Ron Schwane
The Patriots broke for summer vacation two days after the NBA season reached its inevitable conclusion, with Golden State cruising to a largely uncontested championship.
Julian Edelman, who grew up in the Bay Area, wrapped up his interview with his thoughts on the Warriors.
“I think it was just a little unfair with KD,” Edelman said. “I mean, that team was ridiculous.”
The follow-up question: Some say the Patriots are pretty stacked. What do you think of that?
Edelman, grinning, resorted to his stock non-answer.
“Ask coach Belichick.”
Bill Belichick will field hundreds of questions before the 2017 Patriots — as close as possible to a “SuperTeam” in the NFL — play their first game. He will likely speak with reporters Thursday, the first day of training camp, and every few days afterward throughout the summer. Comparisons to past Patriots rosters will be floated. Belichick will love that.
I mean, none of that really matters…
Belichick will be asked about odd weather.
I don’t know. Whatever it is we’ve got to play in. Whatever we get, we’ll play through. If it snows, it snows. If it rains, it rains. If it’s hot, it’s hot. If it’s windy, it’s windy. If it’s not windy, it’s not windy. We can’t control any of those things.
(That, by the way, is an actual Belichick quote from July 2015)
And he will be asked about defending a Super Bowl, about chasing a third ring in four years to bookend the Patriots’ unparalleled dynasty.
Each year is different. Each team is different. This team hasn’t accomplished anything. Got a long way to go.
All true.
Each team is different, and the 2017 Patriots are a unique group. They are absolutely fascinating from a dozen angles. They just completed the wildest comeback in Super Bowl history and then wildest offseason in Belichick’s tenure.
Here in late July, there is little doubt: This will be the most compelling season in Bill Belichick’s 18 years as Patriots head coach.
Elise Amendola
The allure of these next six months begins with a simple and obvious fact: The 2017 Patriots will be awesome. There is no other possible outcome.
Belichick has constructed a roster built to withstand multiple injuries. He could have traded Jimmy Garoppolo, but opted to hold him for another year…maybe more. There was every reason to believe Malcolm Butler would be on the Saints. Hell, Sean Payton was openly discussing Butler, a restricted free agent, with the New Orleans media this past spring. But the draft board fell in the Saints' favor, and Ohio State corner Marshon Lattimore landed in Payton's lap at No. 11. No Butler deal.
Already a Patriots legend, Butler will play in New England for $3.91 million this season. He cannot be thrilled about this. He will team with Pro Bowl corner Stephon Gilmore on the outside. Not a fun development for the thirteen offenses on the schedule.
Brandin Cooks will team with Julian Edelman on the other side of the ball, adding a gamebreaking element to an already impossibly efficient offense. Quietly, the Patriots went vertical in 2016. Chris Hogan ranked second in the NFL with 17.9 yards per catch, trailing only DeSean Jackson. Cooks will further augment this aspect of the Patriots’ attack.
One theory about the Patriots’ hyperactive offseason: They felt fortunate to have escaped Super Bowl LI. The difference in speed on both sides of the ball was undeniable. Belichick alluded to this leading up to the Super Bowl.
"The thing I notice most is just the team speed the Falcons have," Belichick said on Jan. 24. "They're either as fast, or faster, than probably what the average speed of their position is in the league. They look like they're faster than almost every team they play."
So the Patriots entered the offseason determined to get more athletic. Both Cooks and Gilmore have elite physical ability. Both will narrow the gap in team speed with the likes of the Falcons. For what it’s worth, I proposed the theory to an NFL scout this past spring. He agreed that the Patriots’ offseason maneuvers were motivated by a desire to upgrade their athleticism.
Another thought: The Patriots were the best team in the NFL in 2015 before they were ravaged by injury. In the end, the dysfunction of the offensive line was their downfall, but the dearth of competent running backs crushed their chances, too. Dion Lewis was lost for the year in Week 9. LeGarrette Blount was placed on injured reserve following a Week 14 hip injury. James White was emerging as a receiving threat, but Tom Brady was stuck handing the ball off to Steven Jackson and Brandon Bolden. The Pats were painfully one-dimensional by the time they reached the AFC championship game in Denver.
After having relatively good fortune at running back a year ago, the Patriots have loaded up the position for 2017. They will not allow one major injury, or even two, to wreck the season. Mike Gillislee, James White, Dion Lewis, and Rex Burkhead comprise perhaps the deepest backfield in the NFL. The Pats are the only team in the league paying four different running backs more than $1 million each this season (five if you count lead blocker extraordinaire James Develin). Five other teams — the Panthers, Jaguars, Giants, Eagles, and Bengals — are doling out seven figures to three different backs.
The 2017 Patriots have uncommon depth. We haven’t even mentioned the David Harris signing, or the Dwayne Allen trade, or the acquisitions of defensive linemen Kony Ealy and Lawrence Guy. They have prepared themselves to overcome whatever misfortune 2017 has in store.
