The Biggest Weakness Is Definitely Not WR

[Fencer]

My concern is durability. Gronk, Vereen, Amendola and Edelman have all had problems staying on the field, or -- especially in Gronk's case -- performing at near full capacity when they're there.

We need our guys to still be productive at the end of a 19-20 game season.

 

[Triumph]

Just wait until teams take Almendola away. Youll be signing a different tune.

Thompkins doesnt know where hes going half that the time. Hobson didnt dress and Boyce has shown more polish that him anyway.

Gronk coming back doesnt change the fact that this WR group is reminiscent of the 2006 bunch and maybe even worse.

 

[Wax Frog]

Hobson didnt dress

 

[Fencer]

Hobson didnt dress

Since there's no way he could have, I guess we can call that a Hobson's choice.

 

[supafly]

Would it have been cheaper to bring back Ballard after Week 1? Hopefully that's why he was cut and he'll be back. Wonder if ADob will be active v Jets? or Washington?

Jake Ballard is in Baltimore working out for the Ravens.

 

[supafly]

I was at the game and watched Hooman extensively .... he shouldn't be out there.

That's an understatement. Hooman wasn't a very good blocker last season, and wouldn't even be on the 53 man roster had he not taken a pay cut from 1.3 down to 650k (50% decrease).

Of course, as Patswickedpissah pointed out, it was Hooman's block that helped Vereen cut down the sideline to put us in FG range at the end of the game on that 15 yd run, so that was obviously a huge positive.

Ballard is working out for BAL, so I would hope that Fells is in the cards to come back as a real blocking TE.

 

[ATippett56]

That's an understatement. Hooman wasn't a very good blocker last season, and wouldn't even be on the 53 man roster had he not taken a pay cut from 1.3 down to 650k (50% decrease).

Of course, as Patswickedpissah pointed out, it was Hooman's block that helped Vereen cut down the sideline to put us in FG range at the end of the game on that 15 yd run, so that was obviously a huge positive.

Ballard is working out for BAL, so I would hope that Fells is in the cards to come back as a real blocking TE.

I seriously wonder about Daniel Fells, since he was the first string tight end in the first preseason game this year.

The New England Patriots will sorely miss former tight end Aaron Hernandez on the field this season.

 

[Ivan]

TE and X receiver are both major weakness spots at the moment.

Bills didn't even concern themselves with either today. And this Bills secondary was primed for abuse today had the Pats had the horses outside and at the TE spots.

I was at the game and watched Hooman extensively .... he shouldn't be out there.

This offense BADLY needs Gronk back healthy and someone that is able to at least pose a downfield threat so as to open up things underneath.

Pretty much how i see it. They are going to have to get Gronkowski out there full time and i would bring fells back and release Hooman or try to get Sudfield to the PS. This team is really going to struggle with good defenses for a while if not the entire season as they are limited offensively. They may have to use Vereen out wide on a regular basis as that gets their best players on the field. Ridley and Blount at RB, Vereen, Edelman and Amendola at WR, and Gronk at TE.

 

[Get it shawtaay]

People need to relax a bit.

First of all, if the Pats are going to win the Super Bowl this season, they are going to have to bring along Kenbrell Thompkins, Josh Boyce or Aaron Dobson. One questionable performance by Thompkins (where he had opportunities and didn't capitalize on them) is not going to change that. Barring a foolhardy trade of draft picks, there aren't alternatives to the development of the in-house options.

And no, a 'veteran wide receiver' isn't going to change the dynamic. We had a guy who was objectively considered a pretty solid veteran last year, and he proved to be no more consistent than Thompkins was yesterday. Made all the same mistakes at varying points during the regular season. Anyone we bring in, who is marginally better in September because of their experience, is out there since they are limited. And come January, when the big boys come to town, those limitations will be clear.

Brady needs to develop chemistry more than anything else. Do you think Edelman is really any better than Boyce? They've worked together and that means everything. Brady has saavy/potential to be a go-to guy in KT. Better to cultivate that, and keep some athleticism out there, then sign some washed-up mediocre vet and throw him into heavy snaps hoping that something clicks.

And to all the people saying the Pats should have been somehow prepared, how could you expect them to prepare for this season not knowing about Hernandez's secret life? If you took away Hakeem Nicks and threw him in a cell, it would mess up the Giants pass-catching group, would it not? There was no way to prepare for this situation.

