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Patriots WR Wes Welker underwent surgery on his ACL in February. At the time, the common thought process was that Welker would miss at least part, if not all of the season recovering from the injury.
But, there he was just six months later in the Patriots second preseason game against the Falcons.
Pats Pulpit has a rundown of Welker's impact:
When the Patriots took the field for their first play, Wes Welker wasn't on the field. However, on the team's second play, Wes was back. And the Patriots didn't take any time to ease him into the offense. On the first play, Wes caught a six yard hook. When he was tackled, I held my breath, as Wes was hit at virtually every possible angle. Play two, Wes again, this time on a 14 yard grab on a throw that was behind him. On his third play, Wes was targeted on a screen and was rocked by Falcons defensive back Chris Owens. Still, Wes popped right back up and was fine. Welker played a total of six snaps, all on the team's first drive.
Welker ended, officially with 20 yards on two catches. He was targeted three times.
Check out Pats Pulpit for a full recap of the Patriots game.
Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Tom Brady completed 10-of-12 passes for 85 yards with a touchdown and the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 28-10, in an exhibition game at Georgia Dome.
Fred Taylor rushed 11 times for 54 yards with a touchdown and Sammy Morris gained 52 yards on six carries with a TD for New England, which has won both its preseason games. Randy Moss had two catches for 24 yards, while Aaron Hernandez caught a TD pass in the victory.
Matt Ryan finished 8-for-13 for 76 yards through the air for the Falcons, who won their preseason opener last week but watched their offense struggle in this one. Michael Turner gained 32 yards on eight carries in the loss.
John Parker Wilson also saw action under center for the Falcons and completed 14-of-25 passing attempts for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Matt Bryant's 46-yard field goal 5 1/2 minutes into the game gave the Falcons the lead, but the Pats answered on the ensuing possession. Brady and Taylor combined to engineer an 11-play scoring drive capped by Taylor's 28-yard TD run.
In the second quarter, with Brady still the signal-caller, New England found the end zone again. The 10-play drive started with a 14-yard connection to Moss but eventually stalled after a fumble. Stephen Gostkowski's 41-yard field goal attempt was no good, but a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Pats a first down at the 11-yard line. Brady found Hernandez for a 4-yard TD on third down.
In the third quarter, Sammy Morris's 20-yard touchdown run made it 21-3. Morris started up the middle, but cut outside and raced down along the left sideline and into the corner of the end zone.
The Pats scored again in the fourth quarter via a 24-yard TD pass from Brian Hoyer to rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski. Hoyer finished 8-for-15 with 94 yards passing.
The scoring was capped by Wilson's 19-yard touchdown pass to Troy Bergeron.
NFL Preseason, Patriots Vs. Falcons: Highlights And Lowlights From The Falcons
The Falcons lost 28-10 to the Patriots on Thursday night. Lucky for them, it was just preseason.
SB Nation's The Falcoholic says they're not going to hit the panic button yet but there are a few slightly worrisome items.
In the preseason, backups play quite a bit and that was the case with the Falcons John Parker Wilson, who didn't exactly draw praise from The Falcoholic.
Back to the first team for the good news. Once again, Kory Biermann had a good game. Last week against the Chiefs he caused a fumble and this time around he got a sack.
Check out The Falcoholic for more on the Falcons game.
Aug 20 8:54a by Joel Thorman - 0 comments