It's time for Amendola to step up

[SalemPats]

No conclusion jumping at all. It wasn't your post it was the one you quoted that made essentially that exact statement.



What I am saying is we don't need any single receiver to have great games as long as someone does.
Catches by individual receivers vary from game to game dramatically. As long as we are moving the ball and scoring points, we are fine whether Amendola, Edelman or anyone has a great game or an average one individually.

I agree with that statement. Saying that playoffs are different because the level of competition and defenses are better (although Colts/Broncos are bottom defenses). I'm hoping for a big game from him and Edelman

 

[Brady6]

what is the point of going on and on about this? He's hurt, and thus can't perform up to his compensation level.

It would be one thing if you were questioning the Pats for signing an injury prone player, but you're complaining about his performance, which is limited by his injury. The ironic part is that he is getting criticized for gutting it out and at least providing some production.

Couple of things in response to your post:

1. Amendola injured his groin on 9/9/2013; as of Sunday that will be 18 weeks ago. If Amendola is still hindered by the groin injury so much so that he had 3 receptions in his last 2 games I would have concerns that he will never recover. The timeline at the time of his injury was 2-6 weeks recovery, relying on Amendola’s going injury that occurred on opening day as we enter week 19 of the regular season is like blaming reaching to say the least.
2. I am not complaining about Amendola’s performance; I am simple recognizing the fact that this is what Danny Amendola is for 5 NFL season and unlike others I am not going to sit here hanging the carrot that he is going to become something different in year 6.
3. He is overpaid; and his cap hit and inability to cut him after the season could prevent this team from resigning players like Edelman, Blount, Talib or Spikes. Personally I would rather have any those 4 back than a chance at Amendola becoming the player everyone claims he can be but has never been.

Take a look at his career numbers, his season this season was nearly identical to his other seasons. There is nothing to indicate this will change.

• 2009 – 14 games, 43 receptions, 326 receiving yards, 1 touchdown
• 2010 – 16 games, 85 receptions, 689 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns
• 2011 – 1 game, 5 receptions, 45 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns
• 2012 – 11 games, 63 receptions, 666 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns
• 2013 – 12 games, 54 receptions, 633 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns

What I find interesting is the copout that people rely on with the groin injury, ignoring the fact that 1 of the 2 games this season where he had over 10 or more receptions was the game that he was injured, likely in the most pain and hindered the most.

 

[Sticky Caulk]

Couple of things in response to your post:

1. Amendola injured his groin on 9/9/2013; as of Sunday that will be 18 weeks ago. If Amendola is still hindered by the groin injury so much so that he had 3 receptions in his last 2 games I would have concerns that he will never recover. The timeline at the time of his injury was 2-6 weeks recovery, relying on Amendola’s going injury that occurred on opening day as we enter week 19 of the regular season is like blaming reaching to say the least.
2. I am not complaining about Amendola’s performance; I am simple recognizing the fact that this is what Danny Amendola is for 5 NFL season and unlike others I am not going to sit here hanging the carrot that he is going to become something different in year 6.
3. He is overpaid; and his cap hit and inability to cut him after the season could prevent this team from resigning players like Edelman, Blount, Talib or Spikes. Personally I would rather have any those 4 back than a chance at Amendola becoming the player everyone claims he can be but has never been.

Take a look at his career numbers, his season this season was nearly identical to his other seasons. There is nothing to indicate this will change.

• 2009 – 14 games, 43 receptions, 326 receiving yards, 1 touchdown
• 2010 – 16 games, 85 receptions, 689 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns
• 2011 – 1 game, 5 receptions, 45 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns
• 2012 – 11 games, 63 receptions, 666 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns
• 2013 – 12 games, 54 receptions, 633 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns

What I find interesting is the copout that people rely on with the groin injury, ignoring the fact that 1 of the 2 games this season where he had over 10 or more receptions was the game that he was injured, likely in the most pain and hindered the most.

