I am SHOCKED. Shocked that it was this post that you disagreed with most. Christ, MG, with all the crap I've written over the years, I find it hard to believe that THIS was the one you disagreed with most.
On this point we agree, entirely. The fact is, despite all the flowery complements I laid on Dobson and Boyce, their success or failure is, as you put it, a crap shoot......AND so are all the WR's who were picked before them.....and after.
But the point still remains that every year there are many excellent "prospects" who have all kinds of measurables and/or college production that wets the appetite of fans all over the league. AND....lo and behold some of them actually become very productive receivers in this league.
FO's article's main point was that even great proven WR's don't always translate into wins. Besides its very hard to evaluate WR's without factoring in the QB. How much of the success of any WR is the QB they have, or the "system" they run. WR is clearly one of the hard positions to evaluate in a vaccuum
Frankly this kind of snide personal shot is beneath you, MG. But you make one valid point in this quote. What is important is having a solid set of "receivers". Not just WR's. Between, Gronk, Hernandez, Ballard, Washington, and Vareen, Brady starts out with 5 proven "receivers" that most teams would love to have, even BEFORE we talk about a single WR
Again we agree. But you didn't go far enough with your analysis. For the last 3 years the Pats have been a top 3 passing attack, and has YET to have any kind of, so called, deep pass threat. Why would a lack of one this year be a reason to fall into a manic depression of inevitable doom.
Especially when the fact is that between Boyce and Dobson, we have the best chance of actually developing a so called deep threat than we've had the last 3 years.
How much of a mess was our passing game last year? 4th best in the league (and it should be noted that the 3 teams ahead of us, DIDN'T make the playoffs)
This is over the top negativism at its worst. Even if the rookies don't contribute and all the so called JAG's turn out to be just JAG's this offense will still be one of the best in the league. All the worrywarts want to compare this season with 2006, and even you know, MG, that this RECEIVER group is light years ahead of that group. Caldwell was out of the league just 2 years later, Gaffney is and was the epitome of a JAG. and Troy Brown was on the downside.....and it STILL was the 11th best passing attack in the league, and a few bad calls and a defensive collapse from a superbowl
MG, you make a compelling case for the "sky is falling", at WR,. but its just not the truth.
I never said that, and you know it. I have stated over and over that had Welker stayed this season, HE wouldn't produce as much as the Welker of previous years, simply because, barring another barrage of WR injuries, he never would have seen the looks he had last year. I don't know why anyone should get their painties in a bunch when DA isn't matching Welker's numbers. Its how the offense as a whole performs
Now this is just plain crap. You sound like a sore loser who still hasn't come to grips that Welker left. Someone who couldn't see that Brady's reliance on him (in the absence of Gronk or Hernandez) actually hindered the offense, and made it more predictable and easier to defend in the red zone
Once again you rely on misquoting me, in order to take a cheap shot and try and make your point. tsk, tsk.
Let me repeat myself and try and use small words with few syllablea so you can understand.
I think the Pats WR corps has more "raw talent" than we've seen a long while. Its been a few years since we've had 2 WR's with the size of Dobson and Jenkins. This is also a much FASTER group. Even "molasses Mike Jenkins, is faster than Brandon Lloyd, And Boyce, Jones, Amendola and Dobson are all faster than Branch, Welker, Lloyd.
I NEVER said this was the "best" WR group, just the fastest quickest, biggest, and deepest group we've seen a long while. While at the same time being the most inexperienced group we've seen as well. I'm not saying that this won't without challenges. The offense is changing. Its as simple as that, and with change comes with the good AND bad.
As I state later in the post, this offense isn't the rigid and inflexible monolith you make it out to be. One of Brady's greatest assets in his ability to mold HIS game around the skills of the player's around him. I don't doubt he will do it again this year.
Why wouldn't our running game be better. Just having a healthy Mankins and Volmer alone would improve the OL production. Now add Solder and Wendell making some degree of improvement going into their 2nd year as starters, plus my dream of a more powerful, bigger, and athletic RG in Cannon. Plus a return of the best TE blocker in the league and a back up (Ballard) who is almost his equal as a blocker rounds out what should be an improve OL. So forget about any improvement form Ridely and Vareen. Yes the running game SHOULD improve.
Sure you can interpret BB continuing to look for more RB's as an indictment on Vareen and Ridley. Why not if you think the entire offense is going to hell in a handbasket, why not. I prefer to think that BB's doing what he always tries to do and is increasing the intensity of competition on his young RBs, and hopes to find last season's missing skill set, of a more reliable GL/SY RB. Maybe its Blount. Based on what I've heard from Buc's fans, probably not. But who knows. Perhaps with his career on the line, he becomes the banger he's built like.
Just one more point. The strength of BOTH BB and Brady over the years has been their ability to adapt to the skills of the players that surround them. Who is to say that part of the changes that the offense is going to make means that we will go away form the ultra precision timing offense to one that is less rigid. Maybe this offense will continue to thrive if we take away at least some of the reads the WR have to make, and some of the options that require both the QB and WR see the same thing to be successful.
Back in the day Unitas and Berry ran 8yd and 14 yd outs with such precision that even when the defender KNEW it was coming, they couldn't cover it. As defenses evolve from being primarily zone to primarily man, maybe its time to think about evolving offenses ways from all the read and timing patterns and go back to precise routes that are predetermined.
Last season the superbowl winner won the title throwing the ball up for grabs and relying ot someone to come down with it. Maybe it will be a trend.
