The Pats are a better team today than they were when the Ravens knocked them out of the playoffs in the AFCCG. The moves Bill Belichick has made to change the offense and bolster the defense have been fantastic..

 

Improve a weak, slow, old offense: 

 

We lost Welker, replaced him with a younger, faster, taller, just as quick and longer Amendola.

We lost Brandon Lloyd and we might replace him with a younger, faster Emmanuel Sanders. 

We lost Deion Branch and replaced him with a younger, faster, taller, quicker and longer Donald Jones. 

We lost Julian Edleman, replaced him with a younger, faster, taller, quicker and longer Jeremy Ebert. 

We lost Danny Woodhead (Sad to see go) and pick up a taller, just as fast, just as quick, dynamic PR/KRer in Leon Washington. 

 

Adding veterans/youth to bolster an improving defense: 

We replaced Chung with Adrian Wilson. 

We get back Dane Fletcher.

We added CFL pass-rushers like Vega and Armstead. 

And, chances are, we might see Freeney or Abraham sign to help bolster our pass rush.

 

I say again, how has this been a bad offseason? 

Well put, 49.

 

Ebert looked good in college, but came inot camp out of shape last year.

He might be a little faster straight-line than Eddleman, but I's still take Eddleman over Ebert right now.

 

Agree with everything except for calling Ebert an upgrade over Edelman.  That is a stretch to say the least.  Definitely good moves so far for this team though.  

In response to 49Patriots' comment:

I agree with in in the defensive side, we have a much better defense in the begining of this season

It has been an interesting off season so far and the Patriots have wiggle room to improve their overall talent level. They still have capspace and that'll be important when the bargains start to happen.

Yawn!

As of right now their offense is not better then last season!  You are nuts! 

Donald Thomas, a good up and coming OL player who did well as a back up is now gone.

Vollmer is missing. 

One of the most productive players in Pats history is gone.  In comes a player who has only been on the field for 12 of the last 32 games.  No where near the production Welker was had.

Gone (as of now) is Brandon Lloyd who had a pretty decent first season with the Patriots.  A very good first season to build on.  In comes another injury prone player who has played 20 out of the last 32 games.  An unproven player in to take the spot of Lloyd (as of now)

As for defense, it upgraded slightly with the addition to Wilson.  Only slightly if he can't be a full time player.

The only real clear improvement is the kick return position.  That is big.

This seems like a stretch, especially the offense part.  However, I like the additions that have been made, and I'm glad they kept Talib for sure.  They need some pass-rush reinforcements still, and they really need another WR.....

like the  optimism, but depending on Ebert and Fletcher on having big impacts this season is a reach.  

    I think they are having a decent offseason that is not close to being complete. 

No question that the receiving corps is younger and, arguably, faster.  I do think there'll be a learning curve that the offense will overcome over time.  Whether the O will actually be better only time will tell. 

With respect to the D, I see the Wilson move as a definite upgrade.  Like the Talib and the Arrington signings. 

Sanders is not on the team. 

Washington does not take snaps as a RB

Scott, Vollmer, Thomas are not on the team.

 

Saying Amendola is an improvement over Welker is such nonsense that it isn't even worth debating.  

An aging Adrian Wilson doesn't add much to this defense.  Donald Jones won't be striking fear in any NFL secondary.   And the rest of the players the Pats "might" get does not qualify this as a good Pats offseason.

In response to DontQuestionBB's comment:

The Amendola v Welker question is most certainly worth debating and in fact has been debated enough! it's time to move on---I choose to look at the signing of a 33 year old safety, who's been quite durable, as someone who will add veteran leadership and toughness at a spot on the D that was on the upswing last year with everyone returning

I agree with you that players that "might be here" can't be used to grade the offseason so far...however there is PLENTY of time and options to bolster the receivers and add a pass rush

It's March, the season is almost 6 months away. The draft is a month away. The picture is incomplete.  

I have zero concern that the offense will find a way to move the ball and score points. My biggest concern on that side is Gronk's forearm. They'll sign Vollmer or someone else. When he wasn't there, they didn't exactly struggle. Thomas was a fine player, but let's not get carried away. He's a backup who was a castoff. Next man up.

Lloyd's production can be replaced. He was just adequate, not much better than Reche Caldwell. Welker was great, he's gone. Brady will have to find someone else to throw to and they'll run it more, maybe even toss one here and there to an RB. With decent health, the offense will be fine, at least in the regular season.

They've made some moves on defense, will make more for certain. Way too early to draw any conclusions.

 

 

Excited to see the 3rd year leap for Ridley and Vareen(who will replace Woody's role and absolutley thrive)

One thing we have learned is it doesn't matter how many Randy Moss's and Wes Welker's you have on offense. Brady doesn't really need them to be honest. We need timely play calling and the ability to keep a defense guessing, which is something we have not had for almost 10 years.

With Ridley and Vareen on the loose and if Hern and Gronk stay healthy I think our offense will be diverse enough to actually score more then the 14 ppg they have averaged in the last 2 SB's and last HOME AFC championship game they have played.

What many negative fans do not understand is that this team does not need a big FA splash. We have as good a core as any team in the LG. We obviously are one of the best teams in the LG, we just need the coaching staff to be able to get this team over the hump. Teams do not score over 32 ppg for 5 years to lay eggs in the post season unless they were not prepared/not motivated.

I love BB but the departure of many veteran/experienced coaches has left him at a major disadvantage come clutch post season football time.

This post has been removed.

In response to rkarp's comment:

Sanders will likely end up on the team.

Washington didn't take many snaps at RB in Seattle... who are you to say that he won't here? If nothing else, he adds electricity to the KR game. Do you have inside info from Belichick himself, stating Washington will not take snaps at HB?

Scott was a good sub pass-rusher, but not much more than that. Had we re-signed him, you'd be criticizing the decision. Stop being absurd. 

Vollmer is a good player, no doubt, but I trust Scar to groom Cannon, and I don't doubt that any of the other tackles on the team will be able to step up.

Thomas, again, a good player, but a backup.

This post shows your true agenda here... and it isn't a very optimistic or positive one.

In response to dreighver's comment:

Just to let you know, rkarp is a Jets fan.

In response to 49Patriots' comment:

Haven't seen anything that substantiates we've lost Edelman