RFH Collective: New England Patriots

Showing posts with label New England Patriots. Show all posts

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Widdoes Preview of the Pats/Steelers Football Game

Bring it.

Sheesh, after reading the Hendrie's game preview I feel like I've been standing in line at the Cask 'n Flagon, getting heckled for not wearing black boots, a leather jacket and a head full of grease (covered up by a backwards Red Sox cap). Rap sheet this, tabloid innuendo that, can we talk about football, please?

I mean, everyone knows the Pats haven't won a Super Bowl since being convicted of cheating...there just isn't much more to say about that.

Dissecting the "Elite 8" of the NFL

One of my recent posts broke down the contenders for the NFL title. My conclusion was that there was an "elite 8" in the NFL. These eight teams had a relatively equal chance of coming away with the Lombardi trophy this January. The other twenty four teams, in my opinion, only have about a five percent chance of winning the whole thing.

Thanks Todd and Company

Recently, Scouts inc. came out with their top 200 players in the NFL list. Although I disagree with some of the ratings, I thought it would be interesting to see how the "elite 8" stacked up with the rest of the league in terms of the best individual talent. I broke down the ratings by assigning a point value to each player. The top player (in this case Tom Brady) would be assigned 200 points while the bottom player would be assigned 1 point. This system resulted a teams elite player raw score (simply just the players values added up). One stat is that these eight teams have 75 players rated in the top 200. This is a testament to some really great drafting. Below I ranked the eight teams by their raw scores

Steelers (14): 1362
Packers (10): 1303
Eagles (10): 1160
Ravens (10): 1132
Patriots (8): 927
Colts (7): 777
Falcons (8): 759
Saints (8): 731

Next post, I will take a look at each on of these teams depth by taking Scout inc.'s player score (95 for Tom Brady) and adding them up for every starter. Until then, here are the elite player breakdowns by team.

New England Renaissance Series: #12 Jake Layman

The New England Renaissance Series is an ongoing countdown of some of the best prospects in the region regardless of class. It is important not to dwell on the order of the rankings but rather on the unprecedented amount of talent the region possesses.

#12 Jake Layman (2012)

Height: 6'8 Weight:185

Hometown: Wrentham Mass

School Team: King Philip Regional

Travel Team: BABC

NERR Rank: 13 National Rank: NR

It will only be a matter of time before Jake Layman makes a huge name for himself nationally. He is a 6'8 wing/forward who can shoot, play elite defense, and dominate above the rim. Recently, Layman has begun to attract attention from a whole host of high major schools including Boston College, Texas A&M, and Providence. Here is ESPN evaluation and highlight video.

A long and athletic player, Layman has a terrific set of physical tools. He stands a legit six-foot-seven with great length and a solid frame which will eventually support a good deal of muscle mass. He is a very good athlete and gets his head on the rim between his length and leaping ability. He has good touch on his jump shot and projects as a very good three-point shooter down the road with a little refinement to his technique. He is a potentially versatile defensively who can change the game with his length on top of the press.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Comprehensive Draft Recap

Consider yourself served Mel

The typical way that drafts are graded make no sense to the Collective. Giving a team an “A-” or a “C+” seems trivial and random. What we decided to do instead, was evaluate the draft by categorizing teams in ways that make more sense. The categories that we came up with were the following: “The Rich Get Richer”, “Welcome to the Playoff Hunt”, “Mixed Results”, “Pro Bowlers and Practice Team Players”, “Playoff Teams No More”, “From Bad to Worse”, and “Flat Out Bad”. These categories make more sense than the typical format because they take into account draft order and the current state of the team. It is unfair to compare the Cardinals and Jets on an A-F scale. The Cardinals had the opportunity to pick Patrick Peterson and the Jets did not. They were in different positions. In addition, the top teams have the luxury of picking niche players, where bad teams are trying to improve their rosters from top to bottom.

Two things that we emphasized in our analysis were trades and finding players who will end up on the 53 man roster. One thing we didn't emphasize strongly was need. Whether a team “reaches” on a pick is taken into account but not over emphasized like it is by some draft prognosticators. On a stylistic note, you will notice that the round is not included for each player. This was a purposeful way to remove stupid tags like “first round pick” when the pick is 28 or “second round pick” when the pick is 34.

Patriots Draft Preview

Nothing wakes the Hendrie half of the Collective up in the morning like a New England Patriots Draft Breakdown (maybe a couple of pots of coffee). This breakdown will look at each positional unit, analyze the needs of that unit, and project some solutions via the draft.

Bottom line:

Over the last two drafts the Patriots have acquired 14 rotation players. Add in that they have 6 picks in the top 100 this year, and the Patriots will have the luxury of moving up/down within the draft and picking the best player available. Although the Patriots have positioned themselves well going forward, they still have serious needs at offensive line, running back, defensive line, and outside linebacker. Based on Belichick’s past history, we would be surprised if he pulled the trigger on an outside linebacker with any of the picks we are currently slotted in. The only viable option would be to move up (Redskins pick at 10 makes the most sense) and take Robert Quinn. But other than that, the Patriots will most likely address their other needs early.

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