chasa

Brady will be better once welker is gone.

He has a lot of tools around him, but seems overly reliant on Welker. Take welker out of the game and brady gets shut down. This never happened so visually prior to welker with that whole "Brady's favorite receiver is the open man" mentality.

Once welker is gone Brady will be forced to make the young receivers better via working together more, and see more game day targets.

Deus Irae

Which young target has been wasted because Brady didn't throw him the ball? It certainly wasn't Brandon Tate:


Brandon Tate 2009-2010 Patriots - 24 receptions
Brandon Tate 2011-2012 Bengals - 13 receptions

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

BrickPat

Brady has shown that his favorite receiver is the open one... even with the arrival of Welker. I can't recall many games where Brady tried to force it into Welker while other receivers were more open.

If Brady is overly reliant on Welker it was likely because he was the most reliable when it came to getting open. IIRC Welker was #1 in YAC last season. If the Pats' entire offense was stymied from Welker being shut down it may have been because the rest of the offense could not pick up the slack. The underperformance of the other receivers in getting seperation/open should not be held against Welker. Also Welker is not like Moss with demands for touches...while he undoubtedly wants to be involved he does not strike me as a selfish player in that regard.

Ivan

But but but look at his catches, but but but look at him leading the league in yards after the catch, but but but look at him leading the league in first downs......year after year after year. And morons like jerry Rice think he's great and they should pay him.

But but but you are right, they could have had Mike Williams and they cut Chad Jackson, they should have listened to you and drafted Antoine Walker.

Ivan

That must be why Brady's best years and the Patriots best offenses ever have been with him. And rhat must be why they have had 2 of the best 3 offensive performances in NFL history with Welker, because they will be better without him.

The Oklahoma Thunder would be so much better without Kevin Durant...........

Ivan

If you go by the numbers 8 years and 125 million. And that's just the facts.

Deus Irae

It's completely different.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

Ivan

Vincent Jackson had a great season but still didn't have as many first downs or yards after the catch as Welker. They are different types of receiver with different roles but I'm sure the Patriots could sign Welker to the same deal Jackson got even though he was much more productive than Jackson the past 3 years.

MoLewisrocks

I guess if you could target players who aren't actually on the field including those on IR you might do OK without a guy like Welker who basically always is... As a matter of fact I think they tested that theory once back in the playoffs in 2010 against Baltimore. Didn't work.

Ivan

Actually carries and receptions are very different, a receiver has to get open to get receptions whereas a RB only has to take the hand-off. trying to replace Welker with a JAG is the stupidest idea ever floated on this board other than getting rid of Brady, which some of the geniuses here have suggested in the past.