Patriots Sign Demaryius Thomas

[jah]

Which critical moments did he drop the ball since he was in the league?

The only critical moment I remember him being involved in was taking a short Tebow pass 80 yards to the house in OT. Of course, his reward was losing 45-10 to to the Pats. I don't think he had much success against this team ever but that doesn't mean he can't be successful against other teams.

He's at least going to be more productive than Cordarrelle Patterson.

 

[Wheelman]

The only critical moment I remember him being involved in was taking a short Tebow pass 80 yards to the house in OT. Of course, his reward was losing 45-10 to to the Pats. I don't think he had much success against this team ever but that doesn't mean he can't be successful against other teams.

He's at least going to be more productive than Cordarrelle Patterson.

Sorry I meant Brandin Cooks. I edited the post.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

We just signed a #2/3 receiver for somewhere between 3-6m per year....

A guy who is only 30 despite being called “washed up” despite being a top 5 receiver in league as recently as 2017. I made up top 5 but he had close to 1000 I believe.

Look at the money getting thrown around this offseason - this is a pretty good chance to take for the Pats.

A receiving core of Edelman/Dorsett/Thomas/Gordon is actually pretty solid - assuming Gordon can play.

Yes, if Gordon is set free from suspension jail, can keep his head on straight, wants to put in the time/effort to be a productive player (granted it's a lot of ifs), the Patriots are in pretty good shape on the WR front. And DT is very likely IMHO to add to that 'pretty good shape'. And we still have White and Burk out of the backfield (it'd be real nice to see Sony getting some receptions a la Lewis 2017) so we're not slouching there either.

Obviously we're notably lagging at TE, a position that will be most interesting to see what happens between now and week 1. IMHO we don't need Gronkowski Version 2 to repreat (though it would be nice) but we do need a decent dual threat TE.

 

[Richard Camembert]

Well...can’t hurt. Money’s small, guy’s coming off an injury but has lots of incentive to do well, history is pretty strong even though our D handled him in the past. Let’s see.

 

[Hyped]

Well...can’t hurt. Money’s small, guy’s coming off an injury but has lots of incentive to do well, history is pretty strong even though our D handled him in the past. Let’s see.

Our D handled him because he was a #1 and the primary threat.

On our team...*if* Gordon plays...he's a 3.....and some small slot DB will be covering him in the RZ.

 

[supafly]

With a nice draft pick:

Edelman
Brown/Harry/Isabella
Thomas or Gordon (I’m only counting on one)
Dorsett
The rest of the crew/possible vet addition

It’s not great, but it certainly changes things, and it’s definitely not nearly as bad as 2006 or 2013.

 

[supafly]

I’d still like to see a double dip at TE, though. Maybe a high(er) rounder + a 5th/6th, or something like that.

I think we can get by with a late round addition at RB, if they don’t choose to go with a vet signing like Hill.

I’m expecting some picks in the trenches with 2-3 of our top 6 selections. I think DT + edge are necessities, and OT isn’t far behind.

Any addition via trade or free agent signing is obviously welcome, as they have the money to do it, and it would remove a positional need in the draft.

Things will keep moving, and I think the draft is going to make us feel much better about things. I want to see a couple of key defenders, an OT, a WR, a TE, and a trade into next year with our top 6 selections.

 

[jah]

Sorry I meant Brandin Cooks. I edited the post.

Lolllll so I did all that thinking for nothing?

I agree though. Cooks is the only player I've ever heard of getting blamed for his own concussion.

 

[Steve102]

Which critical moments did Brandin Cooks drop the ball since he was in the league?

 

[BelichicksHoodie]

With a nice draft pick:

Edelman
Brown/Harry/Isabella
Thomas or Gordon (I’m only counting on one)
Dorsett
The rest of the crew/possible vet addition

It’s not great, but it certainly changes things, and it’s definitely not nearly as bad as 2006 or 2013.

That's a solid group, a lot of guys that I would have no problem matching up with 4th or 5th corners and starting safties. Thomas/Gordon is the toss-up, that could be a season changer if they're ready to go for the entirety of the regular season and playoffs.

 

[luuked]

Lolllll so I did all that thinking for nothing?

I agree though. Cooks is the only player I've ever heard of getting blamed for his own concussion.

He deserved a good part of the blame for missing the rest of the game due to absolutely idiotic decision making.

He ran ran around the middle panicking like a deer in headlights. He could have gone to the ground or protected himself so many times on that play. There are accidents due to bad timing like the concussion Gronk got against the Jaguars and then there is whatever the hell Cooks did in the SB.

