Add Brady's dead money to Cam, Stidham and Hoyer's salaries and I bet the Pats are still below the NFL average cap hit at the QB position. It's silly to blame their cap woes on Brady's dead money, and not, say, paying two guards almost 25+ million.
The Game Goat Thread: Wk.16 vs Bills
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Outside of the running game, which is something, the Pats roster is a mess and can’t really afford any departures of talent or injuries. The Pats vaunted secondary begins and ends with Gilmore. They have talent elsewhere, but when he’s out there is a MAJOR drop off...all the talk of him leaving next year is troubling as it creates more holes (early draft pick?) that they simply cannot afford. JC does not look like a #1.
The Gilmore situation will certainly be worth watching. He’s 30 so an extension is somewhat risky but not sure we can afford to let him go and he would probably yield a decent pick in a trade. JC had a nice season with the INTs but had mixed results as a #1 corner. Jones is fine in the slot. JMAC is probably done. JoeJuan looks like a bust. Dugger and Phillips player well and we’ll hopefully have Chung and DMAC back next year. If Gilmore returns, the secondary should be in good shape. If he doesn’t, then a good unit probably is mediocre.
The oddity with doing everything he can to avoid playing Stidham, is BB is devaluing the asset which is the opposite of his usual maximizing of assets. (See former assistant coaches and productive players here that go elsewhere and struggle.) By not playing Stidham over the anemic Newton, BB is broadcasting that he is a worthless QB. Whereas at least starting him a game or two in a lost season you have the chance to coach him into a competent performance and maybe get some low level interest from other teams, if you are not interested in Stid as a possible starter going forward. It's not like holding Stid back will allow you to sign him to a second contract as a backup, he'd certainly go to another team where the coach gives him an honest chance if the starter blows.
Currently, there are 5 teams sitting at 6-9: Cowboys, Chargers, Vikings, Pats, 49ers. That is the order that Tankathon lists them. I can see why the Chargers are picking ahead of the Pats and the 49ers after, due to H2H. But what is determining the rank of the 5 when taken together?
Next week, here are the games for those five teams:
In the other direction, there is only one 8-loss team, the Raiders, who could get to 9 losses (playing the Broncos as noted above).
So the best draft situation for the Pats would be for the Jets to win their 3rd game against the Pats; then for all the 9-loss teams, as well as the Raiders and the Panthers, to lose.
That would leave the Pats in a 5-way tie with the Giants, Lions, Broncos and Panthers at 10 losses and taking up the 7-11 draft slots. I have no idea how those tie-breakers would work, but there is one H2H loss (Broncos) in the Pats favor, so maybe that gets them to 10, but maybe even better?
OTOH, if the Pats beat the Jets, The Raiders lose to the Broncos, and all those other 9-loss teams lose, the Pats fall back to 15 (as they beat the Raiders).
Who understands multi-team tiebreakers for draft positions better than I to help sort out possiilities there?
Next week, here are the games for those five teams:
- Cowboys at Giants
- Chargers at Chiefs
- Vikings at Lions
- Patriots Home Vs Jets
- 49ers Home vs Seahawks
In the other direction, there is only one 8-loss team, the Raiders, who could get to 9 losses (playing the Broncos as noted above).
So the best draft situation for the Pats would be for the Jets to win their 3rd game against the Pats; then for all the 9-loss teams, as well as the Raiders and the Panthers, to lose.
That would leave the Pats in a 5-way tie with the Giants, Lions, Broncos and Panthers at 10 losses and taking up the 7-11 draft slots. I have no idea how those tie-breakers would work, but there is one H2H loss (Broncos) in the Pats favor, so maybe that gets them to 10, but maybe even better?
OTOH, if the Pats beat the Jets, The Raiders lose to the Broncos, and all those other 9-loss teams lose, the Pats fall back to 15 (as they beat the Raiders).
Who understands multi-team tiebreakers for draft positions better than I to help sort out possiilities there?
I believe the tiebreaker for draft position is strength of schedule. Weakest strength of schedule picks first. The Patriots have a pretty high SOS this season which will hurt their draft position. They played a lot of 10+ win teams. Seattle, KC, Buffalo x2, Miami x2, Baltimore maybe LAR.
I'm not saying that at all ... I'm saying i want to see what he looks like given a chance to start a game before I say something as definitive as "Stidham did not show any signs of being close to a competent QB" because of how he looked in relief during a blowout
Time will tell how stupid a post it is. If you are blaming this season on lack of $$$, who's fault is that? opportunity to play? not without a stable QB they won't.If you think players have been lining up to play for BB rather than Brady you are just lying to yourself. There will be issues,and I doubt this season was the rock bottom....time is a precarious thing given one's vantage point, being able to view from a distance gives one a different perspective than say someone who is completely submerged within the local propaganda spin day and night. I will see how they address the QB situation first before commenting any further, as that person is currently not in the building
There is positive propaganda in the Boston sports media market? What are you listening to/reading?
I based my opinion on what I've seen from him the last 2 years not just last night. I haven't see anything that would make me think that he deserves a longer look. To me, if Stidham had shown progress during training camp and was beating out Cam for the job that he would have been the starter because of the little financial commitment tied to Cam. But, he did not play well there either by all accounts and then missed time with an injury.
