No, you are just being terribly literal. Of course that's not all Welker, or any other slot receiver does. Where you err is your seeming insistence that Welker is the only one in the league who can do what he does. He might be the best at it right now, but he's not irreplaceable. Victor Cruz, Percy Harvin, would just be the start of long list of slot receivers who would be replacements for Wes Welker. He's great at what he does, but he's not "unique"
Unique doesn't mean no one can play your position, it means no one can play it as well.
That might have been true for the a lot of THIS season,due to the injuries, but it certainly wasn't last season, and your continued assertion that it does, won't make it so.
Again, you just don't understand. It isn't about who the ball gets thrown to its about play design and scheme.
13 points is not enough to win. Yards do not win games. The red zone is a huge part of what an offense produces. Yards between the 20s and no points is useless.[/QUOTE] Thank you for repeating the point I already made in my OP. Its gratifying when others confirm your opinion
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You are the one arguing everything was wonderful because they had 440 yards, not me.
Again, repeating an opinion as if it were a fact, and hoping it eventually becomes the truth is hubris.
In this case it is a fact. I'm sorry you don't pay attention enough to realize that it is.
When the receiving corp is healthy, there are as many plays designed to go through Gronk, Hernandez. and Lloyd as there would be for Welker....and you know it.
1st that isn't true because Welker leads the team in receiving every season, and secondly for about the fifth time that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about play design, game planning, and the scheme of the offense. It revolves around Welker's role, and Welker's role. Its not even debatable.
Your assertion that "the offense goes through Welker" is simply another of your OPINIONS that you try and pass off as fact.
No its a fact. Please stop responding as if that means he gets thrown to the most even if that is the limit of your depth of understanding this.
Andy there were 7 other receivers who had more yardage and 2 who had more catches so the phrase "better than anyone else is ludicrous) and none of them had the top QB in the league throwing to them. But that's a nitpick in reaction to your penchant for dealing in absolutes
Sample size, Chucky.
There is no question that Welker is the kind of receiver who creates issues for the defense and makes things easier for the other receivers around him. No one is trying to deny that Welker is an exceptional receiver. EVERY receiver of that quality makes life easier for everyone else. The Pats are lucky to have 2 others as well, plus an additional "good" receiver in Lloyd.
No clue what your getting at here.
Welker, Hernandez, Lloyd, Vereen, Woodhead, Hooman, Branch, Ridley were all 'receiving options'. Your point seems to prove Welkers value as he had 248 receiving yards in those 2 playoff games.[/QUOTE] Taking nothing away from Welker but it also points to a disturbing habit of Brady sometimes falls into of forcing balls to players who are covered while others are wide open, as he did on several of those 3rd down situations vs the Ravens.[/QUOTE]
We were 7/15 on 3rd down. 3 were dropped, 1 was converted and called back, another was Brady running into the ref. That leaves 3 possible 'throwing to a covered guy' without even checking. So even if all 3 fit that, your 'several' is wrong and you point is off the mark.
I can think of at least 3 times were I could see on the TV feed a WIDE open RB being ignored, only to see him try and make a tough throw to a tightly covered Welker, Hernandez, or Lloyd, Its not the first time Brady's fallen into the habit of relying too much on just a limited amount of receivers. He might be the best of all time, but he isn't perfect.
You are going to critique the GOAT QB from what you saw on a TV feed? That is wrong on so many levels. I guess your TV is a 'perfect' way to judge which receivers are open, even when they aren't in the picture.
Ridley and Woodhead are EXCELLENT receivers, and Ridley is adequate. Evidently you thought they were covered all the time, my eyes told me different. Fair enough. Someone who gets the all 22 would have a better picture of who is right.
First, using your TV feed we might just as well turn to Pro Football Focus.
Second, do you have any idea what progressions are?
Which is a dynamic I find disturbing as a former coach. Maybe I'm too old, but while I acknowledge the reality of today's passing game, I know for a fact that, as someone who played and called defenses, it ALWAYS easier to defend a team when they tell you in advance they are going to pass. Common sense would tell you that it would be tougher to defend a 3rd and short situation if the defense were faced with a viable run threat as well. I'm not saying run the ball in that situation all the time, but at least make the defense THINK its a possibility. Again this isn't 3rd and 8, its 3rd and short
We did that and got stopped, settling for 3.
Clearly you can understand that the value of spreading the field, and going to shotgun to get the ball out quickly and negate the pass rush is more valuable than what the defender is thinking before he reads the play.
Your point here is fairly made, but here's my problem. Forget about the drops, fumble, and picks. Over 300 yds passing, over 100 yds rushing, over 440 total yds, a 46% 3rd down conversion rate......and only 13 points. That would lead me to believe that there was some kind of "disconnect" in the play calling, because generally those stats would result in 30 points not 13. Maybe the play calling wasn't the problem, but something was.
Tell me now you are going to blame this on the most productive recevier on the field?
Its really pretty clear what happened. Play by play we had tremendously more positive plays than negatvie ones, but few big plays. We spent all day in 2nd and 3-7 and 3rd and 2-5. We converted a lot, but moved in such small chunks that the drive short circuited eventually all too often. This isn't personell, or scheme, its obvious from watching the team all season they changed their approach and took the safe short play happily way too often.
Not really - One of the big issues with paying ANY player a 7 figure salary is the injury factor. The Jets paid over 22MM to 2 guys who played about 5 games combined last season. The fact is that any player is only one play away from the IR or a long period of inactivity.
Yet, you are reaching to this as a reason to not sign one of the most durable players in the league.
There is no question that Welker's durability is a key factor in his past success. Its a credit to his toughness. But the examples I gave are just 3 off the top of my head of players who have had longer periods of health and still got hurt.
And what does that mean? Players get hurt. You seem to now be trying to argue that durable players get hurt more than injury prone ones because a few durable ones got hurt too. It bassackwards.
Making a big financial decision on Welker, the injury risk has to be factored in, and just because Welker hasn't missed games due to injury up to this point, there is no guarantee that it will continue.
But his history of durablity makes him less of a risk, This topic is a positive for welker, not a negative.
BS, Andy, that was a common topic, especially in the discussions of Moss' impact soon after he left. Maybe someone who knows how to search old topics from back then can either confirm or deny my assertion.
It really doesnt matter,because the opinions of message board posters is not proof of anything.
Yet he still had 3 TD's in 4 games, including one where he wasn't targeted once. But that's nitpicking and really not the point. My point, in case I wasn't clear, was that this offense is better when the ball is spread around to several receivers and not just 2 or 3. Prior to 2010 the passing offense really did focus on Welker and Moss, and when Moss left and Branch, Gronk ,and Herandez were added to the mix, the ball was spread around more and the offense has run smoother
When have we really ever spread the ball to more than 3 primary recievers?
The ball goes to who is open. If a player gets open a lot and another doesn't spreading the ball around is foolish. Welker, Gronk and Hernandez get the ball because they get open, not because plays get called to throw to them. BB has said 1000 times, other than a screen, every route is in the progressions and the QB throws to the first open man in his progression chain.
Its when the Brady's focus become more narrow, whether its by habit or injury, does the offense begin to get stagnant. Given all the injuries to the OL and receivers, its probably surprising it didn't happen more often
Again, he reads his progressions and throws to who is open. Brady throws to an open receiver more frequently than any QB in the NFL, except when no one is open and he gets rid of the ball instead of taking a sack
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Again we are in complete agreement. That's why I stated the best offense we could have would be one with a healthy group of Welker, Gronk, Hernandez, Lloyd, and Edelman/high pick rookie. But that might not be possible
Then why are you posting novels?
