If you thought Mike Vrabel was upset when he was shipped to the rebuilding project known as the Kansas City Chiefs, you can only imagine how Richard Seymour felt this morning when he was told he had been traded to Oakland.

The Raiders have become the NFL's favorite punch line and it's no coincidence that the Patriots have frequently taken advantage of their ineptitude.  It's no secret how many free agents the Patriots will have in the 2010 offseason, and with two new rookie defensive lineman who both looked solid in the preseason (Ron Brace/Myron Pryor) the move to youth, speed and the inexperience that comes along with those is in full swing in New England.

2009 will forever be remembered in Patriots history as the year that the major defensive names of past glories said good bye. While Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison were in decline, Seymour still has at least a few high level years left in the tank. But with labor uncertainty on the horizon, a first round pick was too good to pass up. Especially when it belongs to the Raiders.

Continue reading "Richard Seymour: Shipped to the Black Hole"

I'm not going to pretend I saw the writing on the wall before Richard Seymour was sent to Oakland just before the regular season began. But the apparent fact is that the New England Patriots are a different team than the one that won three out of four Super Bowls in the first half of the decade, or even the ones that came within a half of playing the Bears in Super Bowl 41, or went 16-0 only to lose in the final moments of Super Bowl 43.

But when you look at the big picture, what did Patriots fans think would happen?

Tom Brady would come back after a devastating knee injury and immediately return to 2007 form? Even when Randy Moss and Benjamin Watson were the only receivers with whom he had any familiarity?

That the defense would lose five starters, including the core heart-and-soul pieces like Bruschi, Vrabel and Harrison, yet immediately right the problems that had plagued them for the last three seasons?

Continue reading "What Did New England Patriots Fans Expect?"