When was the last time Brady had so many of the same offensive weapons back for a 2nd season?

[Concussion Protocol]

While I agree with you about Bolden -minus all the self-righteous snark, I do have to wonder if you have an Edelman version of this post...

Or the dude in your avatar

 

[TommyD4207]

While I agree with you about Bolden -minus all the self-righteous snark, I do have to wonder if you have an Edelman version of this post...

Just for you, I went a-searching deep into the ol' archives. I want to be perfectly clear - I've said nothing short of Bolden being an elite special teams player, and that he absolutely deserves a roster spot here. He's just not going to be your third-down back, or anyone else's.

Anyway, starting from December, 20th, 2010:

**** Julian Edelman. Time to cut his non-producing ass. Yet another dropped first down last night. Add this to the numerous other dropped first downs, botched punt returns and ****ed up snap on the 2-point play, and I am all ****ing done with WWW.

See ya. Maybe you can hook on as a QB with Arizona or something. We need guys who can catch the football.

If having WRs who can't catch on the roster was ok, Sam Aiken would still be here.

Side note: WRs who can't catch piss me off to absolutely no end, if you hadn't noticed.

He's still on the team?

That's quite a lot of hate for a guy that sees the field about twice a game.

This was December 2010 after all.

He'd see the field a lot more if he ever caught the ball.

Yup. Last year, 11 Games, 37 catches. This year, 12 Games, 4 catches. I'm imagining it.

http://www.pro-football-reference.co...E/EdelJu00.htm

I guess I've got the wrong flavor kool-aid. What color are we supposed to be drinking this week (redacted)

We have minimum 4 players on the roster besides Edelman who can return punts.

I didn't know the Patriots typically had a reserved roster spot for "punt returner".

Dumb.

9 targets. 4 catches. 2 dropped 1st downs and a dropped TD, all hit him in the hands. The only Patriots receiver with numbers that bad this year is Randy Moss. He's no longer here.

Usually, Belichick gets rid of these guys, sooner rather than later. Gaffney is known for his one drop against the Colts, even though he was otherwise quite good. He's gone. Sam Aiken was a monster special teams guy. He dropped a ****load of passes last year when given the opportunity. He's gone. Ben Watson. Daniel Graham. 1st round picks. When the time came (after every possible opportunity) they were gone as well.

You don't catch, you're gone. That's usually how it goes. They've already reduced his role offensively, most likely due to the fact that he can't catch - despite the proclamations to the contrary. But when he IS in there, he's a liability.

Edelman was very good last year. I was a fan. This year? That's not even practice squad worthy.

So is it blue kool-aid this week or red?

So let me get this straight. Despite poor play, we are no longer allowed to criticize and discuss legitimate poor play regarding the team's success of the following players and positions (in no particular order): Starting Quarterbacks. Backup Quarterbacks. Injured people. 1st round busts. Backup Wide Receivers. Coaches.

Doing so makes us bad fans/bandwagon jumpers/drunks/insane.

The inability to criticize Patriots players among other Patriots fans still annoys me.

Ok, Edelman was targeted 9 times, he caught 4, that leaves 5 incompletions.

week 2 @ Jets, 3rd quarter, 1st & 10: Brady threw it away under pressure, not even close.

week 6 vs Ravens, 11:15 to play in the 4th quarter, 2&goal at the 5: Dropped it, when Lewis hit him in the head/neck-area. Left game with a head injury.

week 9 @ Browns. Pass by Hoyer intercepted in garbage time.

week 11 vs Colts, 10:32 to go in the 4th, 3&5 at the 6-yard-line. Edelman heard footsteps and let the ball go right through his hand at the 3. FWIW, Phil Simms critiqued Brady's throw arguing that in that situation the pass needed to be on the body, especially when thrown that hard. Having watched that play more than once off the recording, I see nothing in Edelman's body language to indicate he heard footsteps - he doesn't have Welker's hands, so some of Tommy's bullets bounce.

Number 5 was the one on sunday obviously. Oddly enough Brady was throwing off balance and under pressure and put another bullet high and outside. And for those who think Brady walks off the field grumbling about his receivers, have you ever considered that Brady may have been upset with himself for missing? Funny thing about passing and receiving, it takes two to tango.

Re: Your bolded comments.

Hit.
Him.
In.
The.
Hands.
Both.
Times.

If your defense of Edelman is seriously "Brady needs to be MORE accurate with this throws", then that smacks of "The O-Line doesn't block for Maroney".

