Thomas talks about his injury

[DefenseRules]

Tight end David Thomas, who returned to practice today for the first time since injuring his leg on Monday, talked about the injury woes he's had to deal with over the last year-plus.

Thomas broke his foot in the team's off-season program prior to the 2007 season. He missed the first two games of the 2007 season and then re-injured the foot in his second game back, ending his season. Then there was Monday's setback, which now appears minor.

"Injuries are just part of the game and everybody goes through them, and you hope they're not too severe," Thomas said. "Unfortunately, I missed some time last year, and I'm excited to be out there this year and just trying to do my best to help the team."

The third-year tight end, who made a great diving catch at practice, said he doesn't worry about people thinking he's injury-prone.

"I don't worry about what other people are saying," said Thomas. "I just try to do my best to do what the coaches ask me to do and to improve every day and learn from my mistakes."

Thomas said it was good to return to practice before he lost his timing.

"It's just good to get back out there after a few days off and get back to feeling like you're part of the team," said Thomas. "It's just exciting to be back out there practicing."

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

Well I hope that your injury woes are over Thomas. I look forward to seeing you on the field.

 

[PonyExpress]

Best TE on the team if healthy. [that's a BIG IF]

 

[Kdo5]

Best TE on the team if healthy. [that's a BIG IF]

Thats bullsh!t.

 

[Pats726]

he may NOT be the best all round TE..but he DOES have the best hands and very easily COULD be the best TE receiver....I think THAT is quite possible..Watson is no doubt MUCH better now all around..no question..

 

[PonyExpress]

Thats bullsh!t.

if Thomas can stay healthy IMO he will pass Watson on the depth chart by midseason. Maybe Watson will start, but Thomas will catch more passes.

Example: see Tony Scheffler and D. Graham with the Broncos.

 

[DefenseRules]

I agree. I liked what I saw of Thomas when we drafted him. He and Chad need to stay on the field.

 

[Kdo5]

if Thomas can stay healthy IMO he will pass Watson on the depth chart by midseason. Maybe Watson will start, but Thomas will catch more passes.

Example: see Tony Scheffler and D. Graham with the Broncos.

Am I going completely INSANE? Watson is easily better than David Thomas, no doubt about even if he is somewhat of an under achiever.

Cant you hold that statement until Thomas scores more than one Touchdown? Or reaches over 15 career catches? Some of you need to get off DT's balls. He hasn't proved that he is better than Ben in any way.

 

[spacecrime]

if Thomas can stay healthy IMO he will pass Watson on the depth chart by midseason.

Thomas is far and away a better receiver. If he can block, he will be the #1 TE on the team, easily.

 

[PonyExpress]

Am I going completely INSANE? Watson is easily better than David Thomas, no doubt about even if he is somewhat of an under achiever.

Cant you hold that statement until Thomas scores more than one Touchdown? Or reaches over 15 career catches? Some of you need to get off DT's balls. He hasn't proved that he is better than Ben in any way.

I realize he hasn't proven anything. But I watched this guy through college. Do you remember when Watson was injured in the '06 Miami debacle, and thomas was sent in vs Houston (40-7 blowout)? He immediately became Brady's favorite option, as a rookie. There was instant chemistry, and brady went to him with surprising frequency for a kid seeing his first significant action. The reason was that Brady throws to the open guy and Thomas gets open. And when he's open his hands are glue. So Brady threw to him again. and again. The next week, Thomas was once again the best offensive player on the Pats, vs Jax, a HUGE game on the road.

Watson healed in a hurry, and Thomas dropped back on the depth chart. This, IMO, was one of the more subtle reasons the Pats did not win the Sb that season. Thomas was relegated to rookie duties and the coaches were reluctant to put him ahead of the more "proven" Watson in a playoff game.

Watson proved to be a playoff non factor.

Watson is a good player and an even better human being, but to this point IMo he has been unreliable in a big spot, so that the Pats have shied away from going to the TE in crunch time, the one flaw IMO in their offense last season.

This has caused an overreliance on K. Faulk as a bail out option for Brady. Given Faulk's yearly health concerns and age, this overreliance on Faulk needs to be scaled back in '08.

The addition of L. Jordan and the incorporation of a sure handed, savvy TE like Thomas should make this O BETTER than last season's, the way the Colts offense actually became better post '04, despite the less gaudy numbers.

