Pick ONE player from Pats past

While having Hannah back would be fantastic, I believe we are in much worse shape at tackle than guard. Cannon is struggling (he's still hurt) and Fleming is floundering.

I'd take Bruce Armstrong and stick him at LT.

Armstrong was a tremendous pass blocker. His battles with Buffalo's Bruce Smith -- one of the best rushers in NFL history -- were epic, must-watch one-on-ones and our Bruce gave him fits. A huge guy that was extremely light on his feet.

I can pretty much guarantee that if we had him on the blind side then Bill would leave him right there and rotate everybody else.

While Randy Moss is perhaps another obvious choice, I would've loved to see what Brady could do with Stanley Morgan's hands and wheels at his disposal. Nobody could cover the Steamer.
 
While having Hannah back would be fantastic, I believe we are in much worse shape at tackle than guard. Cannon is struggling (he's still hurt) and Fleming is floundering.

I'd take Bruce Armstrong and stick him at LT.

Armstrong was a tremendous pass blocker. His battles with Buffalo's Bruce Smith -- one of the best rushers in NFL history -- were epic, must-watch one-on-ones and our Bruce gave him fits. A huge guy that was extremely light on his feet.

I can pretty much guarantee that if we had him on the blind side then Bill would leave him right there and rotate everybody else.

While Randy Moss is perhaps another obvious choice, I would've loved to see what Brady could do with Stanley Morgan's hands and wheels at his disposal. Nobody could cover the Steamer.

Ding, ding, ding we have a winner.

Although Hannah, Haynes and Brown are all good choices.

How about Walt Coleman? In his prime? He correctly called the Tuck Rule and opened the door for much happiness for us.

(BTW - before I get ripped for including Coleman, someone included Julius Peppers on their list.)
 
Ding, ding, ding we have a winner.

Although Hannah, Haynes and Brown are all good choices.

How about Walt Coleman? In his prime? He correctly called the Tuck Rule and opened the door for much happiness for us.

(BTW - before I get ripped for including Coleman, someone included Julius Peppers on their list.)

Appropos of nothing, I noticed watching Green Bay last night that Julius Peppers has been in the league for 14 years and lines up in the neutral zone on almost every single down.

He finally got called in the 4th quarter and I'm like "No shit.....somebody finally noticed." Next play it was the same thing.

Phenomenal.
 
I thought about that as well.

That's one of the dilemmas with this type of exercise. If we go too far back, we have to assume that their body would morph up to today's standards.

He was 6'2". That's fairly typical for today's guards (Mason is 6'1"). With modern nutrition and training, he could definitely get up to 300 or higher.

True, but the 265 figure often quoted as Hannah's weight was only true when he came into the league. He admitted in his biography (don't buy it -- a terrible book) that he struggled with his weight from time-to-time and was heavier than that.

FWIW, I heard an interesting story about Hannah courtesy of Pete Brock who spoke at an alumni players event recently. It seems that Hannah would practice by lining up in his 3 point stance and just stay there for a long time without moving. Then, he would take one step and reset and repeat the process. Gradually he would add another step and go back to square one. Every sequence he would build on his movements step-by-step. He would do this over and over to the puzzlement of his teammates.

Of course, they asked him what he was doing and he said that he felt uncomfortable in the 3-point stance and that was the best way for him to feel it come together. To build his muscle memory. It was like martial arts training.

Eventually, some of them decided it was a good idea to start doing the same thing.

I'd never heard that and found it interesting that the best guard in NFL history didn't feel comfortable in a 3-point stance, but I knew what he meant. I hated being in a 3-point stance for some reason.
 
Right now, at this point in the season...Kevin Faulk
 
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