I do agree with you in that if you want to get a look at him, he needs to be getting the 1st team practice reps all week and prepare as a starter. I'm just saying that it's really not going to matter in terms of 2021. Unless a 180 happens in the offseason and he magically develops accuracy and better decision making, he's not the guy moving forward.
I realize that Merlin, they have been waiting 20 years to pay him back for some of the press conference snubs. As a fan it is a huge blessing to not be exposed to so called sports writers crap every day. Las Vegas has no real sports writers, both the Golden Knights and the Raiders(man did they screw up which games we get on Sunday) get total passes, and no one holds anyone accountable for what UNLV sports has become, particularly basketball. I grew up in Central Mass, but my parents moved in 71, it seems that time has not affected Boston writers, even winning does not stop them from looking for the dark hole.
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I doubt teams are going to be fooled into giving up much for Stidham now when he couldn't beat out Hoyer for a start earlier in the season when the game actually mattered to the team.
That said there are 5 teams at 6-9 right now and the Jets are locked into #2 so the Pats should play whoever is worse (which probably means Stidham) and maybe they can jump a few spots.
If both QBs were this bad, I wish the Pats didn't transition to a gimmicky HS offense all year to eke out 6 wins and further stall the development of the receivers and harm the draft position.
At this point it's pretty likely we haven't seen bottom yet. And given how bad they've looked this month, that's depressing.
At this point it's pretty likely we haven't seen bottom yet. And given how bad they've looked this month, that's depressing.
It wasn't going to happen, but I thought they should have tanked for Lawrence after the first Bills loss considering they had both games remaining against the Jets, the talent was that crummy, but they wouldn't have gotten to #1 anyway.
That said they could have been in the top 5 of the draft if two of the Jets / Ravens / Cardinals games went the other way.
That said they could have been in the top 5 of the draft if two of the Jets / Ravens / Cardinals games went the other way.
Here's the problem with those using the Buffalo game as a measure of what Stidham would do if he started a game.
The two aren't comparable.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that Stidham would change the coaches' minds about him, or suddenly become terrific.
But saying that what we've surmised second-hand from media reports from practice, or the logic fallacy that "he must suck if he can't beat out Cam" is definitive proof of what Stidham is a lazy argument.
It's also lazy, as several have said, to suggest that throwing him in last night in the middle of a train wreck, with Buffalo manhandling an O-line that lost Mason and Andrews to injuries during the game and saying "See ... we told you he sucked."
Give him a week of No. 1 reps, put in a game plan that plays to his debatable strengths, and let's see what there is there.
The worst that can happen is that more concrete evidence of his suckitude is seen. The best is may we see there enough to suggest he could be a backup in this league.
But saying we who "know" what kind of quarterback Stidham is based on what we've seen in mop-up roles and supposition and media speculation is simply lousy posting.
The two aren't comparable.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that Stidham would change the coaches' minds about him, or suddenly become terrific.
But saying that what we've surmised second-hand from media reports from practice, or the logic fallacy that "he must suck if he can't beat out Cam" is definitive proof of what Stidham is a lazy argument.
It's also lazy, as several have said, to suggest that throwing him in last night in the middle of a train wreck, with Buffalo manhandling an O-line that lost Mason and Andrews to injuries during the game and saying "See ... we told you he sucked."
Give him a week of No. 1 reps, put in a game plan that plays to his debatable strengths, and let's see what there is there.
The worst that can happen is that more concrete evidence of his suckitude is seen. The best is may we see there enough to suggest he could be a backup in this league.
But saying we who "know" what kind of quarterback Stidham is based on what we've seen in mop-up roles and supposition and media speculation is simply lousy posting.
I’m not sure why you think what myself and others have said is lousy posting or lazy based on what has actually happened with Stidham this year.
We already know that he did not play well enough in training camp to win the starting job. It’s not speculation that he threw 7 interceptions in team drills in the first 4 days of camp which put him behind the 8-ball in a short camp. He also hurt himself which didn’t help. But when he was healthy, he didn’t perform well enough.
We also know that when Cam had Covid and they needed a starter against Kansas City they passed over him to start Hoyer.
Moreso than the results of his game action, it’s the fact that the coaches haven’t even wavered in changing QB’s the last couple weeks that makes me think Stidham has fallen out of favor. If they wanted to get an extended look at him by giving Stidham a full week of reps and starting him, you would think they would do it. Belichick even alluded in his WEEI interview today that him starting this week wouldn’t change what they think of his chances to start in 2021.
Finding the 2021 starter is the lense in which I’m viewing this issue and I just don’t think who starts week 17 matters one way or the other. I’m not opposed to starting him this week and seeing how he’d due with a full week to prepare. But it’s quite possible that in Belichick’s eye he has not earned the opportunity to start based on his play in practice. At the end of the day, we can really only go by the actions of the people who have seen him every day and if they’re not giving Stidham a real opportunity to play then it speaks volumes about where he is in his development and does not bode well for his future.
I wish Bill the HC could convince Ozzie Newsome to become the chief talent evaluator or something. That guy can pick players.
BeLiChIcK coaching tree is a bust:
Belichick scouting and evaluation method is more or less used by what 20-33% of NFL front offices?