The Know Thy Enemy feature runs for the first time during the regular season and I have to tip my hat to MaPatsFan from Pats Pulpit for dropping by and answering our questions. He did a much better job than I did answering his.

Do Pat's fan think Belichick is as big a jerk as everyone else thinks? If so, do you excuse it because he wins? How many losses make it inexcusable?

Belichick is not warm and fuzzy, that is clear. He hates press conferences and answers questions in a way that drives the media nuts. "For a team to win back-to-back conference titles, what would you say are the top three or four things they need to accomplish?" Belichick: "Play better than the other team, whoever that is." Belichick said in 9 words what most coaches take hundreds of words to say. Neither one says anything of value, but Big Bill just cuts to the chase.

No, most of us do not think he's a big jerk. Would the perception be different if he wasn't winning so much? I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be different. Is it inexcuseable behavior? I don't think so. I think we'd give him the same amount of losses as any other coach gets. I actually LIKE him due to this "all business" attitude. We fans have latched onto the belief that he wins because the only thing he cares about is football and creating a championship team. Period. I think of him like I think of heart surgeons. Many of them are complete dolts beside the bed, but are brilliant mechanics in the surgical suite. It all comes down to whether or not you want the warm and fuzzy guy who's ok or the cantankerous professor that's winning games.

One of your questions, entitled "More Draftnik Stuff", is very good so I'll address it here.

Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli, VP of Player Personnel, told owner Robert Kraft they were getting "Young and fast" on defense and I think they did. With youth comes inexperience in the NFL and Belichick's defensive schemes don't help; it usually takes a few years to get settled in. But, I think Belichick and Pioli have done a good job of creating a careful balance of experienced vets and smart youngsters. That being said, I was glad to see Mayo picked. I think he's really doing well and appears to have the brains to play ILB in the Patriots' 3-4. His mentor is Tedy Bruschi so he's learning from a guy who's played his entire career in a Patriots uniform. Shawn Crable has exceeded my hopes at OLB. He needs to bulk up a little bit, but at 6-5 243 lbs, he's got really long arms to wrap around during tackles and has already batted down a few passes in preseason games. He appears to be a smart guy and can create some havoc on the edges. Once he learns more, I'm confident they'll be fewer mistakes and his mentor is Mike Vrabel. Bo Ruud was on the bubble, in my opinion. He was heading towards special teams, if he gained a spot, before he was injured. I was really rooting for this kid because he's a hard worker.

Now we get to cornerback, my biggest concern. Veteran Ellis Hobbs is our main starter. He's a serviceable corner, but no Asante Samuel. That being said, Terrence Wheatley is our other starting corner. He's done a pretty good job in preseason, but the regular season is a totally different ball game, as we all know. Jonathan Wilhite is doing well also, but these guys are young and will make rookie mistakes. The loss of Asante hurt, but we just didn't have the cap space to keep him on board. I wouldn't be surprised if you see SS Brandon Meriweather jump in at CB every once in a while.

Kevin O'Connell was a surprise pick to many, but I was really up on this kid early on. At San Diego State, his offensive line was so bad, he had the most rushing yards of any player on the team, including the running backs!! In the last preseason game, O'Connell threw a TD pass and ran for a TD. We're used to flat footed QBs (Bledsoe and Brady) so this is a welcomed wrinkle. I'm not ready to say he's the future of the franchise, but I do think it was a shrewd and inspired move.

How worried are Pats fans not only about Brady but who is the lucky player to replace him in the case that he is out for an extended period of time?

Worried, dang worried. Brady's always been an ironman and has started the last 127 games, third most for a QB behind Manning and Favre. I don't think anyone would disagree Brady is a major reason why we've had so much success over the last 8 years. I've seen signs he's "settling" in as a vet, which I suppose you have to after performing at such a high level for so many years. And after the 2007 season, it's hard to fault him. He's no longer competing for some of the internal "prizes" players get for off season work (parking spots) and is choosing to spend time with his son out west in some situations; understandable given the length of last year's season and the fact that Brady and other vets have played more games than any other team over the last 8 years. That said, I still think Brady's at the top of his game, but it's only a matter of time before Brady and the Patriots part ways. I do believe we're in the second half of his career.

Matt Cassel is a concern; it was a surprise to many of us he wasn't cut this past weekend, but I gotta believe Belichick saw something in him us fans just don't have access to. Countless hours of practice and film give the coaching staff a perspective we just don't get, so I'm holding on to the belief Belichick's smarter than me. ;-)

Will Pats fans ever forgive John Tomase?

John Tomase, sports writer for the Boston Herald, wrote a story confirming a credible source that knew the Patriots had taped the LA Rams walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. It later turned out to be untrue as confirmed by Matt Walsh, Mr. 15 minutes of fame from the whole Spygate thing. The Boston Herald had to issue a front page apology. Initially, I thought a blanket party was the right approach and would've stood watch in a dark alley. Time heals all wounds, so I've softened my opinion a little bit. I don't use the Boston Herald for much and never have. It's a rag, in my opinion, and I've always found Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe far more credible and on top of things. Plus, how much credibility will Tomase have with the Patriots players and organization at this point? How much access will they give him? That being said, I do think anything Tomase now writes has been gone over with a fine tooth comb by both himself and others; my guess is it's pretty thorough, but again, I've always thought the Herald is a rag and not worthy of my time.

