Looking Back/Looking Ahead Round 6

The minute I found out that Darrelle Revis had signed with the Jets I thought back to one of the late 80’s Detroit Pistons team. The Pistons, a group of thugs and clowns had, just won the NBA championship. Almost immediately, they had had their souls ripped out. After winning it all, essentially after those stooges paraded through the cesspool that was and is Detroit, one of their glue guys, one of the leaders of their assault and mayhem style of play, Rick Mahorn, was snatched from their roster in the expansion draft.
The Patriots, and their stunned fans, did have a few weeks to revel in the fact that the Seahawks had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, there is still a similar, Pistons-esque, sense of loss hanging around the franchise. The feeling is one of emptiness, one of things not being 100% whole.
Letting Revis go was a mistake that may cost them another ring. It will almost certainly cost them a chance to cruise through next season with ease.
I know there is a legion of fans in the area whose, “In Bill We Trust,” mantra will try to drown out any criticism and second guessing of questionable personnel and coaching decisions. What the IBWT crowd misses, or more likely ignores, is the fact that the Pats have won all of their championships with three things: an all-world coach, a once-in-a-lifetime quarterback, and an elite, Hall of Fame cornerback.
Two of the three (BB and TB12) have been the same throughout. The cornerbacks were Ty Law and Revis.
Watch the Super Bowl against the Rams again-which I have done a couple of times. Ty Law should have been the MVP of that game. He was everywhere, making tackles, defending passes, shutting down one half of the field that “The Greatest Show on Turf” was supposed to be dominating, and, for good measure, taking an interception to the house.
Between Law and Revis, that Pats had one above average cornerback- Asante Samuel. Had Samuel held on to the pass, his “Hands of Buckner” moment, the one that went right through his hands, delivered by alleged MVP Eli Manning, and secured 19-0, he would have been considered one of the best in team history. The whiffed on the ball and the nightmare ensued.
For much of the time between great defensive backs, the Pats have been close to the ring, but not good enough to a win a championship. Truly, only one time could you say that they didn’t go all the way because the perception was that the offense was lacking talent- the ’06 AFC Championship Game. That loss to Indy, a game in which their offense scored 27 points, was the reason BB went out and got Welker and Moss for the ’07 season. There is, however, another way to look at the ’06 loss:if they’d had an elite corner they wouldn’t have given up over 400 yards of offense and 38 points.
My biggest fear is that Coach Belichick will try to scheme and maneuver (in other words “over-coach” because the talent isn’t there to make plays) in order to keep the wolves of the AFC East at bay. We’ve all seen how that has played out. The opponents march down the field, the Pats won’t be able get off of the field on third down, the offense will have to carry too much of the winning burden, and the team will be just good enough to NOT win it all.
All of the IBWT gang cannot dispute the fact that they have never won it without all three components in place- and they won’t win it next year. Call that an opportunity wasted.
So, as I wallow in my PDSD (Post-Darrelle Stress Disorder) I will pay the General Manager a compliment. When they were linebacker poor in October, they traded a fifth rounder to Tampa Bay (shouldn’t the league step in and stop all New England/Tampa Bay trades- or at least give the Bucs a standing eight count?) for Jonathan Casillas and a sixth round pick. Casillas was a versatile, helpful addition and they only dropped ten spots in the draft. That’s a win for the front office; and, it’s the value they love, for what that’s worth.
When pick 178 rolls around, the Patriots will draft Justin Coleman, a cornerback out of Tennessee. Coleman is a 5’10”, 185 pound nickel back who picked off four passes last year. His biggest asset however is the fact that he ran the fastest 3 Cone Drill at the combine. Coleman clocked in at 6.61 seconds. The Patriots LOVE the 3 Cone Drill. The explanation of the 3 cone drill (yes there is an explanation on the web, not really surprising) is that it tests a player’s quickness and ability to change direction- good assets for a cornerback. While Coleman had some coverage issues last year, much of that may be attributable to the fact that he was playing in a secondary that was populated by younger, less experienced players.