JoeSixPat
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
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I'm not making your point. It's not my fault that you can't can't grasp the obvious. Here, maybe this will help.....
A comparison between the 2007 Patriots and the 1998 Vikings:
Brady played one regular season game more than Cunningham, but the one game difference at QB doesn't ruin the comparison since the numbers are for the receivers:
20+ yard pass plays:
Vikings - 55, Moss had 20, Carter had 13, Reed 6
Patriots - 56, Moss had 18, Gaffney/Stallworth had 16, Welker 10
Thanks! So obviously you're saying if Carter had been more of a credible deep threat perhaps the Vikings would have made it past the coference finals.
Indeed it looks like Moss was used even more exclusively as a deep WR that season making him even more of the sole deep target.
What this comes down to is more than a breakdown of seasonal statistics.
Defensive coordinators were not looking at Vikings 1998 statistics when they were deciding how to defend against the Patriots in deep pass situations. They simply looked on the field, saw that Moss was the one and only deep threat, and triple teamed him.
If Jackson can show himself to be a credible deep threat too they are going to have to contend with him as well. That's a fact.
By the way - I know you think you can statistically prove that Wes Welker is a deep threat WR (though defensive coordinatrs will never cover him that way) but I'm not sure where you're getting your stats. Brady didn't throw ten 20 yard passes to Welker. He threw 2. For Gaffney it was 5 and for Stalworth I believe it was 4 - which is pretty much the same as Reche Caldwell in 2006.
So apparently you consider Reche Caldwell a deep threat as well? If you recall, he was not - which is one of the main reasons why Belichick brought in Moss in the first place.
Of course if you want to add up all the players and combine their statistics, I'm sure you might come close to showing that such a player, rolled into one, could equal Moss's statistics - but that's on paper. Only one guy can play on the field at the same time. That's a statistic that you can't get around.
If everyone wants to believe that there's no way imaginable that the Patriots coaching staff can help Moss become even MORE effective, they are welcome to their opinion.
But try to leave a little room for the suggestion that there IS a way to improve his effectiveness. Although this might boggle the mind of those who are obsessed with statistics, that will likely involve Moss's statistics DROPPING compared to this year.
Yes - he can be MORE effective, and see his statistics drop. That's because ideally, Jackson will step up and show himself to be a credible deep threat, giving defenses pause when considering whether to triple team Moss - and potentially making things just a little bit easier on Moss when he needs to make a critical or even game winning catch.
Quantitative stats are great Deus - but qualitative data is no less important.
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