Just a few things:
- Many, though of course not all, of us looked at Llllllllllllllllllllllloyd as a player who would help by threatening middle-deep, but mostly by threatening outside the lines in the mid-range as opposed to making lots of deep catches.
- There has clearly been a change in the way that Llllllllllllllloyd is being used. The Jets game was the turning point. Whether that's because of injury, or because of the several Brady passes that Lllllloyd should have gotten but didn't, is something that this team isn't about to share with the public.
- The Patriots have, through their choice of constant CIA information lockdown, created a situation where the media and fans glom on to the tiniest bit of information and analyze it as if it's the next Rosetta stone. As a result, so-called "overreaction" is guaranteed to happen, pretty much on a daily basis.
- Assuming Stallworth gets on the field, it will be interesting to see whether the Patriots put Stallworth into Branch's old role, or whether they slide him into Lllllllllllloyd's role and have Llllllllllllllllllllllllloyd take the Branch/Edelman role.
While I would agree that all above is true, I think many fans (to include myself) are simply disappointed with some aspects of his game.
He has been a pleasant surprise in Run Blocking (although i must admit I had no knowledge or prior-history expectations of him one way or another here).
He has actually numbers-wise for the season, met reasonable expectations as a complementary player to the other receiving threats particularly when viewed in context of a much improved run game.
I think based solely on his numbers last year, many (I included) had unrealistic expectations of his deep-threat speed. So a lot of complaints although unreasonable - are a result of a mismatch of reality to expectations.
THAT SAID -- These seem to be valid (or potentially valid-#3) criticisms:
1. The inability to gain separation consistently seems to be a theme.
2. The falling down / going for unnecessary acrobatic catch / avoiding contact appears to be another theme.
3. ?? his target-catch ratio is very poor.
One thing I noted (ref 1) on 2 plays in Miami game was that he seemed much slower than Edelman, Welker, and TEs in coming out of his initial stance - "jump on the snap". That seems something coachable and not just; "he is older and slower than his 10 year old 40 time" as someone pointed out.
But this consistent not getting separation limits his targets. Brady has even admitted several times that Lloyd is open on tape; but he gets open after TB looked his way - so TB put it on himself that he needed to be more patient on Lloyd's routes. (or TB just doesnt see it due to the angles).
The #2 seems to be (IMO) that although he actually KNOWS THE PLAYBOOK and runs the correct routes; he still seems to do a littleOchoizing of the route - flattening or not cutting as sharply as needed. (Is hard to say as we don't know exactly what play design was.) but several times (that I saw based on where TB threw the ball) it results in not catching in stride (therefore falls down) or leaving no room by the sideline to turn upfield (runs out of bounds) etc.
On #3. He has gotten better (hey 1:1 = 100% this past week); but his rec % as a basis of targets was (I believe) the lowest WR and below the TEs who normally catch in more traffic. Some of this is due to TB using him as his 'avoid the intentional grounding' Go-To guy; so I am not sure what his true % should be or if it means he has avg or bad hands. I personally thought he needed to hit the jugs machine (wasnt used to the Brady-zip on the ball) early on in the season.
