The TEs role is bigger than just receiving though. Additionally you have to consider that a horse of a player like Gronk is going to be more effective 10-20 yards from the line of scrimmage so is never going to have quite the yards a WR will, but he opens up so many possibilities down the field. Though to be fair, Gronk has proven he can get downfield and the West Coast offense involved a lot of shorter routes and YAC, but I still think a WR is going to stretch the field more. Mind JR also opened up opportunities for other receivers himself, Iām certainly not saying Gronk is a better weapon, just that you canāt compare them based on stats.
I think weāre talking about the greatest wide receiver and tight end of all time. Montana had Rice for the second part of his 49ers run and Brady has had Gronk for the second half of his Pats run. Though you have to give Brady a lot of credit for winning without Gronk last year in the playoffs.
You can make cases for other TEs being greater, not going to dispute you having an opinion there. But itās pretty indisputable that Gronk is high in the conversation and given some of the injuries heās had and that heās only in year 8 of his career that is something else. Another couple of years and this wonāt be a debate.
Yeah I think his injuries hinder him, which is an unfortunate thing as it is generally not in his control. But if he had a full and healthy career, I dont think there would be much discussion needed at all. He hasnt though, and has missed key games as a result. Its kind of a tough one to be faulting him on, but at the same time, if you arent on the field, then you cant be judged. The way he plays makes him susceptible to injuries and the Patriots drafted him in the full knowledge that he missed his entire junior year in Arizona and thus went onto the draft ācoldā. You take the good with the bad, and his good more than outweighs the bad.
The point is that while Rice was more prolific in terms of yardage throws to him were riskier due to the simple distance involved. Brady has thrived is the short quick passes, to brilliant TEs like gronk but otherwise to shane vereen, steven ridley etc set up by Bill to minimize turnovers.
Even if Jones were there in 82 itās of little relevance to āthe catchā, as he would have been blocking like the TE (Charle Young) did on the play.
My original point is as a unit Rice, Taylor, Jones, Craig and Rathman are better than anything that Brady has had at any stage of his long career. The 81- 85 Niner team was very good but it was the 88-90 team that established Montana as the GOAT (until recently).
Not sure how much of Tom Rathman you saw, but he was an incredibly important cog of that team, both in blocking for Craig and receptions out of the backfield (615 yards in 89 alone).
How did the kicker work the ball up the field in the first place, bro? And did Malcolm score all the teamās points that day? Some have called the Legion of Boom the greatest D ever ā What did Tom do to them in the 4th quarter?
