I find many of the posts on this thread rather ridiculous, along with the cries of doom after one loss.
The offense was panned by many at the end of last year for not having enough diversity and relying on too few weapons. Welker was lambasted for not making a difficult catch. Josh McDaniels was brought in along with a number of new weapons, and people lauded the "Rubik's cube" diversity of play calling and use of personnel last week. This week McDaniels is panned for his play calling and not relying on the old stalwarts enough.
I wasn't thrilled with some of the play calling, to be honest. But McDaniels didn't knock Hernandez out of the game, he didn't drop the 2 point conversion attempt or any number of completable balls, he didn't miss the block on Quentin Groves on the punt attempt, he didn't call back the touchdown to Woodhead, and he didn't shank the field goal at the end of the game.
I think the Pats are making a conscious attempt to diversify the offense, and right now it's a work in progress. I don't think there's any slighting of Welker because of his contract situation, which I frankly find absurd, along with the idea that they are reducing his time in preparation to trade him.
Last year Welker was targeted 172 times, or just under 11 times per game. So far this year he's been targed 16 times, for an average of 8 times per game. That doesn't seem horrible to me.
We bemoaned the lack of a 3rd WR in 2009 and 2011. It seems like the team is making an effort to develop Julian Edelman, and I expect they'll make an effort to get Greg Salas involved as well. I'm hoping they'll continue to work on integrating the running game, including perhaps even Shane Vereen if he ever gets active. I too see an offense in flux, but I'm not sure why Reiss is wondering why. It will take some time to figure out how to blend all the ingredients, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some games where the offense is a bit out of sync. Better now than in the Super Bowl.