Boomer Esiason comments on Brandon Lloyd

[PatsWickedPissah]

Was is Lloyd and Brady not on the same page or great coverage by Gilmore?

Gil was in Lloyd's shorts. Fault either TFB or Josh on the back shoulder play calls and targeting.

 

[SwedishPat]

Gilmore had real good coverage on Lloyd last night, you can't really fault a receiver for not catching those balls.

 

[Rob0729]

Well said. The only thing I'd disagree with here is the claim about drawing the other team's best CB. I think that's a fluid situation. Welker had Webb on him for much of the Baltimore game, for example.

I should have said at least part of the time. I do know that he didn't draw them all the time, but in the last two games he did see his fair dose of Webb and Gilmore.

 

[signbabybrady]

Lloyd's TD was a great catch but after the game was out of hand. Several throws into tight coverage early in the game resulted in a low % completion that stopped drives. It is a combination of coverage and the WR's ability to gain separation. Lloyd has had difficulty getting separation in several games and I don't think he will draw much defensive attention if that continues. If the throws into coverage result in incompletions, as they did yesterday, Brady will stop throwing them. They are trying hard to help Lloyd succeed, but they don't quite have it figured out yet. On the other hand, he was infinitely more effective than Branch. This team sure seems to have difficulty finding outside guys.

I think your picking on the new guy here a little. I think every WR so far this year has had an uncharacteristic drop or two this year and at times things have looked a little out of place in other parts of the passing game too but when it comes to Lloyd we dont shrug it off because there arent past results to rely on.

Lloyds numbers are about where one would have hoped if not a little higher and he has dropped a few and at times fails to get open but I dont think its been anything we didnt know to be part of his package.

He was advertised as someone who doesnt always get great seperation, but makes great plays on the ball, and someone who's hands actually aren't as good as his circus ability would make you tink. A player who makes plays down the field and outside the numbers. IMO through 4 weeks we have seen a little of everything he has been known to be.

 

[Mack Herron]

He was advertised as someone who doesnt always get great seperation, but makes great plays on the ball, and someone who's hands actually aren't as good as his circus ability would make you tink. A player who makes plays down the field and outside the numbers. IMO through 4 weeks we have seen a little of everything he has been known to be.

Not trying to pick on Lloyd at all, just appears that the completions/targets ratio appears to be low. Maybe it's me. Would love to see some stats on that.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Boomer is spot on. I'm sure we still have the grin on our face after Lloyd's touchdown, but he is currently not helping the offense much:

Targets-Yards-Average

Lloyd- 40-287- 7.18
Welker- 37-380- 10.27
Gronkowski- 29-260- 8.97

Haven't looked up Branch's stats from last year, but I'll be they are better. 7.18 yards per target is not good. Too many incompletions; I hope they clean it up.

 

[Kontradiction]

Was is Lloyd and Brady not on the same page or great coverage by Gilmore?

Great coverage by Gilmore. Lloyd couldn't get the proper separation. Of course some of the batted passes were also a product of pure luck as well as I can remember two where Gilmore didn't even have his head turned toward the ball.

 

[MoneyFX]

Was is Lloyd and Brady not on the same page or great coverage by Gilmore?

Gilmore didn't let him get what he wanted. The guy is a good corner.

 

[Deus Irae]

Was is Lloyd and Brady not on the same page or great coverage by Gilmore?

It's a combination of things. Lloyd is slow for a middle-deep threat, so he's not beating opponents with speed. That means that players who don't fall for the juking aren't going to get beaten badly.

Also, there were 2-3 passes that should have been completed, but weren't (one went through the hands and another was either a back shoulder pass that was a little low or an underthrow).

There was also the comeback route where Lloyd got lazy after he came to a stop. That allowed Gilmore to get back into the play and gave Gilmore the opportunity to try for a great pick.


Just my $.02

 

[RodThePat]

Boomer is spot on. I'm sure we still have the grin on our face after Lloyd's touchdown, but he is currently not helping the offense much:

Targets-Yards-Average

Lloyd- 40-287- 7.18
Welker- 37-380- 10.27
Gronkowski- 29-260- 8.97

Haven't looked up Branch's stats from last year, but I'll be they are better. 7.18 yards per target is not good. Too many incompletions; I hope they clean it up.

