Quote:First off, nobody in their right mind would say that Mayo was better than Poz last year.


 

New England didn't have Ty Law, Darelle Revis, Aqib Talib, Vince Wilfork, or Richard Seymour last year. Belichick had a lot of Pro Bowlers in his early years with the Pats. How much of that was raw talent vs. development? I remember thinking the Pats were the worst team in the league on paper before the 2001 season, and then they won the Superbowl. It wasn't a talented roster before Belichick developed it.


 

Belichick regularly plugs in guys who were cast off from other teams and they have career years. Here, look at their 2009 roster. They had Wilfork that year, and Mayo, but the rest of the talent on defense was a bunch of journeymen and cast offs. They were 5th in scoring defense in 2009.


 

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/te...roster.htm

 

What defensive players has Gus developed? Other than Marks (who may have appeared to improve just because he was played out of position by the tacks), I can't think of a defender who is significantly better than when he arrived on the team. If you want to say Telvin, go back and look at his play in his very first preseason game in 2014. If Branch and Clemons were the reason the defense sucked (they weren't that bad in 2014), why wasn't Ryan Davis used at Leo.


 

#becauseGus