Is Wes Welker Ready to Play?
Big news out of Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub (radio home of the Pats) is reporting via an unnamed source that Wes Welker will be ready for “full participation” this summer during training camp.
Welker has snuck into some OTA drills, and was seen in the Boston Garden dancing a little jig with “GINO” earlier this offseason … so this isn’t exactly a surprise. The Patriots are starting their camp with more than a week’s worth of two-a-days … so we’ll see how Welker does.
What does this mean for the Jets? Well, any advantage that the Jets might have had for their Week 2 matchup with Welker out of the lineup seems very unlikely, and will put rookie Kyle Wilson’s skills to the test right away.
44 Responses to Is Wes Welker Ready to Play?
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interested jet says:
Welker is responsible for blasting the jets last season in Foxboro, let the veteran play against the veteran.
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Wilson is perfectly suited for that job. If he’s the nickelback then you let him play the slot receivers. He will do better than anyone not named Revis on Welker, so keep Revis on the outside. Wilson can also blitz like a bat out of hell from the nickel position, which I’m excited to see.
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You can’t expect Wilson to dominate Welker even if he says he is healthy after coming off a season ending injury. Welker improvises well through the middle like Chrebet did for the jets in his career. Welker breaks defenses on third down. You need to have someone who understands Welker and a Tom Brady run offense.
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I’m sure if Rex felt Wilson couldn’t handle the job, than he won’t. But Wilson is one of those CBs who has a knack for “staying in the receivers pocket” to use an old saying. He can go stride-for-stride and has not only top-flight speed but the quickness to turn in and out of routes at top speed, like a receiver. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised if Wilson ends up marking Welker.
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Brendan,
Welker is is savvy and fearless through the middle. The jets will be making a mistake if Wilson cannot stay with Welker.
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matt says:
my guess is you will see both revis and wilson on welker they wont play the pats straight up one cb on one wr the whole game they are gonna try n mix and match in order to confuse brady
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That’s what I’m saying. I don’t think they’d let Wilson cover Welker if they don’t think he can do it. Rex isn’t stupid. Last year he didn’t have the horses to take Welker out of the game, now they do. I think Wilson is as NFL ready as a rookie CB can be. And he’s going up against Cotchery, who is as crisp a route runner as you will find.
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Just double Welker with Wilson and Lowery while Revis and Cro Handle the outside WR’s. The thing that sucks is they also have Edleman now who is basically a clone of Welker.
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I hate when people say Edelman is a clone of Welker. Just because they’re both small and white doesn’t make them the same. Edelman is not even in the same universe as Welker right now. Welker has world class agility and toughness, stuff Edelman still has to improve on if he wants to be considered in Welker’s class.
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juunit says:
Hm I wonder if people on this website still think the Patriots are a garbage team now.
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I don’t think anyone here should be calling them a garbage team until we, you know, actually beat them in the standings.
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henestly i dont think welker will b as good as he use to be he is recovering from a very serious leg injury and if he loses his elusiveness he wont be nearly as affective
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AGE says:
No matter who is covering him or how his knee feels he still has a smokeshow wife/girlfriend whatever
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Curtis Martin Was The Best says:
For the first time I’m actually not concerned about the threat of Welker when facing the Patriots. We know Revis can lock up Moss. We went out and pulled the trigger for Cromartie and drafted Kyle Wilson and I think they wil step up and get the job done. I’m really not worried about the Patriots this year. BTW that girl next to Welker lookin fine.
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Nostra-Freakin-Damus says:
Anyone who doesn’t think Rex has Wilson strapped in to a Clockwork Orange chair watching game film of Welker is a fool.
He was drafted exactly with this in mind. He will have help over the middle, just in case. But Rex will have this kid ready. If Welker beats him with veteran savvy in the first half, THEN we should rotate Revis or Cro into the slot.
As it stands, I’m looking forward to week 2 as Wilson’s coming out party.
