“For Obvious Reasons”
June 15th, 2023
Chris Godwin
It’s easy to call Chris Godwin a prime candidate to have a monster season after he busted out 104 catches and 1,023 yards last year while coming off major knee surgery.
And Godwin missed two games with a hamstring injury.
What will he do when fully healthy? Joe can’t wait to find out.
Godwin spoke this week about having a major goal to improve his yards after catch (YAC). Those numbers were down last year, per Godwin, “for obvious reasons.” Joe will make the flying leap and credit the surgically repaired ligament in Godwin’s knee for the YAC falloff.
Godwin, 27, is relentless with his training and he’s in his prime. So a more robust comeback this year is to be suspected.
Joe isn’t concerned about Godwin’s YAC, but Joe does think more explosiveness from Godwin will result in more touchdowns. He had just three last season, the lowest total since his rookie year in 2017. And it’s flat out hard to catch only 3 TDS when you haul in 100-plus balls.
June 15th, 2023 at 12:57 pm
It’s not hard when we ran how many WR bubble screens that 90% of teams knew it was coming. Couldn’t run the ball in the red zone, ignored Mike Evans, so yeah, throw bubble screens to Godwin
June 15th, 2023 at 1:03 pm
^^^
Hated those bubble screens
June 15th, 2023 at 1:50 pm
“The New England Patriots have a secret. They cannot throw downfield. At all. Their entire deep passing game is completely dysfunctional. It is killing them on third downs, and it will start costing them games if they don’t fix the problem soon.
The Patriots are not keeping this secret very well. Tom Brady is 3-of-21 on deep passes this season. Opponents and fans have taken note of his nonstop screens and dump-offs. But New England wants you to think this is business as usual. This is a short-passing offense, they say. Brady has not been a bombardier since Randy Moss left town. We dink and dunk by design, and we are winning games.”
Sound familiar?
June 15th, 2023 at 2:01 pm
Sounds VERY familiar.
June 15th, 2023 at 2:38 pm
Hope that Godwin works on the fumbles too. Cost a couple/few big possessions last year
June 15th, 2023 at 2:43 pm
Godwin is in line for a Cooper Cupp like Triple Crown in this offense.
June 15th, 2023 at 3:02 pm
Joe … ‘Those numbers were down last year, per Godwin, “for obvious reasons.” Joe will make the flying leap and credit the surgically repaired ligament in Godwin’s knee for the YAC falloff.’
Not so sure that’s what caused the YAC fall-off Joe. If you look at Godwin’s Average Depth of Target (ADOT) last year, it was down to 5.7 Yards per Target. His Yards Before Catch per Reception was down to only 4.8
Previous year his ADOT was up at 7.3 Yards per Target, and his Yards Before Catch was up at 6.0 per reception … big difference.
But even that was low for Chris. Back in 2020 his ADOT was a whopping 10.2 Yards per Target, and his Yards Before Catch was at 8.6 per reception. IOW his numbers last year were just a bit above HALF of what they were BEFORE Tom Brady arrived. And didn’t 2020 coincide with his role change to playing much more slot receiver?
June 15th, 2023 at 3:07 pm
Joe, could you ask your moderation assistant why my 3:02 PM input went into ‘Awaiting Moderation’? No swear words, nothing but straight facts. Wasn’t even picking on anyone. By the time some of these things come out of moderation, they’re very often totally irrelevant.
June 15th, 2023 at 3:09 pm
Wow, very cool. That 3:07 PM one went into ‘Awaiting Moderation’ too. But when it did, the first one came out. I’m wondering now if starting it off with ‘Joe’ (like when attributing a quote) trips the algorithm.
June 15th, 2023 at 3:55 pm
@Dooley. Brady had his issues last year, but he’s had success throwing deep in the past, most recently 2020 and 2021. Your post was kinda disingenuous. He also never really had true deep threats in NE. What year was the article you cited?
June 15th, 2023 at 4:04 pm
Godwin has always been one of my favorites. I loved how he talked about complementary football and the importance of being able to run the ball effectively. Godwin was our running game last year. Because we were so ineffective running last year, screens were used as an extension of the run game.
For those that want to blame the QB for the screen calls, you should check for Leftwich’s press conference where he was asked by a reporter about the increase in screen passes. He said it was an extension of the run game. Also, during halftime of the Rams game last year, Bowles told the sideline reporter that he wanted more screens and runs. That came from Bowles’ mouths!! Look it up. I remember his statement specifically because I nearly had a heart attack when he made that statement.
June 15th, 2023 at 4:53 pm
2014, which kind of doesn’t matter when the point was to show that maybe the dinking and dunking maybe wasn’t all Leftwich. Pats finished 12-4 that year, but don’t get me started on how big of a pile of crap the AFC East was that year either. I’ll save you the long drawn out diatribe I know you’ll respond with, but Jameis Winston had comparable production to Brady’s’ best year here in the same system even with throwing 30 picks. Spin it how you want, not defending Leftwich just trying to illustrate that last years offense wasn’t all on 1 person, it was a collective effort or lack thereof to stink that badly.
June 15th, 2023 at 4:54 pm
Defense Rules, it was doing that to me the last couple of days.
Whatever triggers it is supposedly top secret.
I agree that it’s useless to fix it an hour later.
June 15th, 2023 at 5:12 pm
@Dooley. 2014? They won the SB that year. Their offense was ranked 4th in the league. That dink and dunking seemed to work. His top receivers were Edelman and Lafell. Anyway, I’m not gonna get into a long discussion about the Patriots. I don’t give a damn about them. You’re the one who seems to be stuck on NE.