 

[luuked]

Which critical moments did Brandin Cooks drop the ball since he was in the league?

Like 50% of the failed WR screens with Cooks were due to him dropping an easy pass at the LOS. It got to the point where McDaniels just threw the play out entirely.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Which critical moments did Brandin Cooks drop the ball since he was in the league?

This last Super Bowl and his time in NE.

As @luuked mentioned above, he dropped easy screen passes but he was also dropping passes like the gif @Steve:Section 102 put up that would’ve put games out of reach.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Surprised this was even asked.

 

[luuked]

This last Super Bowl and his time in NE.

As @luuked mentioned above, he dropped easy screen passes but he was also dropping passes like the gif @Steve:Section 102 put up that would’ve put games out of reach.

The thing is that Cooks is a great player if you use him where he feels comfortable. He was way too inconsistent in the way we used him in the middle of the field.

Contrast this with how McVay drew up plays where Cooks got the ball in the MOF and you will see that he often had way more space (thanks to clean out routes) where his relative lack of elusiveness was less of an issue.

The other issue -- and we have seen that in that loss to Miami in 2017 -- was that he often didnt really fight for balls that were about to be heavily contested or even intercepted. Fortunately for us he didnt work on that with the Rams either.

The trade to the Rams was better for both sides given the salary that would have been required.

 

[Wheelman]

Looks like defended passes to me.

Like 50% of the failed WR screens with Cooks were due to him dropping an easy pass at the LOS. It got to the point where McDaniels just threw the play out entirely.

I must have forgot about those, thanks.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Looks like defended passes to me.



I must have forgot about those, thanks.

In both shots, he had his hands on the ball. The problem I had with Cooks is if a DB puts a hand anywhere near the ball, he’d most likely drop it.

Because of this, I was confident during those two plays he wouldn’t have made those catches. Cooks is at his best when he has a clean release and is wide open. On the first play, he initially did his job as he was standing wide open in the end zone. If it weren’t for Jared Goff’s awful awareness, it would've been an easy TD which I think would’ve put the Rams ahead. But he still had a chance to come down with it after the late throw but he didn’t. When a player gets paid big bucks, they still have to come down with those tough catches, but he couldn’t.

 

[Deus Irae]

In both shots, he had his hands on the ball. The problem I had with Cooks is if a DB puts a hand anywhere near the ball, he’d most likely drop it.

Because of this, I was confident during those two plays he wouldn’t have made those catches. Cooks is at his best when he has a clean release and is wide open. On the first play, he initially did his job as he was standing wide open in the end zone. If it weren’t for Jared Goff’s awful awareness, it would've been an easy TD which I think would’ve put the Pats ahead. But he still had a chance to come down with it after the late throw but he didn’t. When a player gets paid big bucks, they still have to come down with those tough catches, but he couldn’t.

Hands on the ball + interference from opponent = not a drop. The pass at the goal line was clearly P.I., and not a drop.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Hands on the ball + interference from opponent = not a drop. The pass at the goal line was clearly P.I., and not a drop.

You and I discussed this before but I’m not getting into it with you again. Players get interfered with all the time and make catches. The contact was not enough to say the catch was impossible so it’s not a valid excuse.

 

[Wheelman]

In both shots, he had his hands on the ball. The problem I had with Cooks is if a DB puts a hand anywhere near the ball, he’d most likely drop it.

Because of this, I was confident during those two plays he wouldn’t have made those catches. Cooks is at his best when he has a clean release and is wide open. On the first play, he initially did his job as he was standing wide open in the end zone. If it weren’t for Jared Goff’s awful awareness, it would've been an easy TD which I think would’ve put the Pats ahead. But he still had a chance to come down with it after the late throw but he didn’t. When a player gets paid big bucks, they still have to come down with those tough catches, but he couldn’t.

Are you putting unreasonable expectations on Cooks because he was overpaid? It's not Cooks fault that teams are idiots.

Jared Goff threw a duck. That's why the ball was broken up. He was just going thru his progressions. Should he have identified it right away? I don't know. Nobody is comparing him to Tom Brady so why pin the blame on him for progressing through his reads. If he was being put up with Brady then by all means critique him all you want for his lack of awareness.

They were both defended passes, Cooks did everything he could in both cases based on his abilities. Coming up short in big moments to me is when you don't do what you're capable of doing.

I agree that there are so many overpaid players in the league. It's criminal. Blame the stupid teams not the players for taking advantage of their opportunity to get paid.