Honestly I am glad about the receivers for this game

[Deus Irae]

No - it’s obvious sarcasm as a response to the definitive Player X is better than Player Y. Just look at the depth chart! mentality. Brady over Bledsoe is the obvious reference here, but Amendola was supposed to be the #1 receiver in 2013, got dinged up, and allowed Edelman the opportunity to emerge as well.

The Patriots don’t have bad receivers. Dorsett and Sanu aren’t bad receivers. But we know their ceilings, and we know the passing has some serious issues, and it isn’t just because of the protection. Meyers has 15 catches on 19 targets while Harry has the most raw athleticism on the team. Is it possible the passing game improves? They’ve been putrid running it with Edelman and a bunch of B-minus to C other receivers.

When it comes to such things as this, something that happens very rarely should not be preferred over something that happens almost all the time.

The Patriots drafted Brady at #199. You may have noticed that such a pick hasn't led the Patriots to trading away every pick that's above #199.

 

[Ring 6]

Brady hasnt involved the rookies yet. What makes you think he will now? Bolden, Edelmen, White, sometimes Watson. Harry and Meyers will have 4 or 5 catches combined. Book it.

What makes you think he hasn’t?

Snap counts/receptions
Harry 32/3. About 1 per 11
Meyers 238/15 About 1 per 16
Dorsett. 443/26. About 1 per 17
Sanu 145/14. About 1 per 10
Gordon 320/20. 1 per 16
Edelman 647/68. About 1 per 10

so in Harry’s first game he has about as many catches per snap as Edelman and sanu.
All season Meyers has had as many catches per snap as Gordon and dorsett.

It looks like he is using them just as much as everyone else WHEN THEY ARE ON THE FIELD.
Are you expecting him to complete passes to Meyers when he is on the sideline? Was he wrong to not involve Harry when he was on IR?

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

So you mean you have a problem with us just rolling with veteran FA acquisitions (Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Amendola, Lafell, Cooks, Gordon, Sanu etc) and winning non-stop and you would like us to go through rebuilding pain with rookies and have some losing seasons like most teams???!?

You make a good point, but the cost of these players skyrocket now when the Pats are interested. I have no problem with the FA pickups. But keep in mind that this team has been largely protected by Gronkowski for the last nine years which has allowed many guys to get lots of separation. Would like to see them develop a couple of highly productive players that stick more than a hear or two...and at this present moment in time, their options are very limited anyway. I’d just like to see Harry and Meyers get a lot targets once to see if we have something special. That’s all. I don’t feel like Sanu and Dorsett are game changing players, so I’m excited about this game and seeing the rookies try to prove themselves.

 

[Ring 6]

It's pretty clear that PIT's ability to identify WRs is an outlier.

The main issue is that above average WR talent is highly prized thus almost always off the board in the first half of the first round of the draft, and of course we keep winning our division year after year and we are drafting much later than that.

Pitt also drafts a lot more receivers a lot higher than us and most other teams.

 

[Ring 6]

Wtf?

You are the one who posted that crap.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

When it comes to such things as this, something that happens very rarely should not be preferred over something that happens almost all the time.

The Patriots drafted Brady at #199. You may have noticed that such a pick hasn't led the Patriots to trading away every pick that's above #199.

But you can acknowledge the point we’d have five rings and not had the starter played over the backup in 2001, without injury.

I’m not saying Meyers or Harry are going to be Jerry Rice. The idea that one, or both, may be better than Sanu or Dorsett in certain situations is not some lighting strike odds idea. Particularly in the red zone.

 

[slash83]

Da fuq?

 

[Deus Irae]

But you can acknowledge the point we’d have five rings and not had the starter played over the backup in 2001, without injury.

Sure but it's a meaningless point. It's also just a guess, so acknowledging it is really just a "for the sake of argument" sort of acknowledgement, and not one of which we can actually be certain.

I’m not saying Meyers or Harry are going to be Jerry Rice. The idea that one, or both, may be better than Sanu or Dorsett in certain situations is not some lighting strike odds idea. Particularly in the red zone.

Your argument is asinine. Meyers has been around all season long. He's been on the field. He's shown an excellent ability to break right when he's supposed to break left, and to quit on routes when he's supposed to be running them hard, but that's not the sort of ability that plays well in New England, either with the QB or the coaching staff. And everyone is hopeful that Harry will be an endzone target, and that's one way he'd almost certainly be looked at this week, regardless of the health of Sanu and Dorsett. Furthermore, by wishing for both WRs to be on the shelf, you're wishing for the team to be down to just 3 wide receivers, all in the hope that an offense that's already struggling will be forced to rely more heavily on two young players still learning the game. So you're wishing for a weakened team for all the wrong freakin' reasons.

****, if you'd said that you wanted the WRs to blow in order to put more pressure on the team to bring in AB, that would at least have made some sense. This crap, of hoping that the better WRs are unavailable so that the QB is forced to pass to (at least currently) lesser players, is the sort of nonsense that deserves to be mocked endlessly.