He had a complete muscle tear. He has grinded through the pain. Just like Spikes.

Your last paragraph highlights your negative tone. Amendola, playing through injury still contributed a few big games. That's a bad thing to you?

 

[patsfan-1982]

we know his a mid level WR that has played the way he has his whole career a average of 12 games played 60 rec for 600 yards and 2 TD's but this is the playoffs its one game at a time and if he gets the match ups and gets open he will have a good game but I don't think he will be consistent week to week if the pats keep playing,


the only star the pats had on offense after Brady is on IR so its about the offense just making plays as a whole and the defense getting key stops and turnovers if they can do that they will bring home some Hardware

 

[Brady6]

Outside of your apparent continual need for attention,I don't find you too abhorrent. In fact, I find some of your comments quite lucid and informative. However on too many occasions you say things that are just SO wrong it just boggles my mind. This is one of them.

If you had any athletic experience at all, or actually moved around enough to ever strain your groin, you'd know that the only short term cure is COMPLETE rest. Now Amendola's injury is reportedly worse than just a mere strain, and he might actually need surgery to completely heal it. He's had very little rest. He was back running in a limited manner a mere week after he saved our asses in Buffalo, and he's been struggling through this season because without him we'd have been totally F'd, if you think about it.

I have had plenty of athletic experience I played football throughout K-12 and 3 years while in the air force, I know that 18 weeks is ample time to recover from the injury Amendola sustained, and if he is still suffering from the injury in a way that is making him incapable of playing at a high level he may not ever recover. He sat 4 weeks due to injury and had 2 weeks as a result of bye weeks during the 18 weeks this Saturday.

Also he does not need surgery, the injury sustained was a complete tear which is actually what they do when surgically repair it to alleviate chronic groin pain.

Amendola's ratio of catches to targets leads the team, and he's best on the team when it comes to drops. Clearly this has NOT been the initial season we hoped to get from him, but there have been lots of reasons why. And while not the kind of numbers we hoped for, he hasn't been a disaster either.

Reception Rate
Develin – 100%
Ridley – 83.33%
Bolden – 72.41%
Edelman – 69.53%
Vereen – 68.11%
Gronkowski – 59.19% (65.90% after first 2 games)
Mulligan – 66.67%
Hooman – 65.38%
Amendola – 65.06%
Collie – 54.54%
Dobson – 50%
Boyce – 47.36%
Thompkins – 45.71%
Blount – 40%

Drops
Edelman – 8
Dobson – 7
Vereen – 7
Thompkins – 7
Amendola – 4
Bolden – 3
Boyce – 2
Hooman – 1
Gronkowski – 1
Ridley – 1

Amendola is not tops in anything. His catch rate is one of the lowest, and his 4 drops are behind Edelman who doubled the pass targeted of any other Patriot and 2 rookies.

What we do know for certain, he's been a tough, gritty player, who has played through a lot to be a critical contributor to this over achieving team. Its alright to be critical of a player, but when you do, come at it from a place of knowledge. If you don't all you are then is another knee jerk whiner/chronic complainer, and we have too many of them already. The fact is you have no idea of the nature of his injury and no idea what he's doing to play through it, and how much it costs him in his execution. If you come forward and let us know that you are one of the Pats trainers or doctors in real life, then I'll issue a full apology.

I am not criticizing him I am acknowledging that the player we saw where #80 this season is the player that Danny Amendola is, he has been that player throughout his NFL career and I have no reason other than false hope to believe his 6th NFL season is going to be any different.

 

[Brady6]

He had a complete muscle tear. He has grinded through the pain. Just like Spikes.

Your last paragraph highlights your negative tone. Amendola, playing through injury still contributed a few big games. That's a bad thing to you?

The Amendola groin injury is exaggerated, using it as an excuse almost 5 months after the injury occurred is a desperate reach.

New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola completely tore the adductor longus tendon in his groin in the team's Week 1 victory over the Buffalo Bills, two league sources told Yahoo Sports. And it might be the best thing for the Patriots that he did.

