On the Offense

I think this past game has shown exactly what this offense fatal flaw has been for awhile now. It's the WRs. It's the lack of speed at the WR position. I don't know what defenses did to our TEs, but they are no longer creating big plays down the field. I'm talking about the Gronk bomb down the seam. It's completely disappeared. When we were able to create big plays with our TEs or get some deep connections with our WRs we were unstoppable, but Ds have caught up and  neutralized those types of plays from them. So we had to rely on 5'9 Wes Welker and Deion Branch creating those big plays down the field and they do work when the route and throw is perfect.  Branch is an excellent route runner and has an incredible rapport with Tom Brady, but he just doesn't have the speed anymore to beat press coverage against good corner backs consistently, Wes Welker isn't that much better against press. Both are still great weapons in this offense but can be neutralized with great physical CB play.  We've been relying too much on precise route running from the WRs to beat coverages which is effective a lot of the time against weaker Ds, but not all the time. The reality is we can't score 30 points if our two WRs are getting jammed all game.

Does this mean our offense will suffer the same fate as the 09 offense and 2010 offense, not having enough options for Brady to beat the defense? Is this the end of our SB hopes. Well the good news is not necessarily. Unlike the 09 offense where it was Welker and Moss and that was it, or the 2010 offense where Brandon Tate was the best option to counter press, we have better talent at the 3rd WR position. Taylor Price and Ochocinco both have have shown in the past, they can get down field and create some separation. Neither of them are "proven" deep threats in this offense, but we know they are very talented. I honestly have more faith in Price (Only 6 snaps last game and nearly had a 30+ yard rec if the ball wasn't underthrown) than Ocho, but both are more capable at beating press than Branch and Wes. It will be very interesting these next four weeks because were are going to be facing teams that have the personnel to execute the bump N run coverage gameplan as good if not better than the Steelers Defense. Darelle Revis, Antonio Cormartie, Brandon Flowers, David Carr, Corey Webster, Aaron Ross Nnamdi Asmougha, Asante Samuel, Rodgers Cromartie  all can jam the crap out of our midget Wideouts. And they not only can cover they have enough talent on the lines to generate pressure on Brady. So we will have to wait and see if the Pats will finally make their two underused WRs earn their pay check, because if they don't we might be seeing the same outcome of last Sunday well into November.