People really need to stop bringing up Tom Brady‘s age as a factor when it comes to Bill Belichick and the Patriots’ quarterback situation.
I mean, have you been paying attention? Saturday’s cut down to 53 players — to finish off the entire offseason, really — was just the latest example of how Belichick — rightly (up to this point) or wrongly — doesn’t care about age anymore. It’s obviously just a number. The Belichick that everyone grew up with — the ruthless, take-no-prisoners-when-it-comes-to-the-roster-and-cap Hoodie — is gone. In fact, he’s been long gone for a while. What we have now, in addition to Chill Bill at practices, is Velvet Bill when it comes to the players he surrounds himself with — he’s looking for comfort all the way, baby. I wonder if he walks around One Patriot Place in off-hours in a velvet jumpsuit like George Costanza. This has to be the biggest takeaway from this offseason and this cutdown: The oldest team to ever win a Super Bowl … will be even older this season. So much for all that excitement about two good-looking draft classes hitting this roster. At this point, it looks like only Sony Michel (who only got the job last year because veteran Jeremy Hill got hurt) and IsaiahWynn (almost by default) will have major roles (until the inevitable injuries strike). A lot of other teams — including some recent Super Bowl winners —would have let high-priced veterans go and force-fed bigger roles for rookies and second-year players like Damien Harris, N’Keal Harry, Chase Winovich, Byron Cowart, Ja’Whaun Bentley, J.C. Jackson, Joejuan Williams, Keion Crossen, Duke Dawson, Christian Sam and Andrew Beck. But not Belichick with these Patriots. Might as well call them the Over The Hill Gang. Of course, many things can happen (players could get put on IR to return) in the next week, and this is far from the Final 53, but the Patriots’ regulars on offense, defense and special teams had an average age of 27.7 last season. This season’s regulars project to have an average of 28.7. And that’s even before they possibly bring back players like Demaryius Thomas and Dwayne Allen (you know this is happening). And, really, if they add anyone … at this point, do we really expect that player to be younger and displace a veteran? Belichick has basically eschewed going younger in many places that he could have:
Obviously there needs to be a lot of caveats thrown in here, the biggest being that we don’t know what the injury situations are for a lot of these players. That may have forced a lot of decisions. But there was probably some wiggle room, which Belichick tossed aside (pending more roster moves). Is Belichick’s Jurassic Patriots plan the right move? It certainly was last season, even if the team barely scraped out a bye by the end of the regular season, had to escape Kansas City with a thrilling victory, and was tied 3-3 with the Rams in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. And there are obvious reasons why he’s made some of these decisions. I mean, why wouldn’t you keep most of the defense from last season as-is since it was playing so well and looks even better this season? And the only reason why the defense was able to morph into that amoeba defense — which won them the Super Bowl — was because they had so many smart veterans on defense. And we all know that the Patriots’ passing game with Jedi Brady is no place for the young and weak-minded. But … really … there’s not even a little room for a few young up-and-comers anywhere, while giving them experience to lead the next group and saving a few bucks at the same time? You can’t still be good in the core with some young and cheaper legs getting in on the eating? Sure feels like The Hoodie would have done that back in the First Ring Dynasty. Now, draped in velvet and surrounded by all his poker buddies, Belichick is pushing all his chips to the middle on his Over The Hill Gang, trying to cement the Second Ring Dynasty as being even better than the first. This hasn’t changed any of my thinking that this team is going to the Super Bowl — at the least. But I don’t think a handful of moves aimed at getting a little younger and cheaper would have changed that thinking. Is Belichick right again? He usually is.
Comments
|
Patriots PlaceA spot for Patriots fans, by Patriots fans. Archives
September 2021
CategoriesOur sister sites:
NCAA Chatters ncaachatters.weebly.com/ NFL Chatters nflchatters.weebly.com/ MLB Chatters mlbchatters.weebly.com/ Garbage Time garbage-time.weebly.com/ |