| theRepublic said: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000749361/article/rob-gronkowski-to-undergo-back-surgery-friday From the article: "Patriots' Offense With & Without Rob Gronkowski Since 2010: With Gronk: 31.2 PPG, 391.9 total YPG, 279.2 pass YPG Without Gronk: 26.9 PPG, 382.6 total YPG, 252.4 pass YPG In his 86 games with Gronkowski, Brady has a 104.5 passer rating with a 65.5 completion percentage. Brady's numbers dip to 84.4 and 57.5 percent without Gronk." Damn. I don't think even Stafford was this reliant on Calvin Johnson. So...does this mean Brady is overrated? A sub 60% completion percentage is pretty bad for a modern era QB. 57.5 percent would be 31st in the NFL this year. And the passer rating would be 25th. This is not really a small sample size either, it is 18 games. |
It's not a small sample size, but the size, or perhaps more appropriately, the timing, is worth considering nonetheless.
Eleven of those games (well over half the sample size) took place in 2013 after Gronkowksi torn his ACL and MCL and had them replaced with beer fueled cyborg ligaments. Why is 2013 significant? Well, it's because that was the year directly following the Wes Welker trade. Brady's top two targets suddenly became Danny Amendola, who was in his first year with the team (and missed four games due to injury as well), and Julian Edelman, who was suddenly forced into the role of top receiver. Brady was thrown into a tough spot, losing the one guy he had long term chemistry with and having to adapt to a bunch of new guys, especially the various people they substituted for Amendola.
