A Patriots Vent

[Bennett4prez]

The New England Patriots have won three of the last four Super Bowls. How? The NFL placed a salary cap on franchises, so everyone has a fair chance to win, right? Wrong. The New England Patriots have fairly, but unsportsmanlikely, adjusted their bigger contracts to fit all their Pro Bowlers onto one roster (See Tom Brady). Patriot supporters will counter that any team can do what the Patriots are doing and reconstruct contracts, but then what would be the purpose of the NFL-enforced Salary Cap? The Salary Cap was enforced to remove dynasties from the NFL and promote an even-level playing field for all teams in the NFL. But, when the New England Patriots manipulate the Salary Cap so, in essense, they have no salary cap, it hurts the integrity of the game. I know that the Patriots won three of the past four Super Bowls, and I'm not trying to take any of those away from them, but I think this issue needs to be brought up more. This is like, on a lesser scale, giving MLB a salary cap, but letting the Yankees spend freely. Isn't this team supposed to be the Patriots? And, here they are transfiguring the NFL into the one thing they strived to get away from, dynasties controlling the NFL. I don't expect one rant to take fans away from the Patriots or give their management a dramatic change of heart, but let's just be realistic and point out that the Patriots manipulated the system and THAT is how they won three Super Bowls. They aren't better people. They aren't better as a team. They have higher caliber players that restructure their contracts so that the Patriots can sign other big name players for that same low price. Props to the Patriots, but I'm definitely going to be cheering for their antics to end and for a laughingstock of a season. Heck, I would rather see the Patriots finish 0-16 than see my beloved Vikings win the Super Bowl. Sorry for a useless rant, but I wanted to get something off my chest after weeks of laying in a bed reading People magazines. Football is MUCH better, with the right principles in place...

[CC]

That's dumb, the Patriots are a well-coached team with selfless player (mostly) and geniuses in the front office. Wouldn't you want the Vikings to do this? Winning is the name of the game, if you do it fairly no one can hold anything against you except bitterness.

[Free Bagel]

[Sixxgunn]

That's dumb, the Patriots are a well-coached team with selfless player (mostly) and geniuses in the front office. Wouldn't you want the Vikings to do this? Winning is the name of the game, if you do it fairly no one can hold anything against you except bitterness.

I have to agree.The Patriots haven't done anything that the Niner or Dallas dynasty-era teams didn't do,except they've done it better.Everyone manipulates the cap,it's just a fact of the game.I have to applaud the Patriots and their players for doing what it takes and making a committment to winning that other teams and players seem unwilling to make.The Patriots and their players have been one of the classiest I've seen in awhile.This has been a breath of fresh air in the stale "me first" times we live in.This is what truly makes a team.Everyone working together to make it to the top,be the best.Here's to you Mr. Salary cap manipulator,a real American hero!

[Keyser_WV]

Feel free to rant but what you said makes no sense really.

Do the Pats even have a player you could call a superstar?

Most Patriots players could walk into a Mall outside of MA and not even be recognized.

Front office and coaching are light years ahead of the rest of the NFL in the PATS organization.

Don't worry, Steelers will take them out this year. I hope

[Nilmerf]

Haha, Free Bagel. That looks familiar..

As much as I dislike the Patriots, and would not want to see them win again.. they certainly deserve their three championships. Regardless of the salary cap, they were still the best team each year.

Don't worry though, they won't win again. Their team is falling apart.. Bruschi won't play, the rest of the linebackers are 800 years old, their coaching staff is refreshed, and their o-line is not as solid. I predict around 8-8 or 9-7 and no playoffs.

[Atog]

Most Patriots players could walk into a Mall outside of MA and not even be recognized.

Other than Tom Brady in Michigan.
Or Tom Brady anywhere, really. He's hosting Saturday Night Live this week.

[gatorman1122]

OMG...seriously....If the Vikings had an unlimited salary cap space, they'd still never win the Superbowl (or even make it that far), considering their owner is so "frugal". In the best case scenario without the salary cap, the Vikings will try to sign all of the RBs in the NFL (Holmes, McGahee, LT, Alexander,etc.) and make their entire team roster consist of RBs. What's the end result? They'll still lose.

(Ohyea, there's a venting forum for this type of jibberish.)

[awwchrist]

Free Bagel,

Exactly.

[Mercer Boy]

Doesn't every team "manipulate" the salary cap in some way in order to keep their best players around? It looks to me like the Patriots are just the team that does it best.

My understanding is that the core players actually care about the team and winning football games and don't care about silly contracts where they make 20 million dollars a year. They take a low base salary with a nice signing bonus and keep the key players intact. The ones that do get greedy leave, and someone else takes his place. It's a credit to the organization that they can find players that will replace "superstars" and make the team keep chugging along.

We'll see what happens with some of the coaches going away this year, but I like to say that the Patriots are a great team because they play very well together.