QB

Tom Brady

(+) He still has the ultimate weapon to throw to in Randy Moss, still throws the best long-ball in the game, and is now two years removed from his knee surgery
(+) Welker is cutting in OTAs and looks like he could be good to start in Week 1
(+) Gisele only bangs him during the weeks after he has a 300-yard game
(+) New England has been a pass-heavy team the past 5 years and Bill Belichick loves to run up the score
(–) New England has been in the top-6 in rushing TDs each of the past 4 years
(–) The surgeries and infections following his 2008 injury will affect his knee for the rest of his career
(–) The Patriots look like a team on the downside of the bell-curve

RB

Laurence Maroney

(+) Maroney is the RB1 on a Patriots team that has been in the top-3 in rushing TDs over the past 5 years
(+) He finally seems to get it as he set career highs in carries and TDs last season
(+) Laurence is a former 1st-round pick who still feels he has something to prove
(–) Welker could still be out for a good amount of games in 2010 – Maroney had his worst games of the season when Welker was out in 2009
(–) The Patriots own one of the most crowded backfields in the NFL (Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, BenJarvis Green-Ellis)

Fred Taylor

(+) The RBBC committee that the Patriots employ should provide Fred Taylor some carries
(–) Fred has struggled to stay healthy his entire career and now he’s 34-years old with 2,491 carries (21st all-time) and 11,540 yards (15th all-time); he cannot be a workhorse 
(–) It’s very difficult to predict what Belichick will do with his RBBC, but you have to lean towards Maroney getting the biggest cut of carries
(–) This offense will live and die on Brady’s shoulder, and while there could be some nice Red Zone chances for an RB on this team, Taylor offers little in the pass game

Kevin Faulk

 (+) Faulk still remains the 3rd-down back on a team that passes the ball well and often
 (+) Makes the most of every play and is one of coach Belichick’s favorites
 (+) Has great hands out of the backfield, runs the draw and screen plays well, and is a good blocker despite his diminutive size (5’8”, 202 lbs)
 (+) He has a decent amount of value in PPR leagues
 (–) Will never take on more of a role than as a change-of-pace back
 (–) Has never been much of a touchdown guy in his career (31 TDs in 11 years)
 (–) At 34-years old, he could be on his last legs

Sammy Morris

WR

Randy Moss

(+) Moss has double-digit TDs in 9 of his 12 years in the league
(+) Put up 1,000+ yards in every year he played 16 games (which is 10 out of 12 years)
(+) Even at 33 years old, he still has better skills than 99% of WRs in the league
(+) Contract year baby!
(+) Tom Brady throws the best long-ball in the NFL
(–) Wes Welker’s injury
(–) Plays against Darrelle Revis twice a year, plus he’s prone to taking the occasional game off

Wes Welker

(+) Welker missed 3 games and still had 123 catches and 1,348 yards on the season
(+) Tom Brady may sleep with Gisele on most nights, but he sleeps with Welker on Sundays
(+) Each year, Welker is an undersized underdog that continually feels the need to prove his critics wrong – 2010 will certainly be no exception
(+) If there’s a PPR Hall-of-Fame, Wes would be the first inductee
(–) In the past three years, he has 347 catches (most in the NFL), yet only 15 touchdowns
(–) Welker is coming back from offseason ACL/MCL surgery along with lingering shoulder problems
(–) Due to his competitive nature, he may come back before he’s fully healed

Julian Edelman

(+) The Wes Welker injury could limit him more than most think, and Edelman is a clear plug-in for a lot of targets if that should come true
(+) When Welker was out last year (4 games, including playoffs), Edelman caught 27 balls and 2 TDs
(+) Brady should be back to his old tricks feeling more confident with his rebuilt knee, and if he looks anything like he did in ’07, we all know there will be plenty of lovin’ to go around in this offense
(–) We haven’t really seen what a team can do defensively against Edelman if they try to game-plan for him
(–) New England has a pretty lousy pass schedule this year coming in at 23rd
(–) If Welker is able to come back and make an impact, Edelman’s targets will be down a ton

TE

Alge Crumpler

Rob Gronkowski

Aaron Hernandez

-  The Patriots came off a 2008 season in which Tom Brady was seriously injured and the team finished
       11-5 but missed the playoffs under back-up Matt Cassel
-  As the Patriots began the 2009 season they looked for Brady to rebound and return to the form he has
       in 2007 when the team went undefeated in the regular season
-  The Patriots finished the 2009 season 10-6 and returned to the playoffs but lost in the first round to the
       Baltimore Ravens
-  The Patriots scored 427 points while allowing 285 points against

