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Originally Posted by yellowmac
Why do people think that the Pats are suddenly NOT going to be contenders next year? They still have Brady, a hall-of-fame QB that has shown that he can make things happen with a piecemeal receiving corps. They still have Belichek, love him or hate him, he's still a pretty smart coach.
I think both the Pats and Giants will be playoff teams in '08, and in the playoffs, anything can happen.
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I think they'll make the playoffs, but:
1) Their linebackers are OLD. Brusci, Seau, and Colvin could all retire, and it's hard to replace guys like that (remember the guy who replaced Brusci when he had his stroke? There's a reason you don't). Thomas is a freak, but he'll be 31 during training camp, and Vrabel will be 33.
2) They could lose both Samuel and Harrison in the secondary.
3) They could lose Moss.
This place seems to explain his contract situation pretty well. Basically, if they don't franchise him (which could piss off one of two guys you don't want to piss off if they are on your team), he'll be a free agent on the 29th, and anyone can throw obscene money at him.
4) Any team with a half-decent pass rush will be throwing themselves at Brady next year. All year, teams played it safe to keep Brady from beating them, and it didn't work. Now, we know what does.
5) If there is ANYTHING to all of the smoke coming from the spying controversy (I believe it is true, but I refuse to call it by that silly name coined by unoriginal journalists), that could bring all kinds of distractions to the team.
6) History. Terry Bradshaw appeared in his last Super Bowl at age 31. Joe Montana at age 33. Bruschi just set the record for most appearances in the Super Bowl with five, because he just happened to be on the roster in 1996 when the Patriots went there under Parcells (and he barely played). Brady will be 31 next year, so he is running out of chances, and will all of the other TMZish crap surrounding him, who knows how long he will care enough to play?
My opinion is that they go something like 10-6 or 11-5 next year, lose in the second round of the playoffs, and that will be pretty much it. Belichick will retire, and the team will try to go into rebuilding mode around guys like Maroney and whomever they draft this year.
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Originally Posted by Redlemon
Things don't look too good for the Giants next year... it looks like Spagnuolo, their genius first-year defensive coordinator, is going to the Redskins.
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Nah. He's going to get big money from the Giants this year, and get the best job available next year (instead of the worst job available this year).