Doctors often treat chronic groin pain by snipping the adductor longus – one of the muscles in the groin – from the pubic bone. Since Amendola's tendon ruptured, he essentially did the doctors' work for them, eliminating the need for surgery during the season. It also means he has a faster recovery time than if he had a groin operation.

Normal recovery time, even without surgery, is anywhere from two to six weeks. League sources said Amendola is healing faster than that, at a pace closer to three to four, which means he might play as soon as next Sunday at Atlanta

Y! SPORTS

I don’t see how a guy who average 1.5 receptions per game over the final 2 games when we were fighting for the #2 seed in the playoffs is someone who steps up in big games for us?

His best game was against the Dolphins in defeat, outside of that he had 1 game with over 50 receiving yards in the second half against Houston when he had 54 receiving yards. Take a look at his game log, tell me where he stepped up in big games, was it Denver when he had 3 receptions for 17 yards, or New Orleans when he had 2 receptions for 2 yards…

Danny Amendola Game By Game Stats and Performance - New England Patriots - ESPN

My tone is not direct at Amendola my tone is directed at the excuses, I have been hearing the same excuse since week 6 when I opened a thread about him proving his critics correct, 3 months later it’s the same song and dance from the same band of people. It's tired and redundant at this point.

 

[supafly]

Considering the fact that we don't really have anyone else at the moment (with the exception of those who are waiting for Dobson to don the Superman cape and suddenly turn into Larry Fitzgerald), yes--it'd be quite nice to see Amendola step up and take his game to another level in the postseason.

If you're looking at the situation as a whole however, I am not the least bit concerned about Danny Amendola, his production moving forward, nor his salary cap hit. One would have to assume that he'd have enough common sense to realize that he'll have to take a reduced deal should next year's production not warrant his current contract. It won't be like there are 31 other teams lining up to pay him 6 million dollars a year on average either.

 

[supafly]

I don’t see how a guy who average 1.5 receptions per game over the final 2 games when we were fighting for the #2 seed in the playoffs is someone who steps up in big games for us?

You're going to use our final 2 games where we had passing totals of 158 and 115 yards to try and show that Amendola wasn't doing his job?

Didn't we pretty much use the final 2 games to impose our physicality in the running game vs BAL and BUF? I could've sworn that we recently had 2 games where we didn't seem to throw all that much at all, using these opportunities to improve our run game, which is basically our best chance of succeeding in the postseason under these current circumstances.

How about the fact that he's about 10x a better blocker than anyone else that we currently have on the field, and that he makes Juilan Edelman look like a 5th grader in his blocking assignments and overall physique? I would imagine that Belichick has been using Amendola to the best of his ability, which includes being one of the better run blockers in the entire game at his position. I'd even go as far to say that he's better than both Welker and Edelman put together in this particular area.

I think we all saw someone in week #1 when we had absolutely no continuity whatsoever in the WR corps, nor did we even know what anyone's abilities were, to single handedly put the team on his back and carry them in one of the more gutsy performances of the season. Is there really any doubt in your mind that if they chose to play Amendola in the slot with 150+ targets like Edelman, that he wouldn't be doing very well? That wouldn't really be leaving us with much to use physicality wise in the blocking assignments though, would it? Who else is going to get that physical? Thompkins? Edelman? Collie?

 

[coolguy]

I'm laughing my ass off at the fact most of you don't think edelman emergence has greatly effected amendola's stats this year.


" I am not the least bit concerned about Danny Amendola, his production moving forward, nor his salary cap hit. One would have to assume that he'd have enough common sense to realize that he'll have to take a reduced deal should next year's production not warrant his current contract. "
Not going to happen. Amendola will replace edelman after he signs with another team for more money.
Teams are trying to hurt the patriots by stealing their best players threw free agency. It wouldn't shock me if the jets sign edelman to a ridiculous contract.

