Re: Five wr against Pats D
OK. Some of this is getting silly.
1. "5 WR" formations rarely, if ever, include 5 guys who are listed in the depth chart as WRs. Most commonly, 1-2 of them are RBs or TEs. There are two main reasons for this. First, teams rarely bother activating 5 official WRs for the same game. Second, they generally want to force the defense to keep a personnel grouping on the field that could defend against the run.
2. In a 5 WR set, a key requirement is that one or more receivers get open QUICKLY, before the QB gets leveled. Welker and Faulk are good at that, as were Troy Brown and Deion Branch.
3. Another key requirement is that the QB very quickly recognize who will be open. Brady has always been great at that. Cassell is doing it well now too.
4. It is desirable that the QB deliver the ball very accurately, so that the runner catches it in stride. Brady actually did NOT excel at that at first, although he was never bad. The difference isn't as great as it is in running, but it's another area where Cassell may actually be a bit ahead of where Brady was in the same number of starts.