Reche Caldwell

I was scrolling through the channels today looking for something to watch when I stumbled upon the 2007 AFC championship with the Patriots Vs. Colts. It only makes sense for them to be showing that game in accordance with the Patriots-Colts sunday night game this week. So I stayed on the channel for a little while watching a game that was extremely frustrating to watch back in 07' and I forgot how much I hated Reche Caldwell.

Reche Caldwell was the leading receiver on the team that year. A guy that not many had heard of, and basically a scrappy 3rd or 4th receiver was the number 1 guy that Tom Brady had on his team to throw to that year. Gaffney was also there, another 3rd or 4th option.

Nobody has heard of Reche Caldwell ever since this game pretty much, seeing as though he dropped multiple wide open passes toward the end of the game that essentially cost the Patriots a Super Bowl appearance.

In watching it I began to wonder how fortunate Brady is to have legitimately good receivers on his team. Not to bash all the ones before the 07 season, but lets just say we actually know their names now. I knew when the Pats finally got Moss that things were going to change. I always said that if Brady had someone like a Marvin Harrison or a Randy Moss he would make magic happen and have seasons like Peyton Manning had prior to that. In 07-08 season before the playoffs when Belichick decided to change his game plan to make games closer, Brady had the best season ever for a quarterback numbers wise. Finally he had good receivers who were known names. Maybe Wes Welker didn't have an established name, but lets face it, he is also better than any patriot receiver Brady had to throw to before the 07-08 season.

This is not to say all the others did terrible jobs, but they only did a fai

r job. You can't say that Troy Brown wasn't the man. That man could do everything, but still Wes Welker and Randy Moss are better than him. I loved David Givens and Deion Branch, but they too have done virtually nothing since leaving the Patriots. Unfortunately for Deion he has been plagued by injury problems. Who even knows what David Givens is doing. Probably wishing he stayed with the Patriots at this point.

The point is that Tom Brady has always been one of the best quarterbacks in the league if not the best. Who knows what his numbers would be if he had some premiere receivers on the team his whole career. If he had amazing ones like Peyton always has, then I think his numbers would be pretty close to his. Instead Brady just made a lot of receivers look good, when they were just okay. It is nice to see now that instead of depending on Reche Caldwell and his massive eyes, we have Randy Moss, Wes Welker and I'll even throw in Julian Edelman (Wes Welker Jr.). We have dependable great receivers that now make Tom Brady have the numbers he always should have.

PS. Kevin Faulk is, and always will be the unsung hero of the New England Patriots.