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Yep. I have just accepted the fact that there are quite a few ******s in the Patriots fanbase, and they are the ones calling him a choker etc...
Amendola should be a really good player for NE but I just don't get the claims he will be better. To actually be better he will have to put up absurd numbers and while i can see 100 catches and 1100 yards i just don't see him or anyone else catching 140 balls for 1,600 yards etc... I also don't get the claims that he is m ore explosive when his YPC and YAC aren't as good as Welker's. i think most of it is wishful thinking. i hope he pujts up 100/1000 with a ton of first downs, that will be good enough for me.
The problem is that Amendola didn't have the help in St. Louis that Welker had here in New England. First with Moss, then with Moss, Gronk, Ahern, then with Lloyd, Gronk, Ahern. Yes, Amendola has Steven Jackson, but that's it.
Amendola was misused by the Rams. During his first two years, he was hardly ever in motion and he was running short routes (those under 10 yards). Welker was regularly running routes in the 15 yard range and then added even longer routes as his stay in New England increased.
Amendola has more speed and slightly less quickness than Welker. We should see him used in the longer routes (up to 15 yards) more here in New England than he was in St. Louis. And, with Gronk, AHern, Ridley, Vereen, and whomever else they add, there shouldn't be as much focus by the defense on Amendola, which will help him as well.
You say that Amendola's YPC and YAC aren't as good as Welkers. Ok. But Amendola has increased his YPC each year. The other thing is that Amendola's YAC isn't nearly as bad as you make it out to be. Welker gets 1 YAC per 1.91 Yards of receiving. Amendola gets 1 YAC per 2.01 Yard yards of receiving. Another way to look at it is that Amendola averages 4.37 YAC while Welker gets 5.8 YAC. It should be noted, though, that Welker only got 4.75 YAC while with Miami.
You can compare the stats here:
Welker:
Wes Welker - Stats, Bio – New England Patriots – NFL Football – SI.com
Amendola:
Danny Amendola - Stats, Bio – St. Louis Rams – NFL Football – SI.com
One thing I like about SI is that, under the splits, they give a good breakdown of the targets and the reasons why passes weren't caught.
Amendola only had 1 drop and 7 passes defensed in 101 targets.. Welker had 10 drops and 5 passes defensed on 175 targets.