 

[TomPatriot]

This has nothing to do with Brady. It has to do with Harry and Meyers stepping up and doing their job. It’s time.

 

[rochrist]

the Steelers don’t hit on late round receivers the way you suggest. Here’s their track record for the past 15 years. Brown is literally the only late round hit. And they’ve whiffed on more than they’ve hit on in the early rounds. They’re living off the reputation of those 3 drafts 10 years ago when they got Sanders, Wallace, Brown and Holmes

Dionte Johnson - 3rd round, nothing special yet

James Washington - 2nd round, nothing special yet


Juju Smith Schuster - 2nd round, superstar

Demarcus Ayers - 6th round, flop

Sammie Coates - 3rd round, flop

Dri Archer - 3rd round, flop

Martavis Bryant - 4th round, flop due to off field

Markus Wheaton - 3rd round, flop

Justin Brown, 6th round, flop

Toney Clemons - 7th round, flop

Emmanuel Sanders - 3rd round, great

Anotnio Brown - 6th round, great

Mike Wallace - 3rd round, good

Limas Sweed - 2nd round, flop

Dallas Baker - 7th round, flop

Santonio Holmes - 1st round, great

Willie Reid - 3rd round, flop

Fred Gibson, 4th round, flop

JuJu is a superstar but Antonio and Sanders are merely great? Without Antonio, Ju Ju is average.

 

[TheAdultintheRoom]

Seems like we blame Brady for stuff that has nothing to do with him. If Harry was some phenom that was open by 3 yards on every play, I'm sure Brady would be happy to throw it to him. I don't buy the Brady sabotaging rookies conspiracy theories.

 

[Zuma]

It's not quite the same but Sanu was force fed in the Ravens game because we were thin...which helped build chemistry. So that was a positive...but obviously we prefer all our receivers healthy.

 

[Deus Irae]

Seems like we blame Brady for stuff that has nothing to do with him. If Harry was some phenom that was open by 3 yards on every play, I'm sure Brady would be happy to throw it to him. I don't buy the Brady sabotaging rookies conspiracy theories.

• In 2013, Brady was practically hand delivering the ball to his pair of rookies.
  
• In 2016, Brady targeted Mitchell 48 times during the regular season, and another 11 times in the playoffs, even while having Edelman, Amendola and Hogan on the team.

That doesn't fit the current narrative, though.

 

[luuked]

I’m not saying Meyers or Harry are going to be Jerry Rice. The idea that one, or both, may be better than Sanu or Dorsett in certain situations is not some lighting strike odds idea. Particularly in the red zone.

Surprised I have to write this but you are aware that the coaching staff doesn't need to try Meyers or Harry ingame to know if they would be doing better than other options. That is what practice is for. They know exactly where everyone is and if there is any coaching staff where I have zero reservations about trying to do what gives the team the best shot to win then it is this. If this means trading Collins, leaving Sheard back at home or replacing a veteran in Arrington with a UDFA named Butler for the second half of the SB then they will do it.

Sometimes it doesn't work out -- as we have seen with the other Butler episode -- but there are clearly not many taboos when it comes to personnel usage.

This is very similar to how some want to "give Harris" a chance as RB to see what he can offer. We don't need to do that. The staff already knows exactly what he can and can't do.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Tomorrow is going to be brutal. I’m talking weeks 16 and 17 of the 2015 season bad.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Tomorrow is going to be brutal. I’m talking weeks 16 and 17 of the 2015 season bad.

I bet you already stocked up on bottled water and canned goods.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I bet you already stocked up on bottled water and canned goods.

Oh boy!

 

[Ring 6]

Tomorrow is going to be brutal. I’m talking weeks 16 and 17 of the 2015 season bad.

Actually it figures to be a better day for the offense because the primary problem, the OL, has been significantly upgraded.
That’s multitudes more important than playing Harry and Meyers instead it dorsett and sanu

 

[Deus Irae]

Tomorrow is going to be brutal. I’m talking weeks 16 and 17 of the 2015 season bad.

The OL should be better. It's a home game. The opposing defense is a zone team without a lot of film on Harry. The Patriots have that going for them.

 

[aluminum seats]

What makes you think he hasn’t?

Snap counts/receptions
Harry 32/3. About 1 per 11
Meyers 238/15 About 1 per 16
Dorsett. 443/26. About 1 per 17
Sanu 145/14. About 1 per 10
Gordon 320/20. 1 per 16
Edelman 647/68. About 1 per 10

so in Harry’s first game he has about as many catches per snap as Edelman and sanu.
All season Meyers has had as many catches per snap as Gordon and dorsett.

It looks like he is using them just as much as everyone else WHEN THEY ARE ON THE FIELD.
Are you expecting him to complete passes to Meyers when he is on the sideline? Was he wrong to not involve Harry when he was on IR?

I think incorporating targets as another data point in this would be interesting, and may very well lead to a different conclusion than the one you’re making.