Winning with this current receiver corp is not sustainable

Tommy needs to get a bit of humility and make sure he doesn't burn out rookie confidence.

After all it wasn't a rookie who gave the Giants a safety in the Super Bowl. One of the biggest zipperhead plays ever.

Now back to a work in progress.

Ladies & Gentlemen, may we present, for your viewing displeasure, the Worst set
of "Skill Position" (snicker) players in the entire National Football League...
The New England Patriots!

Oh for God's sake. Doesn't look that great, but this is a good-news bad-news thing. Good news, they can get open. Bad news is, it's in the job description of "receiver" that you receive what's thrown your way.

Granted nobody could catch the clap in a Bangkok brothel last night. There were also lots of signs of "not-on-the-same-page," and some plain old TFB bad throws.

The drops just bother me. A field full of receivers who can't catch is not good for anybody.

In terms of being on the same page, that can happen faster or more slowly. Suffice it to say, we'll see which it is.

And in terms of torrential rain, well, that's a matter of something that either hits the whole league or doesn't... when a team's hot, you can still put up some O in torrential rain.

The negatives are obvious (dropped balls, poor routes etc). However, the big positive from last night was Thompkins and Dobson can create separation. When these guys get on the same page as Brady, defenses will be forced to respect the deep ball.

If the receivers can just hang onto the ball, the Patriots offense will be miles better than it showed last night. How many dropped balls did we see?

grux said:

The negatives are obvious (dropped balls, poor routes etc). However, the big positive from last night was Thompkins and Dobson can create separation. When these guys get on the same page as Brady, defenses will be forced to respect the deep ball.

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Sorry but Dobson dropped Four balls that hit him right in the hands. From what i saw it wasn't being on the same page its Catching the damn Ball

one of the best QBs, but maybe the worst WR corps in the NFL....that is just plain wrong

Man, if this team turns into a contender it is going to be the hard way. So far the have barely made it by two of the NFL's weak sisters.

reflexblue said:

Sorry but Dobson dropped Four balls that hit him right in the hands. From what i saw it wasn't being on the same page its Catching the damn Ball

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:ditto:
Not being on the same page has a chance to be corrected over time, but how do you fix the problem of not catching the ball that hits you in the hands.

As the night went on, Dobson just looked terrified, big eyes. Is he related to Reche Caldwell?

pats_premi said:

:ditto:
Not being on the same page has a chance to be corrected over time, but how do you fix the problem of not catching the ball that hits you in the hands.

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A lot of times he wasn't turning his head around in time or hasn't progressed far enough in the route.

That's the definition of not being on the same page and makes catches difficult.

Talib caught the ball well last night, better than those receivers.

I got a bright idea just now! Maybe we can use him at receiver!

ound:

The young receivers could not have been any worse. The drops made it even worse.
Nowhere to go but up.
The Pats will have a tough time winning the division. Miami will be a strong challenge.
The days of being an offensive machine are a long way off.
And one thing is for sure I hope Josh McDaniels is never head coach of this team.

I don't know why the hell they have to have such a complicated offense when your skill positions are filled with rookies and first year guys.
You'd think they would simplify it rather trying to prove they are the smartest guys in the room.

I mean other offenses are successful without being so complicated. I mean Jesus you got guys who struggled to get through high school never mind college.

It's a favorable schedule, Pittsburgh and Baltimore look much weaker than anticipated, division is weak and 10-6 or 11-5 wins the division and then, unlike years past where they ripped through regular season and then had receiver injuries in the playoffs, they could go into the playoffs with a 5 receiver set of
Edelman, Amendola, Gronkowski, Vereen and they only need one of the following to improve and step up as option #5

Sudfeld, Thompkins, Boyce or Dobson.

Getting Gronk back is enough to score more against some of the weak teams and Amendola will be back in time to help much of the regular season.

So looks highly likely they take the division and IF they are healthy in the playoffs you get
#1 receiver: Gronk-Not many better at Tight End receiving
#2 receiver-Amendola-Of course assumption is he WILL get healthy but he's a 10 reception a game Welker type-one of the best talent wise
#3-Edelman-Showed he could beat double teams last night-Solid #3
#4-Vereen-Shows very good receiving and running after catch, top 3rd down back
#5-How often does Brady go to a 5th read? You would hope ONE of the rookies would improve enough to be #5.

So it seems they should be healthy enough to get to the playoffs and the key will be having everyone healthy for 3-4 game playoff run. Questionable with Amendola and Vereen's history but with their early outs they don't need to put together 16 straight games and should be less banged up than many with less games played.

Assuming they are all on the field Compare Edelman, Amendola, Gronkowski, Vereen to other teams top 4's and it is a good receiving corp.

Surviving this game with a win has an added major benefit - the Patriots now have a mini bye week during which they can try to get back to basics on some level and Brady can work closely with the WRs to be as prepared as possible.

They have an even bigger challenge against Tampa, as that team can really stop the run and the secondary is talented with Revis and Goldson back there. It would be great to get Gronk back for that one, as I think he could feast on the Bucs linebackers, but if he's not the young receivers are going to have to make improvements.

I keep seeing good things out of these guys - both Thompkins and Dobson were getting separation on a good Jets secondary. It's just now a matter of timing, hands, confidence and consistency. Not all will be there every week, but I still strongly believe they will make the necessary improvements as they gain experience, so long as they don't destroy their confidence.

Patradomous said:

The young receivers could not have been any worse. The drops made it even worse.
Nowhere to go but up.
The Pats will have a tough time winning the division. Miami will be a strong challenge.
The days of being an offensive machine are a long way off.

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How many SB's have the team won since they became an offensive machine?

sb1 said:

How many SB's have the team won since they became an offensive machine?

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Will our chances of winning a SB be better with a weaker offense as opposed to a stronger one?

Snake Eyes said:

Will our chances of winning a SB be better with a weaker offense as opposed to a stronger one?

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i really can't stand this microwave generation that wants everything to happen fast.

Everyone needs to remember that this wasn't the offense the patriots drafted dobson and thompkins for.

The offense was suppose to be
brady
danny
gronk
hernandez
dobson
riddley

Everything fell apart and now the team has to rely on the progress of our baby receivers.





OR MAYBE...JUST MAYBE...The bills and jets defenses are better than what patriot fans would like to admit.

coolguy said:

i really can't stand this microwave generation that wants everything to happen fast.

Everyone needs to remember that this wasn't the offense the patriots drafted dobson and thompkins for.

The offense was suppose to be
brady
danny
gronk
hernandez
dobson
riddley

Everything fell apart and now the team has to rely on the progress of our baby receivers.





OR MAYBE...JUST MAYBE...The bills and jets defenses are better than what patriot fans would like to admit.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with discounting the importance of a strong offense in winning a SB.

coolguy said:

i really can't stand this microwave generation that wants everything to happen fast.

Everyone needs to remember that this wasn't the offense the patriots drafted dobson and thompkins for.

The offense was suppose to be
brady
danny
gronk
hernandez
dobson
riddley

Everything fell apart and now the team has to rely on the progress of our baby receivers.





OR MAYBE...JUST MAYBE...The bills and jets defenses are better than what patriot fans would like to admit.

Click to expand...

When you knowingly rely heavily on players with significant injury histories, you don't get to play the "but they had guys hurt" card.