wileedog;3250658 said:
Because the first several times he was targetted he either wasn't in the same zip code of where he was supposed to be or he dropped the ball. In the Denver game he tried a friggin spin move on an end zone fade route - a pattern 100% predicated on being in the right spot at the right time and he's playing basketball out there. Romo rightly stopped looking for him.
Even if he ran the right routes and caught every catchable pass thrown to him, his contribution as a receiver wouldn't have changed much. This is not an excuse for him to NOT improve in that department come this off-season, but it's an explanation for the perceived " bad year " criticism.
The "other weapons in the offense" argument breaks down considering he had more catches for a lot more yards and 4TDs last year in the same offense as a rookie. And that's with TO being force fed the ball all year and Brad Johnson QBing 3 games.
2008 20 catches, 283 yards, 4 TDs
2009 15 catches, 159 yards, 0 TDs
He had 5 more catches for a whopping 124 yards more last year than this year. The TDs are a matter of opportunity for a 2nd TE, not plays incorporated in a game plan. The game itself dictates if he'll get that opportunity or not. Is it up to him to advantage of those opportunities ? Sure and nobody is arguing that he didn't.
The argument is that it wouldn't have made that much difference in his STATS, which is why the detractors are claiming he had a " bad year ".
If he would have had a " bad " year, the Cowboys offense wouldn't have been anywhere near the top of the league like they were. He was the 2nd TE in a two TE based offense that finished top 5 in yardage and top 15 in scoring, and it got there in no small part because of HIS blocking.
Could he had a better year CATCHING the ball ? Sure. He dropped a couple he should of had, probably ran the wrong routes on a few others, but once again: his contributions to the offense as a blocker far outweight whatever passes he didn't catch.
The bottom line with Bennett is that all his detractors are blaming him for not living up to the expectations that they themselves had for him. The minute most of you heard in this past off season that Benette was going to become a more integral part of the offense, y'all thought that meant he was going to put up stats similar to that of a 3rd WR, ie: 30-40 catches, roughly 500 yards, and around 6-7 TDs.
People ASSumed that because he had 300 yards and 4 TDs as a rookie and that because the Cowboys said they were going to involved him more since they were going to a 2 TE base offense, that it automatically meant at least a doubling in yards and at least 2 to 3 more TDs.
Well, I'd like to know whom and when a 2nd TE has ever put up anywhere near those stats in the history of the league. Billy Joe Dupree never did it with Doug Cosbie ( or vice-versa ), Alfredo Roberts never did it with Jay Novacek, and nobody has done it with Witten. Especially in an offense that's as balanced ( run/pass ) as the Cowboys have had over the past few years..
Even getting back to his rookie year numbers would have been a challange due to the fact that the Cowboys were planning to have THREE running backs involved right from camp in 2009, as oppposed to TWO in 2008.
