Goal for the off-season, Break up the Patriots!

[Patrick76777]

That should be it. With this strong finish we should be able to get off to a great start next season. But what does it matter if New England goes 14-2 again and pounds us twice. How this team has been able to keep both Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel after winning 2 of 3 Super Bowls is miraculous. It’s time to break them up.

No matter how much I’d like to see Miami keep Bates and finish 3-13 next year, I’d much rather see them grab Weis and increase to 6-10 while knocking the Patriots down to 11-5 or so! The teams in the NFL and especially in the AFC East should raid as many NE coaches and Free Agents as possible. It should be an all out war against these guys. The league should leave the NE cupboards dry.

And the GM, I think his name is Scott Pioli! He just said he’s going to stick around in NE! Cleveland, Chicago, NO, Somebody, please throw a boatload of money at this guy! Get him out of there.

Now I know most of the NE fans think that BB’s Pee can cure cancer and his snot magically turns into great football players and coaches. But the fact remains that if he starts losing he key personal, it’s only a matter of time before things start falling apart.

Now we’ve just got to get this message to the other 31 GM’s and owners. Anybody know the Patriots Free Agents this year?

[Patrick76777]

I don't know if this list is up to date


G Andruzzi, Joe 29.5
RT Ashworth, Tom 27.4
WR Brown, Troy 33.7
WR Givens, David 24.5
T Gorin, Brandon 26.6
DE Green, Jarvis 26.1
T Klemm, Adrian 27.8
G Neal, Steve 28.4
FB Pass, Patrick 27.2
WR Patten, David 30.5
K Vinatieri, Adam 32.2


I'll take Andruzzi, Brown and Vinatieri!

[don137]

The coaches and management really made this into a great franchise. They have had personnel turnover but management and the coaching staff still have been able to keep the team winning. To hurt them you go after Weis, Pioli and Romeo Cromel. They have great football minds.

[chernobylwraiths]

Pioli said that he would finish out his contract in NE and he loves it there I think. I believe he may have only one year left. I hope someone hands him the keys somewhere else, like N.O. Not sure if I am right about the year though, I'm too lazy to look it up.

[ryjam282]

It is amazing what they have been able to do with regards to there keeping those guys around...But, remember, they were finalists for a few jobs for other teams, including, I believe Weiss for us. Maybe they are just bad interviewers or something. It isn't like there salary has increased so much to keep them around. Maybe other teams have been bowled over with other guys interviews. That is a big part of the hiring process.

[Ickybaluky]

I don't know if this list is up to date


G Andruzzi, Joe 29.5
RT Ashworth, Tom 27.4
WR Brown, Troy 33.7
WR Givens, David 24.5
T Gorin, Brandon 26.6
DE Green, Jarvis 26.1
T Klemm, Adrian 27.8
G Neal, Steve 28.4
FB Pass, Patrick 27.2
WR Patten, David 30.5
K Vinatieri, Adam 32.2


I'll take Andruzzi, Brown and Vinatieri!

Ashworth, Gorin, Green, Neal, and Givens will be restricted FA, and likely will be tendered at a level requiring draft pick compensation. LB Justin Kurpeikis is also a restricted FA.

Troy Brown is under contract through 2005, but he likely will have to restructure his deal or be released given his cap number. Of course, he has pretty much done that the last two years.

Vinatieri is the top priority to re-sign, and the team has been negotiating with him this season. If they can't sign him, it is almost certain they use the franchise designation on him, as kickers have one of the lowest franchise tag numbers. The last time Vinatieri was a free agent the Patriots used the franchise designation on him, before signing him to an extension at a later date.

Rodney Bailey (on IR), Je"Rod Cherry, Don Davis, Adrian Klemm, Patrick Pass and David Patten are all unrestricted FA. Some of them are likely to go, while others may be retained.

Earthwind Moreland and Gus Scott are exclusive rights FA.

[Ickybaluky]

Weis is a great coach, but personally I don't think he is a great playcaller. I think Crennel would be the bigger loss to the team, given how well he is respected by the players. Crennel will be a good HC, IMO. He is Belichick lite.

The Patriots have some good in-house replacements. DB coach Eric Mangini has been with Belichick for years and been groomed as Crennel's replacement. Before Oakland hired DC Rob Ryan, they wanted to hire Mangini. However, Mangini elected to stay with the Patriots as a position coach because he knew the DC position would be his when Crennel left. It is Mangini who first spawned the idea of using Troy Brown as a CB, and he worked with Brown to develop his skills as a slot cover guy.

On offense, the OC position would probably go to Dante Scarnecchia. Belichick considers him a great coach and the work he has done with the Patriots OL is highly regarded. The Pats have an assistant OL coach, Jeff Davidson, who has worked with Scarnecchia since Belichick arrived in 2000. Davidson would probably take over coaching the OL full-time.

[Ickybaluky]

The Patriots are set up real well for next season, as they have all their key players under contract and are in good cap shape.

The key for the Patriots will be handling the 2006 season. That will be the final year of both Tom Brady's and Richard Seymour's contracts, and both will require huge contracts to re-sign. How they handle that will be interesting to see.

[JayWood]

Living down here all i hear about is how great the Patriots organization is. As much as it kills me to admit they have done a great job from the front office to the coaching staff to putting litteraly a bunch of "no names" out on the field with some superstars and well we know what that has resulted in. I will say though that not enough credit is given to head of player personel Scott Pioli. I Believe that BB is the brain trust within that organization, but what a blow it would be to lose SP. However he has said that he will remain here through the end of his contract. We all know how much credit that should hold in the future. If iam a Cleveland, or NO i would take the guy in a second. He is a great evaluator of talent