Galian Beast said:
Nice research DLK, but your one error is in the fact that you forgot to include Antonio Bryant's numbers.
Witten became a primary receiver, not simply because Glenn went down, but also because Morgan was not the 3rd receiver (especially not 2nd receiver) that Bryant was.
He still isn't.
I see our offense being more productive than the Patriots.
Brady threw for 3,692 yards and Dillon ran for 1635 yards.
The Patriots ran for nearly 33 attempts per game (32.75). Corey Dillon alone had about 21 rushes per game.
The largest difference I see between our offenses is that we have much better wide receivers, and a better tight end. And that Bradys receptions are more spread out. Keyshawn, Glenn, and Witten are going to be the primary receivers next year. We're mainly going to be playing out of two tight end formations.
Bryant, Morgan, Crayton, Copper and Ward are among the "other WR/TE" group. Bryant's numbers after 5 games projected to 51/851, and he was playing when our running game was basically pathetic. Regardless, the third WR will hardly ever get as many looks as the #1 and #2 guys and the TE, at least with Parcells style. You're more likely to see 2 and 3 TE sets than you are 3 and 4 WR sets with him.
In our offense, passing proficiency doesn't mean offensive efficiency. In the Minnesota game we had 2 100 yard receivers. Loss. Pittsburgh, TG for 140. Loss. Green Bay, Witten 112. Loss. Philly, Witten 133. Loss. Seattle with KJ over 100 was the only game we won with a 100 yard game by a receiver, and the main reason he had that total was we were playing catch up.
As far as the Patriots go, they operate on a similiar offensive philosophy of grind it out on the ground, spread the passes around. They also ran the ball more than they threw it, and Brady passed for over 3,600 yards without having one receiver go over 1,000 yards last year.
No one is saying it's impossible, but it's unlikely even with teams with very explosive offenses. Minnesota led the league in passing last year. 1 1,000 yard receiver. Indy was the second best, and they
did do it, with arguably the best QB/WR combination in the league. KC had 2 receivers over 1,000. St. Louis, 2 receivers. Green bay, 2 receivers. Philly, 1 receiver. Denver, 2 receivers. Oakland, 0 receivers over 1,000. Anyway, you get the idea. Those were the most prolific passing attacks in the league last year all with more than 4,000 yards passing, and only one at 3 receivers over 1,000 yards.
Now if you changed it to two receivers over 1,000, I'd say that was possible. Three? Nope. Our receivers will be fine as long as they stay healthy, but that's not Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokely we're trotting out there to take throws from Peyton Manning.
