Advantage Patriots

                                              --- Originally Created on March 1 2017 ------

From the looks of things, from the way they are allowing so many players to enter into FA, to how they have built up an impressive amount of CAP space (about $60 million)  it would seem the Patriots are on the verge of shaking up the roster a bit, and making some forward-thinking adjustments to how they deploy the team (especially the Defense) in 2017 & 2018.

STAFF -

One of the greatest, and most underrated strengths the Patriots have going for themselves right now is their Staff cohesion, its experience, and its duration. The current staff in terms of experience and comprehension of what BB wants, why, and how to deliver on his expectations is at an all-time high.

Without going into a laborious dissertation on where McD has been and how he has grown as a coach, the value of Scar returning and all the rest from the FO to the lowliest scout, this staff is in tune with BB and each other in ways that none (not even the 2003-04 staff) have been, and in ways that no other staff in the NFL can match.

Building a championship team isn’t just about collecting the most talented players. It is about having a staff that knows how to work together, and knows how to evaluate players to find the ones that will work with their schemes, and accept what is demanded of them.

"The big thing I’d say we look for, which would try to differentiate the players for us, are players with passion; guys that really love football," Belichick said. "As we all know from our jobs, if you love what you’re doing you don’t feel like you’re working.

"As it relates to people, it’s trying to bring people into the organization that share a similar philosophical outlook to the game, and have a passion for the game, that we in the organization have. That’s really where it starts."

"I believe to have a championship team you want to have a championship team in every area, whether that’s your starting quarterback, your strength coach, your medical staff, your area scouts, whatever it happens to be," Belichick said. "We’re trying to work at a championship level of performance in every one of those areas."

QB –

While we fans only saw JG in two starts last year, the Patriots’ got to see him every day, how he prepared for the games, how he practiced, etc. They are the only ones who can really know what they have in JG. The rest of us will just have to settle for his two wins in two starts resume.

But to say the Patriots have the QB position covered for the 2017 (and even 2018) season with Brady and JG on the roster is like saying the Patriots for the past sweet 16 seasons have been OK, it understates the situation.

For every season that produces a Championship team with a dominant defense and sub-par QB performance in the playoffs (Denver 2015, Colts 2006, Ravens 2000) there are more than half a dozen where elevated QB play is what catapults a team to the Championship. A perfect example, much to the chagrin of the Patriots, is none other than the Giants… who only marched to their Championship victories because during those playoffs their QB played exceptional, near flawless football, compared to how that QB normally has played throughout the majority of his career.

Of course, the Patriots as well, have benefited from having a QB who can produce incredible efforts, playing near flawless football for long stretches of playoff games while on the biggest stages and under withering pressure.

Perhaps the most impressive QB effort of our times however, belongs to Aaron Rodgers in 2009, who took an under-talented, riddled with injuries Packers team, and won a Championship on the strength of his arm and his ability to scramble and extend a play or gain a first down with his legs.

The Mystique factor-

BB cannot be outdone, one of the few minds that had spent time in the NFL that was in many ways on par with BB was Jimmy Johnson. He knew how to evaluate talent (he created the draft pick trade chart/calculator), build a team, and he knew how to motivate players and hold them responsible as well as anyone in the NFL. But most of all JJ worked, he devoted himself to his job above all else… and that is exactly what BB does. He lives and breathes football and always has, he has been involved in football his entire life, more than any other person ever has been.

BB values team chemistry over individual talent and holds accountability as a top priority. Not every football player is willing to perform under his rules and regulations, not every player is willing to submerge his ego for the greater good, and not every player has the devotion or intellectual ability to handle what is asked of him as a Patriot.

BB together with the Kraft family, have built not just a dynasty, but a reputation. The Patriots brand is so well differentiated and articulated that everyone else in the league knows who Belichick is, what he’s about and what the New England Patriots organization stands for.

And that attracts top players, who are willing to forego the top $$$ contract, for the chance to play with and for the greatest Organization that gives, year in and year out, the best chance to make it to the Championship game.

Ahead of the Curve –

BB shows no signs of slowing down. He said recently coaching "doesn’t feel like work," which says a lot, and if he is still enjoying the process then that means he is still thinking up new schemes and new ways of approaching the next season, and the one after that.

Many coaches learn a particular system and then they stick to it, going out and trying to find the players that can fit into it. BB is not one to be set in his ways, he is the type of coach who will look at the roster, look at what is trending and available in the NFL (FA & draft) and make adjustments accordingly.

There was once a time when BB and the Patriots were one of the only teams in the NFL who ran the 3-4 Defense. After the Patriots won three championships, the rest of the NFL started converting to the 3-4, and in response BB chose to deploy more of a 4-3 and Nickle styled Defense.

The Patriots when they happened upon drafting two talented young TEs, happily switched up to a dominating 2 TE set Offense, despite having the all-world WR Randy Moss on the team, once they chose to move in a new direction they jettisoned their starting RB and top WR threat mid-season moving on in a new direction.

Expect the Unexpected this offseason… one cannot know how they evaluate the FA and draft talent available to them this year, one cannot know what type of system changes they want to make, but one can guess from the way things stand right now, that changes are about to come.