Peter King has the understatement of the month

[ctpatsfan77]

Probably not the year, though.

From today's MMQB (emphases in red mine):

I don't know how Wes Welker did what he did in Seattle. I mean this in a very positive way: In a business with a lot of interesting physical specimens, Welker is a freak of nature. Welker took the hit of a career last week against Pittsburgh across the middle, getting blown up by safety Ryan Clark on a vicious, but clean, hit. I wondered all week how Welker would respond. Would he miss any time? Call in sick? Beg his mother not to make him ever go out there again?

So he went to Seattle, caught 12 balls for 134 yards, added a two-point conversion catch on the decisive touchdown, and helped the Patriots come back to beat Seattle 24-21. Playing without Tom Brady, Welker has become Matt Cassel's ultimate security blanket and threatens to lead the NFL in receptions for the second-straight year. With 96 catches, he's four ahead of Houston's Andre Johnson with three games to play. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, who coached Welker in college. "He's indestructible,'' Leach said. Couldn't have said it better. I hope the Patriots realize Welker's incredible value.

No, Peter, they just decided to randomly gamble $18M/5 yr and a second.

 

[Lansdowne]

Wes Welker is, pound for pound, one of the toughest SOB's in the league. Only Peter King would be surprised with how Welker responded yesterday.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

AFC (Three to qualify: One AFC East champion, two wild cards)
Indianapolis: 9-4 overall (8-2 in AFC)
Baltimore: 9-4 (7-3)
N.Y. Jets: 8-5 (6-4)
Miami: 8-5 (6-4)
New England: 8-5 (6-4)




He had the Pats conference record wrong unless they moved either SD, Indy,Pitt, miami or NYJ when I wasn't paying attention...

 

[BelichickFan]

No, Peter, they just decided to randomly gamble $18M/5 yr and a second.

He's significantly underpaid with that contract. Not sure what he'll have left at the end of the five years with the pounding he takes.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

w3 has worked out better than even those of us who were excited about his arrival here could have hoped. Boomer said today that the guy is All-Pro but won't get it cause he's not 6'4" making deep downfield leaping highlight catches. What a shame. Boomer also said that w3 was the best trade the Pats had ever made and what the Hell was Miami ever thinking?

 

[signbabybrady]

He's significantly underpaid with that contract. Not sure what he'll have left at the end of the five years with the pounding he takes.

You might be right about him being under paid now but at the time we gave him a contract he may not have been seeing for at least a year so it was good for him in that aspect plus he didn't have the 2 back to back 100+ reception seasons yet so I don't think there is much for him to complain about.

 

[borg]

King says Miami will be the AFC East survivor and the Pats and Jets will be hitting the links...yet...he ranks the Pats ahead of both. hmmmmmm

 

[Fanfrom1960]

Probably not the year, though.

From today's MMQB (emphases in red mine):

I hope the Patriots realize Welker's incredible value. (King said)

No, Peter, they just decided to randomly gamble $18M/5 yr and a second.

And it would take the dumbest organization in the history of any sport to not recognize Welker's value, at almost any price. Kind of a condescending remark there by King.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Boomer also said that w3 was the best trade the Pats had ever made and what the Hell was Miami ever thinking?

Do you think Pioli and Belichick had difficulty suppressing smiles/giggles/etc. while they were talking to the LOLphins?

 

[JMarr]

Do you think Pioli and Belichick had difficulty suppressing smiles/giggles/etc. while they were talking to the LOLphins?

Didn't Bill say at one point that they had been trying to get Welker for a long time?

 

[BPF]

AFC (Three to qualify: One AFC East champion, two wild cards)
Indianapolis: 9-4 overall (8-2 in AFC)
Baltimore: 9-4 (7-3)
N.Y. Jets: 8-5 (6-4)
Miami: 8-5 (6-4)
New England: 8-5 (6-4)




He had the Pats conference record wrong unless they moved either SD, Indy,Pitt, miami or NYJ when I wasn't paying attention...

