Amendola

Patriots win 30-7 against a Vikings without Peterson, as should be the case. Loved how the secondary looked today, and great to see Chandler Jones making some big plays.

On to the topic at hand though though, still really, really concerned about the offense. Edeleman still proving to be Brady's only legit threat out there. Amendola is a ****ing ghost, LaFell was a joke of a signing from the start and the "development" of Dobson/Thompkins is an urban legend. Gronk still doesn't look right.

Always felt Emanuel Sander was the WR we should have invested in that offseason (given the Steelers cap, the restrictions on his FA status wouldn't have made a difference if we frontloaded the offer). Nothing has happened to make me change my mind about that.

This remains one of BB's worst signings here

Brady6 said:

He has 9 catches in his last 6 games, times that by 25 and you will have the number of different excuses that have been made for Amendola in the last 6 games.

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I like your both seemingly arbitrary but yet intellectually dishonest choice of 6 games, since extending that to 7 would force you to put a 10 catch game into the mix.

To be fair to Amendola he did have the 3rd most catches by a Patriots WR today

primetime said:

I like your both seemingly arbitrary but yet intellectually dishonest choice of 6 games, since extending that to 7 would force you to put a 10 catch game into the mix.

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Yes and at the end of that game, he misplayed a potential game-winning pass and since then Brady has targeted him 18 times for 9 catches in 6 games. Save your dishonest nonsense, I clearly spelled out in my post the situation in Miami and what has occurred since. Oh, we can include the 10 catch game, he still has 19 catches in 7 games, which is what 2.71 catches a game, yeah that sounds so much better.. .

How about we just go with the fact that he has ZERO catches in 2 of his last 3 games? Is that still being dishonest?

It looks Amen-dola did NOT spend the offseason in the weight room. He still has soft girly arms.....His lack of work in the offseason is deplorable, and I suspect he will get injured again soon.

FredFromDartmouth said:

It looks Amen-dola did NOT spend the offseason in the weight room. He still has soft girly arms.....His lack of work in the offseason is deplorable, and I suspect he will get injured again soon.

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On that note it was nice hearing the announcers talk about how Edelman is at the stadium at 5am before anyone else on practice days. He is like a mini Brady, he dress like him, does his hair like him, it is funny.

Brady6 said:

How about we just go with the fact that he has ZERO catches in 2 of his last 3 games? Is that still being dishonest?

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Yes, because at that point the sample size is so small (2 games!), and it includes a game where they barely threw because they blew the other team out and a game they got badly clobbered in.

You could also say that Vereen had 1 catch for 0 yards this past game, that Gronkowski has basically been invisible this year but for a single touchdown, and so on. I wonder if you followed this team back pre-Moss and Welker, but there were short stretches where guys like Givens, Branch, Brown, Patten, and the rest were not particularly productive. I don't recall anyone complaining about these players back then, and this offense has a lot more in common with those teams than it does with 2007 or even 2011.

primetime said:

Yes, because at that point the sample size is so small (2 games!), and it includes a game where they barely threw because they blew the other team out and a game they got badly clobbered in.

You could also say that Vereen had 1 catch for 0 yards this past game, that Gronkowski has basically been invisible this year but for a single touchdown, and so on. I wonder if you followed this team back pre-Moss and Welker, but there were short stretches where guys like Givens, Branch, Brown, Patten, and the rest were not particularly productive. I don't recall anyone complaining about these players back then, and this offense has a lot more in common with those teams than it does with 2007 or even 2011.

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Here is some reality, if Amendola is not a big part of the offense now he is going to become even less of one as Gronkowski and Dobson get healthier, Wright gains a better understanding of the offense, and even as LaFell becomes more comfortable in the offense. You need to accept that Amendola is not ever going to be the player that you advocated that he would be last season, end of story.

I am not sure, why you feel compelled to defend him, the kid is a dud, he makes more than any of the other receivers and he does jack crap, how does that not bother you. How are you not only okay with it but also taking to a public forum to advocate on that players behalf, it ****ing boggles my mind. You are an otherwise logical poster, I think that is what freaks me out the most about it, there are some other posters who are just illogical with everything so it adds up, but you are not like that.

