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Ja'Marr Chase was the best rookie in the NFL this season. In terms of individual production, impact on team's win/losses, and future potential, Chase is way ahead of all other rookies on offense. Micah Parsons similarly on defense.

Statistically Mac Jones had a better year than all other rookie quarterbacks. He also had the best supporting cast and best coaching staff of any rookie quarterback. Trey Lance gets an incomplete so I'm essentially excluding him. Davis Mills gets an honorable mention for his performance with the worst supporting cast of any rookie quarterback. I also think the Patriots may have been better off if they had traded up to select Micah Parsons and then selected Kyle Trask or Mills with their subsequent pick. Although in that scenario they're probably losing out on Barmore. Still, Parsons looks like he'll be terrorizing opposing quarterbacks for the next decade at least. And I like Trask's potential from the second tier 2021 draft prospects at quarterback...

Thought I'd give him a shout out. He's been here longer than Bill, started coaching the receivers in 91, left for the Bears for a short time and then returned in 99.

A key part of the Patriots success, his popularity in the locker room is immense. It sounds like he's retiring, so the best of luck to him if he does and sincere thanks from all Patriot fans. He has 6 SB rings to remember.

Bill on Ivan.

“Ivan’s meant a lot,” head coach Bill Belichick said. “He really is the ultimate team player. One of the most unselfish people I’ve ever known, works very hard, is totally committed to the team, loves football, loves coaching football, loves being a part of the team and helping the team in any way. … He’s been a great friend, great coach, great part of this organization, and had a lot to do with our success.”

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Tom Brady:

“Ivan is an amazing coach and an amazing mentor,” Brady told The Providence Journal. “Ivan always had his players prepared — running backs or...

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I wanted The Chargers. A west coast team, not a division rival, traveling to a cold-weather stadium. But, the story plays out better if it's this particular division rivalry. Here are the advantages as I see them.

Coaching - Pats. This is a no-brainer.McD is a good coach but he's not the GOAT.
QB - Bills. Sorry, but Mac is a mediocre QB. Only in NE, does anyone think otherwise. Allen brings the intangibles. His arm, his legs and his ability to sacrifice himself.
Offense - Even. NE has the ability to break big runs, Buffalo can hit big passes and as Allen goes, the offense goes with him. Both teams are inconsistent. For the Bills, that means play-calling. Daboll has not gotten past calling ridiculous plays at ridiculous times.
Defense - Even. These are two top-tier defenses and both will refuse to give in to the other team.
Other - Pats. The Bills have a bad habit of getting in their own head and I think NE will bring more of a "been there"...

This is it, the last regular season game of the 2021 season.
We blew the first game with the Fins by fumbling on what was the go ahead drive. That hurt us for playoff seeding.
Even if the Patriots have nothing to gain by the time the game starts, they should go all out for win #11.
Brian will have his team ready to play, even though they are out of playoff contention.
Jump out to a big lead by the beginning of the 4th, then we can take the starters out.

Awesome!

View: https://twitter.com/caplannfl/status/1477869052156600322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1477869052156600322%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Heck of a job by Bill, his assistant coaches and all the players.

Unreal to be 10-6 after last season. The QB is in place, some great FA picks up and draftees, the future is bright. Too early maybe for a SB run but if we win in Miami next week we'll have momentum.

Just to be in the playoffs is huge.

I said many times, if the Patriots went 4-0 on the Tenn/Buff/Indy/Buff run, I'd take them seriously as a contender.

They went 2-2, and looked overmatched in the last two games. It was a nice run, a playoff spot is probably still on the horizon, and that's far more than I'd ever thought they'd be with 15 new starters and a rookie QB. They've proven that they're not dogshit, which was step 1 going into the season (and something they didn't prove a year ago).

Everyone of import will be back (save for JC Jackson is still up in the air) for the most part. I expect Hightower to retire, because he looks completely washed, and possibly McCourty as well, and if that's the case, they can start getting measured for their red jackets.

Jones has been far better than I expected, and I think an offseason program will do him a lot of good. In the end though, he's still a rookie, and can't overcome shit play by veterans (Harry), yet. Hopefully he gets to that point. What he's not, anymore...

Let's start the ball.

Even more trouble over the Dan Snyder case. It now turns out that Snyder legal team tried to further silence the woman who accused him of assault by sending lawyers after Beth Wilkinson the investigative reporter, threatening her and ordering her to destroy any documents relating to this. They hired private detectives, the works. The accused woman was paid off by Snyder to the tune of $1.6M years ago.

Goodell now being asked why the investigation has been kept quiet?? He won’t release any findings produced by Wilkinson.

This whole thing stinks to hight heaven. Gruden and Bruce Allen were the fall guys to protect Snyder. Gruden can surely sue for 10s of millions here.

Just putting this out there as a place to share thoughts, track changes to the situation, and center the discussion.

What do people think? If we could bring everyone back, who (or what position groups) would you look to move on from to find an upgrade? Which of our own FAs should we prioritize? Any pending FAs around the league you think would make especially good Patriots?