What the hell happened this preseason? Is this just another play by New England to make everyone think they're worse off than they are? (to the author, I've shortened this question up a bit and hope I hit all your points)

To start off, I'll say Belichick has always used the preseason for what I believe is its primary purpose: to evaluate players and the team in a game situation prior to the regular season. That's not to say other coaches DON'T do that, but Belichick could care less about the wins. Now, onto the actual play. You are correct that the defense got run over. If this were the regular season, I'd be worried, very worried. But I believe this year was like no other. There were many rookies on the field at key positions and Belichick had to evaluate their ability to play at an NFL level. It was a science experiement; tweak this, change that. Let's see what happens. In addition, we had a number of FA vets the coaching staff had to evaluate against the rookies. In the end, Belichick and Pioli chose youth over experience in a few key positions, which says to me these young guys are picking things up quickly. For example, rookie Jerod Mayo made the roster over veteran FA Victor Hobson and Terrence Wheatley established himself at corner ahead of the now departed FA Fernando Bryant. I stated in another response they will make rookie mistakes, but I believe they won these positions for 3 reasons: youth, brains and they show promise for the future.

To answer your second question, yes, I do believe this was a ploy to make other teams believe they're in trouble. At least, that's the belief I'm holding on to! ;-) To my eyes, the linebackers and defensive backs were playing incredibly soft in every game. CB Ellis Hobbs was giving tons of room to wide outs, as were the other CBs. My only explanation is that Belichick told them to play that way. In addition, you never saw some of the "nifty" stuff they're known for. Every defense and offense was vanilla. Nothing too fancy and nothing too exotic. One opposing veteran QB commented he'd only seen a very small portion of the Pats' playbook. Again, it's a science experiment to Belichick.

As a final note, I knowingly avoided a question about a certain player. PatsPulpit faithful should be able to find it. ;-)

***

Many thanks again to MaPatsFan from Pats Pulpit for stopping by. Don't forget about the open thread here for tomorrow's game. The thread will open probably around 11 AM or so.

You knew he was going to start, right? From The Red Zone:

The Patriots just sent me their daily injury report and quarterback Tom Brady is nowhere on it.

That is public acknowledgment that Brady will not only play but start on Sunday against the Chiefs.

Geez the Patriots get way too much out of messing with the injury report. Way too much.

Plus, in what is turning out to be me pillaging The Red Zone's content, the Kansas City Chiefs named their captains for the season.

The Chiefs designated four captains for the season: guard Brian Waters, cornerback Pat Surtain, linebacker Pat Thomas and special teams player Jon McGraw were elected by a vote of their teammates.

You just know McGraw lobbied for like six weeks to get one of those captain spots. Gerrymandering, illegitimate voters, hanging chads...McGraw is all too familiar with those.

Don't forget about actual football being played tonight. It's the Redskins and Giants tonight at 6 PM central time.

When asked what chance a pair of barefoot midgets had of succesfully sneaking into the homeland of the invincible Lord of Darkness, evading his hordes of minions, in an effort to destroy the source of all evil; the wizard replied "There never was much hope...just a fool's hope".

This Sunday the NFL version of this story plays out.  The Kansas City Chiefs were one of the worst teams in football last year and the New England Patriots were a perfect 16-0 in the regular season.  Tom Brady completed 68.9% of his passes and only threw 8 interceptions in 578 pass attempts for a measely 1.4 INT %.  The Patriots offense broke several NFL records, including points in a season and beat their opponents by 20 points or more eleven times.

The Chiefs on the other hand, are coming off their worst season in 20 years riding a 9 game losing streak to end the season.  Our current roster includes 33 players in their 3rd season in the NFL or less.

So how can the Kansas City midgets ever hope to sneak away from the Dark Lord's lair at Gillette Stadium with a victory?

Continue reading this post »

One of our many series that may or may not finish, I'll be taking a look at what I think to be the most interesting individual match ups next season. First up in Week 1, the New England Patriots.

With a new starting cornerback, a second year player in the nickel spot and two safeties with combined experience of four years, the easy answer this week is say watch the Kansas City Chiefs secondary compete against the record setting, All World, yada yada yada New England Patriots offense. I'll admit if the Chiefs are able to at least feign containment on Brady and Moss in Week 1, I'll be impressed. And I do that that would at least vaguely point to developing talent in our secondary if they performed well against the best. But if the Pats destroy the Chiefs secondary, then what will we say? That's what we expected?

That's why I'm going to tell you to watch the Chiefs' Jared Allen-less defensive line against the Patriots' foundation, their offensive line.

Right at the beginning of the season, the Chiefs will have a difficult test to gauge how far (or how steady) the team's 2007 strength has fallen. The Patriots offensive line, while a fantastic unit, is more dependent on the influence of Brady and Moss in that offense than the actual skills of their entire line. For example, only left tackle Matt Light and center Dan Koppen were cemented in their positions last year, with the guards and other tackle able to interchange quickly.

So, if the Chiefs are able to develop a successful pass rush during the game on September 7th, we'll know we have something to build upon.

Frankly, it's time for Tamba Hali to either become a pass rushing force or relegate himself to the "Also played" category of NFL players who had a couple of decent seasons. We will see in Week 1 if Hali is a player on his own or if he needed those dozen or so sacks by Allen the last two seasons to skate under the Chiefs' radar.

The same goes for the defensive tackles in Week 1. Glenn Dorsey gets a big time NFL test in his first game and we hope, we hope to see progress from Tank Tyler or Turk McBride, or both.

In other words, the Chiefs will get to see how immediate of an impact their '07 and '08 draft picks will have.

I know this is a lot of hot, hypothetical air over a game the Kansas City Chiefs will likely get whooped up so bad in that we won't be able to glean any lessons from it. But you see where I'm going with these? As this team changes and grows, what will be revealed to us this season about our current condition? We may lose, but what are we learning? Who can't cut it anymore? Or never could?

Because if you're not a Chiefs fan who is thinking in terms of two to three years down the road, you're setting yourself up for angry disappointment.