Gordon v. Cooks

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

It isn’t just the stats.

Gordon runs the entire route tree.
Gordon win contentested balls.
Gordon has a ridiculous catch radius and makes incredibly hard catches.
Gordon blocks really well.
Gordon is Brady’s most trusted target on pressure plays (3rd and 4th down)

Cooks...is fast.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Gordon is a better player but his unreliability makes him a less valuable asset

Let me start this off saying I’m a cooks fan. But wasn’t cooks unreliable in the biggest game of the season?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Let me start this off saying I’m a cooks fan. But wasn’t cooks unreliable in the biggest game of the season?

I don't know if I'd say he was unreliable. He got hurt trying to make a stupid move. He was outstanding in the AFCCG. He was good here.

However I think it's reasonable to say if you give Josh a full offseason of conditioning and immersion in the NEP system which would allow him to maximize his talent, he'd be better in this offense than Cooks was.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I don't know if I'd say he was unreliable. He got hurt trying to make a stupid move. He was outstanding in the AFCCG. He was good here.

However I think it's reasonable to say if you give Josh a full offseason of conditioning and immersion in the NEP system which would allow him to maximize his talent, he'd be better in this offense than Cooks was.

Oh he was good here. He made a couple stupid plays in that game (the leap being the other one). Luckily the offense didn’t seem to miss a beat after he left.

 

[NashuaPats]

Gordon has better hands and tracks and adjusts to the ball better. He's a natural. If he can get in better shape and more in sync with Brady, he will be as good as any receiver in the league.

 

[Nehalem]

It seemed like Gordon was dealing with some kind of nagging injury last night. Dont think it's a hamstring but it looks like something is bothering him.

He dislocated his finger during the game. The medical staff had to pop it back in a few times

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

The numbers are close, but Cooks was got force-fed the ball last season. Gordon seems to be more integrated and more naturally-suited to this offense.

 

[Vindicate]

This isn't a down play on Cooks, and if anything speaks to his speed but his catches were hardly ever as difficult at the catches Gordon's been making. Dude is a freak, it's absurd. Just knows when to put the hands up and often lands with it.

 

[Patjew]

Cooks is great. Really like the player and the person.

TBH though, I’ve never rooted for a player like I’ve rooted for Gordon. I really hope the kid has turned it around and can find peace and success.

 

[TheButlerDidIt]

I know it will sound like homerism based on who we presently have, but I am significantly more impressed with Gordon than with Cooks, for many of the reasons stated above. Specifically, his hands seem more "sure," he wins contested balls (and so separation is not as critical for him as it was for Cooks), and he seems to have a bigger route tree (although, frankly, I never understand why the Patriots never seemed to use Cooks for quick slants that Gordon is running).

Simply put, although I recognize that Cooks is a really, really good receiver, for some reason I never felt he was a difference maker in this offense: he seemed to basically run go routes and we lived and died off of pass interference calls.

In contrast, Gordon already feels like a "difference maker." I think he has the potential to be a truly great receiver in this offense, assuming his conduct is under control and he is not injured.

Even if he does nothing of greater significance this season, he has already proven to be a valuable and smart pick-up (and I doubted the move earlier in the year).

 

[RobertWeathers]

Cooks is great. Really like the player and the person.

TBD, I’ve never rooted for a player like I’ve rooted for Gordon. I really hope the kid has turned it around and can find peace and success.

Agree. There are a number of rooting interest angles with Gordon.

 

[sean10mm]

(although, frankly, I never understand why the Patriots never seemed to use Cooks for quick slants that Gordon is running).

Cooks dropped some of them and I think they were just kind of phased out. He was strangely drop prone on short passes in general, like he just wasn't used to the ball getting to him that soon. Which was weird since he was money on medium to deep stuff outside that was often what a normal person would see as higher difficulty catches.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I don't know if I'd say he was unreliable. He got hurt trying to make a stupid move. He was outstanding in the AFCCG. He was good here.

.

He also tried to hurdle a guy when diving forward would have gotten a first down earlier in the game on third down...

 

[RobertWeathers]

He also tried to hurdle a guy when diving forward would have gotten a first down earlier in the game on third down...

Yep that was dumb

 

[TheButlerDidIt]

Cooks dropped some of them and I think they were just kind of phased out. He was strangely drop prone on short passes in general, like he just wasn't used to the ball getting to him that soon. Which was weird since he was money on medium to deep stuff outside that was often what a normal person would see as higher difficulty catches.


Yeah, that's confusing to me. But, in my view, that was one glaring deficit (if it WAS a true deficit) of Cooks: we couldn't (or didn't) utilize his speed on higher percentage passes to get more yards after the catch. His value as a down-the-field threat was limited, from my perspective.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

I have worked with both of these young men and they both possess Cat like quickness

 

[Kontradiction]

Two totally different receivers but at his best, Gordon is a much better fit. He'll run every route in the route tree, willingly goes over the middle, and is the best wideout that Brady has had an high-pointing the ball since Moss. If he stays healthy and on the straight and narrow, the sky is the limit for him here.

 

[Patstopia]

I love the way Gordon has acclimated to the Pats.He definitely plays tough, he goes up and gets balls Cooks would not have.
My only worry is his drug history, it is a tough thing to get over and easy to slip back into. As long as he has someone watching over him and not letting him return to old habits he should be ok until after the season.

 

[ALP]

we have hogan and dorsett, those are our speedsters and safety movers, cooks being another (even though he is better than either of those) was too much redundancy, particularly when we have no big receiver and our only real options inside were gronk and edelman.

Josh is a receiver unlike all our others, cooks mirrored our others too much, hence even though they're both amazing (and just look at cooks this year to see that) Josh is a better fit for our current WR corps

if we all of a sudden replace hogan and dorsett with big and slower WRs, we'd be best to have cooks to round them out, than Josh

saying that, I also wonder if cooks was too fast for Brady, as in Brady had trouble getting the ball that far with cooks speed

 

[TinhWoodhead]

It seemed like Gordon was dealing with some kind of nagging injury last night. Dont think it's a hamstring but it looks like something is bothering him.

I think it was a dislocated finger