Pneumonic

Belichick's tree isn't limited to just NFL HC's such as those already noted. Look at all the other HC's in football along with the management types who all get their starts courtesy of Belichick. Name such as: Scott Pioli Ozzie Newsome Kevin Byrne Phil Savage Mike Lombardi Nick Saban Jim Bates Kirk Ferentz Chuck Bresnahan Ken Venturi Jim Schwartz Scott O'Brien Pat Hill

The Pats got caught doing something that's been done since the dawn of the NFL, stealing the signals of their opposition. BFD and stupid on their part for getting caught breaking a technicality of a silly rule. They should have placed their tape guy in the stands like all the other teams do.

When done Belichick will be the best head coach ever. Thing is he may even be a better personnel guy than a HC. And no not just player personnel but management and coaching types as well. The NFL people who got their starts in the NFL courtesy of a Belichick hire read like a who's who of the top people in the game. The Belichick tree is extensive and highly impressive.

Maybe the Pats are putting this info out to make other certain teams panic and jump ahead of them in the draft. Kinda like what they did to the Jets a few years back with Dwayne Robertson. Then again, since the surplus of picks the Pats have allows them to secure a good value trade deal prior to the draft, maybe they believe they can turn around and trade that pick for a better return should a high in demand player (say a QB) fall to them during the draft.

I think the commish is being strict because of the pattern of behavior Lynch has shown moreso than because of the severity of the wrongdoing. Having said this the commish is a Jets fan so his penalizing a AFCE team as he did isn't surprising.

Cutler's one of them million dollar talent, 10 cent brain QB's that chokes more often than not. He'll amount to nothing in bearsland. I'm more worried that the Donks will grab a heady QB like Sanchez.

Not sure if this is a serious post but if it is, Peppers would have to sign a long term deal with Buffalo in order to make this work - since Buffalo can't absorb all of Peppers' almost $17 million cap charge into their cap right now. I seriously doubt Peppers will want to uproot his family and finish his career off playing for a habitual non playoff team like Buffalo when he can keep his family where they now live and make $37 million guaranteed the next two seasons ($17M this and $20M next) by playing under the tag for the Panthers.

Ties happen in other sports and you don't see fans revolting. Besides, I hate nothing more than a team scorng a TD late in the game and then they pu$$y out and kick a convert to tie (knowing they have OT) instead of going for 2 and the win. Eliminating OT would make the end of games much more exciting because you'd have teams going for wins.

I would just eliminate OT altogether. That way both teams would try to win in regular play so that they don't end in a tie game. If the game ends in a tie then so be it. Both teams had 4 quarters to prevent a tie.

Schefter is usually right when reporting something that has already happened and has been forwarded to league offices where he gets first dibs on the info. LIke trades and cuts that have already gone down. When Schefter is left to speculate on how things will go down he's no more right than anyone else. See his speculation that Scott Pioli was destined to end up Browns GM as recent proof.

Friend Matt Bowen talks Pats and the attraction that they present to players. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/0...in-new-england/

Sure, Buffalo (or another team) could come to terms on trade value with Carolina and agree to assume Peppers' $17M cap charge but why would Peppers agree to uproot his family and show up to play for team he doesn't want to play for when he can make the same $17M staying in Carolina playing for a team he doesn't want to play for as it is?

Why not? Because they don't have a choice. The Panthers are not operating in a position of strength where Peppers is concerned. They currently are tight against the cap and are unable to even retain their own free agents nevermind adding a desired one from outside. They are counting almost $17M for a player who other teams know doesn't want to be there. Further, Peppers has stated that he will only sign a long term deal with a select few teams (NE, Dallas, Phily, Washington) putting the pressure on the Panthers to either 1) Keep Peppers at the $17M cap hit 2) Do a deal with said 4 teams 3) Find a team that will trade for Peppers' tagged contract and not only be able to absorb all of Peppers $17M salary into their cap this year but also relinquish a pick higher than #34 in order to do so! The 1) is an option but it will severely limit the Panthers as they try and field a football team this year. The 2) is an option but neither Dallas nor Washington have any cap room for Peppers leaving only NE and Philly. The 3) is an option but how many teams are going to give up a pick better than #34 for the right to have to spend $17M for a single player and who doesn't even want to play there?

