With no Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots had been able to get excellent play out of Bennett already this season, but against the 49ers it just wasn’t there. Bennett’s blocking was particularly poor in this game, struggling both in the run game and as a pass-blocker, which could have been forgiven had he been an impact player as a receiver, but he finished the day with just 14 receiving yards and a single catch. This was one game where the Patriots could have done with Rob Gronkowski, or even the real Martellus Bennett.
He is a playmaker there is no doubt about that, but once in a while you wont have that many yards. Look at ODB, sometimes he gets shut down. TE has to block more than a WR and are typical also less likely to get thrown at.
I dont think there is ANYONE in the league who would refuse to have a player of Bennett's caliber(if we are talking only skills and not personallity)
He had 2 targets, I was explaining to Soul about this in another thread. Targets matter. It's like no pays attention to what NE does and how NE will go away from a player based on match ups and coverages.
Bennett has had 3 games like that this season where he had 2-4 targets(much less then normal). Amendola has had 5 games like that(7 or less targets for the top WR) but 5 where he had 10-17 targets.
Anyone that ever played fantasy football knows that in NE you only have Brady and Gronk on your roster. Last week Amendola was the target of the O followed by Mitchell Lewis and White(bet no one even knew those 3 were on the team). Bennett and Edelmann were not the targets; that's what NE does. In the next few weeks that could all flip, and it will happen a few more times, b/c that's what NE does.
With no Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots had been able to get excellent play out of Bennett already this season, but against the 49ers it just wasn’t there. Bennett’s blocking was particularly poor in this game, struggling both in the run game and as a pass-blocker, which could have been forgiven had he been an impact player as a receiver, but he finished the day with just 14 receiving yards and a single catch. This was one game where the Patriots could have done with Rob Gronkowski, or even the real Martellus Bennett.
LOL...what a shocker...in a game in which everyone figured they would use Bennett a ton...New England did the exact opposite of what everyone thought they were going to do! What are the odds of that?! They also ran for 175 yards...he must have been awful....lol!!!
Thats NE. What you expect they won't do. Its the opposite of taking what the DEF gives you. Classic motm, taking one game and creating an end-all narrative out of it.