Thoughts on #85 and the WR's

[sportsreport360]

Do not worry about Deion Branch, him and Brady have chemistry so they will be fine. Brandon Tate looks like he is gone with the new kickoff rule. Ochocinco will be good but he is still learning the 'Patriot Way.' It is going to be tough for him to balance his bipolar personality. Sometimes Ochocinco wants to play in the NFL, sometimes he wants to play in the NAFL, National Attention Football League. Main receiving targets this year Branch, Gronkowski, Hernandez and Welker.

 

[Rob0729]

So sick of this learning curve excuse. Welker and Moss didn't seem to have issues. Gaffney and Bug eyes too if you think about it.

Ocho's good days have passed him by. I do not see him being much of a contributer. Hope I am wrong though.

Welker and Moss had an entire offseason to learn the playbook and get a rhythm with Brady.

Gaffney took nearly an entire season to get up to speed with the Pats' offense. He was picked up early in the 2006 season and had 11 catches for 142 yards and a TD that season for the Pats in 10 games for an average of 1.1 catch for 14.2 yards per game. He didn't become productive for the Patriots until the playoffs of that year.

Caldwell had an entire offseason to learn the playbook too. And his first six games of the season, he had a combined 15 catches for 140 yards and 0 TDs. It wasn't until week 8 (seventh game) until he got productive for the Patriots.

Gaffney's 2006 Game Log

http://www.nfl.com/player/jabargaffney/2505033/gamelogs?season=2006


Caldwell's 2006 Game Log
http://www.nfl.com/player/rechecaldwell/2505046/gamelogs?season=2006

 

[JackBauer]

Someone please explain to me what Chad brings to the table. He's a taller Branch with worse hands and inaccurate route running.

You mean other than being potentially the best WR on the roster not named Welker?

Further, what are you even talking about? Inaccurate route running? Are we talking about the same player?

Perhaps you feel comfortable with the same WR corps, plus Taylor Price, as we had last year. I don't, and I'm more than willing to be patient until Ocho picks up the system.

 

[JackBauer]

Ocho's good days have passed him by. I do not see him being much of a contributer. Hope I am wrong though.

You mean the good ole days of...the 2010 season? When he had 67 catches for 831 yards on one of the worst teams in the NFL with a bottom ten QB throwing him the ball?

 

[Kid~Brady]

I would have gone after Syndey Rice....not a washed-up has-been.

New one! The lock-out excuse. Sure, timing is an issue after 100 days off. Shouldn't be as big of an issue with a seasoned super star like Chad though...right? I mean, if Julio Jones (rookie) and Lee Evans can shake off the lock-out cob-webs, surely Chad can? Shoot, jailbird Burress looks better and his "lock-up" was two years long.

As stated, I hope I am wrong. I just see nothing about him that impresses. I haven't been impressed with him in a couple of years.

You just need to watch football and enjoy it and trying to anaylize. You obviously have no clue what your babbling about. There is no one who could just come into this system and make immediate progress. 4 weeks, thats all he's had. How do you even know if Julio Jones will be effective in regular season games?

You not being impressed and him not having enough time to learn an offense are two totally different entities.

 

[Deus Irae]

The best thing that could happen would be Ochocinco getting cut. 1) he'd deserve it and 2) GREAT message to EVERYONE on th team.

Not one of the veteran WRs that we generally think of (Moss/Gaffney/Stallworth/Galloway/Hayes/Gabriel/Caldwell/Welker) had anything like the crash course that Johnson is going through and achieved success quicker. The closest is Gaffney, who signed during the season and didn't have a 100 yard game until the playoffs (after having 10 games during the season, only 2 of which featured him catching more than 1 pass).

The notion that Johnson should be cut right now is ridiculous.

 

[Sivy]

You mean the good ole days of...the 2010 season? When he had 67 catches for 831 yards on one of the worst teams in the NFL with a bottom ten QB throwing him the ball?

word..ocho was great last year, even with Palme locking on owens most of the time.

 

[Garbanza]

You just need to watch football and enjoy it and trying to anaylize. You obviously have no clue what your babbling about. There is no one who could just come into this system and make immediate progress. 4 weeks, thats all he's had.

You not being impressed and him not having enough time to learn an offense are two totally different entities.

I think some of you are just star struck. I laugh when I hear "he's concentrating so much...or too much...that's why he's dropping balls." Really?

The Pats have two tight ends and Wes Welker. Price is an unknown right now. Branch is older. Chad is older. I'm well aware of the teams issues in the passing game. And lets be real, the biggest problem against the Lions was pass protection.

 

[Kid~Brady]

I think some of you are just star struck. I laugh when I hear "he's concentrating so much...or too much...that's why he's dropping balls." Really?

The Pats have two tight ends and Wes Welker. Price is an unknown right now. Branch is older. Chad is older. I'm well aware of the teams issues in the passing game. And lets be real, the biggest problem against the Lions was pass protection.

Well, you need to set your sights out for a more realistic football setting.

 

[Rob0729]

I think some of you are just star struck. I laugh when I hear "he's concentrating so much...or too much...that's why he's dropping balls." Really?

