Pneumonic

It's all about timing. Had Welker's ACL injury not occurred when it did (at the end of the season) he may have missed considerably more games. Conversely, had Amendola's injury occurred at the end of the regular season he would not have missed as many games. Tis true. There were erroneous reports out to the contrary.

At 74-911-4, I'm not so sure Lloyd was all that much of a disappointment.I mean he caught just 5 balls less than what Stevie did. I'm not positive but my guess is you'd have to go back 4 or 5 years back to find a Bills WR, not named Johnson, who caught more balls than Lloyd did last year for the Pats. Flip a coin on what they might do on defense but the free agency period just started.

Pats have an offer in place for Steelers RFA Emmanuel Sanders. Steelers are cap strapped so the Pats can very likely make this an offer that the Steelers can't match. If so the Parts would give up their 3rd round pick. Emmanuel and Amendola would certainly add some serious explosiveness to that offense.

Sorry, I added the quoted part.

You've got this wrong. Here is what we know: - The Pats allow Welker to hit free agency. - The Pats agree to terms with Amendola and a contract is signed on Tuesday. - Welker gets a 2/12m year offer from the Broncos on Wednesday - Welker brings the offer back to the Pats to see if they'll match and the Pats tell him "We have signed Amendola, and therefore have redundancy at your position, so we're only willing to offer you 2/10m. Take it or leave it. - Welker leaves and flies to Denver.

My point is the above noted players all picked up the system without trouble. To think it is some terribly troublesome system to pick up is inaccurate. As for the Pats system .... they still run Charlie Weiss' variation of the Erhardt/Perkins system.

The "Pats system is harder to learn" belief is a fallacy. For every Ocho that struggled there is a Moss, a Welker, a Lloyd, a Stallworth, a Patten, a Caldwell, a Gaffney, and a Givens who quickly figured the system out without much trouble. And, as you mention, Amendola already studied and digested the Pats offense for a year so he'll have a head start compared to the others not named Lloyd. Also, Welker has to learn an entirely new playbook and offense too. And, he's got 2 excellent receivers over there in Denver who are already in synch with Manning and who will be competing for receptions. I think this is a flip a coin kinda scenario as to who will have the better season. I expect both to excel. If you are implying the Amendola signing was reactionary .......... Tom E. Curran ‏@tomecurran Interesting news: Amendola signed with the Patriots on Tuesday. NE did not react to Denver, they made choice when Welker went to market

The reality is that both Welker and Amendola will very likely thrive in their new environments. Who is to say which one will be better. We'd all be guessing at this answer. What we do know, however, is that the Pats were comfortable moving on from Welker to Amendola and, based on their history of successfully knowing when it's time to part ways with aging stars, they must have had their reasons.

Amendola is plenty tough enough (read about his broken collarbone incident). What's uneasy for the Pats is whether he can stay healthy or not. Looking at his injuries, these are more of the unlucky incident types involving broken bones than anything. One would think they will have healed up properly and would be a non issue moving forward. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure the Pats are going to expect the same things from Amendola as they did from Welker. Namely, bread and butter workhorse inside and underneath coverage. That's Gronk and Hernandez territory and likely would have been moreso last year had they been able to stay healthy long enough to play the part. Don't get me wrong, they will still use Amendola as such not just as the workhorse like with Welker. They won't need too. I suspect the Pats will add different routes and plays to Amendola's arsenal to change things up some. I think he's got enough of an added skillset to allow for a change.

I think the biggest concern for the Pats is whether or not all 4 of Gronk, Hernandez, Ballard and Amendola can stay healthy all year long. If they do, and after adding Lloyd into the equation, then the next ? might well be "are their enough balls to go around"

All I know is that a year ago this time Belichick tagged Welker and paid him close to $10M yet today he woouldn't pay Welker $6M. Something happened such that Belichick's opinion of Welker's worth changed during the last 12 months. Whether that change was due to something other than skillset who knows but, Belichick gets the benefit of the doubt from me on this one.

Wait until you see it with Gronk and Hernandez healthy and on the field for more than just 1 game together.

Lloyd adjusted fine and ended up 75/900+. If the Pats get that out of DA I'm sure they'll be pleased.

Well, one thing Welker has never done that Amendola has done and that is lead the league in all purpose yards.

Amendola was with current Pats OC McDaniels back with the Rams so I would imagine the Pats have a very good idea of how well Amendola can play. Amendola knows the Pats offense so the transition shouldn't be problemtic. If Amendola can stay healthy my guess is he'll thrive with Brady as his QB.

DA has huge shoes to fill no doubt. I doubt he's asked to fill them by himself however. He'll get help from Gronk and Hernandez who, right so, are the new focus of this offense and who will be the priorities of Brady. I think what DA brings to the table is more slant, and seam passes along with more quick strikes to get deep into the secondary opening up the interior more for the TE's. The Pats will also rely more on throwing it to their RB's.

This sounds about right. I'd also add that the system is so purposeful that anyone who enters believes in it so much that they never question it and therefore gives it their all. Those who don't are quickly shown the door.

I too believe Welker will play well in Denver but, Belichick gets the benefit of the doubt on this one.

The success rate I mention deals with Belichick's penchant for accurately deciding when it's time to let older players go .... not about his success in getting new FA's.

With all due respect, Doc, I'll take Belichick's track record of success in matters such as these over yours.

One of the many great attributes Belichick has is the ability to know when it's best to part ways with an older player. If he didn't match the affordable contract offer for Welker than he must have his reason(s).

The Pats system is Belichick and only he knows it, it appears. The system involves finding players, managers and coaches who fit in it.

He's worth every penny .... until he gets into the playoffs.

Not sure what you mean but that Pats dynasty team has almost zero association with this years Pats team and really all Pats teams dating back to '07. It would be like associating Marv's SB teams with Williams' teams.

Most likely it's because they miss guys whose names are Bruschi, Seymour, Harrison, Law, Samuel, McGinest, Vrabel, and Colvin more than anything. Keep in mind that this years Pats team has been totally re-built and bears very little resemblance to their (01-04) dynasty team. The only players on this years Pats team that were on that dynasty team are Brady, Wilfork and Branch.