by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 8, 2009
I don’t know about you, but I was hoping to learn something today about why Richard Seymour is dragging his feet on joining the Raiders.
I mean besides the obvious.
It’s about sixty hours since he was traded by the Patriots and Seymour has not reported to Oakland; kind of an important detail when it comes to making everything nice and official-like. The Pats just cut the cord on one of the best defensive linemen they ever had – it would be nice if they, in fact, ended up with the first-round pick they swapped him for.
As posited last night, it’s not surprising that Seymour might be put out at the imposition. It’s eight days before the opener, and he’s been sent to a team that has lost ten or more games six seasons in a row. Pardon me if I’m not knocking people out of the way to get to the door in that situation.
Yet once Peter King blabbed in his inimitable style that Seymour was “angry” at the trade, there was no end to the theorizing as to what the delay really means. Pro Football Talk ramped it up Branch Davidian-style, as only it can do, and everyone followed suit. One fringe scenario had the deal undone in favor of second swap of the five-time pro bowler to Scott Pioli and the Chiefs for the familiar refrain of the second round pick.
Then Tom Cable, the latest offensive line coach to be made head man of the Raiders, added to the drama when he said “there are some issues between him and the Patriots,” and the Patriots responded by saying Tom, we don’t know what in fuck you’re talking about.
And that was just Monday. I figured today would be hoppin’, and we’d know whether we ought to be worrying about that future pick.
But I got nothing. No-thing.
I know Mike Reiss needed a personal day today, but what’s going on with the rest of you guys? Seymour is allegedly still in New England, and I don’t recall Eugene Parker being a shrinking violet. You don’t even mention calling them. No “league sources”, no “sources close to Seymour”? Nobody on the coast that could shed any light? No, we get nothing all day, save for a boston.com caveat to the Belichick-Caserio-Pees conference call, and one big shrug from Ian “Nobody called” Rapoport. I loved this line:
If you hoped today to find out the latest on Richard Seymour, including the answers to such questions as why the Patriots traded for him and whether the defense is better… well, you’re simply not going to.
Oh, okay, Ian. “Hey, I listened to the conference call – they weren’t giving up anything.” Remind me – I’m checking your blog, why? And notice Ian doesn’t seem too interested in what might be holding up Seymour (the most important angle of the story for his audience) – he’s much more interested in getting blindingly obvious answers to why they traded “for” him and if they’re a better defense because of it. Ian, that I already know – what I don’t know is what its going to take to get Seymour in Oakland and this draft pick in the Pats’ bank.
Even with the failing economy they have enough resources to tell us Kyle Eckel was a lousy student, or that you can see Bed Bath and Beyond from the new hotel. They have enough resources to weave fantastic tales of espionage and ill-gotten goods from whole cloth.
But they can’t work up as much as a single blog post on what kind of “issues” are really bothering Richard Seymour, who evidently, is still right under their noses.
I had to hear from the Oakland guy (see link in third paragraph) a little detail and some acknowledgement on Seymour’s part (through a person close to him) that he doesn’t have a lot of leverage at this point.
A person close to Seymour said that the five-time Pro Bowl selection was caught off guard by the news he had been traded to the Raiders and needed time to sort out his emotions.
The person wasn’t certain if Seymour would accept the move but conceded that Seymour doesn’t have many attractive options.
Speaking of leverage, where’s Richard’s good friend Ron Borges, who likes to intimate that he has Seymour’s ear? Or is it the other way around? I suppose if Vince Wilfork walks out, Ron will be free to turn his attention back to Seymour.
Anyways, thanks for nothing today, boys. I’m just saying – next time the local media is beating its chest over some op/ed hatchet job or completely fabricated story, remember how utterly useless they were today.
E-mail Scott Benson at scott@patriotsdaily.com
Patriots Daily 
Thanks Scott – enjoyable as always.
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Nice work.
Boy, you should have seen the late edition of the Felger & Tanguay show last night. Uggh. Things are bad when Tanguay has to defend Belichick’s record. Good grief. Felger, the man who blasted Seymour for 3 yrs running, is the same guy acting as if the team will crumble without #93. Shaughnessy naturally thinks anyone in favor of the deal is a sycophant fanboy with unfettering allegiance to BB. The normally constrained Tom Curran had visions of Seymour showing up to the Patriots facility like George Costanza when fired he was fired. Wow.
Then the coup de’ tat: They show a graphic detailing the Pats draft picks the last few years that have not worked out. (Jackson, Thomas, et al) Before I could react, my friend in town from DC took the words right out of my mouth… “they are talking about a coach and a team that has the best record for the last decade and came within an inch of being the G.O.A.T. the year before last? Oh, and last year, they won 11games with Matt ‘freaking’ Cassel. That team and coach???”
Our media is an embarrassment.
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I saw the show last night and I wanted to jump through the TV and punch Felger. He really has become Mr. Negative–probably just to get a rise out of people like me. But at some point, you lose all credibility when being Mr. Negative is all you can do. What really killed me is that Felger, like Shank, referred to “all” Pats fans as sychophantic Belichick Kool-Aid drinkers who “think he’s perfect.” Then, when Tanguay pointed out the GOOD moves that BB and the team have made in the last few years, and said, “overall, the track record is still good for the most part,” Felger snorted, “yeah, for the most part but not ALL the time.”
So, OK…let me get this straight.
Felger rips Pats fans for “thinking Belichick is perfect,” and then himself criticizes Belichick for NOT being perfect with every move by saying he’s been good “for the most part but not ALL the time!”
What a donkey.
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Yes!
Felger, please tell me which other team picks up Cassel after last preseason and wins 11 games with him as the starter…. any team…. waiting….
all those draft misses….
especially Cassel, Welker, Moss, Brady, Mankins…
It is just killing him that the Pats are awesome and Belicheck won’t give him or his ludicrous opinions the time of day.
No one is good all the time. Like poker, not every outcome is certain. But if you consistently get your chips in with the best hand, you will consistently win like the Pats. Occasionally you are going to get a bad beat and things won’t work out (Alex Smith, etc) but on average, with a sound strategy, you may end up being the winningest team of the decade.
What other coach has the trust of ownership and the nads to trade for a pick two years in the future? Brilliant.
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Further, all the Felger blather about how “that [Raiders] pick in 2011 won’t even be worth anything because any good college players are entering the NFL next year because it’s uncapped ….”
and then conveniently omitting the fact that Belicheck has traded for three 2nd rounders in next year’s draft … so he is essentially getting the 2011 1st rounders for 2nd round coin a year early. You can’t have it both ways you big blowhard!
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I heard Rappaport on the FM station last week and believe he was going for a Guinness Book of World Record entry on the most times a reporter said “umm” and “you know” on the air. Not sure if he got it but I’m sure he’ll aim higher next time.
And who kept asking Belichick/Caserio/Pees on Seymour after they first said they weren’t going to answer any questions on the subject?
Sounds like we’ve got a new breed of young, lazy, stupid writers in town. Seriously if it weren’t for Reiss (and sometimes Gasper) this town would be known the the cesspool of sports journalism.
And Felger is still alive? That’s comforting.
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Nice rant, well struck sir!
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