The Patriots have been busily remaking the roster in the days since the lockout ended and about a month before the regular-season opener on September 12 against the Dolphins in Miami.
Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth, outspoken and disgruntled with their previous teams, are the biggest names now in New England. And if history is any guide, head coach Bill Belichick will get the most out of them or cut them without a second thought. And the man has some experience with fickle, uber-talented players -- look no further than Corey Dillon and Randy Moss for proof.
While we expect Ochocinco to toe the line (he said he's been a "chameleon" his entire career and he'll just blend in with the Pats -- plus, after 10 years in Cincy, he's probably thankful for a chance to play for a stable organization), Haynesworth might be more mercurial. But no more so than Moss when he arrived in Foxboro and promptly caught 23 TDs in 2007 during New England's 18-1 season.
Put differently: we fully expect both players to have bounce-back seasons and for the media to continue their "Belichick is s genius!" memes.
Sports Illustrated's Peter King's training camp reports make us even more certain of this eventuality. Via King's Monday Morning Quarterback column:
"One source in Washington had said this about Haynesworth: 'You watch. He'll practice hard for Belichick, and he'll play great for him. I don't know where else he'd do that.'"
Related: the Pats also signed defensive ends Shaun Ellis, formerly of the Jets, and Andre Carter, who spent the previous five seasons with the Redskins. The moves give more credence to the speculation that New England could be moving to more 4-3 defensive looks. Although Belichick has called such talk a "media fabrication," and Yahoo.com's Doug Farrar writes Monday that the 4-3 discussion "is a bit simplistic."
Farrar continues: "As Belichick points out, he was using Lawrence Taylor as a moving chess piece to alternate between 3- and 4-man fronts 30 years ago, and he's still finding new ways to use hybrid fronts. When you hear about a team moving from this defense to that, it's generally a bit more complicated."
Whatever happens, and in whatever formation the Patriots accomplish is, this much is certain: expect double-digit wins and a playoff appearance. New England has won at least 10 games in nine of the last 10 seasons (three times winning 14 and once winning 12), and made the playoffs eight times over that period. Oh, and they have three Lombardi Trophies.
So, yeah, the faces change, but as long as two remain -- Belichick and Tom Brady -- so too do the results.
