An Independent Patriots Blog
Patriots vs Colts 2007 – YouTube
It’s really too bad these teams didn’t meet again in the playoffs but you know, Peyton’s gonna do Peyton things.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-vs-colts-2007-youtube-its-really-too/
New England Patriots Have Never Invested in Cornerbacks
Digging deep on the history of the contracts the Patriots have given to cornerbacks here. Paints a clear picture of how the Patriots value cornerbacks in their system, relying mostly on guys on rookie deals, vets on one-year minimums and the occasional one-year high-priced elite. But long-term, big money deals? Never.
Patriots Depth Chart as roster hits 90 players.
Here’s where we’re at with today’s signings of Dane Fletcher and Zack D’Orazio, a big slot receiver who went undrafted. I’m still leaving a spot for Dan Connolly, because if he hasn’t signed with another team at this point, he’s probably coming back to the Patriots and just enjoying an extended offseason. For someone with a lengthy injury history like Connolly, it’s understandable he’d take some extra time to heal up a bit.
The dichotomy between the defensive front seven and the secondary is quite interesting. There are so many pieces up front that could be put together so many different ways, while on the back end it’s hard to say what we have outside of Devin McCourty.
It’s a good bet there will be plenty of rotation at all areas and it’s important not to read too much into it. Though there are some specifics we can watch for like which corners stay on the outside and which work the slot consistently.
Bringing back Fletcher and Spikes gives them enough linebackers with experience to set the tone. I am still not convinced of the long-term value of either, though I like both players and could see both sticking on the main roster. But their ceiling could be determined by just how healthy Dont’a Hightower and Jerod Mayo are.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-depth-chart-as-roster-hits-90-players/
Five things to look for in Patriots OTAs
The Patriots are back on the field this week and while it’s tough to read too much into what we’ll see, there are still things to be on the lookout for. Some reminders – the 34 is the teaching defense. They’ll be in the 34 and that will send a number of Pats writers scurrying to write their yearly “going back to the 34 defense” articles. Also, guys in the secondary get moved all around to build depth and versatility at this time. So if one guy sees some snaps at safety it doesn’t mean he’s changed positions (see Logan Ryan 2014).
Massarotti: Why America Hates The Patriots, Part II
Know what this makes Patriots fans? The nouveau riche. The toothless goobers who struck oil in their backyards. The Beverly Hillbillies. (Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick, after all.) And so now Patriots fans think they have it all figured out, that they will be great forever, and they want their owner to crush the league as simply as Belichick and Brady have crushed the competition.
Usually I try to stay above the fray with guys like Felger & Mazz, Dan Shaughnessy and the rest of them who care more about stoking the fire than actually analyzing football. That’s why I started blogging about the Patriots almost eight years ago, because the reporters actually following the team and providing insight about the most complex and violent sport on the planet were few.
I think it’s unfair to stereotype any fan base. There are Jets fans I like better than some Patriots fans to be honest. But now Mazz wants to lump all Patriots fans together and certainly he’d have no love for a blogger like me regardless of what stance I’ve taken on this issue or the integrity that I try to maintain with no oversight from any editor or corporation.
The unique problem with what happened yesterday with Mr. Kraft is almost entirely related to how much he’s stoked the fires ever since he first stepped in front of the microphone in Arizona and said he would demand an apology if the Patriots were found to have done nothing wrong.
That set the tone for this entire thing and the sides were only more galvanized with the Wells Report Context website and then Mr. Kraft’s lengthy conversation with Peter King this week.
Had Mr. Kraft played the role he usually plays, quietly working behind the scenes, most of Patriots Nation would not have been quite as whipped into such a frenzy.
At the very least they would not have been looking to Mr. Kraft as the leader in this episode of us against the NFL.
I know what Mr. Kraft has done for this franchise and what he has meant to the NFL, especially what a vital role he played in 2011, when we might not have had a season if not for him.
But Mr. Kraft’s complete about-face and what is being spun as an admission of guilt pulled the rug out from under a Patriots fanbase that had rallied behind him and taken his lead. That is what stings.
I believe most Patriots fans understand why Mr. Kraft did what he did and I’d even venture so far as to say some of us respect him for it despite disagreeing with it.
But painting the entire fan base as entitled crybabies is just Boston Media Trolling for Dummies 101 and it’s why I don’t listen or read any of these guys. What have I ever learned about football, about team-building, about scouting, about strategy from Felger and Mazz or Shaughnessy or Ben Volin or any of these guys who write about the Patriots like they were the Kardashians?
I refuse to respond exactly how they want me to – with outrage and discussion that will only drive more traffic to them. That I even linked to Mazz’s article should be surprising.
Regardless of the reason why, a lot of the NFL, it’s employees, pundits and fans do hate the Patriots. Some might just hate them because they’ve been on an unprecedented run of success. Some of them hate Belichick. Now some of them hate Brady too. True or not, their reputation is that of a team that pushes the boundaries, and perception is reality. That’s the reality Patriots fans have lived with since 2007.
But what are Patriots fans supposed to do? Yes, we get to watch the best team in the league win a lot of games and championships, but we also have to be called cheaters and “toothless goobers” just because we refuse to abandon a team that has been with many of us since we were kids in the stands of the shitty old Foxboro stadium watching the Patsies get smoked just like Mr. Kraft used to do.
Should we abandon our team? Give the NFL the benefit of the doubt this time that the glaring holes in the Wells Report don’t really matter because well, we’re cheaters and if it wasn’t deflating balls they must’ve been surely doing something else that deserves punishment?
Most of us with an online voice have been “Defending the Wall” ever since September 2007. Spygate galvanized Patriots fans unlike any other fan base in the NFL and now Deflategate has pushed it to another level.
We are attacked by the other fans, the national media and many members of Boston’s own media. How else do they think we will respond?
I respect the hell out of Robert Kraft, but yesterday hurt when the man who was leading the charge against the big, bad NFL suddenly changed his mind and sided with them. Now the Boston media trolls can pile on the Patriots fans and say how silly we looked for following Mr. Kraft’s lead. We’ve been through this stuff before and yes, it will eventually be behind us and the community of true Patriots fans will never have been stronger.
It might take a few months but eventually we’ll be able to go back to just rooting on our favorite team and favorite quarterback and hoping they win football games.
As the saying goes, “winning cures all”, unless you want to listen to Mazz.
In the last five years, New England has made 48 draft picks, and 24 of them have been college captains, including second-round pick Jordan Richards, fourth-rounders Trey Flowers and Shaq Mason and seventh-round selection Darryl Roberts from this year’s draft.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/in-the-last-five-years-new-england-has-made-48/