Morning! Welcome to The Quest for 7, where volunteer writer, Steven Viner, scours the net for seven Patriots related articles from other sites offering different points of view on the six-time champs. Paid subscribers not only get to read all seven, but they also get to check out his always fiery "Steve's Soapbox" at the end.
1. This award is more like catching Jaws instead of Moby Dick, but find out why Stephon Gilmore winning this honor all but assures the Patriots' corner will capture his White Whale: AP Defensive Player of the Year. Zack Cox of NESN has the details on this award with bite. Gilmore's gonna need a bigger trophy case. (Get it? Anyone?)
2. Speaking of cornerbacks, Tre Roberson is the Stephon Gilmore of the Canadian Football League, and Oliver Thomas of Pats Pulpit reports that the Patriots gave him a free agent workout. New England has as many good cornerbacks as Kyrie Irving has mood swings, so could Belichick be considering what I've been campaigning for: moving Joejuan Williams to safety?
3. Reports of Tom Brady cleaning out his locker and moving were everywhere. Chris Rosvoglou of The Spun tells everyone to calm down, and read which Patriots insider shot down the latest Brady rumor.
4. In my Salty Tears Take of the day, Jaclyn Hendricks of the New York Post spilled her coffee while sprinting to her laptop to report Tom Brady's latest move fuels Patriots' endgame speculation. Awwww! Did that false report get every Patriots-Hater hopes up? So sorry you were disappointed. Hee, hee, hee, hee.
5. Even though Brady ended all speculation of retirement, that doesn't mean there aren't other big names on the verge of calling it a career. NFL Nation of ESPN reports 16 NFL players who could walk away, showing that we are not the only fanbase biting our nails, waiting for the "Breaking News" alarm to go off. Aaaaaand ... just like that, Luke Keuchly is done. Scared face emoji.
6. Once again, no clever insight or opinion for me to add here. The two mock drafts in yesterday's Quest for 7 predicted the Patriots going after the same position in the first round. But after checking out Jason McIntyre of Fox Sports' 2020 NFL mock draft, this is the second time I've seen this specific player linked to the Patriots. The plot thickens!
7. My streak of finding positive Patriots stories remains alive! (Barely.) Ryan Gaydos of Fox News tells us why Brady's latest Instagram post has Patriots fans running out of the Gillette Stadium tunnel to the endzone while throwing fists at the crowd. (Okay, more like stopping at the 30-yard line in an empty park to catch our breath.) Still potentially good news!
STEVE'S SOAPBOX
The place where Steve gets to give his take of the day from the perspective of a Patriots fan.
(Part 2 of 4) In yesterday's Quest for 7 Soapbox, I decided to tackle who is the greatest. I selected the four best Patriots teams of all-time and asked readers to vote for seeding purposes. The 2004 team won the #1 seed, 2014 #2, 2016 #3, and 2007 #4. Tomorrow the 2004 dynasty completer will square off against 2007's undefeated squad. Today's game is a battle of the 2nd, and 3rd seed: the 2014 Patriots, versus the 2016 team.
Key Plays and situations
2016 Offense vs 2014 Defense: 2016 Belichick comes out using LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis in the same backfield, trying to take advantage of an overrated 2014 run defense. Chandler Jones is clearly the target, as he keeps getting bulldozed. A fake handoff to Blount and pitch to Lewis gives 2016 Patriots an early lead. 2014 Belichick switches to a heavier defensive front, but gets burnt by a Malcolm Mitchell slant when he breaks a Kylie Arrington tackle for a long TD score. Darrelle Revis nearly Shuts down 2016 Edelman, mostly because 2016 Brady barely looks his way. Brandon Browner gets a pick and slows down 2016 Gronk, who still manages to get 63 yards and a TD. But, 2014 McCourty and 2014 Chung can’t hang with Martellus Bennett, who goes over 112 yards. Vince Wilfork and Blount collide on an epic 4th and 1, with Vince standing tall. 2016 Danny "Playoff" Amendola has a big half against Kyle Arrington, but 2014 Butler shuts him out in the second half.
2014 Offense vs 2016 Defense: 2014 Brady comes out in spread formation, dinking-and-dunking his way to field goal range, but Gostkowski misses the kick. Quickly down 14 early, 2014 Brady uses Shane Vereen on screens and draws to creep down the field. A double move by Edelman burns a gambling 2016 Butler for a TD. 2014 Brady come out hot in the second half, adding hurry-up to the spread formations against a 2016 poor pass-rush. The hurry-up creates confusion on the 2016 defense, and Brady spots 2016 Hightower trying to cover 2014 Gronk. Not even close. TD. Kyle Van Noy crushes Brady on a delayed blitz past Bryon Stork causing a fumble and turnover. The 2014 defense holds for a Gostkowski field goal. Belichick deciding for the entire second half to inject the hurry-up with spread formations is the deciding factor.
Final Score
2014 Patriots 38
2016 Patriots 31
2014 moves onto the finals. Here is the formula I created to HELP decide the outcome. (Scales of 1-10 and 1-5)
Team 2004 2007 2014 2016
Brady 6 10 8.5 9.5
RB’s 10 5.5 4 7
WR/TE 7 10 8.5 10
OL 6.5 8 5.5 7
Passing defense 9.5 9 9 6.5
Running defense 8.5 7.5 7.5 9
Forced Turnovers 9 7.5 7 5.5
Playoff competition 10 3 7.5 6.5
Sacks (5 point) 4.5 4.5 3.5 2
FG Kicking (5 point) 5 3 4 3.5
Bonus 1 2 3 2
Total 77 70 68 68.5
Bonus is the number of Shutdown corners and Hall of Fame worthy WR and TE's on the team.
Be on the lookout for more The Quest for 7 features. Want more Salty Tears and Soapbox? Click on my name above and scroll down for previous Quests!
Patriots
The Quest for 7: Patriots news, Brady rumor debunked? Shocking retirement, links 1.16.20
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