This may sound odd..
 

but I think this team would benefit from playing a game against a bad team with Michael Thomas out with an injury or something. If next season, there was a game where MT had a minor injury and Brees was forced to focus on other receivers, I think it'd help the team a lot as far as developing receivers. MT being so good actually hurts the other receivers, because they don't get enough targets to find their comfort zone.

Re: This may sound odd..
 

Here's something really odd!!!! 5! That's odd!! :rofl:

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Even if our WR's got more work they will never be anything close to MT. Just sit back and enjoy it. Same for Brees. We aren't getting these caliber players for a while.

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I don't want them to be MT caliber, they don't need to be. As much as I love Brees, he's always had an issue with trust when it comes to receivers. I'm honestly not sure if that's a strength or a weakness, cause there is some risks involved when it comes to throwing to someone that hasn't proven themselves. Yes he will spread the ball around, but when it comes to going back and throwing to a receiver consistently... Brees has a hesitancy. He'll usually only throw to those guys when they have a large separation. You could see it with Cook at the beginning of the year. Brees trusts Cook more now, and obviously feels more comfortable throwing to him. He's starting to get to get comfortable with Tre'Quan. The reason I think we'd benefit to have a game without Thomas is Brees would be forced to throw to someone other than Thomas and could speed up the trust development he has with some of the newer receivers.

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I don't think it's so much the receivers getting better as it is Brees developing a trust in them.

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It would take a number of games to see real progress in that regard, and heck no we don't want to be without CGM for multiple games.

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Eh, I think it'd only take a game to really start throwing to them. If MT isn't there, he has to throw to someone other than him.. he'd quickly have to develop an in-game rapport. There has been so many times that a receiver has dropped a pass from Brees and it's like he doesn't want to go back to them, Brees is a perfectionist. One of the things that makes Brees so good, is actually harmful in some ways as well. Just having one game where MT isn't an option would go a long way in developing his relationship with receivers. It would force him to throw into tighter windows with players Tre'quan in the same way he does with MT. I'm not saying it would be a complete fix, but I think a lot of progress would be made. Brees had the same exact issue with Jimmy Graham. When Graham was traded, Brees started spreading the ball around a lot more. Now I definitely don't want to get rid of MT lol, but I think if you just gave him a scenario like that, it'd force those neural pathways to be developed. I feel like it'd help a lot. I don't want it to happen this year, but next year against a bad opponent would be ideal.

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Sorry, but I think you are WAY off course. Brees has always passed the ball to the open receiver. And "open" is a relative term. Thomas needs less separation than other receivers to be deemed "open". That's why he sees the ball more often. Taking Thomas away would not make the others anymore open. On the contrary, without Thomas garnering the attention the others would be more closely covered.

This isn't a Brees issue. It is an issue with the other receivers getting enough separation. Cook has been getting that separation recently, as has both Hills.

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FWIW ...

Heard on Daniel Jeremiah's Pod cast the other day ... he claims that the 2020 WR draft class is the best he's ever seen.

Take that with a grain of salt.

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They say that every year with some position group in the draft

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No way I want to ever see CGM not in a game. He’s the only WR that consistently gets open and he’s just a straight up beast on the field. 11/11 is just sick

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Hence ... "take it with a grain of salt".

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WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE:

"WHY WAS (PICK A STARTER, ANY STARTER) IN THE GAME WHEN "WE" WERE UP BY 24????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

"YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE"

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How about we just draft another good receiver who can get open? That would take a lot of pressure off of Michael Thomas.

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You made my point for me though. Brees will throw to Thomas with a small amount of separation. He won't do that with other guys. While this has a lot to do with the fact that Michael Thomas is reliable and catches pretty much everything thrown to him... I do think he has trust issues with receivers not named Michael Thomas. I don't want to ever see MT out in a game that is competitive. If we ever play the Dolphins or something, it'd be nice to see Brees get some work with other receivers. I'm not sure I believe that the only reason Cook is getting more passes now is because he's getting more separation. I think it has a lot to do with Brees and Cook being more on the same page and a sense of trust being established. A lot of Brees throws are based on thinking and being on the same page as his WR. He'll throw the WR open or throw the WR into YAC. Brees is very meticulous, and when it comes to his receivers he can be a bit OCD. He's not the only QB like that. For example last year, Weinz threw to Tate and Ertz. Foles liked to throw to Alshon Jeffery. I highly doubt that these receivers were getting separation differently for the different QBs. What it came down to was trust and the QB being able to be inside the WRs head. When such a high percentage of passes go to MT, developing that rapport with the other receivers can be slow. Just having one game where Brees is forced to go to someone outside of that comfort zone could help.

