Link: Can the Pats Offense be Better Than 07?
The Jets are going to have a test on their hands when they face the Patriots this season. Today, Peter King’s SI.com column talks about Brady’s return and he talks to Patriots WR Wes Welker about what the season will portend.
I asked Welker whether the 2009 offense can be as good as the 2007 offense.
“I feel we’ve gotten better,” he said. “Back in ’07, Randy and I were in our first year here, and I don’t know about Randy, but I was worried about where the hell I was supposed to line up a lot of that season. Now, with so many touches over the last two years, the offense is second nature to us. This is a complicated offense, and getting to know it takes time. But now I think we both know it well, and we’re on the same page with Tom every snap. Our goal is to continue to get better. I hope we can. We’ve got some good new weapons here, and it’ll be great for us to get on the field together to see what we can do.”
That’s a frightening thought, if true. I think it will take Brady a few weeks to knock the rust off, so for that reason, I’m glad we get him early in the season. Still, Welker has a point as it often takes, even free agent WRs, at least a year to get truly acclimated to any offense. Know that the QB and WR have more history and chemistry, it’s going to go a long way.
Keep in mind that the Ravens were one of the first teams who started putting together a blueprint for how to beat the Patriots in their Dec. 3, 2007 clash with the then unbeaten Patriots. Let’s hope that Rex brought his playbook for that week to Jersey.
6 Responses to Link: Can the Pats Offense be Better Than 07?
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Le'Sean Roberts says:
They don’t need anymore spitfire; it can be much more formidable if there was more balance. The defense will be vulnerable because they can’t hone into one assignment and attack.
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fonzie says:
Hey Le’Sean Roberts
You speak too fast. You are talking about the PATRIOTS defense. There is only one man and he is Bill Belicheck. If he can design a gameplan to rattle Clemens or Sanchez then its just like going into a fight with one hand tied behind your back because I don’t think our defense is going to score in that game with their incredible offensive power or our special teams is going to make that much of an impact now that Washington has already met the rest of the nfl.
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Oops, I’m sorry. Well the patriots defense is not as great as advertised now, even with Belicheck. The secondary is in limbo and they don’t have a elite passrushers….unless he’s sold on Banta-Cain, Pierre Woods, and Adalius Thomas. His ego I think has caught up to him this year.
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Id be surprised if the offense was as good as it was in 2007. As you already mentioned shaking off the rust is hard. Peyton Manning took 1/2 the season to recover from a much more minor operation(though he did not have a preseason or camp). Carson Palmer took over a year and always seems to get hurt now. Daunte Culpepper never recovered. I think QBs just take time to come back from injuries in general. Donovan McNabb took nearly a year to recover from his injury, Chad always took forever from his deals. Matt Hasselbeck couldn’t get back on the field this year. Kurt Warner took a long time to find his stride again. I think assuming Brady is just going to be Brady again from day 1 is crazy.
The book on Brady has always been to find ways to get pressure on him and rattle him. Of course that is easier said than done, especially when NE spreads the field, but if you get to him early in a game usually the tone of the game changes. I would think this would be the case moreso now than it has been in the past. Hopefully he gets through game 1 on adrenaline and we can take some advantage in week 2.
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Le Sean Roberts,
The strength of the patriots defense is from their three first round draft picks on the line. Our offensive line still has problems against them when they match up. Just look at week 2 of last year. Thomas tried three times to get in and it resulted in a much needed difference of 3 points. They drafted three defensive linemen in this years draft. Tell me that Belicheck wants an inpenentrable defensive line. He knows that this year the bills (the tallest offensive line last year in the nfl) and the dolphins (a new center coming in from oakland along with the nucleus of their offensive line from last year) and the jets (flexible and intelligent linemen) will have pose matchup problems for his starters so what does he do? He goes out and tries for players who can switch roles and fill in whenever needed. Now that Vrabel is gone they have to rely mostly on Thomas and Bruschi who have the experience to play at their position along with their stud linebacker Jerod Mayo. I mean they are to be reckon with. Now I simply suggested that we address the trenches in the draft especially on defense when we lost coleman for the Sanchez trade. Now we expect a rotation of guys to help jenkins and fill in at the ends.
Very good point Bassett. I happen to remember that game very well, if my memory serves me correctly it was a Monday Nighter.