Monthly Archives: January 2009

Floyd Reese joins front office, Brady WILL be ready for opener

Posted on January 28, 2009 by beth

Veteran general manager/personnel guy Floyd Reese joined the New England front office as the Senior football advisor. Reese most recently was the GM of the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans (1994 – 2006) and a studio analyst on ESPN. Reese and Bill Belichick served on the same coaching staff in the late 70′s when Bill was coaching special teams and Reese was a strength/conditioning coach. Floyd Reese does not come in as GM or Vice President of Personnel, which was Scott Pioli’s title before he left for Kansas City.

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Patriots coaching carousel continues and players in the news

Posted on January 27, 2009 by beth

The New England Patriots have been used to being in the news during the Super Bowl. This week was no exception as we learned tight-ends coach Pete Mangurain will not return to the Patriots coaching staff in 2009.

This comes after wide-receivers coach Bill O’Brien has been promoted to quarterbacks coach. This is a similar move the Patriots made with Josh McDaniels in 2005, when offensive coordinator Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame. McDaniels was not immediatelz promoted to offensive coordinator, but did call plays from the sideline.

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Parcells and Belichick not at odds

Posted on January 21, 2009 by beth

During the Patriots’ Super Bowl runs, there were constant stories about a rift between Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, two coaches who had worked together on the Giants, Pats, and Jets. Whether that rift existed or not, there is currently no such rift. The two were spotted at the Senior Bowl sitting together and scouting the up-and-coming talent.

You can see photos of the two at the following link: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/01/pair_of_bills.html

True, this isn’t earth-shattering news, but I thought it would be interesting for Patriots fans to see.

Go Pats!

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In Bill We Trust: System remains while others leave

Posted on January 18, 2009 by beth

Coaches, executives, and players come and go in the NFL, and few with as much frequency as with the New England Patriots. Since the Pats last won the Super Bowl, they have lost 5 coordinators (Charlie Weiss, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Brad Seely), position coaches, and two front office executives (Scott Pioli, Thomas Dimitroff). Yet despite all of these losses, the Pats have won the AFC East every year with the exception of this year, and they were one tie breaker away from winning it again this year. They have also appeared in two AFC Championship games, winning one of them, and appeared in last year’s Super Bowl. How have they been able to maintain such success in a league built for parody?

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In Bill We Trust? Loss of Pioli, McDaniels a blow to Patriots organization

Posted on January 17, 2009 by beth

I may have been the voice of faith and belief last week about franchising Matt Cassel, but this week’s news has me officially freaked out. Well, at least a little.

There’s often debate about whether or not the key to the Patriots’ success between 2001 and 2005 was the Belichick ‘System’, or a set of smart player acquisitions that may have been undervalued by other teams in the league. The example of Reche Caldwell vs. Randy Moss, so far, has been one of the feathers in the cap of the latter theory.

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Patriots Pioli new boss for Kansas City Chiefs

Posted on January 14, 2009 by beth

After a long week of speculation, it is finally official. Vice-president of personnel Scott Pioli, 43, has decided to leave the New England Patriots and join the Kansas City Chiefs as General Manager.

Pioli will be taking over a team that has a long history and stable ownership, in the Hunt family, that has been trying to re-establish itself as part of the NFL elite for the past decade. The Chiefs are spending $325 million to give a facelift to the aging Arrow Head stadium and are currently about $32 million under the salary cap. The ownership, reinvestment into the team and cap space shows commitment and opportunity Pioli could not pass up.

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Patriots lose McDaniels to Broncos

Posted on January 12, 2009 by beth

With a number of coaching and personnel questions after the patriots 2008 season ended, one question has already been answered as Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, is the first to take a job elsewhere and leave New England for the warmer climates of Denver, Colorado as the new head coach of the Broncos. 

Reports have the 32 year-old McDaniels considering Patriots defensive backs/special assistant coach Dom Capers for the defensive coordinator role. Capers did deliver much in 2008 as the defensive backs coach and still seemed to be a special situation if head coach Bill Belichick had any repercussions from the 2007 Spy Gate inquiries. 

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Franchising Cassel good business

Posted on January 11, 2009 by beth

The question of whether or not to franchise QB Matt Cassel has been the big debate among Patriots fans ever since he began to show real strides of improvement about halfway through the season. Beth discussed reasons NOT to franchise Matt Cassel on Friday. The following argues in favor of franchising Cassel.

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Franchise Cassel? Shouldn't we have more faith than that?

Posted on January 9, 2009 by beth

One of the biggest questions facing the Patriots going in to what is sure to be a wild and woolly off-season is the question of what to do about backup quarterback Matt Cassel.

To say Cassel was impressive this season would be an understatement. As I’ve mentioned here before, as Patriots fans, we had no right to expect or take for granted what our “high school quarterback” contributed to the team this year, especially given the continued injuries that constantly reshuffled the personnel around him. He showed incredible maturity and leadership in addition to improving pass accuracy, and any team would surely be happy to have him.

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Patriots in demand: Pioli and McDaniels finding opportunities

Posted on January 2, 2009 by beth

Although the recent news about vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli interviewing for the Cleveland Browns and the interest from the Browns to also interview offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is not new, other teams have also shown interest.

Pioli has drawn interest from the Kansas City Chiefs to become their next gerneral manger and is scheduled to interview with them soon. While McDaniels may be interviewing for the head coaching job with the Denver Broncos.

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