In retrospect, I think the level of expectations for what Brandon Lloyd would bring to the table was a bit high. I mean, there's a reason he bounced around the league for a while before catching on in Denver, and that was only one truly good season.
I was hoping that the Tom Brady Effect would push him to another level -- and he did set a career high in catch rate -- but playing in the Pats offense can't change a player's basic skill-set.
Lloyd is who he is -- a receiver with unexceptional speed, adequate height and size and inconsistent route-running, but extraordinary body control and target radius, who makes his living making amazing, toe-tapping catches by the sideline -- and, maddeningly, dropping too many of the easy ones. In many of the cases Bedard points to, Lloyd bends his route toward the sideline because that's how he compensates for not consistently being able to get separation.
Still, the Pats have in Lloyd the conventional, if unexceptional, split end they were looking for. I think with the injuries to Hernandez and Gronk, not to mention Edelman, opposing CBs haven't had to give Lloyd much of a cushion, so he hasn't been able to get the easier 10-yard come-backs and curls he might have otherwise. Hopefully this will change if we've got both AH and Gronk healthy in the post-season. (Fingers crossed.)
