E.Gunnar Carlin's New England Patriots Fan Profile

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The Patriots linebacker quest posted on 02/13/2008

Today the Patriots signed free agent linebacker T.J. Slaughter. A journeyman LB originally signed by Jacksonville in the 3rd round of the 2000 draft. He played sparingly until Jack Del Rio cut him in 2003 after a felony gun charge. In 2002 Slaughter was suspended by the NFL for violating the league's steroid policy. After Jacksonville he went to Baltimore for the 2004 season, and then to New Orleans in 2005.San Francisco picked him up 2006 and then placed him on injured reserve due to a torn tendon in his finger .Perhaps Bill Belichick is trying to find another Mike Vrabel. First year all star Mike Vrabel was a little used backup in Pittsburgh who exemplifies Belichick’s ideal linebacker by being a smart, hard hitting blue collar player. Slaughter will be competing with home grown linebackers Pierre Woods and Eric Alexander for a roster spot. A better route would be to try to sign unrestricted free agent Teddy Lehman from Detroit. Teddy looks like a Belichick type linebacker, he scored a 39 on the wonderlic (average is 21) , he is 27 6’1 238#. He should be considered as a low risk/cost acquisition. Dontarrious Thomas from Minnesota would also be a good free agent pickup and at 28 6’2 241# would be excellent as a complement to Adalius Thomas. Pittsburgh outside linebacker Clark Haggans would fit the Patriots linebacker philosophy. Clark is an experienced linebacker with eight years in a perennial top rated defense , he has reach and at 6’4 243# would be good at both run defense and as a pass rusher. Brandon Chillar would also be a good risk. The St Louis Ram has four years experience and seems to be gaining good game experience ,and with 2007 being his best statistical year (3 pass def, 3 sacks & 54 solo tackles). Chillar has good size 6’3 242# and at 25 years old he could be the sleeper free agent pickup of the 2008 season.

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Mortgaging the future with Moss and Samuel posted on 02/10/2008

With free agency starting up, the Patriots have several major decisions to make. First is what to do about Asante Samuel, and that is to give him a contract that will make him the highest paid CB if he hits similar performance clauses that he was able to hit this year. Let’s face it, he is better than Nate Clements or at the least better due to the team he is on. Last year one or the arguments against giving him a huge contract was that he didn’t have a long enough track record to justify the money, well now he has had another year of excellent play. What signing Asante will do is solidify one portion of an aging defense. It generally is not the Patriots policy to make one of their players the top paid in any position ( Tom Brady isn’t paid top dollar). That being said, I feel that Asante will be gone and that he will be a New York Jet.

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New England Patriots and the Great Depression of 2008 posted on 02/09/2008

Sunday night after the biggest choke in recent memory I noticed a general depression had settled over my social network. The guys who I would classify as stoic working class men where completely in denial. They refused to put the news on televisions and would not pull up and of the most popular sport websites as if by not acknowledging the loss would make the hurt go away. We all got so emotionally involved that it was like watching our best friend get married only to be stood up on the altar . We all saw it happen, but we all pretend it didn’t so both our friends shame and our own are not brought to light.

Today , five days after The Loss people are just coming to grips with the season being over. I am slowly seeing the sport websites up and the local news programs on. I am still quick to change the channel if anything negative starts to appear about the Patriots. I will not yet listen to the NFL network on satellite yet. I probably will not watch the pro-bowl this weekend for fear of hearing about how this Patriot team will go down in football infamy.

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