Nice Win...small concern about WR's

[Snake Eyes]

Vincent Jackson was my boy out of college. He went to the same college as my brother. Since then he's been busted in booze related incidents multiple times. I don't want him anymore. One more bust, he'll be sitting for a while. He comes across also as a bit of a head case. We don't need a head case.

That said, it'd sure be nice to have a freak receiver. Like somebody else also said, a freak running back would make the team unstoppable.

However, for now it's this year I'm concerned about. Alot of undrafted free agents litter this roster. Yet, the schedule looks favorableish.

1 - Hire him a driver
2 - structure his contract with heavy incentives
3 - put a clause in his contract that if he has any DWI troubles he is liable for a high percentage of his guaranteed money

 

[Sciz]

I know he punched his teamate in face....but, do you realize how much better this offense would have been with a guy like Steve Smith

Yeah, adding the 3rd best WR this year to any team would improve their offense.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Having Darrelle Revis would make the defense better too.

That isn't my point. Of course having a very good deep threat WR will help the team, but my point was the lack of the deep threat being the problem with the defense is overstated.

A deep threat changes the entire complexion of the game. If the safeties are playing deeper and/or if the guy can command double coverage then there's a lot less traffic underneath. Might a receiver make a catch he otherwise wouldnt if there are lsss bodies in the area to clobber him? Can he gain more YAC with less bodies in the area?

There usually isn't a single problem to an offense or defense, usually there are several, an outside/deep threat is one of ours.

 

[Nordberg]

To say that wr is not a problem is ridiculous.Teams are already taking Welker out of the equation.This offense has gotten stagnant.Now Brady is force to dink and dunk.I am not asking for a star wr.Just a guy thats gonna go out there and make plays on the outside.Hell i would want Jabar Gaffney right now.

Branch's 500 yards mean nothing.He hasnt been consistent enough making plays outside.

Don't get me started on Gaffney.......that was a major *uck up letting him go. Brady liked him alot. Rather than try and replace him every year since 07.....they could have just slightly overpaid for him and been a much better team since then

 

[Nordberg]

Yeah, adding the 3rd best WR this year to any team would improve their offense.

I bet you could have given Carolina our second rounder for him....I think that would have gotten it done.

Would you trade Vereen for Smith

I know we have to replace Faulk at some point...and Vereen could be the guy. I like him...but with Smith you might be able to go all the way this year

 

[Texxx]

I know he punched his teamate in face....but, do you realize how much better this offense would have been with a guy like Steve Smith

Thank you. I mentioned this in the Ocho Stinko thread when asked about who else would I have gone after in the off season and I said months ago in the off season that Smith would have been perfect for the Patriots because he can do it all and make the deep plays and go through the middle and catch the short slants and everything else. He can fight off the jam by DB's, because he is strong as hell, and he is one of the biggest "gamers" I've ever seen at the WR position. The guy simply gets comes up big in huge games. He's tough as nails and would have been a great addition here. Instead for some assinine reason BB, though Chad Johnson was the right guy to go after, and boy are we paying for that now.

 

[Texxx]

1 - Hire him a driver
2 - structure his contract with heavy incentives
3 - put a clause in his contract that if he has any DWI troubles he is liable for a high percentage of his guaranteed money

This isn't Madden. THere is no way that he would agree to a contract like that. He is going to get paid a lot of money on his new deal and the pats will either have to pony up or not.

 

[Nordberg]

Thank you. I mentioned this in the Ocho Stinko thread when asked about who else would I have gone after in the off season and I said months ago in the off season that Smith would have been perfect for the Patriots because he can do it all and make the deep plays and go through the middle and catch the short slants and everything else. He can fight off the jam by DB's, because he is strong as hell, and he is one of the biggest "gamers" I've ever seen at the WR position. The guy simply gets comes up big in huge games. He's tough as nails and would have been a great addition here. Instead for some assinine reason BB, though Chad Johnson was the right guy to go after, and boy are we paying for that now.

He's like 03-04 Deion Branch....but, better at everthing.

What more could you ask for?