Because he was injured last season and the gameflow of the past two games have been fairly out of the ordinary. Not only that, but he does play a lot and does a lot that doesn't end up on the scoresheet. Edelman is clearly the superior player, but I'd argue that Amendola will see time on the field even when, for instance, Wright gains a better understanding of the offense because Amendola is a better blocker than Wright. Today, he was used in the role that many envisioned LaFell being used in - a tight WR who can be used as a secondary blocker - and was notably used above LaFell in that role.

It's hard to blame him for not catching passes when, for example, he's being kept in as part of a mass protect scheme. I expect him to end the season with around 50-60 catches, fewer than Edelman or Gronk, around the same number as Vereen and Dobson, slightly more than Wright, and substantially more than LaFell or Thompkins. It may not justify the money spent on him, but that's a sunk cost anyways. I just think he's an odd target for ire of fans, perhaps considering him redundant in the presence of Edelman even though they don't boast the same skillset.

Aaaahhhhhh, what a lovely day to hammer on an agenda.

Interesting that the OP joined the site well after Wes trotted off into the sunset and we signed Amendola......

I liked the DA signing when it happened, but with mini-tron taking over i don't see how he fits in the system. What we need is a physical outside receiver who can get the curls and outs on the outside. Maybe that will be Dobson?

primetime said:

Because he was injured last season

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Congratulations on posting evidence as why Amendola was an AWFUL signing.

No **** he as injured last season. Everyone KNEW he was going to be injured last season, that's why people hated the move from the start. It wasn't some goddamn surprise that he god injured.

Amendola sucks. Sure, in blowout games against bad teams missing their best player (Where defensive turnovers/field position/special teams is the reason you're scoring) you can ignore it for a week

primetime said:

Because he was injured last season and the gameflow of the past two games have been fairly out of the ordinary. Not only that, but he does play a lot and does a lot that doesn't end up on the scoresheet. Edelman is clearly the superior player, but I'd argue that Amendola will see time on the field even when, for instance, Wright gains a better understanding of the offense because Amendola is a better blocker than Wright. Today, he was used in the role that many envisioned LaFell being used in - a tight WR who can be used as a secondary blocker - and was notably used above LaFell in that role.

It's hard to blame him for not catching passes when, for example, he's being kept in as part of a mass protect scheme. I expect him to end the season with around 50-60 catches, fewer than Edelman or Gronk, around the same number as Vereen and Dobson, slightly more than Wright, and substantially more than LaFell or Thompkins. It may not justify the money spent on him, but that's a sunk cost anyways. I just think he's an odd target for ire of fans, perhaps considering him redundant in the presence of Edelman even though they don't boast the same skillset.

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Last season you told me you would not defend him if he again underperformed, 2 weeks into a season in which he has 3 catches for 16 yards you are still defending him. Sunk cost or not, he is an underperformer and does not deserve to be defended. He was signed to replace Welker, given one of the biggest UFA contracts (non resigning) to a player in the Belichick era and he has been a bust, and it is not getting better, it is getting worse, his production is worsening by the week. I see no reason why anyone should be defending or making excuses for that.

SalemPats said:

I liked the DA signing when it happened, but with mini-tron taking over i don't see how he fits in the system. What we need is a physical outside receiver who can get the curls and outs on the outside. Maybe that will be Dobson?

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Right now, that's Edelman. They need a guy who's a fast medium and deep receiver, a Randall Cobb to Edelman's Jordy Nelson and Amendola's Jarrett Boykin (the skillsets aren't exactly the same, but close enough). Dobson hasn't shown he's that, yet. They've had a chance at a couple such guys, like Bryant or Patterson, but chose to trade back instead. We'll see.

Ivan said:

Aaaahhhhhh, what a lovely day to hammer on an agenda.

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Ivan what is your agenda? You come into these threads about Amendola and act like fans do not have a right to be disappointed in his performance. I mean come on, what do you expect fans to be happy with Amendola and say positive things? Or do you expect them to just ignore the fact that the highest paid player on the offense other than Brady and Gronkowski has contributed nothing this season? Make me understand what exactly you expect because right now you just seem to be taking issue with fans for being logical and being illogical in the process, open your eyes, look at reality, put away the emotions, Amendola deserves to be criticized by fans, he deserves it more than any player on the Patriots.

