- 4,184
- 10
I've probably seen Tate play more than anyone here (maybe BlazinJ has seen Tate play as much as I have) as he played for UNC when I was there undergrad and I went to every home game and a good number of away games.
I'm not sure what to expect from him stepping into this situation. His SR year at UNC ended early when he tore his ACL against Notre Dame. Before then he was flat out electric though. He set the NCAA record for all time return yards as our punt and kick returner. In the first game of the season he had just under 400 total yards from scrimmage and was unstoppable. He followed that up with a string of games with at least 60 yards and a TD.
This is his second year with the Pats so he should have a good grasp for the playbook. As seen by his two return TDs so far this season (and he had one in preseason) if he can get in open space than he's gone. A lot of his value will depend on how the Pats adjust their Offense. We know they like what both of their young TEs can do and Welker gets a ton of targets, but not having the best WR in football to account for should allow D's to key on Welker.
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Here is a look at the target numbers for the patriots so far this season:
Wes Welker11761034
Brandon Tate513514
Randy Moss8103122
Julian Edelman235
Matt Slater11
WR TOTAL2420161676
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Last year Welker was targeted 162 times and Moss was targeted 138 times. Through 1/4 of the season Randy was on pace to be targeted 88 more times. So far this year the Pats are throwing to the TEs a lot more often than last season while the RB targets have dropped. This is without a doubt due to Kevin Faulk getting injured.
So there is an opportunity for Tate to come in and get his looks and potentially shine. With Moss being gone and their main pass catching RB out for the season I think it makes Tate is a low risk-high reward type of player.
I'm not sure what to expect from him stepping into this situation. His SR year at UNC ended early when he tore his ACL against Notre Dame. Before then he was flat out electric though. He set the NCAA record for all time return yards as our punt and kick returner. In the first game of the season he had just under 400 total yards from scrimmage and was unstoppable. He followed that up with a string of games with at least 60 yards and a TD.
This is his second year with the Pats so he should have a good grasp for the playbook. As seen by his two return TDs so far this season (and he had one in preseason) if he can get in open space than he's gone. A lot of his value will depend on how the Pats adjust their Offense. We know they like what both of their young TEs can do and Welker gets a ton of targets, but not having the best WR in football to account for should allow D's to key on Welker.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a look at the target numbers for the patriots so far this season:
Wes Welker11761034
Brandon Tate513514
Randy Moss8103122
Julian Edelman235
Matt Slater11
WR TOTAL2420161676
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last year Welker was targeted 162 times and Moss was targeted 138 times. Through 1/4 of the season Randy was on pace to be targeted 88 more times. So far this year the Pats are throwing to the TEs a lot more often than last season while the RB targets have dropped. This is without a doubt due to Kevin Faulk getting injured.
So there is an opportunity for Tate to come in and get his looks and potentially shine. With Moss being gone and their main pass catching RB out for the season I think it makes Tate is a low risk-high reward type of player.