Remember the "O-Line doesn't block for Maroney" crap?

Is this about Edelman?

I mean, he's a 7th round pick. I don't think he can BE a bust, by definition.

Like I said, good contributions last year, can't catch a cold this year.

So far in this thread I've seen:

"He blocked a LB" - Good for him. That's what he gets paid for. If you haven't noticed, every other WR on the roster does the same damn thing. That's why the Patriots are getting more 2nd-level runs. It's the one skill I wish Moss had concentrated on full-time, because when he actually DID block, he was pretty good at it.

"Brady needs to be more accurate" - Uh huh. You could possibly argue his last two drops were marginally tougher than Brady's normally precision stuff, but both times....BOTH times...the ball hit Edelman IN THE HANDS. Not the fingertips. Palms. Of. Hands. You can't expect Brady to go out there and hand it to him, can you?

"Welker drops passes too" - He does. At least, this year he does, way, way more than he's ever done before. I don't know how much of that is the knee anymore at this point, but Welker's got 60-whatever catches this year, multiple TDs and 400+ catches since joining the team. I'm much more likely to think "That's ok, he'll come around", because he's got, you know, a track record. Edelman had a good run last year, and has been, for the most part, absent this year.

"Edelman's barely on the field" - 2 first down drops and a dropped TD vs. Indy will make that happen. Someone said it earlier in the thread. If Edelman had proven he could be counted on, Welker would be getting occasional rest, and Edelman would get more snaps. Right now, he's essentially wasting a roster spot.

"Don't you have anyone better to rant about?" - Not really, no. Meriweather maybe, but he's lucking his way into some INTs this year, so at least he's PRODUCING, unlike Edelman. Hell, even tLiability is producing.

--

If Edelman is going to stay on the roster due to his skillset and versatility that he's shown in the past, at least keep him off the field on 3rd down and Red Zone. Otherwise, bounce Julian. TIA.

I hope he's not a lost cause. I hope you're right. I've just seen the "rookie has a flash in the pan couple of weeks" thing before. What usually happens is they end up sticking on the roster an extra year or two longer than they should (Eugene Wilson, for example).

I want him to do well. I want every Patriot to do well. There just isn't a big margin for error with this team, as we've seen multiple times this season, usually toward the latter half of the game. There's no room for liabilities.

Look at Hernandez. He spent a couple weeks catching the ball at an Edelman-ian rate. Then he clearly did a bunch of extra work, and guess what, he hasn't dropped the ball lately.

They didn't dumb down the offense to get him some "confidence builders". They said "work on it" and he did.

I'm afraid that Edelman, despite his "heart", hasn't been "working on it". If he has, he's doing it wrong.
I hope he's not a lost cause. I hope you're right. I've just seen the "rookie has a flash in the pan couple of weeks" thing before. What usually happens is they end up sticking on the roster an extra year or two longer than they should (Eugene Wilson, for example).

I want him to do well. I want every Patriot to do well. There just isn't a big margin for error with this team, as we've seen multiple times this season, usually toward the latter half of the game. There's no room for liabilities.

Look at Hernandez. He spent a couple weeks catching the ball at an Edelman-ian rate. Then he clearly did a bunch of extra work, and guess what, he hasn't dropped the ball lately.

They didn't dumb down the offense to get him some "confidence builders". They said "work on it" and he did.

I'm afraid that Edelman, despite his "heart", hasn't been "working on it". If he has, he's doing it wrong.

Ugh, Hernandez references make me squicky in retrospect. I did say this one too.

I maintained that position through most of 2012, when I grudgingly accepted that he was the best Punt Returner I've ever seen. By the end of 2013 I'd come around completely about him as a WR (Just in time!)

Anyway, that's my "Edelman version". I was not alone in my opinion at the time, that much is for sure.

 

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TJ Hernandez ‏@TJHernandez 8m8 minutes ago

In '14, NE ran most plays inside opponents 10 yd line, w/ most RB rush att inside 10, and 6th highest % of plays to RB inside 10

 

[Schmo]

Woodhead was unproven. Vereen was unproven. Woodhead was a "jag that not even the jests wanted" and Vereen practically did nothing in terms of receiving his first two years outside of the 80 yard TD against the jests and his 80 yard 2 TD relieving game against houston in the playoffs.

Man, of all of our 3rd down backs, I had the biggest man-crush on Woodhead. He was truly a diamond in the rough.... aka "a good player on the Jets roster."

 

[RobertWeathers]

I really wish we had been able to extend Vereen. I understand that the money simply wasn't right, but we're basically relying on White to replace him.

