Moss vs AD vs Welker vs Stallworth

[patsox23]

For me it's AD, Moss, Welker, Stallworth - in that order. I agree with PromisedLand - the amount of WRs detracts from the "biggest impact" aspect so I'll go with Thomas, filling a desperate-ish need while moving Bru and Vrabes to more familiar and productive spots.

 

[Oswlek]

Personally, I am getting a little concerned about Moss and his injury. I was not a big fan of trading for Moss to begin with (although I do feel it was a low risk and potentially high reward trade the way it turned out) in part because the guy has been hampered by groin and hamstring injuries each of the last two year and had a foot injury that hampered him the year before. It has been nearly two weeks since Moss last practiced. I can't help but be a little suspicious of how much he will contribute for the entire season.

I think Thomas will be the biggest impact because he will affect two other players - Bruschi and Vrabel. With Thomas taking the Mike LB, Bruschi can move back to the SAM and Vrabel can move back outside which are their more natural positions.

I agree with this entire post. Hopefully the fact that Moss has been present for every walk-through is predictive of NE just being careful, but health is a big issue with NE's top flite WR reinforcements.

I also agree with your AD selection and the rationale behind it. Assuming that he gets the ILB postion, he is the key to what should be a dramatically improved LB unit over what was there at the end of the year.

Regarding Welker, I liked it more when I was probably the only Pats fan that even knew he existed but he will have a good sized impact on this team as well. The slot WR postion is very important to NE's passing game and getting a proven guy there who will free up the other WRs to do other things is nearly as important as AD. I just think that AD is a much better player than Wes which is why I was comfortable placing him higher in this poll. BTW, it is pretty disingenous to say that Welker "is not even a starter". I predict that Welker will be on the field for *at least* 70% of all plays where NE even has a WR on the field.

 

[Frezo]

My vote went for Moss based on this reasoning. It may not be a foregone conclusion, but there is a general consensus that if the defense was healthy, including Seau, the Pats would have won the AFCCG. This year they have that healthy D. (for now) Thomas is a fantastic addition, but the big hole last year was the receivers. Brady has never had a receiver that will get a double team as often as Moss will. This of course opens up everything. Without Moss I'm not sure whether Stallworth would get doubled as much. If things fall into place this offense should be the best we have ever seen in NE and Moss can be a big reason why.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I'm going with Stallworth... no offense to anyone else on this list, but the lack of a deep game last year was debilitating to the team's success last year, and although no one agreed with me at the time, it had an adverse impact on many aspects of the offense, allowing the defense to move up towards the line of scrimmage, double teaming Watson, limiting yards after the catch, curtailing the running game and putting a lot of extra pressure and sacks on Brady.

That now changes with Stallworth & Moss - though give Stallworth the advantage seeing as his YPC and overall numbers were better than Moss's last year.

Conversly I think the defense did pretty well last year, as they always seem to, and though I don't minimize at all what AD means to this team, we'd still have a great D without him.

Welker will be an improvement over Caldwell (i.e a 10-12 ypc guy) - though he'll benefit from the fact that there's a deep threat whereas Caldwell never had that benefit last year and still hauled in 61 passes at 12 ypc - I hope Welker does at least that.

But I think the biggest need for the team is a deep game, and that's Stallworth and Moss, and Stallworth gets a slight advantage over Moss given last year's numbers

 

[PATSNUTme]

I'm assuming AD = Adalius Thomas?

That is what I've heard several players in interviews refer to him as. AD does sound better than AT, for some reason.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I thought that "important" was the most important word in the question, so I voted for AT (AD?). Moss, Wexler and Stallworth will hopefully complement each other. Neither one alone is as important to the offence as AT is to the D.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

My vote went for Moss based on this reasoning. It may not be a foregone conclusion, but there is a general consensus that if the defense was healthy, including Seau, the Pats would have won the AFCCG. This year they have that healthy D. (for now) Thomas is a fantastic addition, but the big hole last year was the receivers. Brady has never had a receiver that will get a double team as often as Moss will. This of course opens up everything. Without Moss I'm not sure whether Stallworth would get doubled as much. If things fall into place this offense should be the best we have ever seen in NE and Moss can be a big reason why.

Your assessment of our D glosses over the big questionmark surrounding Asante...

 

[DarrylS]

Our new WR's are great additions, but AD will prove to be the best, at practice yesterday trying to figure out who they will mix up the LB's will Bruschi and AD start.. or Seau and AD start.. or Seau and Bruschi.. nice problem.. do not suspect egos will be an issue.. our LB corps rivals our D line.. in terms of intelligence and football ability.

 

[italian pat patriot]

no doubt: Adalius Thomas

 

[brady199]

You all REALLY underestimated Moss,
I said he was worth a first round pick and 10Mill. based on incentives.

 

[FrontSeven]

Moss. He influences every single snap on offense, and he plays more snaps than anybody besides Brady or the OL.