Considering Branch had 700 yards last season, I'll venture to say Lloyd's stats will be better. Obviously he'll have a much lower receptions/target ratio than Branch, merely by virtue of the types of routes he's running as opposed to Deion. That being said, Lloyd offers the offense a dimension Branch isn't capable of providing. He is a legitimate threat outside the numbers, and that helps everybody, from the TEs to the running game, even if he's not being effective, which he has been.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

There was also the comeback route where Lloyd got lazy after he came to a stop. That allowed Gilmore to get back into the play and gave Gilmore the opportunity to try for a great pick.


Just my $.02

If that's the one I'm thinking of Gilmore did enough to prevent Lloyd from coming back to the ball to get flagged most of the time. It wasn't atrocious, and it would've been nice to see Lloyd fight through it, but it wasn't like he didn't even attempt to come back to the ball.

 

[JJDChE]

Gilmore was selling out on the comebacks. It made him look good yesterday, but that will get you bitten for a big TD eventually. One fake comebacker and buh-bye, 80 yards to the dome.

 

[eagle eye]

I just wanted to add this....

 

[ivanvamp]

I just wanted to add this....

Look at me! I'm so happy to be scoring a touchdown!

 

[BradyFTW!]

Lloyd looked great against the Ravens. He had some nice catches yesterday, but I thought overall he wasn't as effective. What made it worse was that some of our drives got killed when Brady targeted him on 3rd downs.

Have to credit Gilmore there. He had a great game.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Someone tell Boomer that Lloyd is not,and will never be as talented as the 2007 version of Randy Moss.

Lloyd is going to be a 700-900 yard receiver from what I see,once Hernandez is back he will get far less catches IMO

Before the season you were saying that he was a 600 yard guy (at best, IIRC), so it's good to see that you're coming around on him. Still not all the way there, though - I'd be very surprised if, barring injury, he doesn't make it to 1,000 yards.

 

[RIpats88]

How quickly people forget...Lloyd had a great game against the Ravens..hauling in something like 8 of 10 passes thrown his way..

sometimes the defense finds a way to take a player out of it, and I thought Gilmore did a really good job not allowing Lloyd the comeback..

i'm not really too worried, he's on pace for 1000yards....and once he and brady start connecting on those deep throws like yesterday for that TD...watch out

 

[Patriot Missile]

Here is something to ponder. Brady is not the type of Qb that Lloyd is accustomed to playing with. We'fe all seen some of Lloyd's crazy catches on sportscenter, he's got that uncanny ability to come down with the ball. Some of those catches are throws made by Qb's like kyle Orton, Sam bradford, shaun hill, Jason cambell, Tebow and Grossman. Not exactly the greatest list of Qb's and not exactly the ones surrounded by a good supporting cast and ones that just may be crazy enough to throw such low percentage throws and hope he can comes down with it due to playing from behind or just wanting to get rid of it before they are clobbered.

Brady is too smart too make those kind of throws when he has higher percentage read to his te,rb or other wr. However Lloyd's ability combined with his smarts still make him a very viable 2nd wr and worthy to share the field. I just think people should temper the expectations of the acrobatics because the play calling and Brady aren't going to put him in that situation too many times. Although ofcourse we will see it from time time.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Brandon Lloyd has been a hell of a #2 WR for us so far. He's on pace for 100 receptions and 1,148 yards. I can't wait to see how he does once he gets on the same page with Brady.

Welker and Lloyd make up one of the top 3 WR duos in the league, right there with Cruz/Nicks and White/Jones.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Was is Lloyd and Brady not on the same page or great coverage by Gilmore?

That and the fact that Lloyd cannot get open. He is slow and not sudden; decent CBs can blanket him one-on-one. He makes up for it with incredible hands but he is not an elite WR. He not going to make anyone forget Randy Moss.

I would say that right now the Patriots biggest weakness on offense is the lack of a top WR. They don't have anyone that demands double coverage or take the top of a defense.