The Pats have two tight ends and Wes Welker. Price is an unknown right now. Branch is older. Chad is older. I'm well aware of the teams issues in the passing game. And lets be real, the biggest problem against the Lions was pass protection.

Actually. Troy Brown said the reason Ochocinco is dropping balls is because he is concentrating to much. Who am I going to believe, you or a future Patriots Hall of Fame (not Canton, but Foxboro) WR?

 

[Deus Irae]

I think some of you are just star struck. I laugh when I hear "he's concentrating so much...or too much...that's why he's dropping balls." Really?

The analysts who've played the game aren't laughing. They are the ones noting the issue.

 

[makoute]

IMO, our gameplan is too much complecated for 85 or he is just a slow-learner. we all know that the things you need to do as a WR in NE is totally different from the things you gotta do as a WR in cinci. and about Branch, i dont worry about him, he came last year and he played like he and brady never lost each other, i dont worry about him.

Lions won fair & square, but it was seen throughout the game (until we got 72-10) that the patriots and BB disrespecting the lions. best thing that can happen for our team is getting beat when it dosnt matter, they need to calm down and realize that they are not the best yet.

The guy didn't have a whole off season to put things together, he even came into training camp a couple of days late.

 

[Garbanza]

Actually. Troy Brown said the reason Ochocinco is dropping balls is because he is concentrating to much. Who am I going to believe, you or a future Patriots Hall of Fame (not Canton, but Foxboro) WR?

Troy Brown, of course.

I think Chad will be a disappointment. Again, I hope I am wrong. We shall see.

 

[RayClay]

Actually. Troy Brown said the reason Ochocinco is dropping balls is because he is concentrating to much. Who am I going to believe, you or a future Patriots Hall of Fame (not Canton, but Foxboro) WR?

Makes sense. You need to stop thinking and start doing. Until he's relaxed with what he's doing he could struggle. I have no problem with it as long as he keeps working at it.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

You mean other than being potentially the best WR on the roster not named Welker?

Further, what are you even talking about? Inaccurate route running? Are we talking about the same player?

Perhaps you feel comfortable with the same WR corps, plus Taylor Price, as we had last year. I don't, and I'm more than willing to be patient until Ocho picks up the system.

Accurate route running is one of Chad's talents. What we don't yet know is if accurately adjusting post snap is. Or if selflessness is. I often wondered in Cincy who the screw ups were on, although my gut instinct was the QB. Here miscommunication won't be debatable... The real test will come about 4-5 weeks in, if we are winning and Chad is not a factor or worse yet if we aren't winning... I believe Chad wants to win. I'm just not sure he knows how to. They won sometimes in Cincy but it always seemed pretty random... Nothing here is ever random.

 

[Triumph]

Chad Johnson dropped a lot of balls in Cincy by Patriots standards. FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Chad Johnson Tate and Edelman were in the Chad Johnson range last season.

Catch %
2010 53%
2009 57%
2008 55%

IN 2010, Welker 69% and Branch was 66%. Hernandez 70% and Gronkowski 71%. I think that Johnson will be a work in progress as the season goes on. Im expecting more drops in the meanwhile.

 

[TheSolderKing]

I think we are fine @ WR. Our Trip TE formations is what this offense is about. We do lack a consistent deep threat, but I think any WR here can become 1 if DB's focus more on guarding our nearly un-guardable HernandeGRONK. Welker Edel and Ocho are Slot options and Ocho runs a lot of short to intermediate routes. Ocho is a hard worker. The dude will get on page w/ the book soon enough and the timing will come. I am not worried


Branch and Brady have GR8 chemistry... it is like they share the same mind/brain in-terms of being open and ball placement. You cannot coach chemistry and it is very difficult to coach against it. If you put 2 DB's on any WR then 1 of our plethora of weapons remains open and at the same time our HernandeGRONK create absolutely unfair mismatches for any defense that puts coverage on them. You cannot take both out of the game w/ double coverage or you will get BURNED by our open WR's

 

[LasVegasPatsFan]

In fairness to Chad and his two drops, the whole team stunk up the place. Even McCourty looked awful. The only bright spots were Hernandez, Welker, and Edelman.

 

[spacecrime]

Everyone looked bad last night but random thoughts on the WRs:
- the WRs were junk
- 85 looks lost
- Branch is MIA
- Welker is great but if he is lining up on the outside that is not a good thing for the Patriots
- Tate looks like a pretty nice 6th or 7th option at WR but he doesn't look reliable

Looks like they are going to live between the hashes and go with a lot of 5 TE sets.

Yeah, because everyone knows if you have two good preseason games and one bad one, it means you are gong to play like you did in the bad one in every single game in the regular season.

OTOH, the Pats were 0-4 in the preseason the year they went 16-0 and the Lions went 4-0 in the preseason the year they went 0-16.

Come in off the ledge.

 

[NinjaZX6R]

Do not know where I heard this but as I recall, the Pats offensive system are not number based. So unlike most offensive systems that have numbers (routes to run) in their call ie, 3J X Jagger Zebra, Pats numbers are actually names..no numbers.
Add to the fact that Chad prob is required to diagnose coverage and adjust his route.

And since Chad only played for the Bengals, I doubt their playbook was that complicated. He just needs time.