I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Gotta be able to take you bias out the equation TFB. I dont care how about how many drops anyone has because its part of the game, its the one that COST us games that I worry about and Wes is at the top in the past 2 years in SB and AFCCG.

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

In response to TripleOG's comment:

Gotta be able to take you bias out the equation TFB. I dont care how about how many drops anyone has because its part of the game, its the one that COST us games that I worry about and Wes is at the top in the past 2 years in SB and AFCCG.

You really think his drop against the Ravens cost them the game? Thats an awfully big what if there OG.

In response to CaptainZdeno33's comment:

In response to TripleOG's comment:

Gotta be able to take you bias out the equation TFB. I dont care how about how many drops anyone has because its part of the game, its the one that COST us games that I worry about and Wes is at the top in the past 2 years in SB and AFCCG.

You really think his drop against the Ravens cost them the game? Thats an awfully big what if there OG.

It is a big "if". But there is no "if" about that drop coming at a crucial time and being a huge factor in the dynamics of the game. "When" has a lot to do with a football game.

In any case it was a huge choke.

In response to CaptainZdeno33's comment:

In response to TripleOG's comment:

Gotta be able to take you bias out the equation TFB. I dont care how about how many drops anyone has because its part of the game, its the one that COST us games that I worry about and Wes is at the top in the past 2 years in SB and AFCCG.

You really think his drop against the Ravens cost them the game? Thats an awfully big what if there OG.

It is a big "if". But there is no "if" about that drop coming at a crucial time and being a huge factor in the dynamics of the game. "When" has a lot to do with a football game.

In any case it was a huge choke.

In response to TripleOG's comment:

Gotta be able to take you bias out the equation TFB. I dont care how about how many drops anyone has because its part of the game, its the one that COST us games that I worry about and Wes is at the top in the past 2 years in SB and AFCCG.

You really think his drop against the Ravens cost them the game? Thats an awfully big what if there OG.

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

If you're referring to the AFCCG, I totally agree.  I was more referring to their overall performance throughout the season.

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

If you have the 22 passes more we dropped than the Ravens as catches....

Brady goes up 3 spots in the QB rankings for passer rating; from 6th to 3rd, and has over 5000 yards. Goes from a 98.7 to a 103.3.

In response to ATJ's comment:

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

If you're referring to the AFCCG, I totally agree.  I was more referring to their overall performance throughout the season.

Those are the total season stats.  The Pats had 4 drops in the AFCCG and 37 for the RS, which is nearly double their RS average per game. and more than double Balts drops for the  total season.

Gotta be able to take you bias out the equation TFB. I dont care how about how many drops anyone has because its part of the game, its the one that COST us games that I worry about and Wes is at the top in the past 2 years in SB and AFCCG.

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

If you're referring to the AFCCG, I totally agree.  I was more referring to their overall performance throughout the season.

Those are the total season stats.  The Pats had 4 drops in the AFCCG and 37 for the RS, which is nearly double their RS average per game. and more than double Balts drops for the  total season.

And, to clarify further, my original post on this thread was speaking to the point of the thread, which, as I understand it, is choosing between Welker and Hernandez.  I believe that's not really an apples to apples comparison.  My point wasn't whether or not the Pats receivers in general had fewer, the same or more drops than any other team.

In response to ATJ's comment:

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

In response to pezz4pats' comment:

In response to ATJ's comment:

I'm not sure I'd make the Hernandez/Welker discussion an either or.  Welker has perhaps 2 good years left while Hern probably has 10 or so.  If the Pats don't sign Welker than some of what he does will migrate to Hern by default but they are two very different players.  Welker is a pure slot receiver and probably one of the best ever to play the position.  Hern is a unique player who can be used in a variety of roles.  Drops happen to the best of 'em.

Drops happen to the best of them but not to this degree. 

Both Hern and WW are amongst the leaders in drops, in fact the whole team was horrendous.

For comparison, NE had 41, Balt had 19.

WW and Hern dropped as much as the whole Balt team.

Not good.

If you're referring to the AFCCG, I totally agree.  I was more referring to their overall performance throughout the season.

Those are the total season stats.  The Pats had 4 drops in the AFCCG and 37 for the RS, which is nearly double their RS average per game. and more than double Balts drops for the  total season.

And, to clarify further, my original post on this thread was speaking to the point of the thread, which, as I understand it, is choosing between Welker and Hernandez.  I believe that's not really an apples to apples comparison.  My point wasn't whether or not the Pats receivers in general had fewer, the same or more drops than any other team.

OK, so.....

WW more drops, lower %, due to the increased # of attempts.

There's really no way to compare unless the attempts are =. 

You can only project additional drops for AH which may or may not happen with increased attempts.

You would also have to look at where the drops occured.  Are they the high completion variety or low completion % type?  Also, when they occured.  A third down drop or a 1st, a potential game winning drive or a 1st and 10 in the second series. 

All drops are not created =, but the total would increase the likelyhood of them being crucial.

Nothing is ever as black or white, as it seems.

In response to TFB12's comment:

Aaron Hernandez: Missed time for the third straight season to start his career. His 10 drops on 106 targets (9.4 percent) led to a worse drop rate than Welker (6 percent). Still a below-average blocker. Time for him to be the star the Patriots are paying him to be.

check out the full grading the patriots players one by one.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/2013/02/07/grading-the-patriots-one-one-for-the-season/1WRONcrIYmCTsYIRAt8NMN/story-1.html

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It's probably time to squash the Welker drop talk and start the real discussion... Is Aaron Hernandez worth what he is being paid?  The don't resign Welker because he is dropping more passes is bogus and needs to be addressed with AH81 instead.

This proves what I've been saying:

Throw less, target each Welker and Hernandez LESS, and it helps Brady, the flow of the offense, and you'll see less drops.

Damn, man. Your man lust for Brady and Welker is somewhat scary.

This isn't about scapegoating one particular player it's about changing the philosophy of the offense.