Cadet will surprise you. He just needs time

 

[RobertWeathers]

Hes in the same unproven boat as White.

Not really. cadet has produced at an NFL level

 

[RayClay]

I really wish we had been able to extend Vereen. I understand that the money simply wasn't right, but we're basically relying on White to replace him.

One preseason game and the other two haven't played.

Also, though his soft running has disappointed, he seems like a nifty receiver. Can't afford to keep an all star team for 10 years anymore, you have to have developmental, cheap players somewhere.

 

[RayClay]

Still want to see what Lewis can do, though I'd be happy to see any of the guys show the ability to run and catch. If they can't, there's got to be a couple guys busting their butts to make an NFL roster because they don't have every down back physiques.

 

[Joey007]

I'd say 2011 & 2012 is most recent because welker, gronk, killer, woody. Those were basically all the reception guys for 2 seasons except Lloyd.

I remember there was huge expectations for that offense in 2012. Everyone was coming back and we added Lloyd and Gaffney in the offseason. Unfortunately Gronk and the killer were both getting dinged up and missing games at different times, Lloyd played solid but rather lacking of big plays, and Gaffney wouldn't even make the roster if I recall. It was still a pretty great offense just not 07' esque like people were hoping for.

 

[Joey007]

2005 was pretty much the same as 2004. Dillon, Faulk, Branch, Givens, Troy, Bethel, Graham, Fauria, Watson. Patten was gone, but that's about it.

But 05 Dillon was simply not quite 04 Dillon.

 

[RayClay]

If Lafell is healthy, that' top three receivers and maybe Dobson, experienced in our system and gibson, versatile NFL experience. Two good, big RBs and one in reserve. Healthy Gronk and a big, effective bookend added!

Looks good if we have even a decent 3rd down back.

 

[RayClay]

But 05 Dillon was simply not quite 04 Dillon.

'05 could have used a Brandon bolden, or anybody. It's a shame they had to use a one legged Dillon because they literally had no one else. Probably shortened his career and kept him out of the hall of fame.

 

[Joey007]

'05 could have used a Brandon bolden, or anybody. It's a shame they had to use a one legged Dillon because they literally had no one else. Probably shortened his career and kept him out of the hall of fame.

I'm not sure about that. Keep in mind what Dillons age was at the time. When you're over 30 as a RB the wheels can fall off at any time. As for his HOF case he did have a good 12-13 TD's in each of his last two seasons in 05 and 06, so it's not like his last two years completely screwed him over.

 

[RayClay]

I'm not sure about that. Keep in mind what Dillons age was at the time. When you're over 30 as a RB the wheels can fall off at any time. As for his HOF case he did have a good 12-13 TD's in each of his last two seasons in 05 and 06, so it's not like his last two years completely screwed him over.

Yeah, and when you run on a high ankle sprain when you should be off it 8-10 weeks, you probably don't recover at that age. He had a decent season or two in him and just average seasons would have seen him pass Jim Brown and all but a handful of runners in yardage.

He was still better, even part time, than anyone else we had if he hadn't aggravated that injury beyond recovery. I'm still pissed at BB for this, more than any other decision he'd made.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

This O really is loaded...can't wait

 

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https://twitter.com/PFF_Steve/status/632766784718962688

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

I can't wait for LaFell to return. One of the few, if only, advantages of having an early bye week, is that it allows JoJo to participate in more games once he returns from DTR.

 

[DarrylS]

The difference for this years team is the level of confidence that Brady seems to have for all of his weapons.. seemed as though last year he would focus on #11 and #87, this year he has more faith in Amendola and Dobson.. he also seems to have faith in Chandler and Lewis.. all of this is occurring without LaFell being here behind a very young O line..

See this offense as scary good, as in the past two games we hear about how good both of them were in the middle of their defenses.. we beat them up. The other part has to do with game planning, and with all of the jack of trades players we can mix and match them to confuse other D's.. then give BB two weeks off to prepare for the upcoming games..

 

[Bradyking12]

I really wish we had been able to extend Vereen. I understand that the money simply wasn't right, but we're basically relying on White to replace him.

I rather have Deion Lewis then Vereen...

 

[Bradyking12]

2005 was pretty much the same as 2004. Dillon, Faulk, Branch, Givens, Troy, Bethel, Graham, Fauria, Watson. Patten was gone, but that's about it.

Yea i still can't figure out why the 2005 team couldn't dominate like 03-04