or Johnson were as good as Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher; McGinest, Colvin and Mike Vrabel were good, but not DeMarcus Ware-good either.

So when you say:

We’re also screaming for our own version of DeMarcus Ware.

I’m not so sure that’s quite the case (although if he were on the team, I’d be delighted). I’d rather have three or four second-tier OLBs than one absolutely top-flight stud, if only because if you’re relying on that one guy, your season can be ruined by a single injury – just compare the pass-rush of San Diego teams before and after the injury to Merriman.

Even if you’re wanting three or four good-but-not-uber-stud OLBs, the Pats LB corps needs an upgrade. Tully Banta-Cain might be one, Cunningham could develop into another, and Burgess is servicable. Ninkovich has his moments, but that’s still only, say, two OLBs (and that’s if Cunningham comes right). They need another at least, and preferably two, to round out a Superbowl-winning type combination.