Winning with this current receiver corp is not sustainable

Re: Winning with this current receiver core is not sustainable

ausbacker said:

Whilst I do agree with what you've put forward, we cannot suppose it was a different game because the turnovers occurred. The Patriots were sloppy and were lucky to win today.

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The O was sloppy, but the D played well. If Ridley doesn't fumble and they don't get a TD there, I don't think they add a third TD. Except for the drive after the Brady fumble, the D stopped them the entire 2nd half. Also, as I argued elsewhere on this board, it was Stupid with a capital S, not to kick a FG on the play where Brady fumbled. We would have been down by only one point with an entire quarter to go.

Re: Winning with this current receiver core is not sustainable

In spite of all the problems with the O we gained 430 yards.

When Brady gets in sync w Thompkins &Gronk returns, it will be business as usual.

almost 300 passing yards and multiple tds is not sustainable?

what?

The young guys will improve with time, it just pains me to see this offense limited to short underneath passes in the middle of the field year after year. As we have often seen, this is not a style suited to win playoff games against physical defenses. We better hope Thompkins/Dobson are ready to make meaningful contributions by the end of the year, otherwise this offense has a good chance of being shut down in January once again.

chasa said:

almost 300 passing yards and multiple tds is not sustainable?

what?

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Do you really believe those stats tell the whole story about the passing offense yesterday? Brady threw the ball 52 times, 288 yards and 2 TDs aren't anything to write home about.

RodThePat said:

Do you really believe those stats tell the whole story about the passing offense yesterday? Brady threw the ball 52 times, 288 yards and 2 TDs aren't anything to write home about.

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Not to mention, he missed on 23 of those passes, 6 of which were ugly drops. The good news is that a healthy Gronk will vastly improve the situation and the offense will get new continuity as the season goes on.

If we're not going to create a HOF bust for Thompkins based on his preseason performance, let's also not write him off after the first game. Just going through some of the past "mediocre" talented NFL receivers' first game appearance stats (based on pro-football-reference.com, also the list of chosen WR was based on BleacherReport's top NFL receivers of all time, I'm probably missing some):

Jerry Rice: Game 1 of 1985 @ MIN (Loss). Rec: 4, Yds: 67, TD: 0.
Cris Cater: Game 7 of 1987 @ STL (Win). Rec: 1, Yds: 22, TD: 1.
Isaac Bruce: Game 2 of 1994 @ ATL (Loss). Rec: 2, Yds: 37, TD: 1.
Michael Irvin: Game 1 of 1988 @ PIT (Loss). Rec: 3, Yds: 73, TD: 2.
Terrel Owens: Game 3 of 1996 @ CAR (Loss). Rec: 2, Yds: 6, TD: 0.
Steve Largent: Game 1 of 1976 home STL (Loss). Rec: 5, Yds: 86, TD: 0.
Larry Fitzgerald: Game 1 of 2004 @ STL (Loss). Rec: 4, Yds: 70, TD: 0.
Marvin Harrison: Game 1 of 1996 home ARI (Won). Rec: 6, Yds: 85, TD: 1.
Randy Moss: Game 1 of 1998 home TAM (Won). Rec: 4, Yds: 95, TD: 2.
Calvin Johnson: Game 1 of 2007 @ OAK (Won). Rec: 4, Yds: 70, TD: 1.


Kembrell Thompkins: Game 1 of 2013 @ BUF (Won). Rec: 4, Yds: 42, TD: 0.

So make it what you will, but let's be patient.

Trycked said:

If we're not going to create a HOF bust for Thompkins based on his preseason performance, let's also not write him off after the first game. Just going through some of the past "mediocre" talented NFL receivers' first game appearance stats (based on pro-football-reference.com, also the list of chosen WR was based on BleacherReport's top NFL receivers of all time, I'm probably missing some):

Jerry Rice: Game 1 of 1985 @ MIN (Loss). Rec: 4, Yds: 67, TD: 0.
Cris Cater: Game 7 of 1987 @ STL (Win). Rec: 1, Yds: 22, TD: 1.
Isaac Bruce: Game 2 of 1994 @ ATL (Loss). Rec: 2, Yds: 37, TD: 1.
Michael Irvin: Game 1 of 1988 @ PIT (Loss). Rec: 3, Yds: 73, TD: 2.
Terrel Owens: Game 3 of 1996 @ CAR (Loss). Rec: 2, Yds: 6, TD: 0.
Steve Largent: Game 1 of 1976 home STL (Loss). Rec: 5, Yds: 86, TD: 0.
Larry Fitzgerald: Game 1 of 2004 @ STL (Loss). Rec: 4, Yds: 70, TD: 0.
Marvin Harrison: Game 1 of 1996 home ARI (Won). Rec: 6, Yds: 85, TD: 1.
Randy Moss: Game 1 of 1998 home TAM (Won). Rec: 4, Yds: 95, TD: 2.
Calvin Johnson: Game 1 of 2007 @ OAK (Won). Rec: 4, Yds: 70, TD: 1.


