Pass distribution first 6 weeks sans Edelman

[maineman209]

Against the Jets there were no passes attempted to Develin, Lewis or Allen. Brady only threw passes to 5 receivers, it would seem that if Brady gave the illusion that there are other targets available the O might be better..

IDK. Maybe they were covered?

5 targets is a season low. He'd been averaging 8.6 different receiving targets in the previous five games.

 

[RI Patriots fan]

Totally agree on the downfield passes, but it would be nice if the passes that hit him in the hands and between the 1 and the 4 were pulled in. Cooks has dropped passes in an Aaron Dobson-esque way through the first six games. My expectation is that he'll do as good a job as somebody like Deion Branch. We are not there yet.

Except for the fact that Cooks has only 2 drops on 41 targets this season so far while Amendola has 3 drops on 32 targets this season. That's 1 drop per 20.5 targets for Cooks vs. 1 drop per 10.7 targets for Amendola. Also, Cooks' receptions generally have a higher degree of difficulty because they're made over greater distances.

2017 NFL Player RECEIVING Stats | Drops

As an "aside" point...Cooks has the 5th most yards receiving and the 3rd highest average yards per catch in the NFL.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Loved The Twig but so far Cooksie is out performing him. Let's hop it continues and that our guy comes up big when it counts most like he's done already.

 

[JMC00]

Cooks has dropped passes in an Aaron Dobson-esque way through the first six games.

Mentioning Cooks in the same breath as Dobson? GTFO

Cooks this season (on 41 targets)
Number of 40+ yard catches- 4 (LEADS LEAGUE)
Number of 20+ yard catches- 7


Dobson whole career (on 98 targets)
Number of 40+ yard catches- 2
Number of 20+ yard catches- 7

 

[Tony2046]

Against the Jets there were no passes attempted to Develin, Lewis or Allen. Brady only threw passes to 5 receivers, it would seem that if Brady gave the illusion that there are other targets available the O might be better..

Imo, this is a direct result of increasing oline protection. If you look at some of the videos in the rewatch thread you'll see they used 6 o-linemen, 12 and 21 personnel to give Brady extra protection.

So instead of having 5 targets running around you only have 4 which is easier to cover from a defensive prospective.

 

[mgteich]

Punt returns aren't any more dangerous than catching passes in traffic.

The question is who you want to have the 5 or so extra targets in traffic. Some teams prefer not to use on of the starting WR's, favoring to use a #4 or 5 WR or some other backup. Of course, that is NOT Belichick's philosophy,

 

[mgteich]

Against the Jets there were no passes attempted to Develin, Lewis or Allen. Brady only threw passes to 5 receivers, it would seem that if Brady gave the illusion that there are other targets available the O might be better..

An interesting idea. You think that it would be better to target these guys instead of our top 4.

 

[Ring 6]

The question is who you want to have the 5 or so extra targets in traffic. Some teams prefer not to use on of the starting WR's, favoring to use a #4 or 5 WR or some other backup. Of course, that is NOT Belichick's philosophy,

What 5?
We have had 10 punt returns all season

Last year we had less than 3 per game.

Yiu could argue there are so few it's an unimportant role but if we had dola back there in Denver in 2015 we may be looking to 4peat.

 

[brdmaverick]

Maybe a unique compromise would be to have Amendola on punt returns but just to fair catch every time.

Sure, you'll prevent yourself from the two long punt returns that might happen during the season, but you may actually be better off over time due to........

1.) Negating all the penalties that WOULD have occurred on a real return

2.) Reducing Amendola's exposure to injury

 

[Ring 6]

Maybe a unique compromise would be to have Amendola on punt returns but just to fair catch every time.

Sure, you'll prevent yourself from the two long punt returns that might happen during the season, but you may actually be better off over time due to........

1.) Negating all the penalties that WOULD have occurred on a real return

2.) Reducing Amendola's exposure to injury

These kind of comments get me so frustrated.

Football is probably the most competitive sport in the world, it certainly is the most physical and has the greatest injury risk, including painful injuries caused by a person purposely colliding with you as hard as they can.

There just cannot be the mentality of 'listen if you catch the punt they are going to try to tackle you, and we really don't want you to get hurt, so I want you to give up on the play because its too dangerous for you to handle, so call a fair catch"

The player you say that to will play offense afraid of injury and when that happens, you get injured.
Football players know from peewees on that the best way to avoid injury is to play as hard as you can every play, and coasting is what gets you hurt.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Possibly, but I don't think there's any mystery that Cooks and Hogan, who run the higher percentage of deeper routes, would have lower overall completion percentages. Remember, this isn't just drops, but incompletions on harder plays to make.

