Article about the defense

[HarleyDog]

(06-03-2020, 08:17 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It's not like that, at all.  Many people seem to think that building a team means just getting rid of poor player in favor of better ones.  Much like putting a new engine in your car, or upgrading your graphics card on your gaming pc.  But with a sports team, there's much more that goes into it.  You have to A, have a master plan, B. select quality players that have the skill sets to fit what you want to accomplish, and C. Bring them together as a cohesive group that knows and trusts one another.

Many times we have seen the "collection of talent' approach fail miserably.  (I'm looking at Cleveland, NY Jets, Washington, Miami, etc.)  People get all googly eyed when a team "wins" free agency, but unless they truly have a plan, like Tom Coughlin did when he retooled the Jacksonville Jaguars a couple of years ago.  That is just about the only "store bought" team that I've ever seen get that close to winning it all.

I think ZT has great football knowledge and strategy. I laugh at the teams mentioned who collected talent with no direction. When you get too many egos on the field, IMO, it get's tough to get cohesion. It has to be about team, and not about me, aka Patriots. I'm pretty confident that we have a plan in place and although it hasn't been pretty at first, it will pan out and the dividends will start rolling in.

Focusing on retooling the defense through FA and the draft was a great start. We got hammered last year and as the saying goes, "Defense wins championships," they also prevent you from winning as well. We had a sloppy defense last year that couldn't prevent 1st down conversions and huge yardage. The few times we made an offense go 3 and out was becoming like watching "Ripley's, Believe it or not?"

Leadership is about accountability. That's why ZT went for leaders in the draft. I'm excited to watch this team come together this year. It may be sloppy for awhile because cohesion doesn't just happen on the practice field or locker room. Mistakes will have to be made to learn each others rolls. Yet, I bet they get it together rather quickly. It's going to be fun.