Don't care but this article is poorly written.
Patriots receivers had the 4th worst seperation rate in football. Any more questions?
- Michel out to start the season and mid season
- Receivers had to run the ball contributing to a bad balance between running and passing
- Gronk was not the same obviously
- Edelman missed those first 4 games
- Gordon got acquired during the season and obviously left during the season again
- Hogan was not the same either
- Cooks gone
- Amendola gone
The deep ball wasn't there because of those factors. Also how many interceptions were off deflections? Must have been a handful.
I looked up the stats when Michel, Gordon and Edelman played
vs Colts, 341 yards 3 TD 2 INT
vs Chiefs, 340 yards, TD
vs Bears 277 yards, 3 TD, INT
vs Titans 254 yards
vs Vikings 311 yards, TD, INT
vs Jets 283 yards, 2 TD
vs Dolphins 358 yards, 3 TD
can we please remember that Brady only had those 3 together for a total of 7 games? If we know remember that Michel did injure himself early in the Bears game and did just come back from injury before the bye week and wasn't himself yet, we are talking about only 5 of 16 games of 100% Gordon, Edelman and Michel.
But above, in those 7 games Brady averaged over 310 yards passing per game while he had
13 TD
4 INT
Brady had to overcome a ton last year.