Dare to speak against New England

[JETS SB]

New England, on the other hand, is healthy...and looking stagnant. A Welkerless offense is what I see. Lol

I take it, you were joking with this statement. I wouldn't call being without your best RB, WR, and TE ( Gronk, Vareen, and Amendola ) "healthy". I love killing the Pats as much as every other Jets fan, but they are very injured at skill positions, albeit they are very thin at those positions to begin with.

[Tom Kessenich]

I think it's all about Gronk and Hernandez personally. As great as Welker is, you can at least attempt to mimic his production with poor man's Welker (Amendola) or homeless man's Welker (Edelman). But Gronk and Hernandez are different deals entirely. When the two of them were healthy and on the field together they brought a dynamic no other team could duplicate and no other player could duplicate. We saw in Week 1 that while Vereen is very talented he isn't Hernandez. Having a TE with Hernandez's talent and versatility was a huge asset for the Patriots because it created a multitude of matchup advantages they could take advantage of. Include Gronk and defenses couldn't defend that 1-2 punch.

When the Patriots went unbeaten in the regular season and were scoring points in droves it was Moss and Welker who created issues in the passing game. When the Patriots moved on from Moss they shifted the focus to Welker, Gronk and Hernandez. Now they have none of those guys and no one at their positions with the same level of talent and ability. As much as I like Vereen, I was always skeptical of the idea that he'd be the new Hernandez. I didn't agree you could take a RB and plug him into the offense and create all the mismatches that Hernandez created.

So for me, while I think the decision to part with Welker was stupid and cheap, I believe the Patriots could've recovered from that if Gronkowski was healthy and Hernandez didn't turn out to be a gigantic piece of chit as a human being.

[David U Kennedy]

My worries about the Bills is health. I don't believe Stevie Johnson, CJ Spiller or Fred Jackson can play a full season without missing time. Maybe I'm wrong. Time will tell. New England, on the other hand, is healthy...and looking stagnant. A Welkerless offense is what I see. Lol

The only injury prone guy on your list is the Backup RB Jackson. I don't think Spiller has missed a pro game yet and Stevie maybe a couple games in many years.

[Diesel]

Jets SB, I was referring to their WR's. I should have been more clear. Also, Amedola being hurt is exactly the pot man's Welker that they paid for. It has been thought that Brady will do it with ANY WR's. now he's got ANY WR's. Good luck with that, NE, and GO WES WELKER GO!

[Diesel]

President Kennedy, , The injury label is my own for them. Maybe they prove me wrong, but I don't see them lasting the season without injury. All 3 of them on my list.

[BubbasHouse]

Diesel - you are the man! Speak the truth son! The Pat's arrogance is exposed again thinking the system is all you need FOOLISH!!! You need players - they had players - and now they don't! Cook em - they get two very soft wins and Gronk coming back after back surgery won't be the answer - anyone who's had back surgery knows exactly what I speak of. If Miami beats them twice - and that's a real possibility - they won't win the division and would be lucky to be WC3. Best bet I've made this year is NE under 11 wins - and I say that after they are already 2-0.

Welker is a superstar - is the best slot receiver the NFL has seen - and even at 32+ runs circles around anybody else in that space. With Clady going down he'll be a regular 10 target guy every week. Suck it Billy B!!!

[Diesel]

Daryl, it's good to see I have some friends, sharing the same opinion on Welker, and its also good to see I'm not the only one that couldn't stand the fact that "Billy B" never far anyone but Brady praise, and boasted how he could just insert players at any position on offense and will win. NOT. Welker, not only had been a star slow WR, but he's never had a day of trouble in his pro life. He is an example on and off the field and the Pats could have paid him. Instead they shrugged their shoulders and turned their backs on Welker. Charma baby, charma.

[Coach JP]

I think it's all about Gronk and Hernandez personally. As great as Welker is, you can at least attempt to mimic his production with poor man's Welker (Amendola) or homeless man's Welker (Edelman).

So for me, while I think the decision to part with Welker was stupid and cheap, I believe the Patriots could've recovered from that if Gronkowski was healthy and Hernandez didn't turn out to be a gigantic piece of chit as a human being.

Spot on, Tom.

As I said a year ago, the plan was to build around Gronk and Hernandez and, at the time, it was a smart move as their offense ran on all cylinders when they were both in the lineup. You cannot replace these two guys like you can with Welker. That said I do also question why they didn't bring him back for such little money.

In two games this season:

Amendola + Edelman
41 targets, 30 receptions // just under 75% completion and an average of 6.37 yards per target

Welker in 2012:
67% completion rate and 7.78 yards per target

You can't match Welker's individual efforts as he is the best in the business at working that slot, but the damage that is done at tight end is far, far worse.

[Diesel]

It was a machine that was working so well, that the mechanic (Bellichek) thought it was ok to remove one of his cogs. Unfortunately he's not Bob the Builder. Two of his main cogs are dinged and possibly irreparable. Can we fix it? No we can't.