Kembrell Thompkins: Game 1 of 2013 @ BUF (Won). Rec: 4, Yds: 42, TD: 0.

So make it what you will, but let's be patient.

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Completely agree, don't expect much from rookie receivers until year 2 or 3.

edboc said:

Completely agree, don't expect much from rookie receivers until year 2 or 3.

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The Patriots need at least one of their three rookie WRs to be a player this season. It can't wait until year 2 or 3.

Thompkins, in particular, needs to get a lot better and quickly. Very weird to see a guy who looked so on-the-ball appear lost and confused all game yesterday. Hopefully it was just a hiccup, and he's not genuinely out of his league dealing with NFL coverages. Boyce and/or Dobson doing the same could also do the trick.

That said, it's week one, on the road, in a division game. I'll take the win and bank on Thompkins to play better on Thursday. We already know that he can.

edboc said:

Completely agree, don't expect much from rookie receivers until year 2 or 3.

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Welp, guess they aren't going anywhere this season then, because Amendola/Edelman is in the running for worst starting wideouts in the league.

Deus Irae said:

The Patriots need at least one of their three rookie WRs to be a player this season. It can't wait until year 2 or 3.

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The addition of Gronkowski at some point during this season will make these guys better....

This Offense is predicated on TE play, and with AH gone forever and Gronkowski not playing yet has impeded their overall progress... Hooman and Zudfield are poor comparisons to our former TE's....

Re: Winning with this current receiver core is not sustainable

PatsDeb said:

The O was sloppy, but the D played well. If Ridley doesn't fumble and they don't get a TD there, I don't think they add a third TD. Except for the drive after the Brady fumble, the D stopped them the entire 2nd half. Also, as I argued elsewhere on this board, it was Stupid with a capital S, not to kick a FG on the play where Brady fumbled. We would have been down by only one point with an entire quarter to go.

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Agreed, I liked what I saw from the defense. Except from the safeties.

RodThePat said:

The young guys will improve with time, it just pains me to see this offense limited to short underneath passes in the middle of the field year after year. As we have often seen, this is not a style suited to win playoff games against physical defenses. We better hope Thompkins/Dobson are ready to make meaningful contributions by the end of the year, otherwise this offense has a good chance of being shut down in January once again.

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one game in, a game in which we won.

had a monster game from the ground, and had good numbers through the air.

if not for the fumble at the goal line and the riddley fumble 6, this game would have been close to a blowout.

BB the personnel genius strikes again.

Re: Winning with this current receiver core is not sustainable

BradyFTW! said:

Agreed, I liked what I saw from the defense. Except from the safeties.

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Surprisingly, I thought Gregory tackled pretty well.

Deus Irae said:

The Patriots need at least one of their three rookie WRs to be a player this season. It can't wait until year 2 or 3.

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Agree, they're all in with these guys for better or worse so at least one hopefully two step it up.

ATippett56 said:

5 takeaways from the Patriots-Bills game - Extra Points - Boston.com



Unacceptable

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Robert Woods had 1 catch for 17 yards. Unacceptable. Stevie Johnson had 3 catches for 39 yards. Unacceptable.

And you know how you make it "acceptable" with Thompkins? You throw to the guy 14 times. You get those mental mistakes out of his system.

You sit down with him in the film room and show him that likely touchdown he blew by not cutting back the other way sooner - he had the right idea, just one split second too late. Those are mistakes you LEARN from.

Two years ago, my talented shortstop blew the playoffs with a wretched couple of games. Plays he could make in his sleep became OMG! HELP! moments in the playoffs.

Last year, another guy expressed concern when the playoffs started. I laughed - no problem. We won...shortstop played like an all-star.

Tom Brady will keep targeting Thompkins over and over until he plays the way he played in pre-season. It's NOT the same thing. The difference between a pre-seasson game an the NFL opener (in a hostile environment, no less) is HUGE.

Patience. As long as Brady handles it well, Thompkins and the other 3 kids will be fine. In a way, I'm glad Brady made a couple of boneheaded errors - the fumble, the throw to Sudfeld - as well, because he needs humility and patience here to bring these guys along.

Re: Winning with this current receiver core is not sustainable

chumpchange said:

Agreed, I just don't understand why TB is given these rookies and less-than-star players. Is there any other elite QB in this league that is expected to win with nobody to throw to? Why is getting this guy one elite receiver too much to ask?

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Gronk, Amendola and wasn't there another guy who was here last year that isn't around any more, putting a monkey wrench in the team's offseason plans? I feel like I'm forgetting someone....

Re: Winning with this current receiver core is not sustainable

JackBauer said:

Surprisingly, I thought Gregory tackled pretty well.

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A couple nice SS shots as well.

I didn't watch the whole game, and it is possible he contributed to the busted coverage TD, but those hits were plays he wasn't making last year.