Even moreso, Brady is throwing the ball out of danger, where no one can catch it, on a good number of those "missed," deeper throws.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

2016--2017 catch rates/ypc

White: 69.8%/9.6 --- 78.6%/7.6 .(catch rate way up, ypc down)
Cooks: 66.7%/15.0 -- 58.5%/19.7 (catch rate down, ypc way up)
Hogan: 65.5%/17.9 -- 58.5%/12.8 (catch rate down, ypc way down)
Gronk: 65.8%/21.6 -- 65.0%/15.4 (catch rate down slightly, ypc way down)
Danny: 79.3%/10.6 -- 81.3%/11.8 (catch rate up, ypc up)

Other notable catch rate/ypc in 2017:

Lewis: 100%/6.0 ypc
Develin: 75%/6.7 ypc
Burkhead: 57.1%/12.3 ypc
Dorsett: 50%/21.3 ypc

That's really useful. Thanks for the work!
PS: I'd love to see those numbers if Jules were in the mix...****!

 

[brdmaverick]

These kind of comments get me so frustrated.

I would never deny that football is a physical and dangerous games and that injuries are gonna happen. No one will deny that but it's like you don't want to even entertain that there could be ways to possibly limit this risk.


....and to be honest I like the fair catch more for eliminating penalty yards than injury.

 

[mgteich]

What 5?
We have had 10 punt returns all season

Last year we had less than 3 per game.

Yes, but perhaps our defense will get better and force more punts. Perhaps we would fewer fair catches if we didn't have one of our top 3 WR's as our returner.

 

[Ring 6]

I would never deny that football is a physical and dangerous games and that injuries are gonna happen. No one will deny that but it's like you don't want to even entertain that there could be ways to possibly limit this risk.


....and to be honest I like the fair catch more for eliminating penalty yards than injury.

It's not a matter of doing something to eliminate risk. It's giving up on a play out of fear. Players can't play like that.
its like telling Brady we are only going to throw the ball 20 times a game because it's so dangerous in the pocket we would rather give away plays than risk that those big guys could hurt you. It's just not a mentality that fits in football.
I think you have to understand the audience. If you told Danny amendola that he is too fragile and you are afraid he will get hurt so he has to make a fair catch every time he would flip out. He wouldn't have made it this far if he thought that way.

 

[Ring 6]

Yes, but perhaps our defense will get better and force more punts. Perhaps we would fewer fair catches if we didn't have one of our top 3 WR's as our returner.

You are saying amendola makes too many fair catches? Based upon what?

 

[mgteich]

The issue is roster and risk management.

Some teams choose to use starters as punt returners, kick returners and on special teams. Some limit the exposure by having more specialists, or use backups as special teamers. Belichick chooses to have lots of special team specialists, but not return specialists. Belichick is fine with using starters as returners and on special teams. Obviously, this method has worked out for Belichick.

Would any of us have problems if we had a #4 or #5 WR (or #4 RB) that we used for returns? Would any of us have problems if guys like McCourty were excluded from special teams? Of course not.

Sure, we can point out game where we might have done better if we used our top players on special teams. Also, there are cases where starters are injured and don't do better.

It seems that your philosophy is to ignore risk management, play your best players as returners and special teams, and just call it bad luck if there are injuries. That is indeed a viable strategy, but certainly not the only one.

These kind of comments get me so frustrated.

Football is probably the most competitive sport in the world, it certainly is the most physical and has the greatest injury risk, including painful injuries caused by a person purposely colliding with you as hard as they can.

There just cannot be the mentality of 'listen if you catch the punt they are going to try to tackle you, and we really don't want you to get hurt, so I want you to give up on the play because its too dangerous for you to handle, so call a fair catch"

The player you say that to will play offense afraid of injury and when that happens, you get injured.
Football players know from peewees on that the best way to avoid injury is to play as hard as you can every play, and coasting is what gets you hurt.

These kind of comments get me so frustrated.

Football is probably the most competitive sport in the world, it certainly is the most physical and has the greatest injury risk, including painful injuries caused by a person purposely colliding with you as hard as they can.

There just cannot be the mentality of 'listen if you catch the punt they are going to try to tackle you, and we really don't want you to get hurt, so I want you to give up on the play because its too dangerous for you to handle, so call a fair catch"

The player you say that to will play offense afraid of injury and when that happens, you get injured.
Football players know from peewees on that the best way to avoid injury is to play as hard as you can every play, and coasting is what gets you hurt.

 

[brdmaverick]

If you told Danny amendola that he is too fragile and you are afraid he will get hurt so he has to make a fair catch every time he would flip out.

...Just as Brady wouldn't like it if you told him to take a seat in the fourth quarter of a blowout, but sometimes you have to rely on the coach to do what's best for the team.

 

[Ring 6]

...Just as Brady wouldn't like it if you told him to take a seat in the fourth quarter of a blowout, but sometimes you have to rely on the coach to do what's best for the team.

That's not analogous. You aren't giving up on plays if the game is out of reach.
By the way how often has BB done that? Almost never.

 

[Shockt327]

Mentioning Cooks in the same breath as Dobson? GTFO

Cooks this season (on 41 targets)
Number of 40+ yard catches- 4 (LEADS LEAGUE)
Number of 20+ yard catches- 7


Dobson whole career (on 98 targets)
Number of 40+ yard catches- 2
Number of 20+ yard catches- 7

What website do you go to in order to find those split-stats?

I only can find them on espn, and I hate going there.