I'll say this again...without Watkins, Gurley doesn't rack up over 800 yards receiving.
Gurley got many of those yards on screen passes. How does Watkins affect this (I know I'm preaching to the expert on this...but bear with me for others...)
1) Watkins is an excellent blocker. We've seen what lousy receiver blocking does for screen passes.
2) Watkins speed and big play threat cause CBs to play off a few more yards from the LOS than let's say, the new darling of some, Josh Reynolds.
We know football is a game of inches. Well...how about added 2 yards or so to a DB off the LOS? What does that do for a RB who is looking for a crease, a hole to take the ball up field. Then, you have a guy who is physical and big enough to block on the edge and that 5 yard play is now 20.
Woods and Kupp don't have their year without Watkins. Watkins drew the top CB allowing Woods to play against lesser CBs.
Finally, Watkins limited number of receptions can be placed in large part on the shoulders of Goff who just didn't throw to Watkins much.
This is not to diss Goff...it's just he is learning...he needs more patience to let routes develop, he needs to see the field better, he needs to "throw the receiver open", he needs to take more shots and he needs to have the ability to place the ball in tight windows. Goff was steady and often took the check down or safe route. He only threw for 3800 yards. All of this worked but he still needs to develop further. Goff is not a finished product.
So...where does all this blah blah blah come from? Well...it comes from the film. When players are drafted, a countless number of hours are devoted to film watching. Why? Because you can't look at a stat sheet and know the player. If coaches mainly used stats to evaluate players, then DTs would never make any money...although Donald is an exception.
I'll say it for the 50th time...Sammy Watkins was our only Red Zone threat. He was the only player in the receiving corps who could use his size and speed to his advantage in tight spaces. Without him, we have little to no receiver presence in the Red Zone. We do not have a serious TE presence and to think one of our bench receivers will step up and replace Watkins once again tells me people don't watch the film.
The film is vital to do an evaluation of Watkins and his "total" contributions.