Posters want to be critical of Devey, Wendell, and Vellano, bash these players when they are making pennies compared to Amendola and in many cases making bigger contributions to the team. If you want to defend players go defend the minimum salary ones who are playing more and doing more but getting knocked more in here.

Brady6 said:

Last season you told me you would not defend him if he again underperformed, 2 weeks into a season in which he has 3 catches for 16 yards you are still defending him. Sunk cost or not, he is an underperformer and does not deserve to be defended. He was signed to replace Welker, given one of the biggest UFA contracts (non resigning) to a player in the Belichick era and he has been a bust, and it is not getting better, it is getting worse, his production is worsening by the week. I see no reason why anyone should be defending or making excuses for that.

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I'm willing to give a guy a sample size of more than 2 weeks before I consider him having underperformed, and I'm not sure Amendola did underperform this week given that he did a good job blocking for an effective running game and given that there weren't that many completions to go around in the passing game because of flow.

And again, the contract is a sunk cost. It's not coming back. You have to look at what Amendola gives the offense in the context of his skillset right now, not what he's being paid (though I think his production last season was about in line with his salary last season, compared with other non-rookie contract WRs, because I think that people expect every WR to catch 100 balls and 15 TDs but most don't). Projection of what he can give the team versus what he'll save the team are a consideration for next spring. For now, I certainly don't think Amendola's spot in the lineup is in any danger and I don't think there's a player behind him who would be more effective in the role he occupies.

That's a big difference between Amendola and guys like Wendell or Devey. There are ways on the roster or even not on the roster to replace those guys. With Amendola, it's like "well we could have Welker instead...." and that's just pissing in the wind.

I didn't like the amendola signing at the time. Not as a knock on Amendola, I just thought coaching should have trusted Edelman to take over Welkers role. He had experience and did OK the times he filled in for Welker. Also i felt they could have got him cheaper. Who was going to pay Amendola $30 million. The rams wanted to move on from him and werent interested in resigning him. They should have focused more on finding a complete WR that can win on the outside with speed and or size. Amendola however has flopped for an expensive signing. Alendola and La'Loser Lafail should not play ahead of Kenbrell or Dobson. They are only WRs with length and speed at 6'1 and 6'3 and sub 4.45 speed to be the outside WRs the team needs. Coaching needs to find out if they can be the go to guys on the outside. You know Amendola and Loser Lafail don't have the speed to do the job. What's the point in scratching Dobson then Kenbrell, it doesn't help you find out if they can be the consistent outside guys.

primetime said:

I'm willing to give a guy a sample size of more than 2 weeks before I consider him having underperformed, and I'm not sure Amendola did underperform this week given that he did a good job blocking for an effective running game and given that there weren't that many completions to go around in the passing game because of flow.

And again, the contract is a sunk cost. It's not coming back. You have to look at what Amendola gives the offense in the context of his skillset right now, not what he's being paid. Projection of what he can give the team versus what he'll save the team are a consideration for next spring.

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Do you really think it is going to change, because I see him and LaFell becoming phased out, as Gronkowski, Dobson, and Wright become bigger parts of the offense?

Listen I will agree with you on this, Amendola may have done more here if he never was injured and Edelman never got the opportunity to steal his job but the injury was a non contact injury so he does hold some accountability for it, it is not as if it was a freak injury or a brutal hit. The reality is unless Edelman is out Amendola does not have a place in the offense, so maybe we should try and move him, or just concede that he is an overpriced backup.

I just get annoyed with the excuses because I think the negative posts about Amendola are completely merited especially when you consider a player like Devey who makes under a $1M gets slapped around on this board all week, people celebrate Wendell being out when he makes a ¼ of what Amendola does, so if nobody is making excuses for them I cannot understand why Amendola gets such a defense.

Anyway today was a good game and I do not want to waste tonight fighting about are backup WR. It is what it is.