Why Watson is not big time yet

[Peter Pat]

Watson has as many physcal gifts as any TE in football. He also has a great heart, and plays hard every play. (See the Champ Int last year).

But I think it is apparent that he has a problem holding onto the ball. I think that is the reason why more plays do not go to him. For a TE, he has a lot of fumbles, and I think if they threw to him as much as people call for it would be crazy. He cant be trusted with that many touches right now. If he slowly starts gaining confidence and holding onto the ball, than you can start to increase his role.

Until he overcomes this problem, he will never reach the potential he is capable of. I hope someone can help him soon, cause he could be an all pro with his skill set, but if you fumble you should not be on the field, or at least not have that many opportunities, until you earn them.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Watson has as many physcal gifts as any TE in football. He also has a great heart, and plays hard every play. (See the Champ Int last year).

But I think it is apparent that he has a problem holding onto the ball. I think that is the reason why more plays do not go to him. For a TE, he has a lot of fumbles, and I think if they threw to him as much as people call for it would be crazy. He cant be trusted with that many touches right now. If he slowly starts gaining confidence and holding onto the ball, than you can start to increase his role.

Until he overcomes this problem, he will never reach the potential he is capable of. I hope someone can help him soon, cause he could be an all pro with his skill set, but if you fumble you should not be on the field, or at least not have that many opportunities, until you earn them.

I can't really offer a perspective on why he's fumbling - I wish he'd stop.

But I do think part of the problem is the amount of pressure Watson feels - both mentally in needing to carry the offense, and physically in that he's got defnsive players just about draped all over him since he and Caldwell are the main receiving threats. That doesn't go unnoticed by DCs.

The vast majority of long passes go to Caldwell, vast majority of midrange balls go to Watson and the vast majority of short passes are going to Faulk.

That alone is going to see them have more fumbles and drops than others who get the ball less often. But the fact that defenses can key on those three guys doesn't make it easier for any of them.

Having some others step up to become significant receiving threats would help all of these guys, and would force defenders to play off these guys a little bit more - that in turn could help avoid turnover situations.

Beyond that, Watson is on track to catch about 65 balls this season - which is exactly where I thought he'd be - and that was with Graham and at least another WR taking some pressure off of him. So while none of us like the dropsies, Watson's been doing a pretty good job under some pretty tough circumstances.

So in that respect he's living up to EXACTLY the potential that many of us expected of him this season.

Actually, I predicted the 65 catches it looks like he's on track to get - but I was among the fans on predicting a higher amount.

http://208.109.107.176/new-england-...howthread.php?t=38328&highlight=watson+passes

Most fans expectations was that he'd catch between 40 - 60 catches this season. So one might say he's exceeded the expectations of most.

 

[Dagg]

Altho he is considered our pass catching TE I would argue Graham has better hands. He certainly doenst fumble like Watson and he makes the catch the first time, while watson tends to bobble before making or not making.

I can think of a number of catches he has bobbled and dropped or trapped. I just started noticing this siince Graham came back. I love Watson just wish he lived up to pre season hype but he is still young

 

[Drewwho]

This has been an issue from the get go with Watson. I remember watching some of those behind the scenes of TC and BB was touring him on the holding on to the ball issue.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I think people have to relax, and let Watson grow. This is his SECOND season as a fulltime NFL player. I remember Jerry Rice used to fumble all the time his first and second year, sometimes without being touched. Not comparing him to Rice, but I wouldn't fret about it. He's having an excellent second season.

 

[Murphys95]

Altho he is considered our pass catching TE I would argue Graham has better hands. He certainly doenst fumble like Watson and he makes the catch the first time, while watson tends to bobble before making or not making.

I can think of a number of catches he has bobbled and dropped or trapped. I just started noticing this siince Graham came back. I love Watson just wish he lived up to pre season hype but he is still young

That's kinda funny. I think the opposite. Graham has made some spectacular catches, and dropped many easy ones. You're right, Graham doesn't fumble for all intents and purposes - but he has had trouble making the catch. Graham is certainly a better blocker. Watson I still think is the better receiver of the two and I'm giving Benjamin the benefit of the doubt for now. He's had a couple of bad games in terms of fumbling. Let's see if he improves.