Xzibit23

I believe Moss under-utilized strategically last year, particularly in the latter half of the season. We all remember the 55 Yard TD against the Jets in week 1, but if you re-watch the first 5-6 weeks of the seaon, you'll notice the variety of the routes he ran and the presence he had in the short passing game, this was particularly obvious in Week 4 against the Bengals. But even in the other first half games a commion theme with Moss was passes of 15-20 Yards eventually leading to the big blow.

Where this all changed imo was after the Miami game with the 2 ridiculous bombs from Brady. Post-Miami, McDahniels became fascinated with the obviously unique ability of Moss to make 50 Yard deep balls with coverage legitimate plays to call. This, along with the emergence of Welker due to Moss stretching the field, basically resulted in Moss strictly as a go-route guy. There were some games toward the end of the season where literally the only balls thrown Moss is way would be on bombs with 3 guys draped over him, this was during the whole "Brady is forcing it to Moss" period. Then when the insane doubling/tripling of Moss was making those bombs less successful, he remained a go-route guy, but served a different purpose. He became a go-route guy who would be the decoy and let the other WRs beat them, which basically became his role for the majority of the playoffs. Initially this worked because teams like Jacksonville were still scared, played ultra conservative by only covering Moss andthey let Brady have a cup of tea while picking them apart with short passed. IMO, McDaniels, and by extension BB, got comfortable with Moss relatively being a luxury item, a break in case of emergency. That emergency happened in the 4th quarter of the SB, where FINALLY Moss was used on shorter routes and slants, and surprise, surprise, he got about 40 Yards and what was supposed to be the winning TD. Obviously that was a tad late, which leads us to how he will be used next year. It is important to do 3 things:

a)limit the number of plays he's in, which were a ridiculously high number last year

b)Use obviously the deep threat first, but when Welker site down he should be the first down guy. He has great hands and because of how far the DBs play off him, he's basically a guaranteed first down.

c)Find a deep threat who is actually a threat, whether its Chad Jackson or someone else. You need to have that person on the other side of the field to keep the defense honest. Or else you'll see secondaries flocking to Randys direction which was routine in the 2nd half of last year.

Now I know there are rumors that he doesnt like going over the middle because of getting hit. But a)I've never heard those rumors having any substance to them, b)no WRs like getting hit, and c)if Moss is the team player he was last year, he would be willing to accept the role change.

oldskool138

I don't know. Welker seemed to be pretty amped after being hit after a good gain...and he never really shied away from contact.

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Xzibit23

What Welker, and guys like Hines Ward, do is they initiate the contact, they initiate the hit. Now, even though it may seem like they do this because they enjoy hitting players, there's actually a smart reason behind it. By initiating contact, they completely put the DB or safety on the receiving end which, in turn, obviously leaves the WR less shaken up. If you're about to have contact with a defender and have no room to escape, better to initiate the contact rather than be on the receiving end of it, doesnt mean they wouldnt prefer to avoid contact altogether. In the case of Moss, he never incorporated that physical aspect into his game, mainly because he didnt have to with his speed but also because, with his body type, it would be incredibly stupid to try to be more physical than you have to. Actually, his technique of going down when there's no opening is really smart, which is why I get surprised when he gets criticized for it.

richpats

If our coaching staff was debating the use of our best offensive weapon then we deserved to lose the Super Bowl.

oldskool138

Did "we"?

10 char

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richpats

Yeah, "we" - I don't detach myself from the Pats even after disasters like SB42

oldskool138

No I wasn't busting on you because of that...

My question is "You didn't think the Pats deserved to lose the Super Bowl?'

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"You're all a bunch yahoos, hero worshipers and gutless suck-ups." - Tony Massarotti

Xzibit23

They did deserve to lose the superbowl and it was fairly obvious watching that game that the team was COMPLETELY outcoached, outschemed, and outeverything by Spagnuolo.

AndyJohnson

What would make you think they were debating how to use Moss? The inane ramblings above?

AndyJohnson

If all we can do is criticize how a WR who set an NFL TD record and caught just under 100 passes and 1500 yards, while winning 18 0f 19 games, we need new things to talk about.

next:
Should the Patriots bring in an option QB to split time with Brady.