Are we a fan base that has Alzhiemer's or something? Have we completely forgotten our past? Or have we regressed as a fan base and join those who want to march in lockstep with the yahoos who believe that the team with the best WR's are favorites to win it all????
Shame on you Ian.
Even without Gronk, Brady has some of the best receiver help he's had in his CAREER. Since we are celebrating the 2001 team, if you can name the #3 WR on that team, you qualify as a Pats nerd. (btw- it wasn't Terry Glenn.
) Also IIRC all the TE's combined, on that team, had fewer than 20 catches that regular season. And it wasn't much better in 2003 or 2004. Branch, Givens, Brown, and Graham might have big names here, but they didn't scare anyone in the rest of the league and kudos to you if you knew who was the #5 receiver was.
WITH Gronk this pass offense was virtually indefensable, without him it is "merely" very good. We shouldn't forget it. Even without Edelman, having Bennett, Mitchell, Hogan, Lewis, White, and Amendola, would give Brady a very representative receiver corps going into the playoffs, Certainly as good as anyone's top 6 receiving options.
BTW- perhaps the only saving grace coming from losing Gronk at this point of the season is that the team will have 5 games to adjust to the loss, which is far better than if he got hurt in the first playoff game.