Thoughts on the trade
1. You can not compare what we paid for Branch to what we got for Moss, the situations were different. Moss was going to be traded regardless of the value, he needed to go. Bill Simmons even stated that if they couldn't trade him they were going to release him. Given that knowledge a 3rd is pretty good value. Seattle needed to be convinced to trade Branch, where we needed to convince someone to take Moss because he needed to go (according to Bill).
2. The argument for the Patriots going back to their Super Bowl offenses. It was effective. Those who counter with the 2007 season being the most effective need to look at 2008 and 2009. The 2007 offense was elite not just because of Moss but because they had 4 starting caliber receivers. Had the up top offense been best for the current Patriots they would have won more games in 2009 and gone deeper in the playoffs. What actually happened is teams began to figure out that specific players ran specific routes which stopped there offense.
3. Branch will not be as good as he used to be but he will be much better than he was in Seattle. The Patriots offense fits small shifty intelligent receivers more than any offense in the league. I can give examples if anyone wants them but they are numerous.
4. Look at the completion percentages for the Patriots this year.
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4684881/impressive-target-percentage-for-te. Moss is having a down year but even during 2007 he only caught 60% of the passes thrown his way (due in large part to the nature of the balls thrown his way). With a defense that is young and learning (at best) we need an offense that controls the ball and keeps the defense off the field. This probably won't be accomplished via our running game so we need to throw more higher percentage passes in order to keep the ball and the clock moving.
