MattM

Born and grew up in Roch, now live in southern Westchester Cty (I work in midtown Manhattan and my wife works in Connecticut, so we split the difference home location-wise).....

Add these two plus a back up TE and we have a winner....

I'm with you on this one, Danny--maybe it's an ER thing! Mr. Verzella (among others) would be proud ....

Grew up in Easta Roch, and went to my first game when I was about 6 (in the old Rockpile). Some of my parents' first dates were early Bills games....

Yeah, but he's replacing Lee Evans, so....

For those who wanted the Bills to sign him...

One of my college friends was at the Derby and posted some pics of him with WW on Facebook. Also looked like Aaron Rodgers was at the same party, as my buddy had some more pics with him, too. As usual, Wes looked like a tool in his pics--not quite as toolish as above, but a tool nonetheless....

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/12306507-419/lets-use-junior-seau-tragedy-as-opportunity-to-learn.html Interesting piece by Brandon Marshall, of all people. Sounds like he's had his own mental health issues and so wanted to comment on the Seau situation. Takes some guts to come forward like he did, so I applaud him for that....

This. Seems to be the Pats* "secret ingredient" to all of their "aging vet" signings if you ask me....

I was at that Seattle game--that play (fake FG pass from Moorman to Denney to score) was a thing of beauty....

Solder shut down Cam Wake in the Monday nighter in Miami, but he also got away with a number of holds that weren't called (even the announcers said so), so it's good to see that some things never change no matter who's playing LT for the Pats*.....

I'd be ok with VY or maybe Kitna, but that is really a wretched list....

Because you cherry pick your one data point that supports your argument (hitting on a few players in one draft class), while ignoring the horrible drafts that surround it, as others have pointed out. What do you think about the Ebner pick in the 6th round this year? The guy had played 3 snaps all season, was on no one's radar at all, yet has a draft pick wasted on him. I say wasted, because NE could have easily signed him to an UDFA deal, as no one else probably even knew who he was, much less have any interest in him. Sometimes in trying to show how smart he is, Belicheat* fools even himself, kind of like that 4th and inches at Indy a couple of years ago....

I know what Brady has said; now whether (a) his body allows him to play at a high level for more than one or two more years and (b) whether he follow through on his promise to try to play until he's 40 is the real question. Personally, I'd say that he's going to be an elite QB for at most 2 more seasons, but we'll see. In terms of the latter point, we were talking about how the Pats*' recent drafts and how they've done as a way to prognosticate on their current draft. You then pointed out that they're the best drafting team in the League (or implied it) by pointing to the fact in a PFT article stating that they had drafted the most Pro Bowlers over the last ten years' worth of Pro Bowls. I and others then showed you more immediately above that most of those players had been drafted about 15 or so years ago and that their recent more recent drafts (with the possible exception of 2010) have really been nothing to write home about, and, I'd go so far as to say they'd have gotten other GM's fired absent the kind of production on the field in terms of W-L that the Pats* have had (very little of which was because of said recent draftees). Personally not too sure how drafting a bunch of great players 15 years ago (when he had many other people no longer with the team with a hand in the draft) and very few recently (when said folks have moved on) means this year was likely to be a great one, but we'll see....

Dude--the point of the thread was to discuss the Pats* "drafting prowess" this year and you've been owned. Quit trying to change the subject and face it (or respond to my post above laying out pretty precisely why your original point on such prowess was ridiculous). As for your attempted deflection, no one can deny that he's had a very good team year in and year out since Brady (the one other constant over that period) stepped to the fore. Let's see how Belicheat does without a HOF QB in a couple of years (and I use that term intentionally, since I suspect Brady will be done either by choice or not by choice after the 2013 season)--then we'll have a pretty good idea of who was responsible for these teams. That may actually turn out to be pretty funny, as payback is, well, you know....

Always look at the underlying data. I just did and it's hysterical. Here are the Cheats* PB players they drafted who played in PB's from 2002 to 2011: Bledsoe Woody Seymour Law Milloy Izzo (ST) McGinest (not sure they drafted him, but what the heck) Brady Bruschi Vinatieri Koppen Wilfork (2004) Mankins Light (2002) Gostkowski Merriweather (just shows what a joke the PB is, more on that later) McCourty (see immediately above comment) Mayo Slater (ST) Notice something here? First thing I noticed was that most of the guys in the list above were drafted in the mid to late 1990s, well over a decade ago. Not much at all in the last few years, as you'll see, and some of those taken in the last few years would NEVER HAVE MADE THE PB IF THEY DIDN'T PLAY FOR THE CHEATS* (I'm looking at you Merriweather and McCourty (great soph season, BTW--ha, ha)), since we all know that the success of the team one plays on has a massive amount to do with whether you make the PB or not. Great example to me of that on the other side is TKO not making it when he had great seasons with the Bengals about a decade ago--the guy was clearly one of the best LBs in the League then, but got no recognition. Thus the whole premise is flawed, but even so, Pneumonic's arguments about how special the Pats* drafting skills are recently has been shredded by the evidence. In looking at the PB lists, it's also apparent to me that a lot of their success has been in picking up FA's who will play at below market wages for a chance at a ring and/or aging vets who may like New England's aging vet-friendly pharmaceuticals policy, like Harrison--free HGH all around, boys!--too bad HGH testing is coming about a decade too late to catch some of his teammates....

It just shows what a joke this whole "grading a draft one day after it's over" is....

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/draft.htm Pro Bowl picks over the last decade is a ridiculous way to look at their current ability to draft. You do realize that many/most of those Pro Bowlers were drafts ages ago by folks no longer anywhere near the team, right? Much more relevant is their last 5-6 drafts. Particularly those post-Pioli and post-Dimitroff. Other than hitting in 2010, I'd call their recent drafts pedestrian, and I'm being kind.....

On an age adjusted basis, not too shabby....

First point--over what time period on that drafting most Pro Bowl players? Other than hitting on the TE's and Mayo (who I think is a bit overhyped), I haven't been too impressed lately with their drafts. McCourty regressed last year, those 2 RBs they drafted high have done nothing, for ex. While we like Chandler Jones here as a WNY kid (hopefully you knew that), I as a Syracuse fan am not too sure what people saw in him as a top DE. If you look at his stats, they weren't stellar and came against very weak Big East competition. I think his rankings were more on potential than production, but time will tell....

Those trades were the reason they ain't got no more picks after the second round....

In fairness to WEO, didn't Bradford lead a pretty bad team to the playoffs his first year there (albeit their overall record was not that great). Last year was a bit of a mulligan I'd wager. They'll be in the hunt in the weak NFCW either this year or next, IMHO....

He calls Jones a projected "late" 1st round sleeper, yet it's an A+ for the Cheats* to move up to 21 and take him? Give me a break....

Personally, I suspect they go best OT on their board at 41 and then if there are WR's they like available later in the round they package our 3rd with a 4 or 5 and move back in to grab them. If they did that (depending on who they are), I'd be happy....

Plus one. If you look at their roster, they can use help everywhere except QB, TE, NT and LB. Their secondary was atrocious, they had little pass rush and lost Anderson, Ellis and Warren (latter two still available, however), their guards (esp. Waters) are getting old, their WR are ancient by NFL standards and they lost their best RB. That said, they made the SB last year obviously, but I finally expect the fall off we've all been waiting for for years, but we've said that before....