Get to know Julian Edelman

[letekro]

Nice article...

Getting to know super sleeper JulianEdelman - Mocking The Draft

 

[furry]

Julian should hire that guy to be his pr agent

Lets hope he lives up to the hype

 

[farn]

Let's hope WE NEVER EVER find out if he lives up to the hype ! Let's hope TFB and the "traditional offense" stays on the field 100% of all snaps unless the Patriots are up by 31+ in the 4th quarter.

Julian = fun for preseason.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I smell wildcat. Wonder if he can stick to the roster.

 

[letekro]

Let's hope WE NEVER EVER find out if he lives up to the hype ! Let's hope TFB and the "traditional offence" stays on the field 100% of all snaps unless the Patriots are up by 31+ in the 4th quarter.

Julian = fun for preseason.

From the article, I gather that it is more likely that the Pats intend him to be wes welker insurance, rather than TFB insurance.

 

[farn]

From the article, I gather that it is more likely that the Pats intend him to be wes welker insurance, rather than TFB insurance.

Yup - that's what I gathered as well, which is fine... but anything more - no thx. I'm not enamored with the Wildcat. Nor were all those quality teams kickin' the Wildcat's butt in the 2nd half of 08.

 

[letekro]

Yup - that's what I gathered as well, which is fine... but anything more - no thx. I'm not enamored with the Wildcat. Nor were all those quality teams kickin' the Wildcat's butt in the 2nd half of 08.

I agree, but it will be interesting to see what a LEGITIMATE run/pass threat like Pat White can do in the Wildcat - it could pose problems for us.

 

[Headcase]

I agree, but it will be interesting to see what a LEGITIMATE run/pass threat like Pat White can do in the Wildcat - it could pose problems for us.

I really don't get why people say that, play it like you would have played Mike Vick back in the day. You just have to stay with your responsibilities.

SSDD

 

[Wheelssps]

I agree, but it will be interesting to see what a LEGITIMATE run/pass threat like Pat White can do in the Wildcat - it could pose problems for us.

Yeah, but basically the Wildcat is just an offense with a very mobile quarterback that adds another dimension to defend. The Patriots have done fine against the Wildcat other than that first game, and have typically done very well against very mobile quarterbacks (Michael Vick, Kordell, etc, etc, etc)
I think that a lot of the Wildcat hype this past year is from the media that either doesn't really understand that it's not like turbo in a video game, or is simply enamored with it because it's fun to say. They bring it up and talk about it like it's ridiculously complex and magical, but it isn't. The Pats lost the game last year because they got blown away on both lines of scrimmage by more highly motivated linemen, and then on top of that they forgot how to tackle. The fact that Ronnie Brown got the handoff directly instead of having it handed to him doesn't really change the situation in the trenches and not tackling that game.
I think that watching Pat White run quarterback (sucks that it will be for the Dolphins, though) will be fun because he's a proven winner with great success at QUARTERBACK in college, not just some mystical Wildcat.

 

[farn]

Could... but I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Dolphins become the "fall back team" - not reaching last year's heights.

White can do many things, but will he really be beating the Pats twice this year ? I don't see him beating them in either game, to be honest (on some plays, yes - not the final score).

If Julian proves me wrong, GREAT ! I hope he kicks some major butt in TC and becomes some freak of nature... but I'd guess he won't and I'd just feel better with Tommy (we're not close enough for me to go here, but wtf...) under center making the plays happen.

 

[tombonneau]

Let's hope WE NEVER EVER find out if he lives up to the hype ! Let's hope TFB and the "traditional offense" stays on the field 100% of all snaps unless the Patriots are up by 31+ in the 4th quarter.

Julian = fun for preseason.

I don't think he has to be in the Wildcat to make an impact. The Josh Cribbs comparisons sound good to me. If he can be 75% of the return man Cribbs is, the Pats will have the best return game since I-don't-know-when.

 

[Wheelssps]

Could... but I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Dolphins become the "fall back team" - not reaching last year's heights.

White can do many things, but will he really be beating the Pats twice this year ? I don't see him beating them in either game, to be honest (on some plays, yes - not the final score).

If Julian proves me wrong, GREAT ! I hope he kicks some major butt in TC and becomes some freak of nature... but I'd guess he won't and I'd just feel better with Tommy (we're not close enough for me to go here, but wtf...) under center making the plays happen.

Bingo. It's entertaining watching a mobile quarterback, but really the Pats offense with Brady puts everyone in a position to do what they do best, throw, run, catch... They're specialists instead of like Michael Vick who was a running threat, but also had a poor completion percentage as a quarterback compared to TFB. The traditional QB system seems hard to beat over the long haul (game, season, dynasty).

