All true, but I also see Brady ignoring Allen and Dorsett like they have a disease and then everyone runs around claiming they aren't any good. Well, if he doesn't throw to them, how do we know?
Since you just joined Friday, you may not have read all the way through the several threads discussing Cooks, Dorsett and Allen and seen the scores of posts from me and from others attempting to offer a different point of view to those who have claimed that they "aren't any good" - which is certainly far from "everyone".
So, I'll expand the context for you here a bit ...
Neither Dorsett nor Cooks were particularly accomplished at intermediate-range routes when they got to the Pats. Through OTAs and Camp, it seems likely that the education/integration of Cooks in the Pats system didn't focus much on those intermediate routes since the Pats were still expecting Edelman and Mitchell to be available. By the time they were injured, it was too late to effectively change gears on that course of study for Cooks. Dorsett (like any WR the Pats might've been able to affordably acquire at the last minute) didn't even have any education in the Pats system from OTAs or Camp.
While Allen
was more of an intermediate-range/outlet target in Indy, his catch rate wasn't consistently outstanding there and has been its worst with the Pats this season (10 of 22 tgts, 45.5%). However, I think that several of those incompletions have been close to completions - just a tad off on the timing or positioning or the sight-adjustment from Allen.
While it seems likely to me that both Cooks and Dorsett have at least tried to find ways to work on intermediate routes on their own time, and that Allen has likely been working on improving his route-running,
actual practice during the season is all about that week's gameplan - and the gameplan is built around what McD and Brady KNOW that these players can do with consistent success. Anything else would seem foolish to me, frankly.
So, it's not that "Brady is ignoring" Allen or Dorsett (over 60% of Dorsett's 194 yards have come from 4 chunk plays - it's what he's good at), it's the gameplan that's "ignoring" them - in the sense that they're Brady's 3rd, 4th or 5th reads on nearly all plays where they're in the pass pattern. Brady just doesn't get to those later reads very often - because he's that good and the guys who are Brady's typical 1st and 2nd reads are that good.
In all honesty, I got giddy on that screen pass to Gillislee vs the Jets and the early passes to Dorsett and Allen early in the Pitt game, but then they were never seen again. That's what we need more of, but then it disappears throughout the game for some mysterious reason, which IMO, is McDaniels getting too cute, thinking he needs to show something else as opposed to just continuing to do what's working. Not all of the time, but absolutely sometimes he's done this.
Just because one pass to Dorsett or Allen, or one (major surprise) screen to Gillislee works that one time, does NOT mean "it's working!" in any full time sense. It doesn't mean that either Dorsett or Allen have mastered a number of different reads and routes and are being "left out" only for some arbitrary reason. It doesn't mean that the screen game is suddenly working after sucking all season (for a lot more teams than just the Pats this year, btw).
It simply means that those specific plays were executed in practice consistently enough to be used in the game.
Also, this is not the first time it's been a struggle breaking in new guys. This isn't splitting the atom here.
.....
It's stuff like that, which is what I am talking about here. Ever notice, the other All Pro QBs don't have such an issue breaking in new receivers every year? Rodgers, Rivers, Brees, Stafford, Big Ben, etc...No problems.
Cooks comes here and he's "not that good" according to some. So, does that mean Brees is better than Brady? I don't think so.
Obviously, Brady wants the guys he prefers, but life isn't perfect and it's their job to figure out a Plan B that is workable.
No, I've never noticed that
all the other All-Pro QBs have
no issue successfully breaking in new WRs EVERY year. Because it doesn't happen. Every 3-4 years, maybe. In between those successes, though, there have been numerous failures - for
all those QBs. So, "no problems"? You're dreaming.
In any case, that's an apples-to-oranges comparison since those offenses are different from Pats offense -
and from each other. And the strengths and weaknesses and preferences and tendencies of those QBs and OCs are different form each other and from the Pats. Even the Saints offense, which uses similar "levels concepts" and a similarly abbreviated verbiage for play calls at the line isn't
identical to the the Pats offense, and neither are their players. There's nothing whatsoever about any of this that's a "one-size-fits-all" deal.
The offense has sputtered without Hogan out there, no question about it.
Edelman? Of course it took a hit, but it's a good thing BB dealt for Cooks, too. Different skill sets, but I am always shocked when people claim Cooks isn't that good, when it's because Edelman has been THAT good this whole time.
It doesn't mean a loaded RB group, a HOF TE and Cooks, can be your only targets, though.
The more sustained commitments to the run have been good, but the offense was clearly more lethal last year in the red zone.
As I keep mentioning, they've made it through and I expect the real deal on Sat night.
For all the complaints about "Brady ignoring" certain pass-catchers and McD "calling too many deep throws", Brady finished with ...
- a 66.3 completion % = 3rd highest of his career, behind only 2007 (68.9%) and 2016 (67.4%)
- 4577 yards = almost 600 more than in 2014 with one less completion
- only one fewer TD passes than in 2014 (32 v. 33)
- 30 more passing yards per game than in 2014
As far as a "Plan B" goes, you've been watching it unfold all season long - with 13 wins and the #1 seed. That
is the "real deal".
It's not as if everything has fallen apart without Edelman, Mitchell and Bennett (or Hogan. It seems to me that McD has been doing at least a
few things right.
