By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
With the start of training camp comes the start of a new NFL season. It’s a bit cliché, but every team starts 0-0 and with optimism that they could pull everything together and win the Super Bowl.
Some teams can be more optimistic than others. The New England Patriots are one of them. The Patriots have the talent and organization to be set up to win now.
That said, they are far from a perfect squad. The team is undergoing a youth movement on the defensive side of the ball, have some early injury concerns, and still have some off-field business matters to take care of.
Here are some of the Patriots’ biggest questions that need to be answered for the team to have a successful season.
1. Who will start at cornerback opposite Leigh Bodden?
Leigh Bodden’s five interception season earned him a new contract with the Patriots, but who will the team partner with him?
The two leading candidates are second-year corner Darius Butler and first-round draft pick Devin McCourty.
Butler played in 14 games last season, registering 33 tackles and three interceptions, including returning one for a touchdown.
McCourty is extremely versatile and could play a big role on special [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
Last season the two top teams in the AFC East were the division champion New England Patriots and the New York Jets.
In the playoffs the Patriots burned out fast, getting blown apart at home by the Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile the wild card Jets surprised everyone by making it to the AFC Championship game before bowing out to the Indianapolis Colts.
The two teams seem to continue to be going about their business differently in the offseason.
The Jets, feeling they are on the brink of the Super Bowl have made a splash and added a few talented players to the mix in an effort to push them over the edge.
Meanwhile the Patriots, as per usual, have not gone out and paid big bucks for any free agents and have sat mostly quiet just bringing back their own players that were out of contract.
Two distinctly different styles, but which is the right way to go about business?
The Jets, who also made a big in-season trade acquiring wide receiver Braylon Edwards, brought in two very sexy names in the NFL: cornerback Antonio Cromartie and running back LaDanian Tomlinson.
Cromartie came to the Jets by trade for a conditional third round [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
They didn’t pay Asante Samuel. They didn’t pay Richard Seymour. It’s up in the air if they’ll give in and actually pay Vince Wilfork.
Now all this lack of commitment to such important players is having a rather large impact on a future free agent.
Wide receiver Randy Moss said on Saturday that he does not anticipate the New England Patriots to extend his contract after the 2010 season.
“You know the Patriots don’t really pay, so when I got my second contract from them that was a blessing in disguise. I understand the business. I don’t think they’re going to re-sign me back,” Moss told reporters at former Patriot Heath Evans’ charity softball event. “I’m not mad. I’m not bitter. It’s just the way things are in this NFL, so like I said after this year I’ll be looking for a new team. I think so.”
Moss is entering the final season of a three year deal and will make a base salary of $6.4 million. Combine the Patriots infamous frugality and the money that will be allotted to two other crucial players more valuable than Moss, and the outcome doesn’t look too rosy.
Vince Wilfork is the first [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
The Patriots are heading into a crucial offseason. After an embarrassing performance against the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, it was obvious that changes need to be made to the team.
Still, there are a number of free agents that the Patriots should also bring back.
The Patriots have nine unrestricted free agents and three restricted ones.
Who should be kept on to help get the team to Super Bowl XLV at the new Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium?
Who should be looking for work elsewhere?
Tully Banta-Cain, LB: Unrestricted. Keep him. Banta-Cain was the best pass-rusher the team had, finishing in the top-15 in the NFL in sacks with 9.5. Even if the Patriots get players through trade, the draft, and/or free agency, Banta-Cain has always been an asset on special teams. He was also around for two of the Patriots’ three Super Bowls in the past decade.
Leigh Bodden, CB: Unrestricted. Let him go. The Patriots secondary was bad and they need to completely retool save for Pro Bowl safety Brandon Merriweather. Sure, Bodden lead the team in interceptions with five, but three of those came all in one game against Mark Sanchez.
Derrick Burgess, DE/LB: Unrestricted. [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
The Patriots defense was often criticized.
The media was harsh on them and their own coach lacked faith in them sometimes, the glaring example coming when head coach Bill Belichick chose to go for it on fourth-and-two with just over two minutes to go while ahead by six points.
Many thought the personnel on the field would see some changes, but now the team also has to find a new defensive coordinator.
Dean Pees stepped down from the job in the middle of January after holding the position for four seasons, and has since joined the Ravens coaching staff (bringing major insult to injury to the Patriots organization as Baltimore whooped New England in the playoffs) as the linebackers coach.
The Patriots still have not filled that void.
On the field the Patriots were not very talented in the secondary.
The linebackers were old, slow, and banged up, and they frequently dropped back to help in pass protection to make up for the sub-par defensive backs. Thus the quarterback had plenty of time to throw the ball and the running backs had plenty of open lanes.
The defensive line was the most productive of the group, although they missed end Richard Seymour [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
Bill Belichick has been the centerpiece of the Patriots dynasty since being hired as head coach in 2000. As a member of the Bill Parcells coaching tree one of his strengths has been the NFL draft. So here we will take a look at the Patriots’ top five draft picks in the Bill Belichick era.
I know you think Tom Brady will be number one on this list, and normally you’d be right. The quarterback from Michigan was drafted in the sixth round, number 199 overall has won an MVP, two Super Bowl MVPs, and has been selected to the Pro Bowl five times.
Yes, he is the coach’s and the team’s best draft pick ever. So it would be too easy to name him number one.
So I left him off. It makes it more interesting. The picks will start at the 5th best and countdown to number 1 (a different number one besides Brady).
5. Julian Edelman, WR. Drafted: 2009, seventh round, number 232 overall.
The quarterback from Kent State that many felt the Patriots took to possibly run the Wild Cat was turned into a wide receiver and a mini-Wes Welker when the real version went down [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
New England Patriots fans were faced with a harsh reality at the hands of a crushing defeat to the Baltimore Ravens: their team just wasn’t good enough.
Sure they had their moments of brilliance during the season, but they also frequently looked far from the team that was a three-time Super Bowl champion this decade, or even the team that went 11-5 without Tom Brady playing an entire game.
And please, don’t even try to say that if Wes Welker played that last game he would’ve made a difference between winning and losing.
That’s why this offseason fans should expect a lot of changes in New England.
The glaring weaknesses the Patriots have are on defense. Watching Ray Rice shred through the Pats in the first minute of the AFC Wild Card round should’ve made that fact evident.
The first thing the team needs to take care of is hiring a new defensive coordinator.
Dean Pees, who has held the position the past four years, is stepping down.
Bill Belichick has hired in-house for that position the past two times it was open, so it’s possible that he would do so again. Defensive line coach Pepper Johnson, a ten-year member of [...]