FanPost

The season that was and a look ahead




This is just some fun in a longggg off season.

I love the new england patriots. I was at the cleveland game this year all the way to the end and I almost wet myself, pure exctasy. I viewed last season as maybe the most enjoyable one in many years, barring superbowl victories of course. Reasons being how our team and coaching staff responded to and excelled in replacing injured starters. for those living under a rock a quick review : Probowler DT vince wilfork, probowler MLB jerod mayo, probowler TE rob gronkowski, Probowler DT tommy kelly, probowler SS adrian wilson(newcomer I know but still). Also missing chunks of the season due to injury probowler CB aqib talib, starter WR danny amendola, Pro bowler ST matthew slater, starter shane vereen, starter WR aaron dobson, starter WR kenbrell thompkins, starter RT marcus cannon and releasing starter MLB brandon spikes.

This loss of talent is extreme. Forgetting skill entirely the experience, knowledge and confidence alone would be enough to capsize most franchises. Our coaches and quaterback however were able to take 2nd year and rookie and players and give us fans a 12 and 4 season ending in an opportunity to play in the superbowl. With all the above mentioned injuries we were still only 1 game away from playing for it all. Would Seattle e have crushed us? With the team we would have fielded, probably. However I would take our team with our healthy starters by 3 to win everyday and twice on sunday. Looking across the landscape of the NFL we can see that most fans and teams are embvious of what we have, evidence I have attained through years of drinking in the sweet tears of the haters on profootballtalk.com and the constant piliging of our coaches in the offseason by other teams.

Bill belichick is someone constantly looking forward in all aspects of his teams needs. As much as I enjoyed last years efforts they are still last seasons work. We have just completed the combine, something taken with a grain of salt by our coaches. There are a parade of new candidates to join our team this offseason and I am excited by some additions to our young team. The best part of the injuries we suffered last year is we had a lot of young players gain a vast amount of playing time, experience and confidence. MLB donta hightower definately made major strides in his second season, OLB jamie collins really demonstrated he could very well be a future star in the league. Rookie DTs chris jones, joe vellani and sealver siliga made big contributions in the run D during the second half of the season. Our rookie WRs KT, Dobson and Boyce made contributions on differing levels but all showed promise and an ability to gain Mr. Bradys trust. Where does all this leave us in 2014?

Let us assume somethings on the outset.

1. Jerod mayo and vince wilfork return fully healthy.

2. Edelman leaves and takes the money he deserves and secures his future.

3. Rob gronkowski returns fully healthy(fingers crossed)

4. Aqib talib resigns with us for min. Two years.

5. Tommy kelley and adrian wilson are cut

Where are our needs?

All of our 4 losses came to teams with a mobile qb(daltons mobilty was not the reason we lost to the bengals) who had defenses with strong defensive lines and teams running some versions of a spread out attack targetting the middle of our defense. I believe our biggest needs are on the offensive and defensive lines. Specifically I think we need a new guard and tackle for offense aswell has a new defensive tackle and hybrid DE/ OLB.

Reasons being for offense is our need to be able to consistently protect and give time to Mr. Brady to do what he does best as well as run the ball consistently. Against the bengals, saints, broncos and panthers it was painfully obvious we needed new blood along our historically strong oline. Brady went down far too often and was pressured far too much when dealing with young inexperienced WRs, give credit where it is due those teams played very well on the dline last year. Stevan ridley, shane verren and bolden can be very dangerous when given a hole to run through, blount I hope returns but I see him cashing in on a great season. He played biggest when the lights were brightest.

We have great young talent in donta hightower, jamie collins. Hopefully with a returning mayo they can gel into the wall of linebackers belichick loves. By selecting a DT and DE we can therefore move nink back to OLB where i think he flourished more, not consumed by hulking tackles. The type of DT and DE we select however is what intrigues me most. The positions are some of the hardest to project and develop in football but I believe we are looking for more of a one gapping 4-3 DT to partner with wilfork and siliga. Reading chris browns smart football he highlights Hoodies penchant for playing a 4-3 front to one side of the dline and 3-4 front to wilforks side. With the increase in spread offenses with mobile QBs this front is more suited to defending the line of scrimmage against such versatility. With wilfork consuming two blocks, hopefully our new DT would then be able to penetrate his gap alongside a rushing Jones with either donta hightower or nink taking the OLB spot. Jamie collins and mayo would be able to what they do best read, react and hit.

