sarge

What can the Pats really do at this point?

It is of course to early to tell. I know this. But I saw nothing out there from this receiving core (the receivers, the tight ends and backs looked good).

Reche's drop in the endzone was just that. A drop. Don't give me any crap about it wasn't a perfect pass. Brady hit him right in the hands. Did he split the 8 and 7 on his jersey? No. But he hit him right in the hands. And Caldwell dropped it. Very Todd Pinkstonesque of him. Looked like he washearing footsteps.

I saw nothing else.

Even if they somehow get Branch in this season, which I do not believe will happen till week 10 in the regular season, their receiving core will not be as good as last season.

Fortunately the running game will be good. But teams are gonna key on that.

What options are out there???

We can only hope that Jackson somehow makes it on the field and does something that virtually no rookie receivers, to say nothing of rookie receivers who miss significant camp time, ever do. And that is become productive in there first season.

And Possibly Caldwell just had a bad case of nerves and will prove that that drop was the exception and not the rule.

PromisedLand

I am not going to condemn Reche based on one drop but he needs to catch that at least 80% of the time. I still have hopes Jackson will make a major contribution this year, and hopefully Branch will come to his senses and realize he has nothing to gain by continuing his holdout. If we have all three of them (assuming Jackson is as good as he might be) along with Troy I think we will have a very decent group of receivers.

If on the other hand Reche is the #1 and Troy is the #2 we are in trouble. We had 3 (THREE!) receptions by WR's tonight, and only one by someone anyone ever heard of.

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maroneysgrill

Why isn't Jackson playing?

Plus, I thought Branch did poorly last year without David Givens. That is why I thin kthe Patriots don't want to pay him big bucks. He isn't a TO/Moss/Harrison type receiver who steps on the field and can beat double coverage. Branch is good when he has someone else on the field who can take pressure off of him.

I think Jackson needs to be great in order for the WRs to click.

BelichickFan

When DickBreath (hey, don't blame me they're his initials) comes back and Jackson's hammy heals, things will look way better.

Kdo5

Panic button, where the heck is it. He dropped a pass big deal, its the pre season, he has had a great camp no need to start bashing him over one drop. God forbid a drop in the pre season.

patpatriot

I'd try to get M Williams or Rodgers from Detroit for a conditional day 1 pick. Both of them are 3rd stringers at the moment. Either of them might blossom in a new system with a real QB (if they are not hopeless chuckleheads that is).

BelichickFan

I mentioned these guys on another thread - imagine Branch in Detroit on turf for Martz.

Branch for Mike Williams and Charles Rogers - I'd take a shot at that and Detroit would have Roy Williams, Branch and Bradford as their top three.

patsox23

what I think we should do about the WR situation:

STOP PANICKING.

BE PATIENT.

BREATHE.

mcdonut16

The book on Caldwell is that he lacks toughness over the middle, frequently alligator arming catches, and hearing footsteps.

He needed to make that TD catch last night as it hit his hands. You could tell he lost concentration on the ball and did not make a 100% effort to aggresively go after the ball and extend his arms.

He came to the Patriots with this reputation and did nothing but solidify this reputation last night. I think he can be effective working the deep routes and running routes outside, but you just can't count on this guy to make catches in traffic.

Life without Deion Branch will not be good.

JoeSixPat

That's been my concern since day one, even though there were plenty who felt we were set with Reche at #2 and absolutely shouldn't waste a high draft pick on a WR

But I REALLY want to be wrong.

I think I'll chalk this up to everyone being rusty in the first game and hope that your assessment - while insightful - is in correct.

I know everyone's going to probably say that Watson is now a WR - especially with a 44 yd reception (which I did not see - was it yards after the catch or an actual deep route?)

#1 I really hope we DON'T need Watson as a WR. If he's playing WR that's bad because it means that injury or incompetence have forced the issue.

#2 I still question how many times you can go to the well to expect a 250lb guy to beat speedy CBs throughout the course of a game.

If Mills - who far too many wrote off as a FB - Thomas and Graham can all man the TE rotation that would give Watson the flexibility to go longer more often - which is a strategy that SHOULD be used even if we have a full WR corps - but counting on Watson to be a consistent deep threat throughout the game is not something that is a Plan A - and not something I'm convinced such a big guy can do consistently anyways.

I could be wrong - maybe the speed we saw against Champ Bailey last year is something that Watson can repeatedly and consistently draw upon - but my feeling is that Watson is a TE - not a WR - he just happens to be a TE with a higher speed reserve than most.

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