lamafist
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2008
- Messages
- 1,197
- Reaction score
- 124
not "much better", giving the schedule, lack of 3rd WR, and OL inconsistencies.
Ok, this is really just a semantic quibble, but I think it's a bit inaccurate -- or really, imprecise -- to say that the Pats are lacking a 3rd receiver.
Numerically, it's true. The Pats lacked a good receiver after Moss and Welker, which would make him their third quality receiver.
But in terms of football, the "third receiver" has traditionally often meant the slot receiver who comes onto the field and replaces the full-back when the team goes into a 3WR set.
What the Patriots are lacking is a 2nd true wideout, a flanker who can line up opposite Moss. Welker doesn't have the separation speed or the height to play that role, and Edelman doesn't have the receiving experience to.
That's why I think the absence has been more noticeable, despite Welker's excellence in the slot -- teams only really have to worry about 2 thirds of the field -- the far side that Moss is on, and the middle, because there's nobody on the Pats who is a threat outside the numbers on the opposite side as Moss