long distance
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2015
- Messages
- 10,304
- Reaction score
- 27,267
I am not saying there has been anything alarming, but I noticed that White was a dual threat running and receiving and both seem to have diminished. I would like to know if what I am saying is borne out. I could be wrong. Perhaps someone can find his third down stats and see what has been happening. I understand he is used less on first and second downs, but I think he takes nearly all the 3rd downs but converts fewer. It is a hypothesis.
Apart from Burkhead surge, PP after bye (and Cannon out) is another thing to take into account (as mainman mentioned already) .
White seems to be most reliable pass protector from the backfield for BB and McD. That affects his 3rd down play (“production“) since Tom is using him for protection more after Cannon went down. He did see more targets @BUF and one of the reasons could be connected to PP as well since they were 31st in pass rushing (plus losing Lawson during the game).
One thing no one dares to look at is TBs accuracy. Some throws to White were inaccurate recently (for TB standards) not hitting him in stride (part of White's YAC drop off) or overthrowing him opened over coverage. White is still reliable target
(19-13 after bye) with only one drop on him that I can remember.
One thing to keep in mind while dissecting Pats play last games is that after the bye they went on a long long road trip with only one game out of six played at home including MNF . suffering additional significant injuries . so this team including Tom is drained. Tom's accuracy over the last two games is below 60% f.e. (compared to over 75% in first two games of this stretch) ...