You've COMPLETELY missed the point of the thread.

I've seen several people complain about our draft. We didn't do anything to fix the OL while the Patriots started by building a dominating offensive line.

As the facts clearly show, the Patriots didn't start by building the dominating line that everybody has in their heads. The names you listed off in your previous post - came AFTER they had already won a Super Bowl.

The near panic amongst the fanbase about not drafting any offensive linemen is rooted in Patriot MYTH, not reality.

Hmm... I think the concern is as follows:
* all agree the Chiefs' Oline was atrocious in 2008 and needed help
* it was generally accepted that this draft was flush with offensive line talent
* on paper, the Chiefs failed to take advantage of the strength of the draft because the only Olineman they drafted was a 5th round guy nobody had ever heard of.

Now, it certainly isn't any reason to go on any sort of rampage. We are in year one of a rebuild and we could not have gotten everything on our wish list, but it is notable that the Chiefs' went away from the perceived strength of the draft, even when that strength is/was a position of need.

Making matters appear worse, this was not at all a sexy draft for the Chiefs. There were absolutely no draft day heros; no QBOTF; no 6'5, 4.3 WR; no 14 sack-a-season DEs. Just blue-collar worker guys to plug some of the (many) holes. I think most people realize there were too many holes but the draft would appear better on paper if the Chiefs had gone Oline earlier (and with a name) and then selected a more flashy player here and there.

P.S. I'm not saying the Chiefs messed it up, only that it isn't sexy on paper.

Matt Light and Greg Robinson-Randall were, in fact, the offensive tackles on the 2001 team and were drafted to be so. Klemm didn't work out.
I don't think any team sets out to NOT draft a great OL or DL. All you can go by is a track record.
Before the draft I said people wouldn't like it because fans never could understand Patriot drafts either. After a while you just learned to trust that the players they targeted were picked for a reason and it has generally worked out.
No, Pioli is not the draft day trade manipulator Belichick is, at least not yet. But as far as picking talent there is no reason to not have confidence in his judgement. With his track record if he targeted Jackson and MaGee than they will be solid.
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His Peace He gives unto you. :D

2001 wasn't Pioli's first season as GM. 2000 was.

The reason why I posted this thread. People were referring to his track record with Patriots and somehow trying to suggest this draft didn't "fit". In reality, his track record says we shouldn't freak out just because he didn't draft any linemen. In his first draft with the Patriots, they took a 2nd rounder and a 4th rounder. Furthermore, the best draft picks they had on the OL were 2nd rounders. We didn't have a 2nd-rounder, but we did take a late-round tackle, so we didn't diverge wildly from history.

All the more reason to post this - to remind people that there's a method to the seeming madness.

Pioli was late arriving and his head coach was even later. He had to make picks based on the input of the previous regime's scouts. It happens. Furthermore, BB and Pioli weren't big draft day manipulators right out of the gate. People see that Super Bowl in 2001 and mistakenly think Rome was built in a day, when in reality they drafted Tom Brady that year and it was like a bolt of lightning. The team was really "built" by about 2003.

I absolutely agree with you - there's no reason to doubt his judgement. And the purpose of this thread was to show why.

The RIGHT side of the line was atrocious. One of those pieces, the RG, has already been replace. We drafted a potential RT. So to say we really didn't change anything isn't correct.

It think it should be pretty obvious by now that Scott Pioli doesn't care about the "strength" of the draft. It's just like the idea of trading within the division because you might "help" one of your rivals - he doesn't care about that either. We're going to have to get used to the fact that it would appear this guy and the people he have worked with in the past simply don't care about some of the things we have traditionally taken for granted. They care about winning football games, and we can hope like hell that it works.

We really didn't have an earlier pick though. Take a look at Pioli's history again. The guys that are going to make a difference are going to come out of the first and 2nd round. We weren't in a position to take an OL like that this year - we didn't have a 2nd-rounder and we don't have a NEED on the offensive line that would EVER justify using the #3 pick on one.

Oh. Well that's different

NEVER MIND. :)
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It's cool. Why do you think I kept telling you you missed the point? :)

I don't think we can look back on these drafts and make any assumptions.

Unless we can go back and see how the value was viewed at the time, we can't really compare.

Just loooking at that 2000 draft, the value at O-Line, in retrospect, was crap.

Will we be able to look back on this draft in 5-10 years and say the same?

One other thing.

Those Patriot O-Linemen that have been drafted aren't really all that great.

They've been made to look better than they are by Tom Brady, who has an uncanny ability to feel pressure and glide in the pocket away from that pressure.

We've all heard Pioli's draft philosophy about 100 times now. The 2009 draft was relatively "in the zone" of his philosophy, but if you think need didn't take precedence over BPA, you're out of your mind.

And, I watched the NE vs Chiefs game again last night at the Classic Games site. Some observations:

Matt Cassel made the win happen. Brady played that game like his mind was elsewhere. Perhaps on the golf course or getting a hummer from the old lady?
Cassel came in, took control, and though somewhat "Wild Thing w/o his glasses" at first, he settled in and looked way more comfortable than a backup QB with his lack of snap-time should look.
I've warmed up to the idea of Matt; all he has to do now is win me over with his play.

The star of the show was NE's defensive line and LB's. Johnson and Charles might as well have been in the stands eating nachos.

Huard and Croyle; be gone! I don't give a merry blue **** what Dierdorf, Gumbel, or anyone else has to say:
Several of those "dropsie passes" to Bowe were absolute SHIT.
Bowe FTW!!!!

And finally, how many big plays and touchdowns do I have to watch Bernard Pollard prevent before this guy gets off the hate list? How many times do I have to watch him being the ONE ****ING GUY that keeps the opponent out of the end zone before he gets some overdue respect from some of you's sacks of shit?!
Pollard FTK!!!
(for the kill)

:evil:

Hath Hell frozen over?

And I saw bigfoot last night too!:D

Most hilarious thing about that game was even when the Chiefs took it down the field at the end you KNEW they weren't going to score.

If you liked Cassell in that game there are a lot better games later. The Jets game, the game at Miami, the game at Oakland after his father passed away, the Arizona game. Etc etc
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Good God; Croyle and Huard don't even belong on "Pro's vs Joes".