Food for thought: pass attempts versus plays - New England Patriots Forums

***ctpatsfan77*** · 09-22-2007, 10:04 PM

FWIW, after two weeks, here are (per Mike Reiss) the number of plays in which each WR participated, and (per NFL.com) the number of times Tom tried to pass to them (I include penalties and incompletions):

Code:

                      Plays     Pass Attempts
Randy Moss             89            18
Wes Welker             61            18
Donte' Stallworth      48             8
Jabar Gaffney          43             3
Kelley Washington      16             0

At the moment, one could make an argument that Brady's favorite target (at least among the WRs) is actually Welker; when Welker is on the field, the ball comes his way nearly 30% of the time. It would also appear (from watching game tapes) that a significant percentage of the time, when he's not the target, he's being covered by one or more DBs--thus eating away at the coverage available for everyone else. [San Diego figured out the necessity of this, for example, after Welker pwned Tim Dobbins.]

5 Rings for Brady!! · 09-22-2007, 11:26 PM

It also shows that Dante is being looked to a good amount when he is in.

Brady is spreading the ball as even as butter on bread.

Good stuff. Some real football analysis. Haven't seen much of that lately!

Fencer · 09-23-2007, 08:46 PM

Makes sense.

When you need a certain limited number of yards, Welker is THE guy. And he's unique in that on the field.

Otherwise, it's whoever is open -- which evidently doesn't include Washington or Gaffney very often, today's TD notwithstanding.