Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Pat
Watson has as many physcal gifts as any TE in football. He also has a great heart, and plays hard every play. (See the Champ Int last year).
But I think it is apparent that he has a problem holding onto the ball. I think that is the reason why more plays do not go to him. For a TE, he has a lot of fumbles, and I think if they threw to him as much as people call for it would be crazy. He cant be trusted with that many touches right now. If he slowly starts gaining confidence and holding onto the ball, than you can start to increase his role.
Until he overcomes this problem, he will never reach the potential he is capable of. I hope someone can help him soon, cause he could be an all pro with his skill set, but if you fumble you should not be on the field, or at least not have that many opportunities, until you earn them.
|
I can't really offer a perspective on why he's fumbling - I wish he'd stop.
But I do think part of the problem is the amount of pressure Watson feels - both mentally in needing to carry the offense, and physically in that he's got defnsive players just about draped all over him since he and Caldwell are the main receiving threats. That doesn't go unnoticed by DCs.
The vast majority of long passes go to Caldwell, vast majority of midrange balls go to Watson and the vast majority of short passes are going to Faulk.
That alone is going to see them have more fumbles and drops than others who get the ball less often. But the fact that defenses can key on those three guys doesn't make it easier for any of them.
Having some others step up to become significant receiving threats would help all of these guys, and would force defenders to play off these guys a little bit more - that in turn could help avoid turnover situations.
Beyond that, Watson is on track to catch about 65 balls this season - which is exactly where I thought he'd be - and that was with Graham and at least another WR taking some pressure off of him. So while none of us like the dropsies, Watson's been doing a pretty good job under some pretty tough circumstances.
So in that respect he's living up to EXACTLY the potential that many of us expected of him this season.
Actually, I predicted the 65 catches it looks like he's on track to get - but I was among the fans on predicting a higher amount.
http://208.109.107.176/new-england-p...=watson+passes
Most fans expectations was that he'd catch between 40 - 60 catches this season. So one might say he's exceeded the expectations of most.