This!
We'll see. Honestly, to this point Dorsett and Patterson have not proven they are NFL-caliber players, at least as receivers.
That might be the plan but situation is going to dictate it to some degree. Two-minute drill, you're going three wide. Down by ten, you need receivers out there. In the Super Bowl, they played two snaps with multiple tight ends even though Cooks missed most of the game.
Yeah, this is right. You need to have at least three legitimate receivers if you're gonna run a consistently good 2 minute drill in the NFL.
I actually disagree on this. They were fine last year with Cannon missing most of the season and Fleming / Waddle having to play extensively. OTOH the wheels fell off in the two games Gronk missed. The O struggled a lot in 2013 with the receiving weapons banged up. In 2015 they had a ton of OL injuries but things didn't come apart until Edelman got hurt. Brady is so good pre-snap, makes such quick decisions, and has such excellent pocket movement that he makes up for mediocre OL, as long as they're not a disaster.
He takes risks like that *every* year. Its really the only way to compete *every* year.
That's fair as to regular season. But I think if we look at the last 10 years, with the exception of last year isn't it when the OLine gets beat that they lose in the playoffs? I'd argue that's the story of the Denver loss, both Giants losses, the Ravens loss, etc. So on balance, that is the group I fear falling apart most, and I agree with you it isn't clear what that unit will really be this year, either.
This. Yes, of course it's a bit risky. If 1-2 guys go down, he has to bring people in. It's not optimal, but you have to roll the dice somewhere in the salary cap era.
Yes. The OLine being in top shape is important to the physical health of Brady. Him having to throw to Hollister and White more often won't kill him. But a defensive lineman breaking his grundle might.
So you're complaining about the receiving group including Edelman? Not just the group in the first four games?
I'd quibble with some of those (Brady wasn't sacked in the Ravens loss in 2012), but I'd say more of these fall under "any given Sunday," at least with respect to the offensive line. The OL wasn't a problem in 2007 prior to the Super Bowl; in fact, it was outstanding. They just picked the wrong day to crap out. I'm not sure these examples are informative when it comes to roster-building.
Not really. Solder got hurt 25 snaps into their fourth game. The Patriots scored at least 27 points in each of their first nine games. It wasn't until Edelman went down in that ninth game that the wheels fell off the O. I'm sure Solder's injury didn't help (nor did injuries to Dion Lewis, LeGarrett Blount, and missed weeks here and them for Amendola, Gronk, Vollmer, and others), but Edelman's injury was the dividing line between effective O and ineffective. And the O was really good in the divisional round against the Chiefs when Edelman returned, though it stunk against an all-time Denver D in the AFCCG.
Darboh is getting surgery today and got waived, so for him at least the chances are 0.0.
Here you go:
Yup. I highly doubt a meaningful trade is coming. I think they're confident that Dorsett/Patterson will step up and when Edelman returns, they're comfortable with Edelman/Hogan/Dorsett in 3 WR sets. If there is an injury to Hogan or Dorsett in the first month, then who knows what they'll do. Maybe a guy like Britt or Matthews returns. Maybe they sign Dez (pretty please...). Or maybe they sign Mallett and finally complete the Fitzgerald trade.
You will likely see RBs and TEs lined up wide more often than usual, at least in the first four games. White will be one of those doing it.
This. I love White against a LB - he eats them alive. But White against a decent CB is a totally different thing.
Alshon Jeffery is a really good player and was a difference-maker in the Super Bowl. But the key for Philly's WR corps is that it was extremely healthy. Jeffery, Agholor, Torrey Smith, and fourth receiver Mack Hollins all played 16 games, and Ertz missed only two. If you told me Edelman (after he returns), Hogan, Dorsett, and Gronk would stay healthy all year, I would be a lot less concerned.
The key with both those guys is keeping the defense honest against the run. For the first four weeks, Hollister is probably playing mostly at Patterson's expense in two-TE sets. Are defenses going to treat him like a TE and match up with base D? Or are they going to stay in nickel and dare the Pats to run the ball? Same thing with White, who has not been much of a threat to run the ball in his NFL career. When he's on the field (which is mostly in passing situations anyway), teams are not likely to respect the run.
I certainly wasn't suggesting that.
One of the scenarios we were talking about was White on the field, in which case Hill or Michel in all likelihood wouldn't be. But no, I don't think they can run against any nickel D. Some yes, maybe most yes, but there are going to be games where they can't.
Yes, I agree; that's stuff they always do. I don't think we'll see more of it because Edelman's out, however; I think they'll do it when they like the look or matchup and won't when they don't. If anything, it might be harder to get guys like White favorable looks without Edelman drawing attention.
One of Belichick's favorite quotes is Dwight Eisenhower's "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." I think they will prepare a bunch of different scenarios and be ready to move on to plans B, C, and D quickly if plan A isn't working, because with this group plan A is a lot less of a certainty than it usually is. Like with the OL in 2014, there might be some struggles before they find combinations that work.
He's an American who was a high school soccer player and a basketball walk-on/scrub at OSU where he played with Marcus Smart.
I'd say that any receiver who earns Brady's trust shouldn't go anywhere, but there's a bit of a chicken-and-egg issue here - you can't get valuable enough to be traded without being out there performing to a certain level in the first place. Would he be worth more as a Patriot or in what his trade could bring us in return? I'm not positive right now.
Well Josh Gordon doesn't appear to be all the way back health wise and everyone with experience with substance abuse says that a relapse is either likely or quite possible. Hogan has shown us that he's not really a good first or second option. And as great as Julian is, he just got back from being off for a year and four games, so some kind of muscle strain would not be shocking.
