Canuck
Starter
As much as it pains me to say it, the Patriots know what they are doing. From Robert Craft to the water boy, they have a singular agenda and everyone plays their part. The part of franchise architect and coach is being played awfully damn well by Bill Belicheck. He and his front office people have built a team around his offensive and defensive systems that, to the best of my knowledge, don't take super stars to man but instead take good, solid, intelligent and disiplined players who know their part in the grand scheme of it all. These players are not without talent to be sure but outside of Ty Law, Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour, you'd be hard pressed to find an All Pro prospect. That's the hidden beauty of their system. No Lavar Arrington's reside at Gillette stadium. No single player is bigger than the sum of it's parts and therefore no player will command umpteen jillion dollars when his contract expires. A single player does not amass gaudy numbers deserving of the highest paid players in the league yet the end result is a Super Bowl berth. The 2nd for this coach's regime and likely not it's last. Enter the other beautiful part of their grand plan.
This SuperBowl team has 13 draft choices including two in rounds 1 and 2 this April. The draft, not free agency, is where teams build winners. Free agents are (mostly) plug in players to fill out the roster. The draft is where you build a perenial winner and NE is doing that very, very well. Last year, with no apperent need to use their 2nd first rounder, they traded it to Baltimore for their 03' 2nd rounder and 04' 1st rounder. Miami got NE's 3rd last year in exchange for our 2nd this year. The cycle is set to repeat itself again this year. Theoretically, NE could repeat this process year in and year out and continue to add young-talented players to already talented team. Conversely, Miami has made a habit of trading away 1st and 2nd rounders in a vain effort to make it to Super Bowl. It's not working. We haven't even been to the playoffs in 2 year's much less the Super Bowl. Meanwhile a talented, and extremely well paid defense grows a year older with no apperent replacements in sight. Add to the fact that the offense is expected to get most/all of this year's draft attention (and rightfully so) you have to wonder where we'll be next year much less the foreseeable future.
The sad truth is, Miami is a good but not great team. We certainly could be great with a few brilliant moves by the personel dept. but meanwhile our division foe has seemed to figured out how to be great most of the time. That and they don't appear to have lost their focus on the future either....
This SuperBowl team has 13 draft choices including two in rounds 1 and 2 this April. The draft, not free agency, is where teams build winners. Free agents are (mostly) plug in players to fill out the roster. The draft is where you build a perenial winner and NE is doing that very, very well. Last year, with no apperent need to use their 2nd first rounder, they traded it to Baltimore for their 03' 2nd rounder and 04' 1st rounder. Miami got NE's 3rd last year in exchange for our 2nd this year. The cycle is set to repeat itself again this year. Theoretically, NE could repeat this process year in and year out and continue to add young-talented players to already talented team. Conversely, Miami has made a habit of trading away 1st and 2nd rounders in a vain effort to make it to Super Bowl. It's not working. We haven't even been to the playoffs in 2 year's much less the Super Bowl. Meanwhile a talented, and extremely well paid defense grows a year older with no apperent replacements in sight. Add to the fact that the offense is expected to get most/all of this year's draft attention (and rightfully so) you have to wonder where we'll be next year much less the foreseeable future.
The sad truth is, Miami is a good but not great team. We certainly could be great with a few brilliant moves by the personel dept. but meanwhile our division foe has seemed to figured out how to be great most of the time. That and they don't appear to have lost their focus on the future either....
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