More diverse, more unpredictable, more consistent on 3rd downs. it also should make Welker an even more dangerous player, if possible.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I realize he hasn't proven anything. But I watched this guy through college. Do you remember when Watson was injured in the '06 Miami debacle, and thomas was sent in vs Houston (40-7 blowout)? He immediately became Brady's favorite option, as a rookie. There was instant chemistry, and brady went to him with surprising frequency for a kid seeing his first significant action. The reason was that Brady throws to the open guy and Thomas gets open. And when he's open his hands are glue. So Brady threw to him again. and again. The next week, Thomas was once again the best offensive player on the Pats, vs Jax, a HUGE game on the road.

Watson healed in a hurry, and Thomas dropped back on the depth chart. This, IMO, was one of the more subtle reasons the Pats did not win the Sb that season. Thomas was relegated to rookie duties and the coaches were reluctant to put him ahead of the more "proven" Watson in a playoff game.

Watson proved to be a playoff non factor.

Watson is a good player and an even better human being, but to this point IMo he has been unreliable in a big spot, so that the Pats have shied away from going to the TE in crunch time, the one flaw IMO in their offense last season.

This has caused an overreliance on K. Faulk as a bail out option for Brady. Given Faulk's yearly health concerns and age, this overreliance on Faulk needs to be scaled back in '08.

The addition of L. Jordan and the incorporation of a sure handed, savvy TE like Thomas should make this O BETTER than last season's, the way the Colts offense actually became better post '04, despite the less gaudy numbers.

More diverse, more unpredictable, more consistent on 3rd downs. it also should make Welker an even more dangerous player, if possible.

I agree IF we can get a proven, dependable TE that can catch balls in the mid range (10-15 yards down field.), Welker will benefit greatly and if Welker shakes the first guy, could have some long runs and really rack up the YAC.

 

[captain stone]

DT should've been PUPed to start last season. Jermaine Wiggins could've been signed as the 3rd TE for the first 6+ weeks, and the chances are good that with the extra R & R, DT doesn't re-injure the same foot and get IRed thereafter. We could've used him in the SB.

 

[PatsFan37]

I like what I see in Thomas, he's long been one of my binkies. My concern about Watson is his consistency. Not that he can't make the big catch or the big run, because he certainly has. Tremendous highlight film stuff. And like someone said, he is as good (or better) a person as he is a player. Overseas trips for the troops, lots of charity stuff, intelligent, humble, a great guy. I WANT to root for him, and I do.

But it's frustrating to watch well-thrown passes bounce off his hands, sometimes into someone else's hands, in unfortunate places like the EZ on 3rd down. What Watson needs is consistency.

Thomas clearly has the skill and appeared to have, in his limited reps in regular games, by my observations, some of the smoothness and hand and body control that Watson lacks. If Thomas also has the consistency that Watson lacks, then yes, he will pass Watson on the depth chart.

Both Watson and Thomas have aced the preseason before. That means nothing to me, other than that they are now as they once were. In the Sunday practice, apparently Watson looked outstanding.

But only the regular season games will tell.

 

[PatsFan2]

David "Glass" Thomas better be careful he might hurt himself talking to the reporter. I am real happy Marcus Pollard is on this Team even though he is older now. Pollard was a Beast with Colts in their passing game many moons ago. With how often David "Glass" Thomas gets injured i for one is not depending on him.

 

[lamafist]

Wow.

Sometimes I'm really surprised by how radically perception of a player can differ from reality. A couple of conspicuous bad plays over a short stretch of games and suddenly every pass he can't hang on to becomes further evidence of "stone hands" and any time he doesn't come through a sign that he's not consistent enough.

Would it surprise you to know that he had a catch rate of 73% last season, 5th best in the league, and significantly higher than that of Gates, Witten, Gonzales, Clark, and many other elite TEs?

Before he went down with an injury in Dallas, he'd been Brady's favorite target in the red zone. After that, though he was hampered by his injury the rest of the year, he was still an effective part of the offense, if not as much of a focus as when he was healthy, in part because a shortage of TEs and a surplus of WRs had motivated the Pats to go away from multi-TE sets, meaning Watson had to shoulder more of the TE's blocking duties.

After Watson struggled as the '06 team's only dynamic receiving option, it was natural that people would think he had lost some of the team's trust when he naturally assumed a smaller role with our bounty of receiving options last year. At this point, it's only fantasy owners, fans and the local media cranks who think Watson has anything to prove to anyone in '08: ask BB, Brady or McDaniels about him, and... well, they'd probably give you a vague, canned non-answer. But if you could get the truth out of them, they'd tell you he has their full confidence.

As for those fans who would argue that they've watched the games and seen enough balls he should have caught bounce off his hands to know that he needs work in that area, I'd like to remind everyone that the human brain evolved in such a way as to respond more readily to anecdotal "evidence" than scientific. Our "gut" impressions are weighted based on emotional responses, and bare little resemblance to objective reality.

