zipster9

Lloyd is not a vertical threat, and no more than a #2/#3 receiver.

Patriots must get a tall, vertical WR. Our DBs cannot jump-ball, and we are dead if we do not upgrade to a near-shutdown-tall-CB, and a tall, vertical WR. Offensively, that is.

Rob0729

The guy caught 74 balls this year. So do teams say "No need to cover him because he will just catch the ball and fall down anyway. Sure we will give up a first down, but it won't be a TD." Seriously, do you understand football?

Also, when have the Pats not been a methodical offense where they try to string together a drive of 8-10 plus plays to eat up clock and keep the opposing defense on the field?

Lastly, when did a possession receiver become a bad word? Cris Carter was a possession WR. Steve Largent was a possession WR. Wes Welker is a possession WR. Hines Ward was a possession WR. Wayne Chrebet was a possession WR. Seriously, when did being a possession WR mean you can't be a starter?

jbb9s

Vereen is probably a 3rd string RB, probably was 4th string until #3 got a PED suspension. Vereen is behind on the depth chart an UDFA div 2 off the street and a guy drafted lower than him the same age. And was behind a UDFA rookie earlier this year before said PED suspension and a different one last year (law firm).

I remember the bust Dave Thomas - Guy had like 180 yards in 3 yrs. In one game, against the worst defense in the league (JAX), with Graham and Watson out, he had about 90 yards at Brady's #1. Reminds me of the Houston game and Vereen. A bunch of chatter about "upside". Well as long as there are undrafted free agents RBs as good as the others BB has plucked out (Law firm, Woodhead, Bolden) I don't think Vereen is worth a dime more.

Rob0729

Half the time, Lloyd is diving for his catches. Brady most likely throws the ball that way because he knows Lloyd is able to make impossible diving catches which means he can throw it to an area where Lloyd can only catch. Most times it is a play beyond the first down marker. So Brady sacrifices the YAC to get the first down.

I don't get this logic that although Lloyd caught 50 1st down catches (which was the most on the Pats this year) that it is nothing because his YAC number was low. I mean it tells me that when Brady was looking to get a first down, he would look to Lloyd. Now it is a bad thing.

Sciz

So what you guys are saying is that you'd rather he have a 4 yard reception and 8 yards of YAC than a 12 yard reception?

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Rob0729

Who wouldn't? No style points in a 12 yard reception. It is all about the style points.

Rob0729

BTW, Lloyd had 12.3 YPC which is second only to Gronk in YPC of a Patriots receiver who has caught 10 or more balls this season. It was more than YAC guys like Hernandez and Welker.

Onedaful

Of course I do. I wasn't putting the blame just on Lloyd but I see Brady hitting Gronk, Hern, Vereen, Welker, and Ridley in stride at least consistently and almost all the time Lloyd is on the ground.

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They didn't back down from us and we didn't back down from them. That was a heck of a game. Anyone could have won it. We were lucky to win it so ill take the luck, im tired of the skill. -Ditka

Get it shawtaay

Its a lot easier to hit a guy in stride when he's five yards away and has a linebacker running after him. Lloyd's job is to catch the ball where a real good corner can't get to it. That's why he ends up on the ground more often than not.

convertedpatsfan

I still don't understand why people are obsessing over YAC so much, let alone Lloyd's.

First, Lloyd's YAC has historically been around this range. Apart from a 2-catch season where he averaged 7.5 YAC (obviously skewed), he's never averaged more than 3.4 YAC and if you exclude his two seasons where he barely played, 5 of 9 seasons have ended with less than an average of 3 YAC. Yet everyone seems soooooooooooo surprised by this.

That still doesn't get into the question of why we obsess over YAC. Maybe it's because we've got a few guys who are good at it, but think about what that means.

Welker averaged over 6 YAC compared to 2.6 for Lloyd, yet Lloyd's average catch was 12.3 yards vs. 11.5 for Welker.

So despite Welker's incredible YAC numbers, his average catch-and-run would still be less than Lloyd's catch-and-fall routine. Ditto Edelman and Hernandez, who had much better average YAC numbers but fewer yards per catch and total yards. The only Pats receiver who averaged more yards per catch than Lloyd was Gronk.

Obviously Welker had more total yards and caught a higher percentage of passes and averaged more yards per target. But to act as if Lloyd's lack of YAC makes him a crappy receiver is ridiculous.

YAC is one of the most over-rated and stupid stats and I'm tired of people obsessing over it. James Jones, who led the league in TDs this season, had less YAC than Lloyd. Percy Harvin was in the top 10 but averaged less than 11 yards per catch.

And while 8 of the top 10 YAC guys are receivers, 10 of the top 20 are running backs. And this is the metric you want to obsess over to evaluate receivers???