| Thomas Gass. 16th August, 2005 - 4:46 pm
 Amid injuries, retirements, contract squabbles, and key losses on and off the field, the New England Patriots are heading into the preseason ready to win their third straight Super Bowl. And they may just do it.
Repeating as Super Bowl champions for the third straight season is tough enough; nobody has ever done it. Repeating as Super Bowl champions for the third straight season without your offensive and defensive coordinators as well as the lynchpin of your defense makes it that much more difficult.
So, the Patriots enter this season in a role in which they relish; that of the underdog.
It may seem strange to call a team that has won three Super Bowls in four years, back-to-back Super Bowls the previous two years and has gone a combined 34-4 (including playoffs) during that streak an underdog, but that’s the harsh reality when your team loses its offensive coordinator to Norte Dame, your defensive coordinator to the Cleveland Browns, your defensive leader to a stroke and a handful of veteran players to free agency and retirement.
But, like any New Englander bracing for a crisp autumn and an inevitable winter, the Patriots have become more than adept at acclimating to the change of the seasons with a frugal and sensible, downright puritanical, approach to stocking their closets full of sensible and functional wardrobe.
While the on-field defections have been many, possibly the largest hole in New England’s chances to capture their third straight Super Bowl came from two off-the-field emigrations; offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, headed to South Bend to revive a floundering Notre Dame program, and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, who took his defensive-minded approach to Cleveland as head coach. Both had been instrumental in all three New England Super Bowl victories with their complex arrangements and schemes that played more towards the shortcomings of others than it did play up the Patriots’ own strengths, but neither loss should come as a surprise; both coordinators had been heavily coveted for various coaching positions ever since the Patriots’ first Super Bowl victory.
Taking over defensive duties for Romeo Crennel is Eric Mangini, a Bill Belichick protégé back from the days Bill served as an assistant coach for the New York Jets. Mangini brings a like-mindedness approach to the defense that Belichick has created; as a defensive backs coach since 2000, it has been Eric’s duty to train and form the secondary into a highly complex unit, a fully-functioning microcosm to the Pats’ defense as a whole. And he has done quite well; with a cast of castoffs that changes every season, Mangini has taken discarded veterans like Tyrone Poole and Rodney Harrison, undrafted or out-of-position rookies Randall Gay, Eugene Wilson and Asante Samuel, and even wide receiver Troy Brown and transmogrified them into a superlative secondary, one that has become one of the best in the league. In 2003 and 2004 the Patriots enjoyed back-to-back seasons as a top-ten defense in the league, thanks in part to a strong secondary that has ranked in the top ten in takeaways the past two seasons as well as being in the top ten in team defense since 2002.
(http://www.footballoutsiders.com/methods.php]DVOA)
If Mangini is going to replicate the success of his predecessor, he’s going to have to do it the same way as Crennel: from scratch. This season the Patriots enter the preseason with their biggest on-field challenge yet; to fill the leadership and productivity of a host of key veterans, among them Ted Johnson, Ty Law, and the irreplaceable Tedy Bruschi.
While Law’s departure for the greener pastures of the Green & White was somewhat expected, injuries that ended the understated career of Ted Johnson (aftereffects of multiple concussions) and threaten to do the same with Bruschi (aftereffects of a stroke) came as a shock to this organization. Both were considered to be the heart & soul of a strong linebacking corps and both were key contributors to the on-field success of the defense. Backed into a corner with these two key losses, as well as the release of veteran presence Roman Phifer, the Pats’ set about to do work to repair these holes by signing veteran LB Chad Brown, late of the Seahawks, and Monty Beisel, late of the Chiefs.
And if Friday’s season opener was an indicative of things to come, the latter may end up being the steal of the free agency period for the Patriots.
Monty Beisel, who learned under noted linebacker coach Fred Pagac, started the 2004 preseason slated as a ROLB, before moving to middle linebacker for five games and over to LOLB after an injury fell Shawn Barber for the season. It was under Pagac, who once coached current Pats’ linebacker Mike Vrabel as an LB coach at OSU, that Beisel shone; despite missing five games due to injury, Beisel still ended up third on the team with 64 tackles. It was his versatility that led Belichick to take a gamble on this virtually-unknown to fill the shoes of on of the greatest LBs in Patriots’ history.
The defensive line is, once again, looking strong with Vince Wilfork earning some high praise this preseason along with fellow youngsters Ty Warren and Marquise Hill. Richard Seymour returned to the squad after his holdout netted him a one-year contract extension and free agent Rodney Bailey looked rather impressive against the Bengals on Friday night.
On the other side of the ball, The Genius himself has taken over as offensive coordinator. Some Weis detractors may see this as a welcomed change, as Charlie was wont to go pass-happy on 3rd-and-short situations instead of going for the surer running play. While the re-emergence of Corey Dillon as an elite back gave the Patriots a much-needed dynamic last season, the crux of this offense has been the ability of Tom Brady to distribute the ball to multiple receivers and ends and this is where Belichick is going to have to make his toughest decisions.
Last season thirteen different players caught at least one pass from Tom Brady, nine being either a receiver or an end. Gone from last year is David Patten and his 44 receptions and 800 yards. Looking to fill his void are free agents David Terrell and Tim Dwight as well as incumbents Bethel Johnson, PK Sam and David Givens. Terrell has a bit of an advantage; in his entire playing career, from his college days at Michigan to the NFL, he has caught more passes from Tom Brady than any other quarterback.
The battle for playing time at the tight end position has heated up as incumbent starter Daniel Graham is looking to build on his successful 2004 campaign. Vying for a prominent position in the offense is second-year player Ben Watson, a former first-round pick who lost most of last season due to a knee injury. Reportedly he has entered the preseason in terrific shape and has tuned up his receiving game. Also battling for a spot are veterans Christian Fauria and Jed Weaver.
With the loss of Joe Andruzzi, the Pats’ decided to fill the need for a strong, intelligent offensive lineman with Logan Mankins, a guard out of Fresno State. While many other high-profile linemen went before him, Mankins was the only lineman to elicit a handful oohs and aahs from the draft day crowd at the Gass house; his intensity and ability to overpower at the line was amazing. What was even more amazing was that he didn’t give up until well after the whistle blew. It was the kind of intelligent, yet extremely mean play I haven’t seen since ESPN classic showed old Raiders’ clips with Jim Otto lining up at center. And it apparently hasn’t stopped either. On Friday night, Mankins opened up some rather large holes on the left side for Dillon to run through and on his only miscue, being spun around on a pass-rush, he more than made up for it by making a punishing upfield block on a Bengals LB that sent the player a good three yards back.
Once again, the Pats have entered the season with a host of questions that need addressing, and if the preseason has shown us anything so far, it’s that the answer to the questions may well be number three in as many years. |