 

[Texxx]

He's like 03-04 Deion Branch....but, better at everthing.

What more could you ask for?

He's like Welker in some ways and even better actually. Could you imagine the kind of stats that Steve Smith would have had if he played with Brady the last 6 or 7 years?? A lot of people thought Delhomme was a good QB for a while, but I was never led to believe that. Carolina always had a great running game and Steve Smith to make huge plays that made Jake look waaaayy better than he ever was. I just couldn't understand why the Pats didn't go after Smith when he was able to be had on the cheap to. The Panthers were going to let him go for like a 3rd rounder at the time and then him and Newton ended up getting a strong relationship and he wanted to stay in Carolina.

Personally I just don't think that BB will trade any valuable assets right now for a player like that or that he'll go out and sign any big time free agent that will cost a lot of money. He is to used to finding guys that fit into his system and getting good production out of them on the cheap.

 

[Jangles]

Are you suggesting that the passing game isn't the more effective strength of this offense? I'd like to hear a more thorough explanation as to how it is wrong in your eyes. Most people would probably consider the Patriots running game in the back half of the league.

No. I am not suggesting that.

The Pats run game is fine. It's solid, and under utilized. It would be nice to have a playmaking back like AP, but that's not going to happen.

While the passing game is the more effective weapon, it's hardly as good as it could be.

Imagine Brady as a great racecar driver. Well right now, with this receiving corps, he is being asked to compete in something like a used Honda Civic. He needs an upgrade if he's going play at his maximum level, and that's pretty obvious.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

1 - Hire him a driver

I just spit out my wine Snake Eyes

 

[Rob0729]

A deep threat changes the entire complexion of the game. If the safeties are playing deeper and/or if the guy can command double coverage then there's a lot less traffic underneath. Might a receiver make a catch he otherwise wouldnt if there are lsss bodies in the area to clobber him? Can he gain more YAC with less bodies in the area?

There usually isn't a single problem to an offense or defense, usually there are several, an outside/deep threat is one of ours.

I think an outside threat is far more important than a deep threat Even if you have an elite deep threat, you aren't throwing to him deep more than a handful of times a game and he isn't running go routes in this offense on every play. This team has more problems is that there is little need for outside coverage so teams can flood the center of the field.

That said, this team the last three weeks have had a half of dominant offense in the second half of each game. That speaks more to teams throwing new looks at the Pats that they haven't seen before, poor execution and play calling early, and great in game and halftime adjustments. If a deep or outside threat was a huge issue as many make it out to be, the Pats couldn't just turn on the offense at halftime like they have in the last month or so.

 

[Texxx]

No. I am not suggesting that.

The Pats run game is fine. It's solid, and under utilized. It would be nice to have a playmaking back like AP, but that's not going to happen.

While the passing game is the more effective weapon, it's hardly as good as it could be.

Imagine Brady as a great racecar driver. Well right now, with this receiving corps, he is being asked to compete in something like a used Honda Civic. He needs an upgrade if he's going play at his maximum level, and that's pretty obvious.

I don't disagree with anyone's assessment that their needs to be a significant upgrade at WR. I think that part is obvious. What I don't think that some of you are understanding is that there will always be games where a pass rush is really good against this offense and TOm won't always be able to fling the ball around at will, and it won't matter how good his WR's are if a team like the Steelers or the Ravens (Who they'll see in the playoffs) can rush the passer very effectively. We've seen that happen before in recent years when The Pats lost to the Ravens and to the Jets in the post season. Having a stronger running game can help to off set that and can keep teams from being able to blitz as much making it easier to open up that passing game. Even with this stable of WR's that many feel can be upgraded the Pats are still "2nd" in the league in passing the ball. I think that is all that any team fears when facing this offense. No one fears what the running game will bring even though it surprises people at times.

You talk about Brady driving that Honda Civic, well it would be a hell of a lot easier to drive that Civic in bigger lanes without the pit stops if he had a stronger running game where teams had to play the run a lot more making it easier to get the WR's open. The running game has been an issue that has needed to be addressed for a few years now.