 

[Get it shawtaay]

Just wait until teams take Almendola away. Youll be signing a different tune.

Thompkins doesnt know where hes going half that the time. Hobson didnt dress and Boyce has shown more polish that him anyway.

Gronk coming back doesnt change the fact that this WR group is reminiscent of the 2006 bunch and maybe even worse.

And the 'awful 2006 bunch' was within a defensive meltdown of epic proportions from getting to the Super Bowl. So maybe this isn't as big of a deal as you're making it.

Would I rather have Julio Jones (hell, give me Harry Douglas) out there? Yes. But we don't have either and we can't get either. So why should we be mad?

 

[Brady6]

WR is NOT the biggest weakness just because we are one injury away from bring the biggest weakness, the injury of DA.

There are lots of positions that would one the two worst with one injury. QB, NT, CB and S all come to mind.
===================================
The problem at TE is that, unless we want to commit to a 1 TE offense, we need 2-3 tight ends. We currently have none, plus a rookie learning. So, at TE, we have one TE injured, one TE learning, one TE useless.

The situation is much better at WR. Here we have 2 WR's healthy and performing and 3 WR's learning.

Given that we want to run sets with between 1 and 3 each of TE's and WR's, we are much better off at WR.

Fact!

The tight end position is very weak, it becomes a strength once Gronkowski returns but I still see no way we can run a 2 tight end offense, Sudfeld is not that good, he was overrated coming out of the preseason and was awful in game 1. I would bring Fells and Ballard back and cut Develin and consider trying to move Sudfeld to the practice squad.

 

[Brady6]

Jake Ballard is in Baltimore working out for the Ravens.

That sucks, he should of never been cut he was starting to move better as the preseason moved forward, and he is a young guy at just 25.

 

[Brady6]

Just wait until teams take Almendola away. Youll be signing a different tune.

Thompkins doesnt know where hes going half that the time. Hobson didnt dress and Boyce has shown more polish that him anyway.

Gronk coming back doesnt change the fact that this WR group is reminiscent of the 2006 bunch and maybe even worse.

Dobson didn't dress because of his hamstring, he is someone that we need to play up to his talent level. He is a true X receiver, Thompkins is more of a Y receiver who can work underneath and short outside routes, he doesn't have the speed, strength or size to play the X receiver position full time.

 

[Coach42]

We have some depth at RB I wonder if anyone (Giants?) would be willing to swing a deal. Myers for bolden or Blount??

 

[mgteich]

We can make a better offer than BALT if we wish. Ballard would clearly get plenty of reps for the patriots.

That sucks, he should of never been cut he was starting to move better as the preseason moved forward, and he is a young guy at just 25.

 

[mgteich]

Let's break tihs down.

1) Gronk being healthy gives us a strength in the 1 TE offense. That is NOT sufficient to make this a strength. Even yesterday, the team ran a lot of 2 TE. Solder had to play 11 reps of TE.
As you predicted, we played a bit of a 6 man line.

So for me, in order for TE to be a strength, we would need to have a second capable TE, if if he is a blocking TE instead of a move TE (like Sudfeld). We need 2 TE's to run a third of our offense.

2) Sudfeld is at best our #4 TE, but he is our only move TE. Josh needs to evaluate him. I;ve always been fine with keeping four TE's, as long as we don't keep a FB. With a FB, I think that we are limited to 3.

3) I doubt that we would bring BOTH Ballard and Fells back, unless Fells was being kept off merely to drive down his salary. In any case, we should definitely bring back one of them.

4) You choose Hooman over Develin. I think that Josh like having a FB. Develin got plenty of reps.

BOTTOM LINE

A) Gronk, Fells/Ballard, Hooman, Sudfeld works for me, as it always has.

B) Since Sudfeld is basically a developmental player, I would count him as such (like Bequette). I would not count on him as one of the 3 TE's we need for every game. Also, my preference is not to use Solder as our #3 TE, although he certainly can be the emergency TE.

Fact!

The tight end position is very weak, it becomes a strength once Gronkowski returns but I still see no way we can run a 2 tight end offense, Sudfeld is not that good, he was overrated coming out of the preseason and was awful in game 1. I would bring Fells and Ballard back and cut Develin and consider trying to move Sudfeld to the practice squad.

 

[Sivy]

Please stop putting quotes on the bottom.