When passing teams attacked the seams of our defense, teams also bad succes with crossing routes on us. TEs with skills(when talib wasnt on them) usually made fantasy owners happy when playing us. Jamie collins looks very capable of assuming a type of joker role where his priority is to take away the teams best TE on passing downs, however that skill would take away from his ability to accelerate and get pressure on the QB. I believe we need to take another hybrid style OLB/ATH to either take away a teams TE. For how well Hightower played for us this season he is not built to match up with todays TEs and slot recievers. He is a hybrid in another kind with the ability to switch between MLB, WSLB, SLB and DE. Thus allowing us to truly utilize a hybrid 4-3 3-4 front if we can attain a comptent hybrid LB.

I was on the 30yd line right in front of the horrific gronkowski injury, it is burned into my head. Im not sure if tv showed it but he didnt move for atleast 20 seconds, I thought the worst. Hopefully the gronk will come back badder than ever, and when he does we need other weapons to take the pressure off him. We relied too heavily on him when he returned and we need either an existing player(looking at you amendola) or a new one to become a true outside man. I am a big fan of KT and Dobson, I think they will blossom this season personally and am very excited. However I think another receiver is needed. We are not getting sammy watkins, we probably wont even get marquise lee. Mike evans? No way. However we have two candidates I think will fit the mold of what we need with one of them being extra suited. I am very high on Kevin Norwood of Alabama and Antonio Bryant of Clemson. If anyone has ever watched a big Alabama game you would have surely noticed 83 making clutch catch after clutch catch. For anyone objecting I direct you to game tape of the 2012 LSU game, 2013 LSU game, 2012 and 2013 Texas AM game and both the 2011 and 2012 national championship games. He has been in a system that mirrors the foundation of the patriot way in Tuscaloosa, he has big game experience and he catches everything. Antonio Bryant is another player that jumps off your screen when watching him. I cite the 2013 Clemson season and the recent bowl game clemson played in as evidence of Bryants abilities.

The TE position seems relatively deep this year. However I do not know if deep equals quality. The TEs in this draft seem to be hailing from conferences with smaller defenses suited to playing wide spread passing attacks. I think by nature of the schemes of the league they are set up for Iinflated success due to their size speed advantages against smaller opponents. As fucked up as aaron hernandez is he was a magnificent football player. Not just a TE, he was a WR in a tight ends body with running back strength and agility. The TE in this draft would collectively not equal Hernandez skill and potential. As you can see across the league as usual the followers have followed. Like in 2007 when teams made the move to our style spread, like in 2011 when teams copied our HUNH offense with two TEs, teams have not been able to recreate the orginal. Thomas from DEN looks the closest to Hernandez however he does not pose the same blocking strength as hernandez did and he did not present the HB threat of aaron either. We will take heat for it as he is a former gator tight end but I think we select a.c leonard in the mid rounds. Similar size to hernandez with very good speed, catches away from his body and seems willing to block for a full game.

If we can get a healthy amendola, boyce and moe our slot position is adequately filled. Dobson and Thompkins could assume the starting 1 WR spot with gronk back at TE and leonard playing on the line and off with either Norwood or Bryant filling the number 2 WR spot. coupled with enforcements along the Oline our versatility will once again allow us to run the HUNH along with a devastating power run game.

This offseason is brutal, I cannot wait for some fucking football.

My mock draft

1. Kyle van noy OLB

2. Gabe jackson OG

3. Ego ferguson DT

4. Kevin Norwood WR

5. A.c Leonard TE

6. seantrel henderson OT

7. antone exum CB

I personally think we will trade out of the first. Talent is there but with such a deep draft at positions of our need I see extra picks being acquired. I think we need a CB too and I am big fan of exum. I also see us taking a QB, CB and Oline and Dline undrafted prospects.

If you've read this far, thank you. Im interested to see what people say. Have a good one and as always Go Pats!

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SB Nation.