Antonio Gates vs Jason Witten

[Galian Beast]

First let me just reaffirm that Witten is the most complete tight end in the nfl. No way does Gates or Winslow block nearly as well. And Witten is 3 years younger than Gates with the same amount of experience playing.

Even though Gates is the primary receiver in San Diego, and Witten is not in Dallas. Gates only has about 300-350 yards receiving than Witten. And averages only 6 yards more per game.

Gates has more touchdowns simply because he is the main receiving target in San Diego. Witten still has more overall receptions.

Last year Witten outclassed Gates in nearly every category other than touchdowns where witten trailed by just 2.

Witten is no slouch in the receiving game, i would argue that he is just as big a threat if not more so than any tight end in the nfl. And taking his blocking into account, is clearly the most complete and best tight end out there.

 

[BehindEnemyLinez]

You'll get no argument from me, my friend! I've always thought J-Witt was overshadowed by the "flashier" TEs in the league (unjustly, of course)! Winslow, Gates, Shockey, & Cooley are simply big WRs in my book!!

 

[ringmaster]

First let me just reaffirm that Witten is the most complete tight end in the nfl. No way does Gates or Winslow block nearly as well. And Witten is 3 years younger than Gates with the same amount of experience playing.

Even though Gates is the primary receiver in San Diego, and Witten is not in Dallas. Gates only has about 300-350 yards receiving than Witten. And averages only 6 yards more per game.

Gates has more touchdowns simply because he is the main receiving target in San Diego. Witten still has more overall receptions.

Last year Witten outclassed Gates in nearly every category other than touchdowns where witten trailed by just 2.

Witten is no slouch in the receiving game, i would argue that he is just as big a threat if not more so than any tight end in the nfl. And taking his blocking into account, is clearly the most complete and best tight end out there.

Gates, and Witten there is really no comparison becasue they both contrast in different styles.

Gates, is more of a reciever than a TE, and Witten, is a true TE.

The only other complete TE, we know of in the league that is on par with Witten, is Heath Miller of the Steelers.

Witten, is still being underrated by most NFL preview mags, as maybe the 5th, or 6th best TE in the league and that is fine by me.

You got that debate from the NFL.com magazine did you not.

 

[Thick 'N Hearty]

Witten played with a busted jaw and without a helmet. A toe took down the the mighty Gates. Long live J-Witt.

 

[ringmaster]

You'll get no argument from me, my friend! I've always thought J-Witt was overshoadowed by the "flashier" TEs in the league (unjustly, of course)! Winslow, Gates, Shockey, & Cooley are simply big WRs in my book!!

I guess true TEs, like Witten doesn't apply to those "rotoball" geeks out there.

 

[ringmaster]

Witten played with a busted jaw and without a helmet. A toe took down the the mighty Gates. Long live J-Witt.

Good point....

 

[Hostile]

If Gates had a WR worth much on his roster his stats would look pedestrian in comparison. He's basically the best Pass option for Rivers there and he benefits from that.

I like him a lot, but I'd take Witten in a heartbeat over him.

 

[khiladi]

If Gates had a WR worth much on his roster his stats would look pedestrian in comparison. He's basically the best Pass option for Rivers there and he benefits from that.

I don't know... TO gets the double-teams which creates spacing issues, surely benefitting Witten. When TO went down, our offense faltered. We'll see more accurately this year with Gates in light of the expectation that Vincent Jackson will keep making strides like he did at the end of the year....

Remember also that Rivers was very pedestrian last year at the beginning of the season..

 

[CF74]

Witten is the best most complete TE in the game today, nobody is in his class.

 

[theogt]

If Gates had a WR worth much on his roster his stats would look pedestrian in comparison. He's basically the best Pass option for Rivers there and he benefits from that.

I don't know about that Hos.

For Dallas, 26.5% of our total passes were thrown to Jason Witten.

For San Diego, 24.8% of their total passes were thrown to Antonio Gates.

Meaning, we threw at Jason Witten more, relative to our other receivers, than they threw at Gates. The same is true for total pass attempts (Witten had 141 attempts and Gates had 117 attempts). If he had better receivers around him he'd probably have better numbers.

I'd probably take Witten too because of his blocking ability, but Gates is clearly the better receiver.

 

[Galian Beast]

In games where T.O. had less than 95 yards receiving...

Week 1 against New york (87 yds) - Witten = 116
Week 4 against St. Louis (33 yds) - Witten = 71
Week 5 against Buffalo (25 yds) - Witten = 103
Week 6 against New England (66 yds) - Witten = 47
Week 12 against NYJ (65 yds) - Witten = 54
Week 14 against DET (21 yds) - Witten = 138
Week 15 against PHI (37 yds) - Witten = 113
Week 16 against CAR (48 yds) - Witten = 53
Week 17 against WAS (-- yds) - Witten = 24 (2 receptions, sure he played like the first quarter)

 

[Rampage]

gates is the best pass catching tightend in the game.

 

[Disturbed]

My vote is Witten. He is younger, best complete, and strives to get better...the sky is the limit. Witten should have a better career when all is said and done.

 

[Galian Beast]

theogt, Romo had over 1000 more passing yards than Rivers. While the percentage of passes thrown were the same. The improved offense IS taken into account in romo's stats vs rivers.

If Gates had better receivers around him, his numbers may even drop. There are a lot of variables to take into account there, its not as easy at 1 +1 = 2.

 

[theogt]

theogt, Romo had over 1000 more passing yards than Rivers. While the percentage of passes thrown were the same. The improved offense IS taken into account in romo's stats vs rivers.

If Gates had better receivers around him, his numbers may even drop. There are a lot of variables to take into account there, its not as easy at 1 +1 = 2.

I'm not sure what you're even trying to convey here. If you're making a reference toward yards per attempt, Gates' was higher than Witten's (8.4 vs. 8.1) despite Tony having a significantly higher YPA than Rivers (8.1 vs. 6.9).

 

[Galian Beast]

I was saying that while we threw to Witten more than San Diego did to Gates, Romo still had an overall much higher yardage total than Rivers, and that is due to the surrounding talent.

If Gates had more talent around him, his numbers might have even been lower. As his percentage of passes would have certainly dropped, that said there are many more factors than go into that.

 

[theogt]

I was saying that while we threw to Witten more than San Diego did to Gates, Romo still had an overall much higher yardage total than Rivers, and that is due to the surrounding talent.

If Gates had more talent around him, his numbers might have even been lower. As his percentage of passes would have certainly dropped, that said there are many more factors than go into that.

I don't see any reason to think his percentage of passes would have dropped.

 

[Galian Beast]

You don't think that if he had better players on his team to replace the players that he did have, that those improved players wouldn't receive an increased percentage of passing attempts, and would simply keep the same attempts the receivers of less talent got thrown their way?

 

[theogt]

You don't think that if he had better players on his team to replace the players that he did have, that those improved players wouldn't receive an increased percentage of passing attempts, and would simply keep the same attempts the receivers of less talent got thrown their way?

No, I don't think that his % of passes would necessarily go down. I think you might see a consolidation of non-Gates passes, but not necessarily a reduction in Gates' %.

Let's look at Jason Witten from '05 to '06 (difference being the addition of Terrell Owens).

In total numbers, his stats were about the same:

2005 - 66 catches, 757 yards
2006 - 64 catches, 754 yards

But, he actually increased his % of our total passes.

2005 - 17.8
2006 - 18.2

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Gates was hurt last year and is simply a stud......

However,

I will take Witten