Originally Posted by Megatron96
Stats are great, but they rarely tell the whole story.
I could go into detail and make a complete case for Sammy's performance in the regular season, but that'd take more time than I care to put into it right now. So, I'll limit myself to a couple three things.
First, consider the situation the Chiefs were in after week 1. Hill was out and would be until week 6, IIRC. Fisher was also out and would be until week 10? And the IOL all consistently played like schmucks until about week 7. And Patrick was hurt in week 1, and was gimpy through week 2 through 4, then got stepped on in week 5, tweaked his ankle yet again in week 7. So his mobility was compromised for most of two months, before he dislocated his knee.
Sammy effectively became WR1 week 2, but Kelce was still option 1, so Sammy should've really been the 2nd option.
Except by week 3, he wasn't playing that role.
Watch Watkins in any game between week 2 and week 4. In those three games he's not playing like a WR1. He's being kept in to help block DEs and OLBs. He's chipping defenders, and running rub routes, and running decoys.
And it makes sense when you consider the above. Patrick is gimpy and the IOL can't give him protection for more than about 3 seconds. Sammy from weeks 2 through 4 is consistently being guarded by a CB1 and sometimes bracketed/doubled by the safety on his side.
But DRob and Hardman are consistently drawing CB2s, 3s. And nearly always in single coverage. After reviewing a couple of those games it's pretty obvious that Andy decided that instead of trying to make Sammy the focus of the passing attack (along with Kelce) while being guarded by the other team's CB1, he was going to attack the opposing defenses by picking on their weaker defenders. And it worked until Sammy got hurt and missed weeks 5-7.
As for his catch rate, again go back and watch a few games from the first half of the season, remembering that Mahomes was gimpy or Moore was playing until about week 11. A decent percentage of those throws weren't well-placed. Some were thrown in Sammy's direction but were really thrown OOB. Not to say that Sammy didn't have a bad game or two, but some of those 'misses' weren't his fault.
But the proof is really in the SB. Watch every play Sammy's in the game. On plays where he's actually a potential receiver, not chipping or running a decoy, but a potential target, he gets open nearly every time. It doesn't matter who they have guarding him; he beats them like a drum in that game. The problem most of the time was that the 49ers DL was so fast that Pat literally couldn't wait long enough for Sammy to make his break.
I think that's why Veach has come out and said more than once he wants to try and keep Sammy, and why Andy made it a point a few times during the season in PGPs to talk up Watkins, and why the players all have had only good things to say about Sammy. Really think about it.
If Sammy really blew off most of the regular season, or just couldn't get open consistently, how did he do what he did last season in the AFCCG against arguably the best secondary in the league?
And how did he do what he did in this season's playoffs and the Super Bowl, against what most people thought was the 2nd best defense in the NFL?
And why on Earth would Veach come out multiple times to say he's trying to find a way to keep him? Why would Andy have made it a point to comment on Sammy's contributions after multiple games? Why would his teammates all speak glowingly about Watkins if he 'disappeared' during the regular season? Especially with the money he was making? You'd think some of them somewhere during the season would've griped about "Sammy not pulling his weight," don't you think?
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