O'Callaghan a TE?

[onegameatatime]

There were a few references by the announcers to O'Callahan at TE. Was this merely providing an extra tackle on clear short yardage situations (which I believe other teams have done) or more frequent and either a sign that Watson is not a great blocker or just a way to free up Watson more?

 

[mgteich]

O'Callaghan is a TE in the jumbo (short-yardage) package. He is the third tight end, so that we don't need to have three active. Hochstein has had that role in the past. Hochstein has been injured.

 

[letekro]

I think where a player lines up on the outside of a T, they are considered an eligible receiver.

 

[wistahpatsfan]

I think where a player lines up on the outside of a T, they are considered an eligible receiver.

But I think he has to be announced to the ref, like Brady did yesterday.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

But I think he has to be announced to the ref, like Brady did yesterday.

I don;t know how it came through on the TV but in stadium they announced every time he was eligible. Usually it was (as one poster noted) in the Jumbo package when the Pats were keeping the ball on the ground to grind it out and take time off the clock. I think one of the drives was 17 plays and 10 minutes but it worked and gave the defense some rest on a very humid day.

One thing that sort of surprised me. The Jets side of the field is on the western side so as the sun sets, the visitors get the shade first and the Jets are still in the sun. As the home team, I would think that they'd want the shade first but maybe I'm missing something here...

 

[JoeSixPat]

I think this bears watching... TE blocking is important, but is it $5 million a season important like Graham got?

Or, if we're asking a TE to primarilly serve as a 6th offensive lineman, why not actually put an offensive lineman in there, at a sum considerably less than $5 million a year.

I've seen more and more teams putting OL in at TE and even raised the thread in a question last season. It will be interesting to see if this is a developing trend.

 

[primetime]

It's an unbalanced line. Pretty classic formation. Nothing new there.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

I think this bears watching... TE blocking is important, but is it $5 million a season important like Graham got?

Or, if we're asking a TE to primarilly serve as a 6th offensive lineman, why not actually put an offensive lineman in there, at a sum considerably less than $5 million a year.

I've seen more and more teams putting OL in at TE and even raised the thread in a question last season. It will be interesting to see if this is a developing trend.

I can see it developing as a trend with the 2nd and 3rd TE's on a team.

The true value in having a TE who can both block and catch is that it provides a matchup advantage over a TE who can do just one or the other and not both. With a dual purpose TE, such as Graham, the defense must account for the possibility that Graham will stay in and block or he will go out in a pass pattern. When a one dimensional TE is in there, the defense can cheat towards only accounting for that 1 dimension of the TE's play.

With guys like O'C and Hochstein you basically have a 1 dimensional TE who the defense only has to worry about defending as a blocker. Such players are fine as 2nd and 3rd TE's but you wouldn't want them as your #1 guy.