Patriots starting WR's

[Aqua4Ever04]

While I think Gabriel is much better than anything you guys had and makes the group better. I still think it is very bad and one of those worse WR corps in football. Branch is a huge loss. You guys have lost a lot of your offensive production from last year, it should be interesting to see who, if any one, will step up. I look for a huge year out of Ben Watson. I think he is going to be an elite TE some day.

 

[Brownfan80]

While I think Gabriel is much better than anything you guys had and makes the group better. I still think it is very bad and one of those worse WR corps in football. Branch is a huge loss. You guys have lost a lot of your offensive production from last year, it should be interesting to see who, if any one, will step up. I look for a huge year out of Ben Watson. I think he is going to be an elite TE some day.

I'm not sure I'd say one of the worst in the NFL in preseason. We do have alot of question marks, but that's the thing about question marks, they could go either way. Check back towards the end of the season about our WRs. But also, just a note: We've very rarely had WRs that lead the league in ANYTHING, and yet we've still won plenty. I'm not sure we NEED great WRs to do what we need to do.

 

[spidey2559]

I believe an earlier post said that the Gabriel signing was more a replacement for David Givens rather than potentially replacing Deion Branch.

I think that's how we should approach this deal. We got our Givens back.

However, there is no way we can expect a Deion replacement at this stage of the game. You won't certainly see a trade from the Patriots to give up high picks or find a "gem in the rough" from the waiver wire.

Therefore, Patriot Nation will have to compensate for the loss of Deion Branch with the increased play from our TE position and our rag-tag group of receivers. Hopefully that combination will keep defenses honest enough from keying on a specific part of our offense.

Are we still thinking Super Bowl? Let's weigh the season out first...but we've been through this situation before.

In BB we trust.

 

[Ungeheuer]

Brady led the league in passing yards last year with the likes of Andre Davis and Tim Dwight playing major roles in the offense. They won a Super Bowl with Fred Coleman as their number 3 wideout. Moreover they won two Super Bowls with Antowain Smith carrying the mail. I'm not terribly worried about their offense. I'd be a lot more worried if we were losing Bruschi or Vrabel or Harrison.

The one thing I was worried about this year was the lack of a downfield threat, with Bethel, Davis and even Givens gone (Givens was a good long-ball receiver). Gabriel looks like he's a fast guy who'll at least require a look from a safety in the cover-2. That's really all the Pats need. They've got lots of guys who run nice underneath routes (Brown, Childress, Faulk), good tight ends to challenge the deep middle... what they were really missing was a speed receiver or two to run fly and corner routes. If Gabriel can catch those routes, that's big for us. That will force the opposition to cover the whole field, and with Brady back there, that's a nightmare for opposing defenses. Especially if Maroney is as good as he looks. There are going to be a lot of corners cheating a step or two closer to the line because of him, so a big, physical receiver who can beat them at the line and then get deep -- that's potentially a very big weapon for us.

 

[emoney_33]

Just you wait, patriots nation will fall in love with bam bam childress

 

[Aqua4Ever04]

I'm not sure I'd say one of the worst in the NFL in preseason. We do have alot of question marks, but that's the thing about question marks, they could go either way. Check back towards the end of the season about our WRs. But also, just a note: We've very rarely had WRs that lead the league in ANYTHING, and yet we've still won plenty. I'm not sure we NEED great WRs to do what we need to do.

Yeah I think worse was a bit extreme on my part. But I can't think of 10 groups of recievers that are worse. You are right about players stepping up though, you guys always seem to have players do that and it really shocks people each year. I still think this year is the last year you guys find a way to pull it out.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. What is the word on Chad Jackson? Is he playing opening day or is he hurt or what?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Yeah I think worse was a bit extreme on my part. But I can't think of 10 groups of recievers that are worse. You are right about players stepping up though, you guys always seem to have players do that and it really shocks people each year. I still think this year is the last year you guys find a way to pull it out.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. What is the word on Chad Jackson? Is he playing opening day or is he hurt or what?

What is the word on the Patriots injury report?!???!??

Wait, let me consult the expert.

"Likely yes."

Thanks, Magic 8 Ball.
Disclaimer: the Magic 8 Ball is more accurate than 84.7% of sports commentators who try to guess what is up with a Patriots injury report, but is in fact an entirely random method of prediction.

By the way, Aqua, very substantive and non-goading posts here. Keep up the good work... I guess from what I've seen, people will jump on you a bit more easily than the Pats Faithful. Just wanted to be positive when the post is good.