Exploit their weakness and wait for their luck to run out.
FunLuver said:
For all of uuu's football fans out there ... how do we deal with Da Pats !?
What is their weakness? I think its their defense which is still pretty good. However this is NOT the same defense that won 3 super bowls in 4 years. Romeo Cornell is gone along with Charlie Weiss who is doing a spectacular job so far at Notre Dame. If the job Weiss is doing at South Bend is any indication of what the Patriots lost then the Pats' offense should be effected negatively to some extent, although at absolutely no loss for talent.
Go down the roster on their defense however and you'll find 5 Pro Bowlers, Ty Law, Ted Johnson, Teddy Bruschi, Lawyer Milloy, and Ted Washington all gone over the last two years.The only replacement that equals the player they lost is Rodney Harrison for Lawyer Milloy. That leaves 4 big pairs of shoes to fill. This is not a knock on how good they are and have been for the last 4 years but to say that the Patriots had an incredible run of luck with players selected through the draft and free agent acquisitions before and during their run of Super Bowl Victories would be a major understatement.
How many people ever dreamed that Tom Brady would become a hall of fame quarterback? I'll answer for those who are tempted to lie and say they thought that all along, absolutely no one ever thought Tom Brady would ever be as good as he is. Tom Brady himself would never have expected this to happen. Did he work hard and do his best? Absolutely. Does he deserve credit for what he has done? Absoutely. Can you call it an incredible stroke of luck for the Pats'? ABSOLUTELY.
Luck always runs out, just ask my Cowboys who won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years a decade before the Patriots. Injuries, free agency, age, coaching changes, and plain old bad luck chips away at a once powerful Dynasty and the next thing you know they are back in the Lottery. In a league with a hard salary cap where you can't buy an all star team every year, like a certain Baseball team we all know
, your teams success will always rely to a great extent on drafting good talent at key positions and building a good young team from scratch around that "star" talent. Hopefully keep them all healthy and happy so they can gel as a team and after several years reemerge from the ashes of the previous dynasty to win another title.
Give the Pats' all the credit in the world for making the selections they did when they had multiple high picks in the draft. In addition they were able to renegotiate several large contracts and get bargain deals on top talent through free agency as well. This enabled them to keep themselves under the cap and still acquire big time talent, most noticably last year with their addition of Corey Dillon who gave them the running game they lost when Curtis Martin left town for NY. Obviously there were quite a few guys who wanted to play for Belichick and get a shot at winning a title so they were willing to be a little more selfless than if they had signed somewhere else.
The Raider game last Thursday was closely contested till the 3rd quarter when multiple drive killing penalties sealed their fate as the Pats' capitalized on the Raiders' mistakes. Keep in Mind that the Raiders are not a very good team although Randy Moss gives them one of the premier deep threats in the league. Still the weakness of the Pats D was noticable as their secondary got burned on several big plays which just didn't happen last year. Tyrone Pool and Chad Smith, or whoever else they plan on plugging the gaping hole at corner with, are not going to cut it. They are average corners and will limit Harrisons' headhunting because he will be worried about missed assignments and mismatches against teams with several deep threats. Particularly the Colts. I just can't see Peyton Manning not picking them apart all day long.
If the Colts defense is as improved as they looked against the Ravens then they should be able to slow Brady and Co. enough to let Peyton and his receiving corps beat them. Any team with a good running game that can keep the Pats' offense off the field should have a shot at beating them. With Edgerrin James at RB and Peytons' air express the Colts' have everything they need to usurp the throne from the Pats'. That being said I think the Pats' will easily make the playoffs with 12 victories and another Division title. Once there however they could go out at the hands of the Steelers as well as the Colts. No amount of Belichick coaching magic can save the Pats' if they don't have good enough talent to stop the premier offense in the league. All dynasties must fall eventually and the Pats' are living on borrowed time.
