I have heard Dyson called many things but never that. He isn't elite by any means, but he is also by no means "pedestrian" either. As for Stallworth as part of "perhaps the two most dangerous deep threats in the league", lets slow down here a bit. First he isn't exactly young. He was a good pickup, and a decent number 2 especially with Brady throwing to him, but lets keep some perspective.
I concur, without being partial (I'll keep Cotch out of this). There are easily 5-10 second tier receivers who are above a deep threat Stallworth status. Instead of asking, here is at least 5: 1) Reggie Wayne 2) Darrel Jackson 3) TJ Houshyourmama 4) Javon Walker 5) Roy Williams Stallworth and Moss are solid receivers, but there are plenty of tandems out there that are MUCH bigger threats downfield this year.
Yeah, I wouldn't call Stallworth 2nd tier, though. He's 3rd tier. Coles is 2nd tier (for now) and Cotchery is borderline 2nd or 3rd.
You have to give the Pats some credit. The offseason moves for WR's seems to be paying off. Granted I would like to judge them against a real NFL defense. We simply were disgusting and awful.
Considering the time that Brady has in the pocket to find them, they could be the worst receivers in the league, and he's get it done.
No question Randy Moss makes the Pats better offensively. As for anyone else, we pretty much didn't bother playing on defense today, so that's impossible to judge yet.
Bottom line - pass protection. Pennington would have a field day if the O-line protected him the way Brady was protected. I actually think our secondary is good - you can't cover those guys forever.
They tried that last year and fell just shy of the superbowl. Yes, they are that much better. Moss looked great and welker was open often, burning barret for his TD. But, this is not about skill players. Its the lines, both sides. The pats win the battle in the trenches, and everything else is easy from there.