For convenience, see info (as if 12/10) below:

15 UFAs next year:
DMac (voided year)
Trent Brown
Karras
Hightower
JCJ
Phillips
White
Slater
Bentley
Bolden
King
Langhi
Collins
Folk
Hoyer

4 RFAs:
Meyers
Olszewski
Jakob Johnson
Troy Fumagelli

& ERFA Terez Hall

Cap situation:

• 47 players signed for 2022
• Cap is about 86% utilized
• Just under $30MM cap space available (but remember to reserve maybe $5-7MM for draft picks)...

Before you say anything, I know Mac didn't do much in the game. But, I couldn't resist trolling all the Pats haters on Youtube.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F6wBWqpRFI

Sorry, but I have to give the great man a shout out in a separate thread.

Last night just reaffirms that he has been living rent-free in head coaches minds since 2000.

You see McDermott blathering like a fool in the presser, making no sense and you think, the same story as Rex Ryan, Harbawl, Dungy, Tomlin, Andy Reid, Mike Martz, John Fox, Dan Quinn, McVay, Caldwell. Cowher, Callahan, Pagano....the list goes on and on and on......not to mention the plethora of GMs he's also ruined.

And he doesn't even give teams bulletin board material. Never disses another team, nor their players, and Bills players don't do it either. That probably makes it even more infuriating for the other teams.

And I don't believe it's a great secret how he's done this. It's sheer hard work that started when he was a boy. Watching film, learning everything he could possibly learn along the way, hoovering up information. And he hires the right, team first, unselfish players and coaches.

What he's doing...

Thanks to everyone who checked out my first one, and to UT for featuring it on the front page. Hopefully ya'll like the sequel: Mac Jones Can't Beat The Titans.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCPzRcjKB0g

Couldn't wait for this thread because this game is a huge opportunity. In order for the Patriots to get #1 seed in the AFC, and to win their division, they've got to beat the Bills at least once. They can lose this game and win the rematch and still end up the top overall seed (especially with how inconsistent the Bills have been and with the Titans missing Henry), but if they get the win on the road the path becomes much easier. Both teams are coming off of good wins, and both teams are likely to give their very best effort. This game will be hyped up like no tomorrow. Bills are opening as 3 point favorites which means the assessment is that of two even teams with the Bills having homefield advantage. Here's hoping the Bills show up like they did against the Colts, but even if they do not, this is a winnable game. Cmon guys let's get into the Bye with a win over a key divisional opponent fresh in our minds instead of letting the bitter taste of defeat linger for a couple of...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RubuOsmmFA

By Yours Truly

Okay, so football is a matchup sport. Personnel groupings the offense uses have to be appropriately matched or countered by the personnel of the defense. Fairly often, you'll hear talk of the defense getting caught with the wrong personnel, and/or running someone on/off the field, getting caught with too many men, etc.

The hurry up offense was designed, in part, to force the defense to not be able to easily substitute.

I had a brainstorm. Next gen chess.

As far as I know, there are rules that say you can't have more than 11 on the field when the ball is snapped. But what about before that?

Scenario 1: I put, say, 16 guys into the huddle - QB, 6 OL, 3 TE, RB, FB, 4 WR. The defense is on the field, and based on their personnel the OC calls the personnel and play into the QBs headset. The QB calls the personnel grouping, then the play, in the huddle. They break the huddle, and 11 line up while the 5 not needed run off the field. As soon as they're off the field, the ball...

The past two Bills games, I’ve seen terrible officiating. Last week was just atrocious. Jags Josh Allen taunting our Josh Allen after the sack; Cole Beasley giving himself up, laying prone on the ground and a defensive back jumping on top of him; the Jaguars’ right tackle having countless false starts, holding, blocking in the back on passing situations when facing Jerry Hughes. None of these were called.

How can a defensive lineman be called for holding on a running play? Star Lotulelei getting called for a defensive holding penalty on a Jacksonville run play might be the first time I’ve ever seen that flag.

It's league-wide. I hear the same thing here from Bears fans and I see it in other games. Phantom Roughing the Passer calls, like the one Thuresday night

View: https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/1459014410421350420?s=20

Is it...

Can it be done? It doesn't look good.

The Pegulas have said they'll pay for a portion of the $1.4B stadium costs but haven't committed an amount.
How will anyone - the state or the Pegulas - justify paying for it when it's only bringing in $27M/year in revenue?

View: https://twitter.com/NateMendelson/status/1455627167329656834

Here's the cost analysis: https://t.co/8gmDBeMBgS?amp=1

I've been a big Jon Jones fan since 2017 when it became clear he was going to replace Malcolm Butler as our "star" CB in the middle. I have no idea how he wasn't drafted running the fastest 40 time and even at 5'8, I don't care, as his vertical leap was good enough to offset that fact that he is a bit small. All I know is, I am thankful BB had Jones's agent on speed dial once the draft ended because he's been a big part of the 2nd dynasty and any defensive successes this team has had in recent years. It's nice to know you can go into a game and just see the other team's slot WR or fastest WR can be contained or taken out completely because of his elite plat at the position. It's very rare he gave up a big play or a TD, or if he did give up a reception, the player was tackled immediately. The very definition of a top flight nickel.

Anyway, this is a big loss for the team because I had him as the best nickel in the conference the last 5 years, if not the whole league.

This led me...