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BB has often had this air of doubt around many stars when the Pats sign them. I figure it helps with getting them to mesh with the team, put work in, and has a positive effect.
My fear is they play Cam and not Stidham and won’t win the SB with either. They won’t pay Cam market value and he walks and they still have no idea about Stidham. So a year from now they still don’t have a QB with experience.
Welcome to reality Pats fans. Its hard to win in the NFL and you don't generally get to coast to the AFC Championship every year. You have to take chances to win as many games as possible and scratch and claw your way to a successful season and you're always searching for a QB.
They are probably not gonna win the Super Bowl regardless of how well either of them play although if MVP Cam is what they are getting that could change things...I have confidence that by the end of the year it will be definitely known one of them is the QB of the future or they need to look elsewhere...if looking elsewhere is the option it could be a rocky near future.
My point was they aren’t winning this year anyway . . . it would make more sense to play Stidham at some point to see if he can play. If the league doesn’t destroy the team salary cap number for next year, the Pats are projected to have around $100M in cap space available. This year was essentially best served to set things up for 2021. They could easily be back in the mix next year. Given that Cam is playing for the league minimum this year, I doubt he will take a lowball offer next year and NE won’t offer him near what he will want. A scenario where BB doesn’t really have a long term plan at QB two years in a row seems very hard to comprehend.
Never gonna happen. BB would never not go all out to win. Their defense alone will keep them far away from getting near a high enough draft pick for one of those guys.
Thats exactly the line of thinking you're going to have to get accustomed to not latching on too. Almost every fanbase can say that every year.
They might think not throwing Stidham to the fire right away is the best way to develop him...there is no doubt they like him as they were ready to go with him but when you get a chance to get a former MVP for the league minimum you jump on it...this now gives them two chances to figure out their QB situation...I see zero downside to what they did regardless of how it plays out.
I don't think Belichick will ever concede a season. I'm sure he fully intends to win the division again and contend for a high playoff seed, then let the chips fall. I certainly don't expect him to allow concern about his 2021 QB to have impact on who starts in week 1 of 2020. Sure, if they reach a point where they are clearly out of the playoffs, that could change things. But until then, best players play.
With their defense and 4 games with the Jets and Phins there's no way they can draft those QBs.
And it would be beyond foolish to count on it as your plan for the future...there are definite scenarios where the Pats take a sizable step backwards this year but with BB coaching I just don't see them in the mix to get a Trevor Lawrence type of QB with their own pick or BB selling the farm to get that high of a pick...their roster (or draft assets) is not in a situation where they can make that type of deal and historically not how BB wants to build his roster...he is gonna try and do this on the fly and if either Newton or Stidham hits he may be able to do it.
There is zero reason they can't win their division. What if Mahomes or Jackson get hurt, or get Covid? NE still has a very good defense, the league's best HC, and possibly the best QB in the division. Are people really thinking Buffalo is some lock? The were a mediocre team, that didn't beat a single playoff team, other than the Titans pre-Tannehill.
i'm really glad the sports blackout has weened me off all the Boston talking heads. havent listened to a sports broadcast of any kind in weeks
I think hell has a special place where the sports fan is subjected to Curran, Mazz, Felger, and Wiggins's commentary about all teams playing Boston at the moment. Just truly God awful.
Bedard probably has the best take on it in Bostonsportsjournal.com but it's a pay-site so can't post here.
Giardi said the Pats showed interest in March. But at that time price was too high. Heard rumor too Cam turned down better money as back up to be starter in NE. Maybe the Pats were doing things and this was their plan. If it didn’t work out go with Stidham.
I can only take small doses of Felger and Mazz. They simply try to anger the fan base to get ratings.
It's really hard to tell what interest level they had and when. I have heard BB say that for a majority of players that become free agents, they will check in with a player's agent to start a dialogue even if they don't have a ton of interest. Basically doing their due diligence, getting a sense of the market, trying to set up a pecking order of who might be available in a pinch, etc.
If Cam is healthy there's nothing wrong with this belief. The Ravens and Chiefs are clearly the favorites in the AFC right now, but chances are at least one of their seasons doesn't even go according to plan. If I'm placing a bet on a team other than those two, its going to be New England. Great defense, great coaching, and what I expect to be a really annoying offense to deal with that dovetails beautifully with said defense and said coaching.
