Aros, I'm glad you touched on the Patriots here. That organization faced the same deflating defeat at the end of the 2007 season, but Belichick has been quite a visionary to see the key pieces on his team that need to stay through all the change; largely Brady, McDaniels (OC), Scarnecchia (OL coach), and Patrica (DC). The rest of the roster and coaching staff has turned over with the intent of keeping a large part of the roster hungry (players / coaches with no rings) while still keeping the continuity needed to compete in today's NFL landscape (largely passing game and defending it).
So the short answer to the Patriots secret is continuity at the key spots within the organization and a zeal to identify players that can help them win; specifically win in different styles suited to the talent available; note the evolution of the Patriots from a defensive-starred group in the early 2000s to a dominant passing team with suitable, not exceptional players matched to a highly creative scheme (again credit the continuity of Patricia leading that group).
The challenge for Carroll and Schneider is to have a similar vision and begin to put it into execution THIS OFFSEASON. Fortunately, Carroll, Schneider, Cable, Richard, Wilson, Earl Thomas, Avril, KJ, Sherman, Britt, and Baldwin should form the core to which this team can complement with younger, hungry players (Clark, Lockett, Prosise, and more). My expectation is the front office will move in this direction and it has me excited for the long term. Like the long sustained dynasties in San Francisco (80-90s) those rosters never got stale nor the hunger with it. Yes, this will lead to some hard and surprising decisions, but it is vital the Seahawks make those moves if they want to stay relevant at a championship level over the coming years.
Again, thank for this post Aros, it is spot on.
Aros":357aly6a said:
I hate to bring this up but it makes you wonder, what are the Patriots doing so ridiculously right, year after year where we seem to be missing the mark? We could have been the "New Patriots" for lack of a better term...Destroying the NFL's most prolific offense in history on the biggest sports stage on the planet only to return back to said stage a year later for what we all know SHOULD have been back-to-back world championships...A modern day dynasty surely in the making...
But...
The last two years saw us exit stage left in the divisional round of the playoffs on the road.
(Cue Debbie Downer meme here)
No question has our collective team's hunger waned. Most men tend to become complacent (even if subconsciously so) once they earn the highest prize there is in all sports. Imagine a man who spent years going after a seemingly unattainable Super Model and finally, inexplicably starts to date her. Eventually the dream becomes the reality, and the reality is that the chase was the motivation, not so much the destination as much as he thought it was.
Desire feeds the fire. Now that he sees that Super Model is just another human being who farts and nags like anyone else, well...You get my point.
What's motivating our players right NOW? Collectively? Of course you could single out exceptional players like our top players who are freakishly built mentally and physically to A L W A Y S C O M P E T E but as a collective team? Where's the motivation?
And this brings me back to my original question. What are the Patriots doing so ridiculously right, year after year, that keeps them so damn competitive...9 Super Bowls in the Brady/Belichick Era? Crazy. Sure it's easy to point to Brady and Belichick as the sole reason but that's nowhere near the full answer. Look at the roster from top to bottom over the years...These are comprised of JAGS left and right.
My refined question then becomes, why can't we get a roster - top to bottom - that is considered on paper to be one of the most talented in the league for the past five years to demonstrate the same kind of consistency that the Patriots show year after year (besides the obvious fact they sold their souls to the Devil)?