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jetfaninla says:
Good. I want to beat the Pats at full strength. It’ll only make us tougher in Jan when we have to play the Chargers, Colts, and Cowboys.
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I think Revis on Welker would be a waste- its almost impossible to cover him in the short routes he runs. Kyle Wilson will be the first to give it go- but he should always be brackted with a LB. You gotta have one guy covering his inside and one his outside. With all due respect to Revis- it would not be a nice matchup for him and then Moss will finally feel comfortable which is something the Jets cannot allow!
While I dont think Edelman is a clone of welker- the jets could not stop him at all in week 2- he only stopped himself and brady was a little off.
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NY SMoker-
1. you should quit smoking(assuming youre talking about tobacco- if not- then enjoy
2. if the jets were to use 4 CB’s on the patriots- trust me- they will run the ball! THey got back to that alot last year because everyone was fearing their passing game.
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deuce4417 says:
woah woah slow down everyone!!!!!!! we ALL know that no matter what you say, and how much you participate in camp NOBODY IS EVER 100% after the surgery that he had. so let all these reports come out about him and you watch, welker will not be the same player untill midway to the end of the season. when we play them in foxborogh then i’d start to worry but week two…
moss=cro
welker=wilson
holtand rest of team=REVIS ISLAND!!!! -
deuce- were just trying to make a revis island plug or seriously considering have revis cover holt? Revis has to cover moss- you know he gets up for it too. Look at the only two games Revis made mistaktes- against phins and titans- where they weren’t any big time WR to cover. Revis will cover moss and welker will have to prove hes healthy enough for us not to use Wilson on him.
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bilal – I think Lowery has been moved to safety and will be used as a 3rd/4th safety on the field quite a bit in passing situations. They can try and run the ball, and may have success but we should be able to have numbers in the box if revis and cro can go without safety help.
As for quitting smoking, my mother didn’t raise a quitter.
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bilal,
revis on moss is not totally out of the question at all! the reason i put cro on him now is becaust of moss’s declining physical gifts. cro is much more athletic than him at this point in his life, and lets face it that s what made moss a great reciever, so why not make revis move around make brady find him on every play. holt as old as dirt that he is is still one hell of a rout runner, but revis chews guys like that up. cro as gifted as he is can get smoked by a well run rout -
and no, honestly the last thing i want to talk about is revis at this point but it looks like we have no choice
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If lowery has been moved to safety then I guess I can see that working. I might be in the minority by I liked how Eric Smith and Ihedibo played as the 3rd and 4th safeties in dime situations. Ihedibo actually knows how to blitz well. I know people wanna see Lowery moved to safety cause of his ball skills but I think his main job will be to backup Revis and Cro in case of injury. Wilson will play nickle back all year barring multiple injuries to the secondary. Coleman(I think hes sstill on the roster) will be wilsons back up.
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Deuce- I know he dominated Chad(great route runner) but he had the overrated Carson Palmer throwing terrible balls. Reggie Wayne, who i think is the best route runner in the NFL, did not have a problem shaking off Revis partly with the help of having Peyton Manning as QB. I actually think Revis does better against so-called physical and taller receivers because he lets them know in the first quarter hes stronger- so they disappear Ie. Moss(taller),TO, Andre, Roddy, Sims-Walker(second half), Vincent Jackson.
I think that Rex learned his lesson last year that putting Revis on Holt during the Jags game was a mistake in the first half while letting Sims-Walker abuse the other CB(forgot who it was).
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bilal
lito(or lowery) got smoked in that game. its funny cause if its my plan or yours i feel good either way ha ha. i personally like to match physically. -
bilil – here’s the article re: Lowery to safety: http://nyj.scout.com/2/979281.html?refid=400
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AKA Jack says:
The QB Jason Taylor has the most career sacks against is Tom Brady. I can’t wait to see this defense, particularly against the Pats.
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billvv says:
Welker does well against zones. The Pats run the zones off and Welker comes underneath for twenty yards at a clip. I think the plan is to man up rather than play soft zones against the Pats. The soft zones kept Welker in front of them, at least, but his speed always got extra yards.