They may have no choice but to give him away to NE. For starters, Carolina is facing the prospects of tying up $17M of cap on a player who doesn't even want to be there. Further, having so much cap $ tied up in just one player severely cripples what the team can do in free agency. Heck, they can't participate in free agency right now because they are carrying that albatross of a contract on their books. At this point in time I'm sure Carolina just wishes that Peppers would be gone and they could start with their offseason and add, or even just attempt to keep, some of their needed players. Further complicating matters for Carolina is that Peppers has stated that he'll only negotiate a long term deal with 4 teams (the Pats, the Cowboys, the Skins and Phily). So this forces Carolina to deal only with these 4 teams (and two of them, Cowboys and Skins don't have cap room left) or to find a team that is willing to trade a pick for Peppers AND also assume his full $17M franchise contract (because Peppers won't negotiate it down). Not many teams have the cap room to absorb all of the $17M and also better the pick that the Pats apparently have offered. Personally, I think the Panthers jump all over the 34th pick in the draft for Peppers.

They have no choice but to deny it even if it were true. Peppers isn't under contract to the Panthers (he hasn't signed his franchise tender) so therefore the Panthers aren't legally able to discuss a trade of him. But, in such cases teams always do talk trade (via the agent). They just do discreetly.

If the reports are to be believed Peppers has stated that he'll only re-work his almost $17M contract if he is traded to one of only 4 teams - the Pats being the only AFC team - that all play in a 3-4 so that he can play OLB. This narrows down the Panthers trading partners considerably (and eliminates the Bills from contention) and means the Panthers might not have much choice in this matter since I doubt they wish to keep Peppers on for that crazy $17M cap charge, not when it will severely limit what they can do this offseason personnel wise. The Pats traded Vrabel and seemingly have kept a spot open for Peppers. They also have few needs and a ton of draft pick ammunition to make the deal happen. Further, in Belicheck they have one of the games premiere defensive minds being offered to Peppers as he looks to transition from DE to OLB.

Obviously health is the key. An unhealthy Galloway won't be a productive Galloway. That's why I prefaced things by saying that "if" Galloway stays healthy he'll be trouble. But I'm not about to claim that I can predict the future and figure out the health status of Galloway for next season. What I do know is that if Galloway is healthy and playing the #3 spot against nickel backs, the Pats will have 3 wideouts who can all beat single coverage almost all of the time. Realizing that one of them will be singled up on almost every single down, I suspect that a surgeon like QB like Brady will carve up defenses like no tomorrow.

The reference to Galloway's consecutive 1k yards production was to note that, prior to getting hurt last year, Galloway was producing at a very high level the 3 previous seasons - averaging 67 catches for 1118 yards and 7 TD's. I think it's obvious that Galloway wasn't signed with the goal to supplant Moss or Welker as the 1-2 in NE. He was signed as the #3 WR, specifically to matchup against nickel backs in the role that Gaffney provided I suppose. But Gaffney never produced to the level that Galloway has. If Galloway can stay healthy he's a monumental improvement over Gaffney and will cause DC's headaches as they look to matchup their nickel backs against this guy.

Not much downside but a bunch of upside to this signing for the Pats. Galloway is a broken foot last year away from having 4, back to back 1k yard receiving seasons. And this wasn't with Tom Brady tossing him balls. Paired up with Moss and Welker, Galloway could be unstoppable against nickel backs.

The Pats had been negotiating with both Springs and Bodden long before TO was signed. And it's not like the Pats panicked after TO signed and overpaid for Bodden since he signed for the veteran minimum.

Don't sweat this as that is way too much for this guy. Pass.

In the NFL all teams have an equalized cap to spend so that part is even for all teams. What the top teams have is: 1) An owner who is committed to spending the money that he is allowed to spend. 2) A personnel group who are able to find the proper veteran players in FA and who draft top players right through round 7 3) A top notch coaching staff that can teach these newly acquired players how to win. I question whether any of the 3 points above applies to the Bills so my answer to your question is ................

Michael Holley (Patriot Reign author) says that Pats and Browns are in hot pursuit of Ray Lewis. Holley has connections to the Pats so who knows.

Taylor was rumoured to be wanting to go to the Pats for a shot at a ring prior to being traded to the Skins. He and Brady are best of friends. My bet is Taylor's agent and Belichick have already spoken.

Wouldn't matter what way this ended as Belichick was going to get accused of cheating. He gets accused of cheating because he "accepted less as a favour to a friend." Had he "accepted more as a favour from a friend" he would have been accused of cheating still. Some people need to stop worrying that the Pats are cheaters and accept that they do whatever required in order to win and do it better than any other organization out there.