Kontradiction
On my retirement tour.
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.I'll be checking this on wednesday but my gut instinct is that it wasn't overly respected.
Considering they are a team that can afford to put Cromartie on Lloyd one on one while they don't really have anyone who can cover Welker one on one, you would expect they would leave Cromartie on an island with Lloyd.
If the point of the original poster is that teams don't respect Lloyd enough to keep a safety deep, this wasn't the game to prove it. Against both Houston and Indy, the Jets did leave Cromartie one-on-one with Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne quite a bit. That is how the Jets play.
We must have been watching two different games then because whenever Johnson threatened over the top, the Jets gave Cromartie safety help. I didn't see too much of Jets-Colts, but I'll take your word for it on Wayne. Wayne had 5 rec for 87 yards. Lloyd, accoridng to many people here, was good enough to offset the release of Gaffney because, after all, the 2011 team didn't have them. So, if what you're telling me about Wayne is true, I would expect Lloyd to have had a similar stat line. It's going to be interesting when the people who can view the All-22 come back with their answer because, based upon what I saw Sunday and on the Rewind last night, the Jets shadowed not only Cromartie alone on him, but also other corners as well. For example, there was a period when Cromartie was covering both Hernandez and Gronk. That was the purpose of the question. How much safety attention did Lloyd actually demand?
The thing is they probably should have given over the top help on Lloyd. Lloyd beat his guy several times with the ball right in his hands. He just didn't hold onto the ball. If Lloyd didn't have the case of the dropsies against the Jets, he would have had a monster game. There was one sure long TD and another 30 yarder that he dropped which was right in his hand.
Again though, one game doesn't constitute evidence of anything. The Jets had no one to cover Welker and I mean no one (at least some teams have a CB who can at least give him some coverage). They needed to double and triple team him because Wilson historically gets spanked by him and usually Revis matches up on Welker because of this.
Gaffney is a non-issue here though. He is irrelevant to the conversation. By many accounts, he struggled with the offense this summer before he was injured and may have had an attitude issue (seemed too entitled) according to many accounts. He hasn't been able to be activated on game day by the Dolphins and they are need of WR help. He is also no help as a deep threat (which people who criticize Lloyd say is what the Pats need instead of him) and is another possession WR. If the Pats wanted Gaffney, he would be here instead of Branch.
As for Cromartie, I saw him matched up one on one with Johnson a lot, but there may have been times he got over the top help. The Texans are a heavy play action team so I seriously doubt the Jets had a lot of formations where they had two safeties (or even one) deep because you never know when they are going to run or pass with Foster and Tate being huge run threats. So I don't think they had nearly as much over the top help as you suggest.
The dropsies were one thing, but there was only one where he was wide open on and it looked like busted coverage. I believe the 30 yarder that you're talking about was the 9 route down the sideline where Cromartie was stride for stride with him and was only almost a TD because of an absolutely beautiful throw by Brady which was knocked away by Cromartie anyway. Again, one on one coverage.
Again, I may be wrong on this and anybody with All-22 access can feel free to correct me, but I didn't see a whole lot of safety attention dedicated to him in either the Seattle or Denver games either.
1. It's been shown several times that Gaffney threatened all levels of the field in 2011.
2. Gaffney left camp with an injury. If he didn't leave that injury, the odds that he's here instead of Branch go through the roof.
Based upon what I saw when they rolled the overhead footage, there was usually one safety deep. The safety was typically on Johnson's side of the field. The Jets would have to be absolutely suicidal to not give Cromartie safety help on one of the best receivers in the league.
I think people are misreading what Lloyd should be bringing to the team. He's not bringing double coverage, because he's not a deep burner. He's bringing a less compact offense (but only if he's a factor), because he widens the field to in the 10-25/30 yard area. He's going to force safety play to be wider and to be ready to roll on the deep ball. That's all that's needed, if Gronk, Welker and Hernandez are healthy. Well, I say "all" when I should be saying that it would be all that is needed if the team had a WR3 who could keep the other side honest. I'm not sure either Branch or Edelman can do that right now.
Gaffney at all levels of the field was debunked already. He is a possession receiver and not a deep threat. He caught two passes on balls thrown over 30 yards last year (and only four more from 21-30 yards). In 2010, Lloyd caught 9 balls over 31 yards (only one last year, but he had no one throwing to him). He is not a threat at all levels at all. He would command no more over the top help than Lloyd. Gaffney has never been nor ever will be a deep threat.
Gaffney left camp with an injury. He was on the street and actively looking for a job when they brought back Branch and wanting to come back to the Pats. They could have easily took him over Branch if they wanted him.
As for Lloyd, don't make up busted coverage crap to make your point. Lloyd does beat his guys. Not always.
I think people are misreading what Lloyd should be bringing to the team. He's not bringing double coverage, because he's not a deep burner. He's bringing a less compact offense (but only if he's a factor), because he widens the field to in the 10-25/30 yard area. He's going to force safety play to be wider and to be ready to roll on the deep ball. That's all that's needed, if Gronk, Welker and Hernandez are healthy. Well, I say "all" when I should be saying that it would be all that is needed if the team had a WR3 who could keep the other side honest. I'm not sure either Branch or Edelman can do that right now.
Where was it debunked? Certainly not in that thread. As I remember correctly, you actually yielded that point to me. But I'll point it out again...
1. Gaffney caught 68 passes last season.
2. 27% were short, 39% were middle/intermediate, 22% were deep, 12% were bombs.
That's the very definition of someone that threatened all levels of the field. He did it when he was last with the Patriots as well.
Gaffney was looking for a job right after the Patriots cut him too. Doesn't change the fact that he was still injured. The Patriots needed help right then and brought in Old Reliable, which I don't fault them for. And I'm not buying the rumor that he had "attitude issues" either. If he did, he wouldn't have openly wanted to come back to New England.