I agree as long as Cam stays healthy. If not they look just like that five hundred end to the season.
The Patriots offense last year was a banged up bunch. That killed any chance of them winning by the end of the season. I will be in the minority, but I think Brady was no longer mentally into playing for the Patriots and he didn't really care as much as he did in prior seasons. He knew he was most likely leaving (if not 100% knew), and he was not a happy camper and his play suffered.
Too hard to answer right now. The talking heads keep bringing up that NE is getting a former MVP that accounted for 45 TD on a 15-1 team that went to the Super Bowl. While that is true, they are also getting a guy that couldn't finish the last two seasons, went 0-8 over that stretch, and has taken a pounding over the years.
Did you actually answer my question?
Probably a different topic worthy of it's own thread is trying to figure when BB was in favor of moving on from Brady. If the rumors that have been circulating are true, Bill wanted to keep Jimmy G. and Brady would have been the one shipped of to SF (but Kraft nixed it). That would have been prior to the start of the 2017 season, meaning that Bill was ready to move on 3 full seasons ago.
For the system, do you see anything other than them modifying the system A LOT. Regardless of who the QB is?
That's what I hear too. And it's usually said in terms of ripping Stidham.
What does "winning the battle" actually mean? I said that based on what limited info we have available now that Stidham would be my guess to start Week 1. From there, everything would be outcome dependent. If NE started the year 6-2 with Stidham, I would expect that NE would stick with him at QB. If they started 0-4, they would quickly make a move to Newton. But the same thing could happen the other direction. They could start out playing Newton, and if he looked mediocre and they didn't win, then they would try Stidham.
Definitely disagree with your first point. The offense likely would look very similar to what they ran last year and there's a big fat zero percent chance I'll take Stidham over Brady to run it. With Newton however, it's going to look night and day. Newton affects the running game and they way defenses scheme in way that few QBs in the league do.
I am guessing you mean a 43 year old Brady back. I don't believe BB actually wanted Brady back . . . because if he did, Brady would be back. NE did not waver on their position of not giving Brady a multi-year extension or any guaranteed money. From what I heard, prior to the 2019 season all parties talked things out and Bill said he would only take Brady back for one season at a time for way less than he was set to make in 2019 and that was it. There was no more negotiating, there were no more offers, and there was one phone call this off season when BB and Brady asked each other if either side had moved from their position and that was that. Another topic for a different discussion is whether Bill will be proven right not to give a 43 and 44 year old QB a guaranteed $50 million . . . and as we have discussed in various threads the best way to win a SB these days is on a QB's rookie contract and not by paying someone top of the market value.
I am taking the position that Cam is not 100%, that his body is worn down, and that NE doesn't want him running all over the place. So sure, if 2015 Cam Newton shows up I agree that getting a QB that can account for 45 touchdowns makes them a much better team. I just don't think they are getting that (and that that one season will be his career outlier). I also think that my opinion is not alone, as every other team pretty much stayed clear from Cam (yes, I am aware that people will say COVID kept him from getting a physical).
Yes. A Brady 3 years older than he was when he was ready to move him.
That's one way to look at it, but NE could have Stidham play until they feel that Cam knows enough of the playbook to play him instead. It would not shock me if they went with Stidham against MIA, SEA, LV . . . and then sent out Newton against the Chiefs with NOTHING ON TAPE for the Chiefs to scheme for.
Sure. That's helpful too.
That would be awesome.
In the meantime, as someone who pays close attention to the team, any educated guesses you had would be great. If he was 2015 Cam you guys would be on the same tier as Balt and KC. All you need is 2018 Cam to be in the mix as I'm describing.
I always post what I see / hear / read, and unfortunately the current situation does not have a majority opinion. I have heard everything from Cam might not make the final roster, that Cam was brought in mostly as a backup, that Cam will start this year but Stidham will start next year, that Stidham will start the year until Cam is ready, and that expect both guys to start games this year. Literally every possible combination under the sun. Heck, I head someone today say that if Hoyer lights up training camp that Bill would pick him to start Week 1.That would be awesome.