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Bilal is exactly right about Revis and who he is better against. And come on now, this is the Patriots, you’ve got to know that Welker will somehow find a way to come back the first week with no negative effects whatsoever. They’ve got lots of weapons on that offense, don’t forget their RB’s can catch out of the backfield too. This division really is not going to go to the Jets as easily as some people think. What most of you seem to forget here, is that the Jets and Patriots only play 2 games against each other. So in those other 14 games, the Patriots don’t have to play against Revis, Cromartie and Wilson. Also it’s a little early to declare Wilson the next Revis don’t you think? It’s definitely nice if we beat the Patriots both games, but if they win all their other 14 games there could be a problem. Don’t discount them just because you hate them.
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juunit,
its not out of my strong strong hate for the pats that i say welker will be not the same, its physical facts.can you name a case where a player blew his knee out like him and returned opening day to repeat with an extreemly productive season with no lingering effects? i can’t. the FACT is that the human bud needs time to heal both physically and mentally. week 6 minnium that he will be back to normal -
Let’s also remember we are dealing with Welker. I will consider it a successful outing if he only burns us for two first downs on third and long and one TD.
Final Score:
Jets – 24
Pats – 17 -
Also, what I want is for Welker to come in to Week 2 THINKING he is one hundred percent. That way he’ll still try to juke someone in the flat and end up getting leveled.
It’s gonna be fine.
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Nostra-Freakin-Damus,
i say we all pray for that the day of the game. i usuall don’t wish ill will on any players…….accept the pats. i did a jig when i saw that little bastard go down for the count, brady too!
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C Low says:
Well, they drafted Kyle Wilson for this exact reason. Let’s give the kid a shot.
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I can’t wait. I’m a diehard Jets and Gators fan. My favorite Gator of all times is Percy Harvin.
I can’t wait for Kyle Wilson to line up against a hopefully migraine free Percy in week 4
0:42 – 0:49 LOOK AT THESE CUTS!!!!!! (My fav of all time)
1:00 – 1:06 (1 vs 11) If he was quadruple teamed in college……….
1:47 FASTEST CUT EVER!!!!!!!!v=XTqmZDNApeA&feature=related
How does a scout not see this potential????? -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTqmZDNApeA&feature=related
0:42 – 0:49 LOOK AT THESE CUTS!!!!!! (My fav of all time)
1:00 – 1:06 (1 vs 11) If he was quadruple teamed in college……….
1:47 FASTEST CUT EVER!!!!!!!!
How does a scout not see this potential?????
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Mark says:
Brady will complete those dinky passes. The key is to force him to throw them quickly so the pick up is short. That extra second of time translates into an additional 7 yards. If we could bring pressure we could drop linebacker into that right guard zone which Brady looks to first.
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BamBam says:
I like the idea of putting Cro on Moss (our slimeball on their slimeball) and making Brady locate Revis play to play
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But this is still the Patriots. And they always seem to get lucky as hell and screw everyone else over. I mean, where did Welker even come from in the first place? And then when he went down, where the hell did Edelman come from? I fully expect Welker to make a complete recovery and go right back to screwing us over. It’s a winning situation that way. I won’t be depressed if he does perform well because I expected it, and if he doesn’t perform well the Jets have a better chance at winning and I’ll have a smile on my face.
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Until Cromarties proves hes back to playing as an elite CB- you can’t have him out there covering elite WR- which you have to admit Moss still is.
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bubbybrister/shovelpass says:
I’m glad he’s playing. i want no excuses from Patsy Fans as to why the Jets kicked their a$$e$.
Wes Welker, I’d like you to meet Kyle Wilson’s War…
What is good about it being a week 2 matchup is that Bill Belicheat only has one game worth of tape on Kyle’s tendencies (or so we think!)
:-)
The jets should take their chances and put Revis on Welker. Lets see if he can slow him down a little bit….