Umm, then which is it? Brady needs good receivers and that's why he's not playing as well as he can? Or Brady doesn't require anything special out there, just some dudes trying hard, and he can still win?
I think that sums up a lot of the confusion on this board.
for Gabriel and Jackson it's not about effort really, it's a paradigm shift.
the insight nobody remembers is Tom saying of Deion that he "understood the receiver position from the perspective of the QB."
Gabriel couldn't do that (but don't expect him to point the finger at himself when he chimes in with his two cents)...hopefully Jackson will make that shift in the offseason because he's a genuine freak of nature.
Deion was obviously not a freak of nature. But he was great in our scheme. Not to call him a system receiver, because I think he could fit in anywhere, but they got more out of him here than anyone else ever will.
Why?
I'm not going to pretend I can describe in comprehensive technical detail what it means to understand the receiver position from the QB's eyes, but that's really the key.
We used to routinely convert 3rd and longs on those wide patterns because Deion was so intuitive and dependable about how and when to come back for the ball. It almost couldn't be defended, and I'm not talking strictly about the timed throws, but more specifically about the "rapport" throws we were so used to seeing from this offense -- the throwback stuff that Tom is so good at and Peyton is so bad at. It didn't take Deion long to figure the whole thing out. Receivers who can -- through sheer physical ability or through rapport with the QB -- find ways to beat press man on the outside and stretch the field HORIZONTALLY are just as important as the vertical aspect that everyone seems to key on.
That's something Gabriel couldn't do -- he'd run your basic routes they were drawn up, just like college and most pro offenses (including Indy and Cincy) -- but forget about adjustments...and he wasn't physically gifted enough to get away with that...you don't see Marvin or Reggie run option routes because they don't have to...they just burn you. Problem is you have to pay like hell for guys like that...good thing is we have a guy under center who can make it work without those guys but you STILL need two things:
A: receivers who aren't dumb (sorry to be blunt) and love the game enough to practice their asses off.
B: time to build rapport (more with some guys than others, not to belittle Deion, but his smarts are probably his best asset).
But as to point B -- if you're trashing the entire receiving corps in a single year it's not going to work...that's way too much burden on the rest of the offense (including Ben Watson who I've probably given more blame to than he really deserves -- it's just that I expect him to be a Gonzalez type who can carry a passing game and he's just not).
More than any other skill position outside QB, you have to turn over your receivers INCREMENTALLY and that's why the Pats absolutely did NOT want to lose Deion this year...they simply went into the negotiations believing they had way more leverage than they actually did (and then whined to the media when Deion didn't "play by the rules" -- sorry FO, get used to it: smart GMs aren't loyal to anyone, and smart players aren't either).
Honestly, it was so predictable...and yet I've agreed with almost every other move we've made...including Adam (even though that was another guy who left because the FO pissed him off).
I know it seems contradictory to claim we don't need great receivers and then blame the receivers for not being good enough, but it's the unseen mental aspect more than the physical tools, which we can actually see and measure, which were lacking with Gabriel and which Deion had in surplus.
Hopefully Chad has the ability to "get it" too. We won't really know until next year.