 

[JoeSixPat]

It'd be great to have a versitile and contributing emergency QB - playing special teams or other roles and saving a valuable roster spot for someone else (a la the Tom Tupa years when we had the benefit of an additional roster spot by carrying only 2 true QBs)

Just for some comparison, Kevin O'Connel, who didn't seem too shy about running the ball at SD State, had 434 yards rushing - (2800 yards passing) his senior season. Edelman is a balanced offense BY HIMSELF with 1800 yards passing and 1300 yards rushing.

That's pretty impressive to me.

Seems like with both O'Connell and Edelman BB seems to like some versatility in his backupa - and isn't overly concerned with trying to find a Brady clone.

It seems to me that putting him in at S and PR in college was just a nice bonus by his coach giving him an opportunity to showcase his diversity as well. But he'll probably get a chance to show what he can do in the pre-season.

 

[stinkypete]

I'm interested to see if Edelman can stick at another position besides backup QB. He got some looks at WR and QB too. Does he have special teams potential?

Edleman is not going to make the roster as a wildcat only option. If he can't contribute somewhere else on the offense then he's not of use because to line him up would be to tip your hand.

I hope he has the talent at WR to stick. I'd love to see the occasional wildcat IF every player on the field is a standout at his natural position.

 

[farn]

OK, OK... if he's a Cribbs type guy, that's cool too.

Welker guy = cool. Cribbs guy = cool. Just saying, if he's wildcat guy = not cool because that's crap we don,t need. We need TFB running what's been working since he stepped in.

 

[letekro]

I really don't get why people say that, play it like you would have played Mike Vick back in the day. You just have to stay with your responsibilities.

SSDD

The Falcons ran a conventional offense with Mike Vick, so I'm not sure what your point is. Defenses shut down the Wildcat towards the end of the year partly because the pass threat was not real. If you take all the misdirection stuff and add a bona fide passer, I think it is definitely harder to defend tha if there is no real passer back there.

 

[condon84]

I don't want to see us run the WildCat at all. I'd rather not see Tom Brady split out wide and have a CB or S have a free run at him within the 5 yard rule. Which is something I never understood when Miami ran the WildCat last season. Why didn't teams smash Pennington while he was playing WR? It's within the rules that you can smash WRs within 5 yards. He should have been punished. There was one play where Chad actually went out and tried to lay lumber on a downfield block. From then on, it should have been, "Okay Chad, you want to act like Hines Ward, we'll treat you like Hines Ward." I also recall one of the color commentators saying the same thing, that they should punish Pennington while he is playing WR to discourage the Dolphins from running that wacky formation.

 

[jays52]

The deal with that modified single wing they call the wildcat is that it is an option formation. Therefore, it is a running formation. Any formation that is one dimensional is easy to defend. The problem with it is maintaining gap integrity while sealing the edges and securing the backside of the play. The backside of the play is generally sealed by bringing the backside safety in hard for the tackle. This is especially true if you don't have good flowing linebackers. The problem with bringing the safety so hard is that it vacates the weakside hashes. This of course opens up an enormous passing lane and if completed, an easy six points. If you have a legitimate passing threat at quarterback, it opens the potential of the formation exponentially as you don't have to have a quarterback in the colloquial sense of the word in the personel grouping. Your safeties will have to play more honest, your linebackers will have to delay their reads more, rub routes and crossing routes will be wide open, the entire dynamic of the formation will change dramatically. That is why Pat White will be tremendously valuable for Miami and why Edelman has the potential to contribute to this offense as well.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I don't want to see us run the WildCat at all. I'd rather not see Tom Brady split out wide and have a CB or S have a free run at him within the 5 yard rule. Which is something I never understood when Miami ran the WildCat last season. Why didn't teams smash Pennington while he was playing WR? It's within the rules that you can smash WRs within 5 yards. He should have been punished. There was one play where Chad actually went out and tried to lay lumber on a downfield block. From then on, it should have been, "Okay Chad, you want to act like Hines Ward, we'll treat you like Hines Ward." I also recall one of the color commentators saying the same thing, that they should punish Pennington while he is playing WR to discourage the Dolphins from running that wacky formation.

BB basically explained that in his view the gratification of popping the QB doesn't justify the cost (taking a defenseman out of the play, and making the O's job even easier).

FWIW, if the Pats were to run the Wildcat, it'd probably be with O'Connell as the "QB-at-WR."

Oh, BTW, one more thing—Edelman's HS team was the Wildcats.

 

[condon84]

BB basically explained that in his view the gratification of popping the QB doesn't justify the cost (taking a defenseman out of the play, and making the O's job even easier).

FWIW, if the Pats were to run the Wildcat, it'd probably be with O'Connell as the "QB-at-WR."

Oh, BTW, one more thing—Edelman's HS team was the Wildcats.

I don't know, it's not like Pennington was out there by himself when he was split out. There was always a CB on him. Pennington was nullifying a defender anyways, so why not use that defender to be physical with him within 5 yards? I hope some does that next year when the Phins go into WildCat formation.