Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985
Kevin Faulk torn ACL... This is a gigantic loss for us. We will have to work hard to overcome this.
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Not really. He's an ancient 3rd down back in what most likely was going to be his final year.
The Pats offense is basically about finding the wide open receiver early, which moves the safety off of the warning tracks and sets up the big play from Moss, which sets up a gashing running game from passing formations no matter which back gets the ball.
Rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez was targeted just six times - and caught six passes for 101 yards against the Jets.
The two cornerbacks in the league who've had the most success covering Moss in his entire history as a player are probably Revis and Cromartie. The latter is probably the only corner he's ever seen whom he doesn't have a significant edge in height and strength against and is built like him.
If Welker can't win one on one matchups in the middle against the nickle guy, a linebacker, or a rookie corner ... these rookie tight ends have to become the new Welker ... just keep feeding them.
Brady can't be dependent on Moss and Welker next time he plays the Jets. Both of them lost their battles. Moss badly burned Revis on the deep ball twice - but Revis wasn't running like he can.
It also didn't help matters any that Brady was uncharacteristically inaccurate. If you're going to throw to guys who are being covered extremely well .. you can't keep missing by that much.
I would pick the Jets to win in Foxboro .. which only gives me more confidence that the Patriots will probably win that game comfortably. If they do, it's got to be because of the tight ends and a healthy Edellman winning match-ups that Moss and Welker aren't.