Deconstructing the Patriots

It took me -- and every other Charger fan I knew, about six months to get over that playoff loss to the Patriots in January. I’m not kidding. I was totally pissed off for a solid six months. As a sports fan, that was hands-down the single worst loss I’ve ever experienced. At this point, instead of rehashing the crappy details of that crappy day, I’ll just say that January 14, 2007 totally sucked.

But while the Patriots may have won that game, this offseason came to show who the better team was. Check out the list of key offseason acquisitions for each team:

New England Patriots: Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Adalus Thomas, Wes Welker, Kelly Washington.

San Diego Chargers: (none)

By looking at who the Patriots got you’d probably think that the Chargers kicked the hell out of the Patriots. Generally, teams who advance to the AFC Championship don’t sign an entire receiving corps. This tells me one thing: Not only did the Patriots know they should have lost that game, but they knew they should have lost that game by at least three touchdowns. And they had to react the way the did because they realized the Chargers were that much better than them.

Instead of recognizing this though, ESPN, Peter King and the rest of the national media have been busy giving the Patriots a seven month, marathon lap dance. I on the other hand don’t think the Patriots are better than the Chargers. To paraphrase Dennis Green: “If you want to crown their asses then crown their asses…” But I’m not going to and here’s why:

Quarterback
I like Tom Brady about as much as the next guy but take a look at the past four playoff games the guy has played in:

2006 AFC Championship at Indy: 21 of 34 passing, 232 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 79.5 QB Rating.

2006 Divisional Playoff at SD: 27 of 51, 280 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, 57.6 QB Rating.

2006 Wild Card vs. NYJ: 22 of 34, 212 yards, 2TD, 0INT, 101.6 QB Rating

2005 Divisional Playoff at Denver: 20 of 36, 341 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 74.0 QB Rating.

Outside of the Jets game those are pretty crappy stats for someone who’s supposed to be the Joe Montana of this generation. Plus Brady threw an interception on the potential game-tying drive against Indy, an interception in the Charger game that would have clinched the game for the Chargers had Marlon McCree not fumbled, and threw an interception in the Denver game that Champ Bailey returned for a touchdown which proved to be the difference in the game.

I’m not saying he’s not a great QB, nor am I saying that Phil Rivers is better. I’m just saying that’s how Rex Grossman performed during the last four playoff games he was involved in. Oh, did I say Rex Grossman? I meant Tom Brady. Got a little confused there.

Running Back
Lawrence Maroney is an unproven, injury prone running back, who hurt his shoulder at the end of last season and has been seen wearing a protective covering over it during training camp. I’m not saying he won’t be good this year (especially since he’s on my fantasy football team), I’m just saying there are some questions.

On the other hand there are no questions about “The Living Legend” LaDanian Tomlinson. This discussion is over.

(How’s that for LT’s new nickname? I know, Ric Flair used to refer to himself has “The Living Legend” but since LT already stole Lawrence Taylor’s moniker, I figured he could go ahead and take Flair’s too. “The Living Legend” LaDanian Tomlinson. It’s got a great ring to it)

Wide Receiver
Only in Boston can a signing of a short, white, overachieving wide receiver generate more excitement then the signing of Randy Moss. All I can say is if Welker were black he’d be Az Hakim.

And as for Moss, in addition to being a malcontent, here’s how he did in two games against the Chargers last year:

Game 1: 4 receptions, 47 yards
Game 2: 3 receptions, 26 yards.

Granted, he did play in the Bed and Breakfast offense but really, I don’t think AJ Smith lost any sleep when the Patriots got him.

So to summarize, the Patriots signed the white Az Hakim, a malcontent who caught 7 balls for 73 yards in two games against the Chargers last year, and a wide receiver with chronic hamstring problems (Donte Stallworth).

Good job. No really, great job.

Linebackers
The thing that aggravated me the most in the Chargers’ playoff loss (and the reason I think Cam Cameron was a little overrated) was that they stopped giving the ball to LT in the second half. I mean, which one of the slow, white guys the Patriots had at linebacker was going to stop LT? Ted Bruschi? Mike Vrabel? Tom Izzo? I will question this until the day I die.

To fix that problem, the Patriots went out and signed Adalus Thomas who according to every one is one of the most versatile defensive players in the League. (I seriously thought Peter King was creaming his shorts when he wrote about this in his Monday Morning QB column). But my question is if he was so good why did the Ravens let him go? By my count, Thomas was at most the fourth best player on the Raven’s defense last year behind Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs. This means that opposing offenses had to account for Lewis, Reed and Suggs before they even thought about Thomas. We’ll see how he does when offenses start keying on him.

Defensive Line
I was listening to some NFL show the other day and some guy said that the Patriots’ defensive line is the heart of their team. That may be the case but if you think about it, the trio of Richard Seymour, Gerald Green, and Vince Wolfork are the poor man’s version of Luis Castillo, Igor Olshanski, and Jamal Williams.

If Castillo can stay healthy he’s younger Seymour with a pass-rush and Williams and Olshanski are a little better than Wilfork and Green.

And that goes to show you, the Patriots best unit (defensive line) is not as good as the Charger’s third best unit (defensive line behind running back, offensive line, and linebackers)

Secondary
With Asante Samuel holding out, I can’t for the life of me name another cornerback on the Patriots. They’re basically signing guys off the street to play corner and the media is giving them a pass. What a crock of crap.

For their safeties they have Rodney Harrison and rookie Brandon Meriwether who’s more known for his exploits in the brawl between Miami- FIU brawl last year. (FYI Meriwether is number 19). Watch this guy and tell me if the Patriots would take a chance on this guy in their heyday.

And that pretty much sums things up. When the Patriots were winning Super Bowls, they used to never sign guys like Meriwether and Moss. They’d let other teams sign guys who’d disrupt team chemistry and wouldn’t touch guys with off field problems. Now it looks like the Patriots are doing what teams they used to beat were doing and the Chargers are doing with what the Patriots did when they were the team to beat.

I just wish someone besides me would realize this.