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Tough topic, but the reality is guys have gotten balls tossed their way and have not come through. This is by far the worst group of WR we have had since Brees and Payton. Our 2nd best WR might actually be a QB, that's how awful they are. We will need to heavily target Hill and Harris in the playoffs to take some heat off of Thomas and perhaps someone can wake up Kamara.

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Really!? 5? Is that the best you can do!? Surely you mean 43!...5 indeed!

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He has thrown hundreds of passes to all of them throughout the season, in game and in practice. The idea that taking away Thomas will force Brees to throw to the others, thus immediately improving their chemistry is a bit ridiculous. As I said, Brees will ALWAYS throw to the best option (ie. the most open). Taking away Thomas will NOT make the others anymore open, once again, quite the opposite. They will all be getting a step up in coverage with Thomas out. The WR game will become less involved with Brees having to check down to the RB's all that more often.

I feel you are greatly underestimating Brees. And as the Foles/Jeffery comparison goes, in the five games with Foles as QB Jeffery was targeted 32 times for an average of 6.4 times per game. With Wentz he was targeted 50 times in eight games for a very similar 6.25 times per game. He was getting open at the same rate for both QB's. The same goes for Thomas. He was targeted equally by both Bridgewater and Brees as compared to the other WR's. It was because he was getting open more consistently and had nothing to do with some supposed familiarity with the others.

I repeat, the discrepancy between the total receptions by Thomas as compared to the other receivers has very little, if anything, to do with Brees and virtually everything to do with the success of those other receivers in getting as open as Thomas. Taking Thomas away isn't going to magically make them better.

To be fair, both Tre'quan and Cook have dealt with injuries at times throughout the season. Ginn, on the other hand, has no excuse. Still, they have all been getting open more often recently, but with Thomas open as well who would you throw the ball to? The greatest receiver ever in Saints history maybe?

Edit: By the way, Foles threw to Ertz exactly nine times per game ... Wentz 10.09 times per game. Pretty much the same, as well.

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This thread is odd.

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https://www.phlsportsnation.com/2019...tz-connection/

Especially pay attention to the portion about contested throws.

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Interesting article. It supports that much more why Thomas gets the attention from both Brees and Bridgewater. It explains that Jeffery's strength is with the contested ball. Yet, not every receiver is of the same mold as Thomas and Jeffrey. They are open on those contested plays due to their aggressiveness. None of our other receivers have that same trait. Is that Brees' fault? Is trying to force the ball into a contested situation that a receiver is not at an advantage help? That would do nothing but result in more incompletions or interceptions. Finding the open receiver is still the best option.

Simply targeting the other receivers when they are not as open as Thomas is counterproductive and totally illogical. Once again, the only solution is for the individual receivers to improve their ability to get open or their ability to win consistently on the contested play. None of them have shown they can do the second based upon their drops.

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Have you noticed that MT hasn't been bracketed by double coverage as of late? ... why? Jared Cook has become a threat in the Saints offense last few weeks.

If a safety wants to take his eyes away from our TE ... substantial gain or 6.

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Re: This may sound odd..
 

52 is not odd...53 is, which is the roster size.

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who is CGM? please forgive my ignorance

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Can't
Guard
Mike

All World Michael Thomas

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of course!!!! d'oh my bad for not catching the acronym!

Thank you, K!!! much obliged!

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It would and should actually be much easier for players to step up in his presence vs absence. The guy commands the field. He is the best rec. In the game right now.

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You are confusing causation. Drew is and has always been a QB known for spreading the ball and hitting everything with hands. MT is the only receiver consistently open and catches everything thrown at him.

Our ****ty receivers hurt them selves by not getting separation and catching balls that hit them in the hands.

One last note... When you have an idea like this, maybe we could just bench MT instead of getting him hurt? Seems less risky. :bng: