

Good book on running an NFL team called The War Room


  1. mmillman

    mmillman Active Member

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    The War Room. It is about the building and maintaining of the Patriots. It includes lots of smart things New England did with management, coaching, player acquisitions, strategy etc.............

    What I liked is that it included some dumb things that New England did like drafting Chad Jackson and Laurence Maroney against the scouts advice. It gives you some insight as to the politics that go on in an organization. You can't help thinking how Dallas doesn't operate the way the New England organization does.

    Must read for an NFL fan. Reminded me of "Moneyball" for football.
  2. ufcrules1

    ufcrules1 Well-Known Member

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    Sounds really good.
  3. neosapien23

    neosapien23 Well-Known Member

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    Does it talk about getting lucky and finding one of the greatest QBs ever in the 6th round? Its not like the Patriots drafted Brady in the 3rd or 4th round and took a chance, they got lucky. Their drafting especially as of late as been nothing special, Brady is one of the best ever.
  4. rags747

    rags747 Active Member

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    Read it, thought it was a good book, but not great book.
  5. Hoods

    Hoods Member

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    What chapter is Spygate?
  6. danielofthesaints

    danielofthesaints Well-Known Member

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    I say we got pretty lucky not even drafting Romo. They just know how to provide the pieces for Brady to work with. We do not.
  7. Yakuza Rich

    Yakuza Rich Well-Known Member

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    Funny, one second you read people bashing the Patriots drafting. The next they are geniuses again.

  8. mmillman

    mmillman Active Member

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    A whole chapter on spygate. Talks about the patriots handling of players and coaches. Talks about the cap and the Pats jettisoning older players. Talks about the draft day dealings.

    Lots of interesting insider stuff. I finished it and more than ever realized Jerruh is the problem
  9. jnday

    jnday Well-Known Member

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    Should a copy be sent to the GM and FO people in Dallas? I know they need it, but is it written with small words so that they can read it?
  10. jnday

    jnday Well-Known Member

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    There is bashing when people trying to defend the Cowboys' drafts, but other than that, the Pats are the best run organization in the NFL. They have been on top for several years now.
  11. burmafrd

    burmafrd Well-Known Member

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    On top? Show me the rings they have in the last 8 years.
  12. jnday

    jnday Well-Known Member

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    They have been in a position where they could compete for a Super Bowl appearance every year. They are a playoff team every year. I would say that is as good as it gets with league parity.
  13. neosapien23

    neosapien23 Well-Known Member

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    What are you smoking? If you take their past 5 drafts and compare to Dallas's past 5, they are about the same. The difference is the QB play. Brady is one of the best ever, the same will never be said of Romo. Romo is a good player but Brady is arguably the best ever. Also how many superbowls have the patriots won since they have been unable to cheat.
  14. koolaid

    koolaid Drink Me

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    The Patriots have come very close to winning 5 superbowls in the modern era. They came 1 win away from playing for a SB this season. If some of you guys think we don't have anything to learn from them I would strongly disagree.
  15. Galian Beast

    Galian Beast Well-Known Member

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    There is no emulating the Patriots without winning the 3 super bowls, in which I think they were able to do because they cheated.

    Any ill gotten gains from cheating can't simply be emulated by trying to mirror their management system.

    I've said it before the value of your organization goes up when you win 1 super bowl, let alone 3.

    This allows you to trade players at much higher value than their market value.

    This allows you to manage your cap by not retaining high priced veterans, but instead by rebuilding your team through the draft with these high valued draft picks obtained through trades.

    This also allows you to trade down and get multiple picks in early rounds and spread the value across your team.

    All of this originates from the value achieved through trading, which was achieved through winning, which was achieved through cheating.
  16. InmanRoshi

    InmanRoshi Zone Scribe

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    Should we emulate the Chiefs under Pioli, since he was one of the co-founders of the New England front office architecture?

    It's pretty easy to do, I don't know why Pioli couldn't recreate it in Kansas City....

    Step 1: Find a first ballot Hall of Fame QB in the 6th round.

    Every other step thereafter: Do some other stuff.

    I read War Room. It was a good light read, providing a little interesting behind the scenes bantor that takes place in a War Room or Front Office. It wasn't anything overly revealing and ground breaking, and tended to go towards the Michael Lewis tired tropes of "Genius mastermind bucking the establishment conventional wisdom" and giving Belichick too much of a tongue bath. I'm not a Belichick hater, but the gushing love fest where every move and decision is unbridled genius was too much.
  17. burmafrd

    burmafrd Well-Known Member

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    I would not. I would trade being close for 10 years with winning say 2 rings in those ten years and having two or three losing years or such in the mix.

    For 8 years now they get close but cannot get it done. Like the Atlanta Braves were- won division title after title but only won 1 World Series.
  18. Hoofbite

    Hoofbite Well-Known Member

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    I think that's a stretch. How long does this winning luster last for the Patriots? It's been 8 years since their last SB and they traded Seymour a full 4 seasons after that last SB as well.

    Saying they get better picks because they win is basically saying the rest of the league is stupid, in which case the Patriots have a clear mental advantage over everyone else.

    Their returns don't explain why crappy teams also get good returns on traded players. Lions sure weren't winning before the Roy Williams trade and Jared Allen commanded a hefty price for a pretty lousy KC team. Their returns also don't explain why other teams who are recently very good don't get the same returns. Steelers got what for Santonio? They get the returns that they do because they are willing to make those moves. Other teams are not.

    Their winning doesn't explain how they get good bargains on the other end when acquiring players via a trade. Welker and Moss were pretty cheap and they snagged Talib on the cheap as well this season. Given that you can count on them picking late in the draft, their picks are likely viewed as less valuable than a pick from a team who could be good or bad. I guess when you win a SB, your entire roster gets a 10X multiplier for value and even when you trade for other team's players, you still get a hell of a deal.

    But even if we assume they do get some sort of boost through voodoo mind control or whatever, they still have to pick the players and they've done a good enough job at that to remain competitive.

    They're always picking late and frequently trade back and thus take on greater risk by waiting for the talent pool to dwindle before picking.......yet they're practically a lock for the playoffs every single year and the one time in recent history that they didn't make it was one of the ridiculously small percentage of the time when 11 wins isn't good enough.

    If you want to say that somehow picking in the last few picks in the draft is an advantage for the Patriots, have at it. I'm sure most people would disagree with that. Winning 1, 2 or even 3 SBs doesn't set a team up for eternity. Hell, it only took Dallas a few short years after their run to fall into salary cap hell and find themselves in a position with zero talent on the roster.

    They won those games while cheating no doubt, that doesn't explain why they are still good today. They're a well run team, simple as that.
  19. koolaid

    koolaid Drink Me

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    All I was saying was that one of the most successful sports teams of the last decade does some things well, and that we could use some of those strategies to become a more competitive franchise. They are a successful business and it seems a pretty common thing for businesses to learn from each other or copy each other. I haven't read the book so I cant comment on it.
    Personally, I think their success has a lot more to it than just Tom Brady
  20. yimyammer

    yimyammer Well-Known Member

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    no kidding, its remarkable how dismissive some folks are, I guess that makes it easier to deal with what you have (or don't have)

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