Just Passin' By |
05-08-2009 06:16 PM |
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Originally Posted by THISmaqe
(Post 5749966)
So what does this all mean? To me, it means we shouldn't be real surprised that Pioli didn't go balls-out on the offensive line this offseason. The Patriots real success in building their 2001 offensive line that won the first championship came in the 2001 offseason, not 2000. In fact, their 2000 draft only landed one player of significance - Tom Brady. The rest of the draft is pretty ho-hum.
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I don't know if Pioli is going to be able to get away with developing the O-linemen in the same manner Belichick does. Belichick has a huge edge there, because he's got one of the best O-line coaches in the league working for him, and that coach doesn't go looking for promotion. That mean that he's able to get continuity at that spot in a way that almost no team can. Neal is a perfect example of how it works. The guy was a wrestler in college, but the Patriots were able to take the time to coach him up because the team could afford the luxury of keeping him around and had consistency at the coaching spot. As a matter of fact, they've got another wrestler in camp this year, and this guy's basically never played a down of football in his life.
On the positive side for the Chiefs, even some of those players who didn't thrive have been okay as players. Kenyatta Jones' biggest problem was his sheer stupidity:
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Jones pleaded no contest to one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and was issued a "continued without a finding" ruling in April after he threw hot water on roommate Mark Paul. If Jones does not violate his one-year probation the case will be dismissed. Paul, who suffered second- and third-degree burns, was sitting on the toilet when he was hit by the water.
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The team released him just a few days after the incident happened, but he'd been a starter.
Randall started for both the Patriots and the Texans.
O'Callaghan is a pretty talented player, and he pushed Kazcur for the starting job, but he keeps getting concussions. He may not survive the cut this season, based upon the way the Patriots drafted. They may feel that they just can't take a chance on a guy who gets his bell rung so frequently.
Klemm was just an absolute bust, and he's considered one of the absolute worst picks of the Belichick era.
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