Bowen: Don't count out the Pats because of Welker injury

[JSn]

Nice article. Sorry if I got any sunshine on the Patsfans parade of piss.

Don't count the Pats out because of Welker | National Football Post

Think about it: New England runs their empty sets, their three-wide receivers sets, their heavy sets, and in those personnel groupings, they use the bunch formations, their stack formations and route combinations designed to get players the ball in the open field.

And, if I am the Ravens — the Pats’ opponent on wild-card weekend — I don’t know what to expect from New England this weekend. Do they come out in their jumbo sets (3 TE, 1 WR, 1 RB) and run the football with Laurence Maroney, Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris? Or do we see the Pats use their Zebra personnel (3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB) and line up in an empty set?

 

[hyperpat]

Nice article. Sorry if I got any sunshine on the Patsfans parade of piss.

Don't count the Pats out because of Welker | National Football Post

Let it rain.

Good piece.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

If we want to look at this as the glass full as opposed to half empty don't get me wrong Welkers injury is HUGE, we're gonna see who steps up now. We have enough running backs to run if they can only hold on to it especially inside 5 yd line going for a score. Edelman will be key in this spot and I think we'll see Brady going more to Watson & Brady. EVERYONE has to contribute even more now.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

Meant Brady going more to Watson & Baker sorry about that.

 

[Remix 6]

im still confident. Watson is gonna be more involved..I can feel it coming. Running the ball more, Watson getting more targets and Aiken as well. We already know Edelman will get his share of catches because he's going to play Wes's role but he can't get open like Wes..not many guys can. Instead of going to Wes & Moss like we have all year, we're going to go back and spread it out like we used to when Brady would hit 6 different targets every game

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

The biggest thing of all is the team CANNOT...and I repeat CANNOT run the predictable VANILLA offense it ran when Welker was injured earlier in the season and we lost games.

We can talk about Moss,Maroney,Taylor,Watson or any player you wish making a difference but its NOT going to matter unless O'Brien starts performing like a good OC which he sorely lacks...time for O'Brien to wake up and realize he needs to be UNPREDICTABLE on offense and have teams guessing.

Is O'Brien capable of doing this?..I really wonder and hope

 

[Bill B.]

I think we see a lot of Maroney and Faulk. Belichick probably kept them inactive against the Texans to give them a bye week because both these guys are going to have to have big games in the playoffs. I think we see a lot of screens to Faulk and also might see him line up as a receiver.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

I think we will all see New England shuffling personnel in and out of the game to confuse and attack the Baltimore defense — until they find a weakness.

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Dont-count-out-the-Pats-because-of-Welker-injury.html

Sounds like Sunday Great article, and my crystal ball keeps showing Kevin Faulk .................. Nice find Js thanks!

 

[slash83]

Anybody or any team who counts out the Patriots because of Welkers injury is a fool.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The biggest thing of all is the team CANNOT...and I repeat CANNOT run the predictable VANILLA offense it ran when Welker was injured earlier in the season and we lost games.

We can talk about Moss,Maroney,Taylor,Watson or any player you wish making a difference but its NOT going to matter unless O'Brien starts performing like a good OC which he sorely lacks...time for O'Brien to wake up and realize he needs to be UNPREDICTABLE on offense and have teams guessing.

Is O'Brien capable of doing this?..I really wonder and hope

Yes, it will work out far better if they run an offense that is beyond the capacity of two rookie conversion projects with about 40 some odd receptions on the season (including ten Edleman completed yesterday...).

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I think we see a lot of Maroney and Faulk. Belichick probably kept them inactive against the Texans to give them a bye week because both these guys are going to have to have big games in the playoffs. I think we see a lot of screens to Faulk and also might see him line up as a receiver.

I don't know how much of Faulk lined up as a WR we should see since that is the play they got burned on in Indy because Faulk isn't used to lining up and dealing with bumps and chips, he's used to coming out of the backfield and being the chipper if anything. Better coverage matchup for him is LB or S as opposed to a corner.

 

[JMarr]

The biggest thing of all is the team CANNOT...and I repeat CANNOT run the predictable VANILLA offense it ran when Welker was injured earlier in the season and we lost games.

We can talk about Moss,Maroney,Taylor,Watson or any player you wish making a difference but its NOT going to matter unless O'Brien starts performing like a good OC which he sorely lacks...time for O'Brien to wake up and realize he needs to be UNPREDICTABLE on offense and have teams guessing.

Is O'Brien capable of doing this?..I really wonder and hope

The Hoodie will be putting together the offensive gameplan this week, as well as calling the plays.

Obrien's only job will be helping to keep Brady's head on straight.