2009 Total Points Rank:           6th (125 tot pts)
2009 Average/Game Rank:     8th (7.8 pts/gm)

FR=Fumbles Recoverd, PA=Points Allowed, FP Rank=Fantasy Points Rank, FP/G=Fantasy Points per Game

2010 Patriot Defensive Outlook...

Not much unlike many other years in recent history, NE played some mean defense last year.  They ranked 5^th overall in points allowed and put up 28 total Turnovers to put them tied for 13^th in the league.  They have been building their foundation the past couple years by loading up on draft picks and they should start to see some benefits soon, we’re just not sure that soon is now.  The star of this defense is two time Pro Bowler NT Vince Wilfork.  He is whole tub of fun to watch on Sunday’s and we’re super hot on the New England rush defense this season, #1 overall.  It’s always nice to have a good, well coached, cold weather Team Defense come Fantasy Playoff time, so we generally like NE.  The numbers may not support it, but we’re willing to give NE a run this year.

-  Jerod Mayo led the team with 103 tackles, Gary Guyton had 85
-  The Patriots had 31 sacks last season
-  Leading sacker was Tully Bunta-Cain with 9.5
-  How can the Patriots increase their pass rush to get their defense back on top
-  Brandon Meriweather and Leigh Bodden led the team with 5 INTs each
-  Team forced 18 fumbles
-  Team forced a total of 36 turnovers

Team PYRO is hyper about Offensive Lines!  Understanding who will be blocking for the players on your roster is vital to your teams Fantasy success.  We take many factors into account when we rank these units, including weight, height, starts together as a unit, starts per year played, rushing average, sacks allowed, draft position, contact situation, pro bowl/all pro honors, Adjusted Line Yardage (ALY) and Adjusted Sack Rate (stats found at the link below).  O-Line Rank is one more piece of the puzzle that directs us towards delivering you a Fantasy Football Championship. 

Here is another great resource for looking at O-Lines…    http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol 

The fantasy lifeblood of the players sitting on your roster boils down to one EXTREMELY important stat.  Drum Roll please……………………………  ATTEMPTS!!!!  Ahhhh, there, we said it.  Before you can make a play, you gotta have the pill in your hands.  It’s pretty simple really, in the immortal words of the maligned Keyshawn Johnson… “Just give me the damn ball”.  There is no “I” in the word “team”, but don’t fool yourself, it’s in the word rotisserie twice. 

For the QB, it’s Pass Attempts, for the RB, it’s Carries, and for the WR and TE, it’s Targets.  If you look at the players in the league who are amassing large quantities of points, they are the ones who are seeing the rock come their way the most often.  Sure, you have to be good enough to do something with the p-skin when you get it, but never forget, you can’t make a play until you have the pill in your hands. 

The PYRO Offensive scheme charts aim to deliver you perhaps the most important information you could attain before and after draft day; Will my player get the chances they need to put out or will they be shut out?  It really boils down to what the offensive game plan on Sunday is.  These charts should provide some perspective on which teams are going to live by land and which are going to live by air. 

By Air

-  Tom Brady returned to form as a top five QB in the league. Expect him to look even better coming
      off another offseason to get his knee healthier
-  The Patriots finished last season ranking 3rd in the league with 4,436 passing yards
-  Randy Moss and Wes Welker are a dynamic group when both are healthy, and Welker might be out
      for a significant part of the season
-  Torry Holt was signed to add depth to the WR corps he will join Julian Edelman
-  The TE position will have a lot of turnover with Alge Crumpler, and rookies Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski

By Land

-  The Patriots ranked 12th in the league with 1,921 yards on the ground
-  The Patriots have a stable of veteran running backs who are all able to be the workhorse on any given day
-  Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, and Fred Taylor will all share the reps at the RB position.
-  Kevin Faulk will also be Brady’s guy in third down situations

RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number you see is Red Zone Touches (a pass attempt, a carry, or a target inside the 20 yard line).  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

% of Teams RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number is the players percentage of touches cut out against the total number of the Teams Red Zone plays called.  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.  So, if Thomas Jones received a touch in 45 percent of the Jets Red Zone calls last year, and Knowshon Moreno received a touch in 38 percent of all the Broncos plays last year, Jones would be ranked higher at his position than Moreno would be.

RZ TD Success Rate (Position Rank) = The first number is the percentage of which an individual player was able to score a TD against his total number of touches.   The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

Why Should I look at this Chart?

