If that is all you think Welker does, there is no wonder you are so incredibly wrong on this topic.
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"
The scheme of the offense revolves around Welker. The week to week play calling is within the framework of that scheme.
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.
[/QUOTE]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
There is nothing to buy into, it is a fact. Regardless of who is catching the passes, the role of Welker is the center of the play design, the way the team is defended, and the game planning. If teams take away Welker, that creates the opportunities for other players. Ken, you have more knowledge than you are allowing yourself to show here, because you don't like the answer that knowledge leads you to.
Again, repeating an opinion as if it were a fact, and hoping it eventually becomes the truth is hubris. 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. Your assertion that "the offense goes through Welker" is simply another of your OPINIONS that you try and pass off as fact.
They were higher in 2011 when all of those players were healthy, so exactly what are you basing this on? Every shred of evidence says that Welker gets open better than anyone in the NFL. .
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
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.
[/QUOTE] 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. 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.
They were not consistently getting open. Although you have been arguing it for years now, the fact is you can't just assign a pass pattern to a jag and he automatically gets open.
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.
3rd and 2 is a passing down for almost every team now.
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 converted 46% of 3rd downs. 3 drops, a conversion called back by a penalty, and Brady running into the ref were plays there to be made, which would have made up 80%. 3rd down play calling was not close to the problem in this game.
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.
You are simply reaching here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Moss wasn't even trying in 2010.
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
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
Who cares? Its not about numbers, its about havng the best offense we can.
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
How? They ran the 2nd most in the NFL, and have the GOAT at QB.
They still threw the ball 54% of the time, so there is still room for an additional emphasis on the run game. The Niners only passed the ball at a 44% rate. And the Seahawks who were #1 in rushing attempts passed the ball at a 42% rate. I think that high number of rushes the Pats had were more a function of the huge numbers of snaps they took each game, than the any huge change in commitment to the run.
We are still a pass first team, and it showed up clearly in the playoffs when we increased the passing percentage to over 63%