See, I'd disagree with this. The defense had plenty of talent and performed better than anyone could have expected. On offense, it was a combination of bad luck and some decisions backfiring.
Starting with the offensive line, no one could have seen Andrews being out for the year just two weeks before the season. Karras had shown he was a capable backup in the past, and while Andrews' leadership and intelligence are top notch, he's below average in the athletic talent department. Between Brady and 2 other excellent vets on the OL, you would have thought they could have made up for the missed leadership. Then, Wynn gets injured in Week 2, and we hear all the time how few capable offensive linemen there are in the league. Even with all of that, I believe the line was ranked middle of the pack by the various ranking metrics.
I'm going to skip the RBs because that was the same crew as last year, and while people can talk about losing Develin, his impact has always been overrated.
At WR, they really only lost Hogan and Patterson. I'm going to ignore Hogan because I don't think his presence would have done anything this year. With Patterson, that was more of the loss of a gadget player/returner versus an actual WR. They should have been able to replace the gadget plays, and return yards are less important in the new NFL.
With the guys they have, remember, there was a week where this was all this talk about one of the most talent receving corps of all time. Edelman, despite his injuries, is the model of consistency, as he's basically average 6.5 receptions and 70 yards per game each of his 6 years as a starter. They got unlucky that Harry was injured early in training camp. It was a mistake to let go of Demaryius Thomas, but it's not like the guy lit it up with the Jets. Gordon played worse than last year and then was just as unreliable. AB, well, I don't really have to get into that situation. Lastly, Sanu was a guy they'd coveted for years and thought would be perfect for this offense. We all thought he'd be a good addition, but it turns out that he's been putrid. Going back to free agency, we know they tried to get Adam Humphries and Jared Cook, but they both turned them down.
At TE, I'll agree with you that they clearly underestimated how difficult it would be to replace his non-receiving impact, whether it was blocking or drawing coverage.
Finally, Brady. He had a bad year, but it didn't feel like it was a physical talent issue (though who knows how the elbow injury affected things). He just seemed out of it mentally with an incredible amount of terrible decisions. Maybe it was the OL and the skill position personnel, but I'd give him equal blame. For whatever reason, he just couldn't mentally push past the issues this year.
Sorry for the blog-type post, but all of this is to say that I don't think it was a talent issue. I'd put a ton of the blame on the coaching. Scarnecchia couldn't figure out a way to get the OL to improve. They clearly missed Chad O'Shea, since he had run their redzone offense for years. Finally, McDaniels was as bad as he's been in years. He could never figure out what the team was good out and how to make the best of the personnel. Beyond that, the offense has always been great not because of talent but because they could execute the gameplan, and they continuously couldn't this year.
I thought the B’s had night game and was about to wonder if they would get NHL permission to change the game time....thanks for making me check my schedule...plenty of time to get home from the Gahden and in front of the TV for the Pats ( although I’m predicting the Bruins will more likely win than the Pats...fingers crossed the defense can resurrect their bad, bogeymen selves)
