DarrylS

I see this often, criticism of the strength training program and this is a possible source of all the injuries. Josh Miller said once that Mike Woicik gave him five more years in the NFL because of his approach. Perhaps, our injuries might be due to us playing well into January every year and our recovery time is less than for most teams. Jacksonville has been hit hard by the injury bug, and injuries are a part of the NFL.

One thing I did not know until yesterday is Mike Woicik has SIX SUPERBOWL RINGS, count them. He also has been named strength and conditioning coach of the NFL in 1992 and 2004, to blame this program is grossly unfair. Injuries happen, our players play long seasons and many of our starters play on special teams.. injuries are what they are, nothing more and nothing less a fact of the NFL.

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Box_O_Rocks

In support of your points on Woicik and the training program, I'd like to point out for those concerned with TE injuries - the Pats 250 lb TEs are wrestling with DEs that can go to 300 lbs and DTs that can go to 350 lbs, just like RBs get dinged up so much, the Pats TEs are wham-blocking guys like Henderson and Stroud. Fragility is relative in those circumstances.

Stinky: Yes, Graham got beat on one play by a fired up Paul Spicer, that's 6'4" 296 lb Paul Spicer as listed on the NFL.com roster page. If little bitty Matt Light can occasionally get beaten by Spicer and his brethren, I can accept that Graham isn't always going to win the leverage war.

I don't know why folks choose to accept Borges started rumors as gospel. Graham has never said he isn't interested in staying here as a Patriot - not where I've read it from a credible source. Graham was recently made a Captain by the other Captains who were looking to acknowledge his leadership in the locker room and on the field. I believe these are the kind of things team mates and Coaches do to show a guy his value to the club. I expect Graham to get a competitive offer and to consider it with a lot less prejudice than the Seattle skid did his offers. The Pats have a good shot at bringing Grahambo back and they will want to bring him back to keep the TE depth chart deep and talented.

Thomas started the season blocking as well as Watson and has exceeded him in that regard. Thomas appears to have the best hands of the three TEs (Mills will remain unclassified for now). I fully expect him to split reps with Graham and Watson, if you are a defensive coordinator, who do you key on? Watson is the fast one who can tear your defense apart, Graham is the surprise uppercut who slips through your defense and lands you on your butt, and Thomas is the possession receiver who is going to slip through your defense, get open, and magnetically attract the ball. McDaniels and Brady have some idea of how to use them, we just get to say YEH!

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Ichiro

I think this sums up our TE situation excellently.

Thomas shows wonderful fundamentals, I love how he catches the ball with his hands away from his body.

BTW, did anyone catch Sports Tonight on FSNE last Tuesday or Wednesday? Felger and Curran seemed to agree that Brady was calling out Ben Watson for "not listening to the coaches". I think that both Brady and the coaching staff expected Watson to be a little more polished as a receiver this year. It seems like he has not seperated himself from Thomas or Graham, something all of us expected. Now that Thomas is elevating his game, I wonder if Watson will step up to the challenge or lose confidence.

Fantasic4x50x54x59x55

haha yeah, my apologies for giving this fool the limelight for a second..

Go pats!

PatsFan37

I don't want to go all nuts over a guy who 'broke-out' for 3 catches any more than I want to go nuts over Mike Cloud after shredding the Titans.

Yes, the TD was one sweet catch and Thomas has been producing as a blocker all year, so I'm with the program. Get him playing time and work him into the offense just like they're doing. But one of the reasons Watson fumbles is he's asked to do a lot and he's often in pretty tight coverage when he makes catches. We don't yet know if that would happen to Thomas. We haven't seen him enough.

And Grahambo's great. He's still the one for doctoral seminars in TE blocking. For all the reasons they cut Gabriel, and so much more, they'll want to re-sign Graham.

I say the Pats keep all three. They allocate a certain amount of money to the position and I think they're easily budgeted for a moderately priced veteran, a 3-year vet still on his rookie contract, and a third-round rookie.

They raise TEs on the same schedule a young family raises children. And Belichick loves his TEs.

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VJCPatriot

5 catches for 83 yards and a TD. Not 3 catches.

Since draft day and training camp we've known that Thomas had some potential. He displayed outstanding hands yesterday and made some tough catches.

Thomas playing well is a GOOD thing. I don't think it's disturbing at all. I think it means that Tom Brady has another weapon that he can have some confidence in.

As for Watson. He's always shown the ability to seperate and get downfield. However I believe he needs to improve the reliability of his hands and routes.

Graham is what he is. A great blocker but not a great pass receiver. If anything the emergence of Thomas may mean that Graham's job is in trouble. The Pats are unlikely to pay him premium money with a successor waiting in the wings.

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pats63

I think other teams are going to have sleepest night with our top 3 TE.With makeing Grahm a captain means something....Thomas playing better every game,may free up for Waston to be the beast he is.....GO PATS!!!!!!!

Digger44

I find it totally ironic that you admit that your posts have noting to do with Pat football. I was commenting on your post. According to your quote, what you are saying has nothing to do with the Pats.

I address your posts because they are ludicrous and extreme. Can you just post something logical and balanced for once? Why is it that we need to replace all the LBs or Thomas is the HOFer. I certainly dont need limelight from you, because if your crap is limelight than this board is in serious trouble.

groundgame

How about Thomas sealing the left flank with his block allowing Maroney to glide untouched through the left side for a TD?

BelichickFan

Especially as we don't even know for sure if Watson will be back in two weeks.