 

[coolguy]

And unlike Gronkciaparra, amendola is playing at full strength in the postseason.

 

[Brady6]

You're going to use our final 2 games where we had passing totals of 158 and 115 yards to try and show that Amendola wasn't doing his job?

Didn't we pretty much use the final 2 games to impose our physicality in the running game vs BAL and BUF? I could've sworn that we recently had 2 games where we didn't seem to throw all that much at all, using these opportunities to improve our run game, which is basically our best chance of succeeding in the postseason under these current circumstances.

How about the fact that he's about 10x a better blocker than anyone else that we currently have on the field, and that he makes Juilan Edelman look like a 5th grader in his blocking assignments and overall physique? I would imagine that Belichick has been using Amendola to the best of his ability, which includes being one of the better run blockers in the entire game at his position. I'd even go as far to say that he's better than both Welker and Edelman put together in this particular area.

I think we all saw someone in week #1 when we had absolutely no continuity whatsoever in the WR corps, nor did we even know what anyone's abilities were, to single handedly put the team on his back and carry them in one of the more gutsy performances of the season. Is there really any doubt in your mind that if they chose to play Amendola in the slot with 150+ targets like Edelman, that he wouldn't be doing very well? That wouldn't really be leaving us with much to use physicality wise in the blocking assignments though, would it? Who else is going to get that physical? Thompkins? Edelman? Collie?

Look at his entire season; he had an excellent game in week one, he miss four of the next five weeks due to injury, had a good game in week nine and then a great game in week fifteen. Every other game he has been mediocre. Then take a look at his game logs for 2012 and 2010 his trend was the same in both.

I don't think he would get a 150 targets because he struggles in getting open in many games, when he has a good matchup he can play amazing but he doesn't appear to matchup well consistently. The question of him or Edelman was answered this season in my opinion. The team was giving Danny the reps over Edelman at mid-season and he was not doing what needed to be done so they went back to Edelman at halftime in the Denver game and have not looked back since.

I don't think his blocking is as outstanding as you say and I guess I'm curious why the team would be using Edelman and either Dobson or Thompkins when running out of a two wide set if Amendola is as superior as you've suggested. They use Slater and Edelman in goal line or short yardage situations also.

His physique stalky but that can be misleading, size doesn't always equate to strength.

My response aside I don't have a problem with Amendola, I will gladly take the great games he will put up every 4-5 games along with the threat he adds to our offense. I just wish we didn't give him such a hefty contract.

 

[Brady6]

You're going to use our final 2 games where we had passing totals of 158 and 115 yards to try and show that Amendola wasn't doing his job?

Didn't we pretty much use the final 2 games to impose our physicality in the running game vs BAL and BUF? I could've sworn that we recently had 2 games where we didn't seem to throw all that much at all, using these opportunities to improve our run game, which is basically our best chance of succeeding in the postseason under these current circumstances.

How about the fact that he's about 10x a better blocker than anyone else that we currently have on the field, and that he makes Juilan Edelman look like a 5th grader in his blocking assignments and overall physique? I would imagine that Belichick has been using Amendola to the best of his ability, which includes being one of the better run blockers in the entire game at his position. I'd even go as far to say that he's better than both Welker and Edelman put together in this particular area.

I think we all saw someone in week #1 when we had absolutely no continuity whatsoever in the WR corps, nor did we even know what anyone's abilities were, to single handedly put the team on his back and carry them in one of the more gutsy performances of the season. Is there really any doubt in your mind that if they chose to play Amendola in the slot with 150+ targets like Edelman, that he wouldn't be doing very well? That wouldn't really be leaving us with much to use physicality wise in the blocking assignments though, would it? Who else is going to get that physical? Thompkins? Edelman? Collie?

Look at his entire season; he had an excellent game in week one, he miss four of the next five weeks due to injury, had a good game in week nine and then a great game in week fifteen. Every other game he has been mediocre. Then take a look at his game logs for 2012 and 2010 his trend was the same in both.