You also have no idea how I’ll respond. I’m one of the few people who have defended Winston on this board. I’ve said that there really isn’t a difference between Mayfield and Winston. They’re both turnover machines, yet some fans are slobbering over Mayfield and dismissed Winston. I’ve always maintained that there was a confluence of issues that affected the offense last year. Leftwich didn’t get the respect he deserved for those 2020 and 2021 offenses. He wasn’t just a passenger those years. Also, he is deserving of his fair share of blame for the anemic offense last year.
June 15th, 2023 at 5:16 pm
The Pats had a really good run game going.
June 15th, 2023 at 6:12 pm
You guys make me laugh. EVERY comment I have ever made has been moderated. Never used profanity. I did have the nerve to type d0u[# bag once, but it was edited to read d-bag.
June 15th, 2023 at 6:23 pm
rrsrq nailed it.
So many of those damn bubble screens for 2 – 3 yard gains…
June 15th, 2023 at 6:26 pm
@Bucfan13
You also point at everything else when Brady is being critiqued by almost anybody on this site. I’m not stuck on NE, but for people like you who are quick to defend Bradys’ honor there’s historical evidence where the tacts used by the 2022 Bucs was something Brady had experienced doing prior to being in Tampa. 3 of 4 years in BAs system, was 2019 worse than 2022? What’s worse 30 picks and a top scoring offense? Or a 1-dimensional offense that averaged the equivalent of 6 FGs a game?
@Fred
They sure did, and a championship defense but again it wasn’t to definitively down Brady, but when people start saying Bowles & Leftwich wanted this/that last season but totally forget to include Brady and his 20+ years of NFL experience having some say in what we did on offense in his time here including last season. It’s on everybody else when things went left I unless it’s a positive then it’s all Brady, like our comebacks.
June 15th, 2023 at 7:31 pm
Dooley & Bucfan13 … Tom Brady had the ‘luxury’ of playing for only TWO HCs for the first 22 years of his 23-year NFL career. Both Belicheck & Arians are excellent HCs who knew how to get the best out of their TEAM, not just out of Tom. He stayed 1 year too long IMO, but it seems a lot of others feel that way too.
Can’t help but wonder what Tom Brady’s career would’ve looked like if he’d been drafted by Tampa Bay back in 2000 and spent his career with us. In his 23 years he would’ve (potentially) had 8 HCs: Dungy, Chucky, Morris, Schiano, Lovie, Koetter, BA & Bowles. He would’ve (potentially) played on 2 Super Bowl winning teams (maybe more?), but for many of those years the TEAM surrounding him (probably) wouldn’t have been nearly as ‘talented’ as those that he actually played with. Just look at our defensive rankings over those years compared to the Patriots’ defensive rankings for starters (gotta give Belicheck credit … he’s built some very consistent defenses).
June 16th, 2023 at 12:33 am
@Defenserules. QBs definitely benefit from stability. Mahomes has benefited from having Andy Reid. I consider Reid one of the best coaches ever. Peyton Manning is my favorite QB of all time. He benefitted from having the steady force of Dungy and HOF players in Wayne, Harrison, and James. Montana had Walsh. Marino had Shula. I wouldn’t consider those Pats teams “talented.” Belichick and Brady just got the most out of the players they had on the team. Say what you will about Bill, but he’s a defensive genius. Those 80’s and early 90’s NY Giants defenses he coached were dominant. You really don’t have any dominant defenses in today’s NFL.
June 16th, 2023 at 5:36 am
Godwin’s YAC has alway been good. the fact that he wants to get better is a good thing and shows he was not pleased about it last year. Also good.
The way he was used last year definately played a factor.
June 16th, 2023 at 8:16 am
@DR & Bucsfan13
I agree with you both in regards that stability at HC & QB gives teams a better chance at establishing and maintaining a winning culture. Doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be in a super bowl every season, but it also gives you a shot at having a fighters chance from game to game to build on being a winning organization.
I’ll forever be grateful to Brady for coming in and being a shot in the arm to not only turning this team around and helping us get to the promised land. That gratitude isn’t going to stop me from being critical of his play or calling out his responsibility as a team leader and our QB at the time. Much like Peyton Manning or Isaac Bruce or Thurman Thomas guys who loved this game so much it obscured their ability to see that they may have stayed in the game a bit too long.
and BF13 I 100% agree the rule changes have made it so defenses can’t be assembled or play like those 90’s Belichek NYGiants teams or Chuck Knoll’s Steelers teams with those ferocious defenses, because the NFL knows fans who spend money like defensive struggles, but love offensive explosions even more. We’ve seen it at different levels of football in the NCAA or NFL respectively, but look at basketball and the debate that goes on about players who thrived in a much more physical setting in the 80’s & 90’s and how’d they fare in the 21st century with a rule book that favors ridiculous scoring outputs.
June 16th, 2023 at 10:05 am
@Dooley. Well said. I agree on all points. People like to blame the rules of protecting the QB as the reason for the increase of offensive production, but it’s really because they changed the rules with the DBs and basically handicapped them. Receivers can run wide open over the middle with no fear of getting hit. The corners can’t jam the receivers anymore. I just hate it now.
June 16th, 2023 at 1:59 pm
Reading the practice notes, Baker is looking Godwin’s way a lot. Baker is a savvy QB. He knows where to go with the ball. Godwin will have a great year.