The last couple years, I thought the biggest thing that prevented us from succeeding in the playoffs was Mike’s fear-based game management. Belichek doesn’t mind running up the score. For some reason, Mike just emotionally clenches down and wants to run out the clock in the third quarter.
Overall though, I think Ted’s biggest problem when it comes to players is the training staff. It just seems like our guys are hurt more often and more seriously than other teams. That one year Bulaga popped a knee ligament in the Family Night scrimmage, and kept on playing for the rest of the series.
I mean, a dude is just playing, to traumatic impact, no twisting, and his knee just falls apart? What’s up with that?
How many GMs draft even ONE Nick Collins, much less, then having to turn around and find another one? The list goes on. Jermicheal Finley. Ted drafts Eddie Lacy AND JOhnathan Franklin in the same draft. Only gets to keep one of them.
Not all these guys have injury histories either. Ted gambled on Justin Harrell, but look at some of these other guys. Derrick Sherrod was starting to stabilize when he went down too. Talk all the smack you want about how he was a bust, but iirc he had no training camp due to the lockout, then they tried to move him to G, which was never going to work, the dude is just too enormous and lanky. But yeah. Sherrod was just getting his feet under him when he broke the HELL out of that leg. Keep in mind Ted had a 4th rounder who came out of nowhere and has held the LT position down for a few years.
Ted also had a guy (Tretter) who could have been serviceable last year, but he didn’t see the field until what, 3 weeks later?
What’s that trainer’s name, the guy who works for Stanford football? He came in and reduced injuries by 87% in his first year there. They’ve been doing pretty well over there. So this is not a coincidence.
Anyway, these guys would all be in their prime right now. Terrance Murphy. That dude was the real deal. Even a guy like Dez Bishop, gone to injury. Ted gets us plenty of players, it’s just that a large portion of the time, he has to go out and do it all over again.
And he DOES.