I don't think he would get a 150 targets because he struggles in getting open in many games, when he has a good matchup he can play amazing but he doesn't appear to matchup well consistently. The question of him or Edelman was answered this season in my opinion. The team was giving Danny the reps over Edelman at mid-season and he was not doing what needed to be done so they went back to Edelman at halftime in the Denver game and have not looked back since.

I don't think his blocking is as outstanding as you say and I guess I'm curious why the team would be using Edelman and either Dobson or Thompkins when running out of a two wide set if Amendola is as superior as you've suggested. They use Slater and Edelman in goal line or short yardage situations also.

His physique is stalky but that can be misleading, size doesn't always equate to strength.

My response aside I don't have a problem with Amendola, I will gladly take the great games he will put up every 4-5 games along with the threat he adds to our offense. I just wish we didn't give him such a hefty contract.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

The Amendola groin injury is exaggerated, using it as an excuse almost 5 months after the injury occurred is a desperate reach.



Y! SPORTS

I don’t see how a guy who average 1.5 receptions per game over the final 2 games when we were fighting for the #2 seed in the playoffs is someone who steps up in big games for us?

His best game was against the Dolphins in defeat, outside of that he had 1 game with over 50 receiving yards in the second half against Houston when he had 54 receiving yards. Take a look at his game log, tell me where he stepped up in big games, was it Denver when he had 3 receptions for 17 yards, or New Orleans when he had 2 receptions for 2 yards…

Danny Amendola Game By Game Stats and Performance - New England Patriots - ESPN

My tone is not direct at Amendola my tone is directed at the excuses, I have been hearing the same excuse since week 6 when I opened a thread about him proving his critics correct, 3 months later it’s the same song and dance from the same band of people. It's tired and redundant at this point.

Brady6, you aren't looking at the big picture. A lot of us aren't. Amendola has been competing through a muscle tear, having another slot receiver take his opportunity by the horns, gronk from game 7 to game 13. The fact Tom hasn't thrown over 200 yards the last 2 weeks into account. Also, we have been using KT and AD also on the outside. Amendola has shown when he gets consistent targets he can do really really well I.E. Miami. If he becomes part of the main game plan and as our wr 2 we can expect good numbers. The gronk really took away from his targets.

Amendola, Jules and the run game might be enough for moving the ball and getting in the EZ the next 3 games.

 

[Brady6]

Brady6, you aren't looking at the big picture. A lot of us aren't. Amendola has been competing through a muscle tear, having another slot receiver take his opportunity by the horns, gronk from game 7 to game 13. The fact Tom hasn't thrown over 200 yards the last 2 weeks into account. Also, we have been using KT and AD also on the outside. Amendola has shown when he gets consistent targets he can do really really well I.E. Miami. If he becomes part of the main game plan and as our wr 2 we can expect good numbers. The gronk really took away from his targets.

Amendola, Jules and the run game might be enough for moving the ball and getting in the EZ the next 3 games.

Brother trust me I want Amendola to play well I opened a thread after the Miami game defending him and eating my crow. I just disagree that Amendola is more that what he has been. There is nothing wrong with Amendola over 16 games he is a 60-70 reception, 700-800 receiving yard receiver. I will take that and be happy, I am just not going to sit here and pretend he is going to be something more and a groin injury is the only reason it didn't happen. This is Amendola, this is what he has been his entire career. We're overpaying for him somewhat but not anything ludicrous and maybe we can restructure and make it even better. I don't want us to get rid of the guy I just want posters to stop hanging this carrot that something more is coming because there is nothing to suggest it is, he has great games and yes if he did that every week he would be amazing but lots of players have great games and if they did it weekly the same would be true. What makes a truly great player is doing it repetitively week after week, Amendola doesn't and has never done that.