Marcio Jose Sanchez
…And yet there is reasonable degree of uncertainty in New England. Not that the Patriots will be playing in January, but whether or not they’ll finish the job. SuperTeam? Sure. This is far from a Golden State situation, though.
The Warriors will win the NBA championship again next season. It’s just a matter of how they’ll do it and which teams they will smash along the way.
If you want to bet on the Warriors to win the 2018 NBA title, you need to risk $175 to make $100, according to the offshore sports book Bovada.
If you want to bet on the Patriots to win Super Bowl LII, a $100 wager with Bovada would pay out $375. And the Pats are massive favorites. Green Bay has the next best odds at +750.
In the NFL, the heaviest of favorites are hardly locks. Uncertainty is ubiquitous. The league’s perpetual unpredictability is a chief reason why it is such an enormous draw.
At the beginning of the 2016 season, the Falcons’ Super Bowl odds were 66/1, per Bovada, putting them in the bottom half of the league. The Jaguars actually had better odds at 50/1.
The previous year, the Panthers had 50/1 odds. They went 15-1 before falling to the Broncos, who had 14/1 odds, in Super Bowl 50.
This is how it goes in the NFL. Talent is relatively equally distributed throughout the league, with a few exceptions. Most teams have a realistic chance at the playoffs. And once you’re in the playoffs, success hinges on health, home field, and luck. In a single-game elimination format, the best team does not always win.
Winslow Townson
By any measure, the Patriots have the best roster today. This feels a lot like the summer of 2007, when Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy had the foresight to predict an undefeated season before training camp opened.
In his July 27, 2007 column, Shaughnessy wrote:
Decisions, decisions. Where to stay in Arizona for the last week of January? Tempe has a nice campus atmosphere, but Scottsdale has better restaurants.
And let's hope it's not too cold at City Hall Plaza when we all come back to Boston Monday, Feb. 4. Those Super Bowl trophy rallies are a lot more fun if you can applaud without mittens or hand warmers. Wonder if Bob Kraft has some new dance steps ready for Troy Brown?
The ducks are in line and so are the Duck Boats. The Patriots start practice at Gillette Stadium this morning and it's obvious the Sons of Belichick are bound for XLII. I'm told that several members of the 1972 Dolphins are already experiencing night sweats.
Shaughnessy nailed pretty much everything, except for the part about the parade.
Associated Press
There will be similar discussion this summer, probably beginning this week. There will be talk of 19-0. Actually, there already has been talk of 19-0. Julian Edelman says it’s stupid. Maybe so.
On Monday, USA Today forecasted a 16-0 regular season for the Pats. Hey, why not? It’s a prediction.
Truth is, the 2017 Patriots mirror Belichick's legendary squad from 2007 in many ways. Phil Perry of CSNNE recently compared the rosters of both teams. Both stacked. No discernible weaknesses.
The Patriots’ loaded roster will be the story at the forefront all year. The backdrop: Where this 2017 team fits in the overall dynasty. That’s the wrinkle that will make this season uniquely gripping.
The 2007 season, magnificent as it was, did not represent the beginning or end of the Belichick/Brady era. But Belichick is now in his mid-60s. Brady will turn 40 in a few weeks.
Brady has said he wants to play into his mid-40s. He was incredible last season, throwing 28 touchdowns to two interceptions once he returned from his four-game Deflategate suspension. His 466 yards in the Super Bowl shattered the previous record.
Belichick could have traded Jimmy Garoppolo in the offseason. He elected to retain the talented backup quarterback into his contract year. One of the following scenarios will play out in the next seven months:
Garoppolo will provide insurance throughout this season and then walk in free agency for nothing. Unlikely.
Garoppolo will soon agree to a one-year extension, a contract similar to the franchise tag that spreads his cap hit over the next two seasons.
The Patriots will place the franchise tag on Garoppolo and trade him at the beginning of the 2018 offseason.
The Patriots will place the franchise tag on Garoppolo and keep him.
The Patriots will sign Garoppolo to a new contract and transition to him as the starter in 2018-19.
As Brady prepares to get to work with arguably the deepest, most talented offense he has ever had, he has legitimate reason to ponder his future in New England. Eventually, Belichick will make a choice between Brady and Garoppolo. He put off the decision at least one more year. The longer it drags, the further it tilts in Garoppolo’s favor.
And so this week it all begins, a chase for a sixth Super Bowl, a SuperTeam, at least by NFL standards, gearing up for a repeat. The Patriots’ first four practices, on Thursday through Sunday, are open to the public. Thousands of fans will show up. They’ll all recognize that they’re watching greatness, even though it’s just training camp. That’s plain to see.
But we’ll all wonder: Just how great will these 2017 Patriots become, and just how many more of these summers do Brady and Belichick have left together?
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