Deion Branches production tied to Aaron Hernandez?

[RIpats88]

if you look at the last 2 games where Aaron Hernandez was out, Deion Branch had 1 catch for 4 yards....then hernandez comes back and Branch is back to having an 80yd game against the Jets and 69yds against the cowboys

it seems to me that when Hernandez is out there, defenses pay alot more attention to him and tend to forget about Branch, so he ends up burning them.

the 2 games where hernandez was out, our offense became very reliant on Welker/Gronk as teams keyed in on Deion Branch....on a semi-related note I think this is partially why Belichick made the trade for Ocho, because there needs to be another option out there that teams respect when Hernandez isnt out there

 

[TheSolderKing]

When you have the BEST TE Duo in the NFL especially for creating mismatches, of course certain ppl will remain marginally covered. when 1 of our TE's was out other teams could just double Gronk and and put a better DB on a WR like Branch. Hence "MISMATCHES" happen when we have BOTH TE's

 

[ALP]

Teams apparently see branch as toms second favorite target and have payed a lot of attention to him when they can (when they don't also have to focus on Aaron)

Branch has actually been double teamed a lot this season

 

[Shockt327]

Correlation =/= Causation

 

[Rob0729]

Deion Branches?!? Maybe the problem with their production is there are too many Deion Branches. One Deion Branch is certainly enough for this team to be productive.

 

[NSPF]

Aaron Hernandez is too tied up with producing Deion Branches instead of working on his fumbling problem.

 

[Hael]

Its not hard to understand why either. Teams can generally speaking take out 2 targets on a football field. But when you introduce 3rd or 4th dangerous options, it becomes almost impossible to keep both targets covered.

A lot of teams choose to take out Branch b/c in some sense its less hard to keep a second tier DB and a safety on him (or alternatively their best DB in man), than it is to cover Welker where you have to muck up the center of the field.

When Hernandez is there, the safety has to make a choice between Branch and him. Consequently he gets a lot more looks.

 

[signbabybrady]

Its 1 + 1 = 2

If someone else is there to respect more will open up for the others.

It doesnt have to be Hernandez but someone.

Hernandez is nasty though.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Correlation =/= Causation

It oftentimes pretty heavily suggests it, though.

 

[Sciz]

I wouldn't say it's Hernandez playing that opens things up for Branch, but the 2TE offense that they use when Hernandez is playing. Not so much this season, but last season Branch was very very easily the best WR on the team statistically with 2 TEs on the field.

 

[Deus Irae]

I wouldn't say it's Hernandez playing that opens things up for Branch, but the 2TE offense that they use when Hernandez is playing. Not so much this season, but last season Branch was very very easily the best WR on the team statistically with 2 TEs on the field.

.... which demonstrates why you have to read beyond the statistics. Failure to do that leads to people wanting to trade Welker.

 

[Guts]

The last 2 Patriots losses??

Vs Buffalo no Hernandez
vs Jets Hernandez of a hip injury

Fair to say he is the offense x factor