The fact is that Watson -- who scored a 41 on his wonderlic, btw -- is a whip-smart receiver with fine hands and the strength and agility to get his QB throwing windows when other TEs couldn't. So far, there's nothing to indicate that Thomas -- who simply hasn't done enough on the NFL stage to even begin to evaluate -- has anything at all on him.

 

[PatsFan37]

You make a good point, several in fact. Unfortunately, I can't change my anecdotal brain, the switches in the back are too hard to reach.

It's not just the sense of there being drops, which statistically you're saying were low compared to other TEs. I don't doubt you. It's the feeling that while he sometimes makes a terrific catch, at other times, too many times, I see body catches and bobbling instead of plucking the ball from air like a natural receiver. That may be too anecdotal, seeing what I expect rather than what is there, but it may also be real. Others seem to see the same thing, including some of the reporters (although we know from another thread mentally challenged slobs so many of them are )

OTOH, DookFish reports he is a natural at gaining separation. So what do I know?

 

[captain stone]

Lama, are you Watson's agent by any chance?

If not, would you be mine? I need someone good to help me talk my way out of Mrs. Captain Stone's doghouse.

But seriously folks, just as one example: if Watson had caught Brady's 3rd/goal pass on the first drive of the game v. Baltimore, that desperate, controversy-filled final drive need never have happened. The Pats could've merely played for the game-winning FG in a tie game.

Gates, Witten, Gonzalez, Clark and Cooley make that catch, every time.

 

[lamafist]

You make a good point, several in fact. Unfortunately, I can't change my anecdotal brain, the switches in the back are too hard to reach.

It's not just the sense of there being drops, which statistically you're saying were low compared to other TEs. I don't doubt you. It's the feeling that while he sometimes makes a terrific catch, at other times, too many times, I see body catches and bobbling instead of plucking the ball from air like a natural receiver. That may be too anecdotal, seeing what I expect rather than what is there, but it may also be real. Others seem to see the same thing, including some of the reporters (although we know from another thread mentally challenged slobs so many of them are )

OTOH, DookFish reports he is a natural at gaining separation. So what do I know?

There's a difference between "anecdotal evidence" and scouting; the former has nothing to offer, the latter, everything -- provided you've got a more trained eye for detail than I do. I haven't noticed body catches from Watson -- in fact, the a technique flaw I've noticed is the opposite: neglecting to pull the ball into his body after catching, and leaving it exposed for defenders.

I remember reading somewhere that it was more of an issue of concentration rather than naturally poor hands, a problem that's been exacerbated the past two years when Watson played through injury through large portions of the year. Difficulty concentrating when playing through pain is a bit problematic for a player who seems to be fairly injury prone.

Lama, are you Watson's agent by any chance?

If not, would you be mine? I need someone good to help me talk my way out of Mrs. Captain Stone's doghouse.

But seriously folks, just as one example: if Watson had caught Brady's 3rd/goal pass on the first drive of the game v. Baltimore, that desperate, controversy-filled final drive need never have happened. The Pats could've merely played for the game-winning FG in a tie game.

Gates, Witten, Gonzalez, Clark and Cooley make that catch, every time.

There you go. The perfect example of the folly that is "anecdotal evidence."

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Thomas is the more fluid receiver. Even though he hasn't played much, you can see that with your own eyes without studying film. He has superior moves and hands. He reminds me of Eric Johnson of the 49ers and Yale, though he's faster than Johnson.

Watson is a lot like Ben Coates, which is a good thing, but neither is/was the type of TE that can get open with moves or catch difficult passes on the move. Like Coates, Watson is a big target with speed and power, but doesn't possess exceptional hands or moves.

I think Thomas has a higher upside as a pass catching TE.

 

[PatsFan37]

Here's a few more anecdotes.

Who’s not: Benjamin Watson. The tight end had the chance to make a few big plays in the red area in practice and had a couple drops. He’s just too inconsistent with his hands. He had an impressive stretch over the weekend where he caught six straight passes. But Monday night he had a couple key, inexcusable drops.

I remember reading somewhere that it was more of an issue of concentration rather than naturally poor hands, a problem that's been exacerbated the past two years when Watson played through injury through large portions of the year. Difficulty concentrating when playing through pain is a bit problematic for a player who seems to be fairly injury prone.

He's healthy now. At what point do you think he should start concentrating?

 

[captain stone]

There you go. The perfect example of the folly that is "anecdotal evidence."

You're welcome.

Trying to analyze Watson v. Thomas is, in my case, similar in a way to trying to analyze pornography: I may not be able to define it, but I'll know it when I see it. Dave Thomas, if healthy - an admittedly big if - has it; Ben Watson - not as much.