Friday, August 23, 2013

Moving On From the Welker Era

By Scott Morrison
Contributor


There will be no flying Elvis on Wes Welker’s helmet this season, and he won’t be catching passes from his buddy Tom Brady. Naturally people were upset when one of the most popular athletes in New England for the last decade departed this past offseason for Denver. The Patriots are notorious for going to battle with players over contracts, so did anyone not see this coming? Belichick has NEVER been afraid to make the unpopular and shrewd business move. He is simply doing what he feels is in the best interest of his football team. Belichick himself will be the first to say that he is not easy to play for, but anyone who thinks Welker leaving town wasn’t strictly business is misinformed. Just look at recent contract situations of the past ten years. Deion Branch anyone? Richard Seymour? Adam Vinatieri? Logan Mankins? The list goes on and on. Bill has never strayed from his philosophy and never will. There is no player greater than the interests of the team as a whole, and is a chief reason why the Patriots have been the most successful franchise in all of professional sports the last decade.  Welker over played his hand and didn’t realize what the market for an aging slot receiver (32) is in the NFL these days. You can blame his agents, you can blame the Patriots, you can blame Wes himself; bottom-line the Patriots knew the market and weren’t going to make an exception because they never have, and never will. Fans get so emotionally invested in players and forget that the NFL is not a what have you done for me in the past league but what have you done for me lately and what can you do for me in the future. You don’t pay someone on their prior accomplishments; if you start doing that you will end up like the Oakland Raiders or Washington Redskins, two teams perpetually in said “cap-jail”. The Patriots mastery of the salary cap is what lets them compete for a Super Bowl year in and year out. If the Patriots had gotten emotionally involved in negotiations with Welker they would’ve made the same mistake as a team they share a state and fan base with. The Red Sox dug themselves a great hole over the years consistently re-signing players on past merits and accomplishments (i.e. Mike Lowell) The best way to stay relevant in today’s NFL and professional sports in general is to consistently adapt and change. From a purely football perspective you could make the argument that after 6 years the Patriots had to take away Brady’s security blanket. The offense had become too predictable. It’s one thing to target a receiver of Calvin Johnson’s size and ability 174 times, but Welker? That’s insanity and it had become the norm here in New England. He was Tom Brady’s binky; the Patriots have always been at their best when throwing to the open receiver or in football terms the best matchup. Anyone who thinks Welker was the best matchup 174 times doesn’t understand the X’s & O’s like they should. It’s great to have a security blanket like Welker over the middle, but he should never be the number 1 option. Not trying to take anything away from Welker because he was the ultimate warrior, but he simply isn’t irreplaceable. Over the last 6 seasons the Patriots have been a finesse offense, meaning they pass to set up the run. They have never had a dominant rushing attack; even last season’s stats were completely misleading. They may have lead the league in rushing attempts, but how many of those were them just rushing up to the line and hoping they were going to catch the other team’s sub-defense out of position? Their ability to gain large chunks was mainly other teams consistently putting extra defensive backs on the field to defend their lethal passing attack. Other teams almost exclusively played the Patriots in a sub-defense in that it was the only way to match up with Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski, and Welker. When the Patriots really needed to run the ball to close out a game or get that tough yard they struggled mightily, especially without the blocking prowess of Gronkowski late in the season. As the season wore on due to injuries, and simply facing better opponents it became “where’s Welker?” When it came to playing the Ravens, a vast superior opponent to the ones they beat up on the ground in many a blowout, the Patriots fizzled. The offensive line has been built to mimic NFL trends in that they have big, long athletic tackles, and a stable interior that’s great in pass protection. The only lineman you could make an argument for being a great run blocker is Mankins, and he has been a shell of himself with various injuries over the past few seasons. Don’t get me wrong, they are one of the best units in the league, but by no means a superior run blocking group. So with contract battles, injuries, tragedies, and the ever changing NFL; what can we really expect from the Patriots offense this season? Well you can expect them to change on the fly and evolve with the players they have. Welker isn’t walking through that door, neither is Hernandez. It will be a while before Gronkowski is anywhere near the shape he needs to be in. So you take Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman, Aaron Dobson, Kenbrell Thompkins, and adapt. The ground game looks to build on last season’s improvement with a healthy stable of young and exciting backs. Ridley looks to take that next step, while Vereen brings far more to the table than Woodhead ever did. The comparisons of Welker and Amendola are fair and unfair. You can compare age, injury history, and familiarity within the system but in the end remember it was business. Brady is going to love Amendola who has more size and speed than Welker. Everyone can point to his injury history, but in my experience almost everything boils down to injuries and how you manage them.  This offense doesn’t contain the same stars of the past, but could be every bit as explosive and far more versatile. With Belichick, Josh McDaniels, and Brady at the helm, I’m still far more concerned with the defensive side of the ball. Expect struggles out of the gate with this young group, but the evolution of the offense will continue and look for continued success without those household names you have grown so accustomed to.


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