Is this assessment of the Patriots accurate?
Pats' downfall just beginning
Posted on Tue, Feb. 05, 2008
PHOENIX
-- And now the Patriots must brace themselves for the really bad news.
Their loss in Super Bowl XLII was horrible, sure. It was a botched effort to
reach NFL immortality, it was a mighty tumble on the steps of perfection, and
it was, as cornerback Ellis Hobbs said, ``One big zit. One big blemish.''
But it also was the calm before the storm.
The Patriots that returned home Monday merely 18-1 after losing to the
Giants will continue to be a good team. They will continue to be a
playoff-caliber club as long as Tom Brady is their quarterback and Bill Belichick, regardless of his record as a
cheater, is their coach.
But champions? Or even an undisputed AFC power?
No way, because too much bad news is coming.
The truth is New England's offseason promises to be more challenging than
those final two minutes that lost them the Super Bowl.
SENATE QUERY
Pretty soon a senator will start poking at the rot that is this team's
festering cheating scandal, one that now extends to its first Super Bowl
victory in February 2002. If Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., smells anything funny
during his conversations with the NFL and a former Patriots video tape
assistant, it wouldn't surprise if a full-blown investigation of Spygate
ensues.
You think Belichick looked funny running off the field Sunday before the
game was over? Wait until he runs for the hills if he's asked to testify in
front of Congress under oath.
And that's just the scandal that looms in the halls of congress and the NFL
offices -- away from the rigors of the offseason. On the actual football front,
the Patriots are about to lose the high ground.
This team that has been so dominant since bursting onto the scene in 2001 is
starting to have the feel of yesteryear, which is bad news when the important
thing is next year.
The Patriots linebacker corps -- headed by Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau --
is old and, adding insult to injury, unsigned. Their most dynamic offensive
weapon, receiver Randy Moss, is a free agent. So is Asante Samuel, who is only New England's best player in the secondary and perhaps
the best defensive player overall.
Special teams captain Larry Izzo is unsigned and will be 34 years old in the
2008 season. Safety Rodney Harrison will be 36 years old in 2008. And New England's most venerable player, receiver Troy Brown,
isn't likely to see 2008 as he seriously ponders retirement.
New England
fans, blind to the fact seasons change and the Patriots are about to enter
their winter of discontent, would argue every team has unsigned players. They
would argue the Patriots have a top-10 pick due them in the first round of the
April draft.
Those are indisputable facts. But the truth is retaining Moss and Samuel
will be difficult.
Moss played for a discount with New England
in 2007. He took a $4 million pay cut to escape Oakland. But the Louis Vuitton of NFL
receivers is unlikely to sell his talents at Wal-Mart prices again.
Samuel, a Broward native, played this season as New
England's franchise player. But in exchange for that, Samuel was
guaranteed the Patriots would not label him as a franchise player again. So he
will test the free agent market.
Yes, he is saying the right things such as he would love to remain with New England. But he is also saying the smart things.
''Hopefully, we can have many more seasons to come,'' Samuel told The Boston
Globe before adding, ``but if we don't, life goes on.''
SHOW HIM THE MONEY
Translation: Show me the money or I'm outta here.
None of this would suggest the Patriots are on the verge of a titanic
collapse.
Although Brady struggled in his final two games this season, he remains an
elite player at the game's most important position. That alone gives the
Patriots an advantage over AFC East rivals Buffalo,
Miami and the
Jets.
But the Giants showed the rest of the NFL that you could beat the Patriots
if you beat up Brady. Next season, teams with sense will cast aside plans to
rush three linemen and play zone coverages behind them in the secondary.
Teams will attack the Patriots offensive line with five rushers, with
blitzes from every angle, and with pressing coverage against Moss or whatever
receiver replaces him.
It promises to be a challenge for the Patriots, one they saw only a couple
of times this season. They must brace themselves for the onslaught.
Because their Super Bowl loss Sunday was probably as easy as it will get for
a while.