We couldn’t possibly take up a whole minute of your valuable fantasy football research time babbling about the importance of Attempts for your team and then leave out Red Zone Tendencies.

Yep, same drill with these charts, only a lot more important if scoring TD’s is what you’re leagues about.  The PYRO Red Zone Tendencies chart delivers a touchdown focused microcosm of the Offensive Scheme section.

To score a TD, your player needs a touch (pass att, carry, or target), and when they get a touch inside the 20, great things can happen for your Fantasy teams total points line.

It’s really easy, touches are King and converting a touch in the red is Fantasy Gold.

PYRO 2010 Patriot Leaders in the Red Zone...

1. Laurence Maroney
2. Randy Moss
3. Sammy Morris
4. Wes Welker
5. Kevin Faulk

Grade* = Team PYRO took this number directly from NFL.COM - not a number devised here by us, you know, your friends who don’t sleep?  In other words, proceed with caution knowing the source, but we thought it was at least a worthy effort and could help you gauge just how solid the teams draft was.  We hope it helps, we think it will. 

Draft Bits... 

If New England hadn’t grabbed two Tight Ends, we would be fast tracking either of these picks.  The early word is that both players look impressive, Gronkowski as a spread the field guy and Hernandez as a Red Zone guy.  Watch how this battle plays out, but remember that Belichick will likely get both of these guys on the field just enough to equal each other out.  Taylor Price finds himself in a very crowded WR corps and is projected as the 5^th guy.  That’s not good for those of us keeping track.

Team PYRO considers our Strength of Schedule data an essential part of building you a Fantasy Championship.  This data is integral in helping us rank our players each year.  So far, so good.  We go to GREAT lengths to deliver you this PYRO nugget and we know nobody else in the industry is putting forth this type of effort, which puts you at a great advantage if you have been using us as your fantasy football research outlet.  Our SoS considers three factors when determining rankings for schedules for the upcoming year:

1) 75% weight is applied to the strength of defense from the previous season.  This is determine by fantasy points given up (run and pass).  Easy right? Here's where Team Pyro goes deep: before we get to that number, we factor in the quality of teams that these defenses had to face (essentially, a strength-of-schedule for the prior season).

 
2) 20% weight is applied to Free-Agent, Trade, and Injury Returns that will help or hurt the team for the current year.  We rank each players impact to their former team (2008), sum it all up, and then rank each team accordingly.

3) 5% weight is applied to the NFL drafincoming rookie impact.  It's a challenge to successfully gauge a rookie's effectiveness (too many Jamarcus Russells out there) which is why we valued it so low.  Some teams not only drafted highly touted defensemen this year, but will be immediately filling deficient positions from '09 with rookies, and usually, anything is an upgrade when you are starting a rookie.

Chart Key =

Ranking:  1=easiest  32=toughest

QB's, WR's, and TE's

(INDY) Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark have the EASIEST passing schedule in 2010

(BALT) Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, and Todd Heap have the HARDEST passing schedule in 2010

RB's

(SF) Frank Gore has the EASIEST rushing schedule in 2010

(MIA) Ronnie Brown has the HARDEST rushing schedule in 2010

June 8, 2010

Signed TE Aaron Hernandez.

June 4, 2010

Signed OL Thomas Welch.

May 25, 2010

Signed WR Taylor Price.

May 18, 2010

Released CB Shawn Springs.

May 3, 2010

Signed WR Buddy Farnham.

April 29, 2010

Signed WR Bryan Anderson, S Sergio Brown, DE Dane Fletcher, CB Terrence Johnson, DL Kyle Love, RB Pat Paschall, S Ross Ventrone and OL John Wise.

April 27, 2010

Released LB Adalius Thomas.

April 21, 2010

Signed DL Amon Gordon.

April 20, 2010

Signed WR Torry Holt.

March 12, 2010

Re-signed CB Leigh Bodden. Signed LB Marques Murrell.

March 10, 2010

Agreed to terms with RB Kevin Faulk.

March 9, 2010

Re-signed CB Leigh Bodden to a four-year contract and OL Stephen Neal.

March 6, 2010

Agreed to terms with DL Vince Wilfork.

March 5, 2010

Re-signed LB Tully Banta-Cain to a three-year contract.

March 4, 2010

Released TE Chris Baker.

February 24, 2010

Re-signed WR David Patten.

February 23, 2010

Declared NT Vince Wilfork their franchise player.