IIRC Moss was lighting it up in training camp and everyone could see he was going to be a monster. Also IIRC BB started hiding him so media/other teams couldn't see what was coming.
Actually, there were reports from multiple sources that Moss may actually be cut during training camp, so any speculation about Belichick "hiding him" is just that...major speculation. It's hard to believe that Belichick was literally "hiding" any player on his team, but you're more than free to believe that if you want to.
The reality was that he was hurt very early on in TC, and there were reports about him potentially being cut. Those are the facts. Anything about Belichick purposely hiding anyone is just crazy opinion.
That is certainly debatable. Welker showed some major flashes prior to coming here, especially against the Patriots where he excelled.
Belichick obviously thought that he was going to be special, or else he wouldn't have given up a 2nd round pick + a 7th just to acquire him. When was the last time you saw Belichick give up a 2nd round pick for anyone? In the NFL a second round pick is almost unheard of, and reserved for only the elite players of the game. To say that "Welker was less likely to succeed" wouldn't be correct.
The expectations were set pretty high for Welker from the get go, much higher than Randy Moss, whose reputation was basically shot at the time.
As stated before, Maroney would have had more yards than Ridley did last year if he would've received anywhere near the same number of carries, as he would have topped 1,300 easily.
The primary difference was that Maroney got 185 carries that year and had close to 850 yds on those carries. In comparison, Ridley received 290 carries (an additional 105 carries makes a pretty big difference when you're both averaging 4.1 to 4.2 yds per carry) last season.
That was primarily benefitted from the hurry up offense, and its propensity to add another 10 plays per game. On top of that, the 2007 Patriots team was known for their obvious passing threat, with both Moss and Welker tearing it up. Had Maroney gotten anywhere near the same number of carries, he'd have overtaken Ridley's awesome performance of 2012.
Of course that was pretty much the high bar for Maroney and he sucked from there on out, but many seem to remember his 2007 season incorrectly. He was the primary reason why the team overcame Brady's 3 INT's in the AFCCG vs San Diego, and he pretty much carried the team on his back for the entire second half when the game was very much in question with his hard running.
Maroney 2007 vs Maroney any other year are 2 very different things.
Watson does have stone hands.
It should be noted that Ben Watson has been more of a productive TE in this league than you're giving him credit for. Since he left NE, he has averaged 52 catches a year with CLE. Not every TE is going to put up Gronk-like numbers, so 52 catches average in 3 yrs post NE in CLE's lousy passing attack shouldn't be considered too shabby.
In comparison, the potential HOF TE Mark Bavaro never came close to averaging 52 catches per year.
As far as having "stone hands," Watson's career high in TD's came in that 2007 season, with 6. At the time (pre-Gronkowski) scoring 6 TD's from your TE was a pretty decent season. Actually, scoring 6 TD's from your TE even now shouldn't be considered too bad.
Just to compare, the highly talented TE Ben Coates averaged 1 TD less in his 10 yr career here, with 5 TD's per season, so we shouldn't really be poking at Watson too much for snagging 6 TD's.
I'm not saying that Ben Watson was great, but he was a 1st rd pick and was certainly still a very important part of the 2007 undefeated season. To claim that the expectations weren't high for him would be highly incorrect. He was coming off a 50 catch season the year before.
