I know there were a few threads on here demanding he be cut, knee jerk reactions? Maybe but as Canizzaro points out, his errors have come at the worst times. Thing is, who would replace him?
This would be a surprise, he has been a very solid blocker. My guess would be that they are pretty comfortable bringing Turner on the field as a TE in running situations and they want to let Hartsock watch from the sideline and stew in his juices until he gets a better grasp of the play flow. Keller did a decent job of blocking against Miami. Not great, but decent.
I would have been all for this before reading Abyz's analysis of the Bills game where Hartsock seemed to be a key in opening up big holes for the running game. Those penalties are costly though and it would be nice if that could somehow stop.
Hartsock has what, one catch. If Turner and Hunter can not drop a ball wide open in the endzone, they can probably equal his production sans penalties.
I seriously doubt that he gets benched simply due to the depth issue and our reliance on the running game. That being said, after last week's performance, I hope we bench every single offensive player this week. The whole defense and special teams, too.
Hartsock isn't a recieving TE, he is a blocking TE. So his production isn't what we would be losing, it's the production of the RBs.
I'm not sure about what production we would miss on the ground, either - unless they plan on running a lot of 1TE sets with Keller in there. Turner is thriving when he gets playing time at TE. You could almost move him there, because he fulfills the needs that Hartsock provides in the running capacity and he's also familiar with the OL blocking schemes and the OL timing. You just have to worry about his stamina.
You're kidding, right? The offense and defense both played really well the past two games, we lost to Miami on three fluky plays. I would have considered cutting or benching Hartstock--two penalties to cost us two home division games. My patience for any more fuck-ups from this guy would be about run out.
I'd absolutely consider benching Hartsock. He had HUGE penalties in each of our last two losses, and that can't be tolerated. He's been a good run blocker, but what good is he if for every hole he creates, there could be a holding call waiting to happen? As for who would replace him...Robert Turner and Wayne Hunter...
Turner fits right in out there and he does a great job...I don't know that Ive heard his # called for a penalty either. According to the roster info, he has about 30lbs over Hartsock. This kid can fill in some different spots on the offense and hes only 25? If hes doing a better job and not getting flagged, Im all for it.
Was that supposed to be funny? All I'm saying is it would be nice to have some balance from our #2 TE. I would like someone that can excel at run blocking, but can still be a solid option in the passing game. Chris Baker was a player just like that, it is an after thought, but I hope we can find someone to fill that void. It would be nice to have again.
I still miss Kyle Brady. I remember that one TD catch he had, it was amazing. (I know, he had 10 here)
I got no problem with you personally. The fact is that Baker was always overrated on this site. He wanted more than he was worth and was willing to bring a me-first attitude into the locker room to do it. He was a solid blocker with great hands, but couldn't gain separation to save his life. He has less than 100 yards and 1 touchdown on the season WITH THE PATRIOTS. If he can't make it there, he can't make it anywhere. I would rather have him than Hartsock, don't get me wrong, but not at the cost of money and attitude. The Pats overpaid and it shows.
