Patriots second in dropped passes

[DarrylS]

In addition to lingering pains and psychological uncertainty about the knee providing distraction, there also remains the likelihood that Welker is still being bothered by what's usually the primary obstacle in recovery from this type of issue, that of the slow restoration of proprioception to the joint. Proprioception is a function of the nervous system that tells the brain information about the body's muscular and skeletal systems positioning relative to itself. Its the reason why you can touch your nose with your eyes closed as easy as if it were open, and why you don't need to consciously think about how to best stabilize your knee when you're running, you just know.

The ACL is full of small proprioceptive nerve endings that send signals back to the lower brain about its mechanical status. When the ACL tears, these nerves are torn, and the brain no longer gets the signals it relies on to autonomically keep the knee stabilized while running and cutting. Fortunately, our brains are able to adapt to the incomplete information its getting from the knee and learn to use the proprioceptive nerves from other parts of the knee -- the meniscus, patellar tendon, undamaged ligaments -- to perform its regular motor functions.

This takes requires both time and specialized training, however, and is why athletes are usually still in the process of recovery over a year after the initial tear. While playing with incomplete proprioception in his knee, Welker has had to get used to constantly devoting some of his more active, conscious attention to what's going on with his knee. Nothing he does with his knee is as quite as instinctive as it was, and this throws off the rest of his playing mechanics that used to come so automatically.

The fact that he's played through this as well as he has over the course of the season is the anomaly, not the fact that he's still not 100%.

A very intelligent post, on an often hysterical discussion board.. thank you.

 

[FCB02062]

Didn't Tate have a huge drop in the Cleveland game when the Pats were trying to get back in the game? The Pats were going left to right on the TV screen and Brady threw to Tate down the middle about 30 yards down field. Tate had position on his man, maybe around the Cleveland 15 yard line, and if he caught it it was either a TD or 1st and 10 in the red zone. He dropped it. I think they ended up punting...IIRC, Tate's had a few big drops... Edelman had a big one against GB...Welker definitely had the dropsies on Sunday in Buffalo...Hey, things could be worse - we could still have Tony Simmons dropping everything thrown his way!

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Thanks lamafist. That was extremely insightful.

Not the hardest to catch Brady throws. There are bad drops, but hard low throws are typical tough catches from Brady. No accident he always has low Int #s.

one of the reasons Brady, set the record for most att with out a INT is cause he puts the ball were only he's guy can catch it and some times that leads to drops... im not sure what Welker, knee not being 100% has to do with he's hands he had 3 drops vs the bills all of them hit him in he's hands he did not have to cut or dive for them they were right there he just droped them

Those are great points. I just remember that pass to Moss against the Jets where he batted it up in the air to try and catch it and it led to an INT in week 2. And then there was the perfect pass to Edelman that bounced off his hands and harmlessly through the end zone, but that easily could have been a pick as well.

It doesn't happen often with Brady compared to other QBs because he's so precise with the ball. But the drops do concern me.

 

[JSn]

Pats "suffering" from the dropsies.

Gleaned these from an otherwise exciting article. Hopefully we can get this fixed up a bit going into the Play-Off's. Hasn't hurt us a ton, but it could as the competition stiffens up:

Brady's season is even more incredible when considering the Patriots receivers are second only to the Detroit Lions in drops this year. ESPN Stats & Information has charted 36 drops for the Patriots and a league-worst 11 for Wes Welker.

Rare err: Tom Brady INTs a limited edition - AFC East Blog - ESPN

**I wonder if the drops are relative to the dropped INT's, ie: the ball is FLYING HARD.

 

[shmessy]

Re: Pats "suffering" from the dropsies.

Gleaned these from an otherwise exciting article. Hopefully we can get this fixed up a bit going into the Play-Off's. Hasn't hurt us a ton, but it could as the competition stiffens up:



Rare err: Tom Brady INTs a limited edition - AFC East Blog - ESPN

**I wonder if the drops are relative to the dropped INT's, ie: the ball is FLYING HARD.

C'mon, man. Merged.

 

[JSn]

Re: Pats "suffering" from the dropsies.

C'mon, man. Merged.

My bad. But did you happen to notice I didn't quote the same article? C'mon... grrl.

 

[shmessy]

Re: Pats "suffering" from the dropsies.

My bad. But did you happen to notice I didn't quote the same article? C'mon... grrl.

Much appreciated, man, but it's the same subject. Just creates more work for me, but in your defense the thread was already pushed down to the second page.

It's all good, eh?

BTW, Happy New Year ya hosah!

 

[VJCPatriot]

True, and drops is a subjective "stat" much like errors in baseball. It's a judgment call on whether a player should have made a play or not.

But they have Hernandez down for 3 drops, and I remember 2 of them against Baltimore. They have Faulk down for 2 drops, and I remember 2 passes that were clear drops. There may have been one or two others that didn't get recorded. So while it may not be 100% accurate, I don't think it's fairly accurate.

Gronk had a few drops in his clunker game as well. So I can easily see 18 drops over the course of the season. If this were drops per game then I'd be worried. As long as they hold onto the ball when it counts, that's all that I want to see.

We obviously would like to know if you're a doctor.

We have a ton of amateur docs here, but I'm really curious as to your expertise.

He's not. But he did stay at the Holiday inn! ^_^

http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/23979/23979

Nice article. Very informative. I wonder how long the streak will last?