Die hard Pats fan here. I do admit, at the time I was OK with Wes leaving NE. We had two great tight ends for the middle of the field... little did we know one was a murderer, and we had 'little Welker' (number 11)
I certainly was a huge Welker fan and so appreciated his work in NE. What took the sting out of him leaving for me was a couple of huge drops Wes had at HUGE moments in the previous two years playoffs. In big games where teams are so close, it is the big moments that sometimes decide the outcome. To be clear, I am not blaming him for the losses of course, but they were such HUGE moments, I could see our offense moving on...
You may have noticed a couple of drops yesterday also, one HUGE one for an interception that was not Peyton's fault....
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT6XziIQ5RI]Wes Welker Superbowl XLVI Dropped Pass - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H51bWlR28zQ]Welker Key Drop AFC Championship Game - YouTube[/ame]
Was a great game for Pats. They have a tough schedule coming up, so time will tell. I suspect if we continue to play well we may just see Mr Manning and company again, not sure my heart can take it