 

[pazrul72]

How about the fact that he's about 10x a better blocker than anyone else that we currently have on the field, and that he makes Juilan Edelman look like a 5th grader in his blocking assignments and overall physique? I would imagine that Belichick has been using Amendola to the best of his ability, which includes being one of the better run blockers in the entire game at his position. I'd even go as far to say that he's better than both Welker and Edelman put together in this particular area.

This, so this. I laugh at everyone who says Danny has sucked because his numbers are worse then edeleperson's. How many of those catches and yards has Danny thrown a GREAT block to spring him? I have been pleasantly surprised by his blocking skill and rate it up there with Hines ward. Is he a little overpaid? Yeah but he is also injured and playing through it which was his rep before joining the pats. Overall I am pleased with his play this year though I did hope for a little more stat production. For the people who rate Eldeman as clearly superior to amendola I have to ask who is better TE GRONK or graham? It's the same thing that IMO separates that debate GRONK is the waaaaaay better blocker so wins. Same thing with the Eldeman/amendola debate it's far closer when you measure them as football players not stat compilers.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Reiss said he is still battling it. Sounds like he won't be right until next year.

This is part of the reason why I think it's unfair to single out Amendola. For all we know he's been sucking it up and playing in pain because quite frankly they need every live body they can and I give guys like Amendola a lot of respect for that. I think we've got a lot of guys like that on this team and that's what's brought them this far.

That being said, I'm sure Amendola would agree, he needs to step it up in the playoffs - as does every single player on the team.

Win lose or draw I've got a TON of respect for these guys and appreciate how far they've come with a lot of no name guys stepping up to effectively play their roles as starters went down, and helped gain the bye and the home playoff game for us all!

I'm hoping there's a lot of new, household names of the future that are pumped up to show everyone what they're made of in the playoffs.

I may not be wagering anything them on winning the Super Bowl, let alone the Indy game, but I sure as hell wouldn't wager anything against them either!

 

[supafly]

The team was giving Danny the reps over Edelman at mid-season and he was not doing what needed to be done so they went back to Edelman at halftime in the Denver game and have not looked back since.

This offense has been a complete joke in terms of receiving options, and that has made responsibilities spread throughout different players a bit more noticeable than even in past years. The situation changes throughout specific gameplanning, and even then, throughout adjustments and particular formations.

I don't think that you're correct that Amendola has not played in GL formations, as we just witnessed him catching the GW touchdown pass from the 2 yd line in the CLE game. There have been plenty of times where Amendola (and others, of course) have been a part of specific packages.

I don't think his blocking is as outstanding as you say

His physique stalky but that can be misleading, size doesn't always equate to strength.

Well then you simply haven't noticed then, not meaning to sound sarcastic to you. His blocking has been exceptional, and it has been noted by not only the announcers during the TV broadcasts a couple/few times this year, but I also have read at least 2-3 different comments via twitter from beat writers, along with at least one reference in an article that was linked to this very site about a month or so ago.

There have been a couple of times where he's absolutely lit his man up, and there was even the recent example where he literally knocked his guy up in the air and back on his ass like nobody's business. For a guy of his size, he's been giving his all in the blocking game, and we haven't been seeing that from guys like Brandon Llyod etc lately.

I think that Amendola has not lived up to his contract too, but that has nothing to do with anything at the moment, other than something that you yourself keep bringing up. His base salary this season was 2 million dollars, with a 3.5 million dollar cap hit. I'm not nearly as concerned as you seem to be about the longterm potential, and I think we may find that out a lot quicker than some imagine--especially if another team with 35-40m+ in cap space offers Edelman a good deal in free agency and he walks. As I said many times, if Amendola has a 2014 campaign where he doesn't produce up to the standards or contract set for him, I'm sure that will be addressed and they'll deal with it accordingly, just like always. Sometimes the bigger picture of the next season (or even the current one depending on circumstances that we don't know of) come into play, so I'd highly doubt that Belichick will be having an itchy trigger finger to do much of anything with Amendola prior to completion of the next 2014 season.