You're right, I wish he was though:
NFL Standings: Division

 

[PatsFanSince74]

No, Peter, they just decided to randomly gamble $18M/5 yr and a second.

When you consider that the Franchise Tag for WR this year is $7.8M, he might have a point.

 

[CheerforTom]

I would be very surprised if Welker goes anywhere else for the rest of his career. BB, and almost as importantly Brady, would never let him walk. He is worth every bit as much as Moss or another big name receiver.

I don't know if I've ever been so impressed with a player in all the years I've watched sports.

 

[Rob0729]

I like what Clark Judge had to say about Welker today in his Judgments:

The more I watch Wes Welker, the more I wonder why in the world Miami thought it was a good idea to deal him within the division. H.L. Mencken was right: Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of last year's Dolphins. Or something like that.

Week 14 Judgements: Valuable? Peterson proves his worth all day - NFL - CBSSports.com Football

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

the 2nd half of the steelers game fell apart because of no welker. this offense goes as welker goes. i said it last year and i'll say it this yr.

the incredibly disappearing watson. watson should be eating receptions up if welker and moss are getting covered. it's pretty ridiculous.

and why are we throwing slater out as a 4th wr? why not aiken more?

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

It's funny, but the lore of Wes Welker seems to posit that the Dolphins freely traded him to the Patriots.

Let's give the Dolphins a bit of credit. They did not. Welker was an RFA and he wanted to leave. He negotiated with the Patriots and got a deal better than from any other team. The Dolphins technically had the right to match, but the Patriots were prepared to us a "poison pill" to make sure the Dolphins couldn't match.

At the end, though, the Patriots agreed to be gracious and give a sixth to make it a "trade" instead of a poison pill scenario. The second rounder that the Patriots gave up was just the same compensation they would have had to give up anyway to sign an RFA.

Perhaps one could fault the Dolphins for not tendering Welker at the first rounder compensation level instead of the second. Other than that, though, the Dolphins hardly let Welker go. Welker was basically just like any other FA signing, plus the compensation. It wasn't a true trade.

 

[Rob0729]

It's funny, but the lore of Wes Welker seems to posit that the Dolphins freely traded him to the Patriots.

Let's give the Dolphins a bit of credit. They did not. Welker was an RFA and he wanted to leave. He negotiated with the Patriots and got a deal better than from any other team. The Dolphins technically had the right to match, but the Patriots were prepared to us a "poison pill" to make sure the Dolphins couldn't match.

At the end, though, the Patriots agreed to be gracious and give a sixth to make it a "trade" instead of a poison pill scenario. The second rounder that the Patriots gave up was just the same compensation they would have had to give up anyway to sign an RFA.

Perhaps one could fault the Dolphins for not tendering Welker at the first rounder compensation level instead of the second. Other than that, though, the Dolphins hardly let Welker go. Welker was basically just like any other FA signing, plus the compensation. It wasn't a true trade.

Let's not absolve the Dolphins too much. They gave the guy a second round tender where they could have given him a first round round tender for a few hundred thousand dollars more. If the Dolphins were smart and knew what they had in Welker, they would have either given him the highest tender (a first and a third compensation) or matched the Pats' offer. There was no poison pill with Welker's contract, it was just that the Dolphins didn't have a lot of cap room and decided it wasn't in their best interest to sign Welker and not make additions elsewhere. They were wrong.

 

[Michael]

I love how he had to include "but clean, hit". Clark got away with one and Welker was a stand up guy (no pun intended) to say that's just football. But, he launched himself into a receiver who was letting up and he knew it. He got away with it but, it wasn't clean.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

I love how he had to include "but clean, hit". Clark got away with one and Welker was a stand up guy (no pun intended) to say that's just football. But, he launched himself into a receiver who was letting up and he knew it. He got away with it but, it wasn't clean.

imagine if that happened in the SB and took out one of a team's best players.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Do you think Pioli and Belichick had difficulty suppressing smiles/giggles/etc. while they were talking to the LOLphins?

Yup. BB had had the serious hots for w3's lithe quick bod for years.
I'm sure there were many WTFs? beween BB and Pioli as the deal went down.