This year was a tremendous wildcard of sorts, and I think that once we get back to a more normalized offense with more than 1-2 actual weapons, we'll see things a bit differently. I would also imagine that Amendola will be doing some offseason work with Brady again, as both of them are insane competitors and will likely be training and working together on some level. Everything will depend on all of the various factors just like any other year, but this season hasn't been a great measuring stick for either one of Edelman or Amendola. All we've seen was that Edelman earned Brady's trust due to a lack of reasonable targets, and that he was finally able to stay healthy, but I don't believe that we're seeing a good sample size from either player to be honest. One is getting crapped on too much, and another is being praised a bit too much. The truth is closer to the middle with these 2 players in my opinion, but we'll have to see what Belichick thinks. Obviously, I'd like to see JE retained.

 

[supafly]

He's being one of the better run blockers in the entire game at his position. I'd even go as far to say that he's better than both Welker and Edelm How many of those catches and yards has Danny thrown a GREAT block to spring him? I have been pleasantly surprised by his blocking skill and rate it up there with Hines ward. Is he a little overpaid? Yeah but he is also injured and playing through it which was his rep before joining the pats.

Apparently, there are some here who still haven't noticed this aspect, but I figured that it's been pointed out enough times during broadcasts and the normal eye test, that it would be more than common knowledge now.

Again....I'm not trying to say that Amendola hasn't had a "down" year in terms of what we all expected (which was realistically about 75-80 catches from me), but he also hasn't been used in the role that most of us thought he'd be used in either.

As far as the contract that he didn't live up to, I will also agree that he didn't fully earn his 2 million base salary or his 3.5m cap hit, but sometimes you see these things happen. Luckily, we know for a fact that Belichick will address this issue if it continues, and even then I wouldn't be surprised if Amendola took a bit of a reduced deal--even though we're a long way off (at least one full season) from needing to address that in my opinion. A lot can happen in the meantime, including Edelman leaving, or adding and getting better WRs back to contribute for 2014.

 

[supafly]

This is Amendola, this is what he has been his entire career.

I don't want to beat a dead horse or get into any pissing matches with you, since we apparently have a bit of a difference of opinions on this topic, so I see no reason to go round and round with you or anyone for that matter. I have respect for you, and I will even admit to agreeing with you that he's underperformed at certain aspects since we all expected more production from him from the slot, and much less from Edelman in the same manner. I do think that due to the WR shuffling and other aspects, one being mainly a lack of talent at the position, we didn't see these 2 players play the roles that were really expected from them quite as much as in some normal circumstances.

One thing that I've been happy with is the fact that he seems like a very hard worker, which is not something that we are always guaranteed when bringing in a free agent outsider. He has a very positive attitude, seems to really have a knack for giving his all on every play, and is yet another guy who has the potential to work hard in our system and flourish in the future.

To be honest, I try to be as unbiased as I possibly can, but I just am not absolutely convinced that we're seeing a large enough sample size for either one of these two players. The good thing is that I'm personally not as concerned about his "flaws" and underproduction, because I think we saw that he'll play tough through injury and continue to try and progress. It's due to this reasoning why I have more confidence in him as a future player here, as opposed to someone else that we just as easily could have brought in. That, to me is a positive that should probably point to a higher chance of success in 2014 than for some other players who we've brought in via FA in the past.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

DA's sample size is too small to declare him anything (yet) and I don't really think that's an opinion. There's too many examples of players who eventually become important parts to a team that start out with: a few stellar games, a few un-stellar games, missing/underperforming a few games due to injury. Since that kind of start, as history shows, may or may not be telling, DA currently (and fairly) gets the grade of 'incomplete'.
But I agree with the OP that now is the prime opportunity for DA to make his mark (assuming injury allows him to). DA still has the most important game(s) of his entire career to play. What he contributes now will define him more than anything he has done this season. Plus, with no doubt whatsoever, the Patriots need him/receivers to REALLY step it up (Hoo stepping up would be a friggin dream!).