Top 13 Things Aaron Dobson Might Have Said While 'Mouthing Off' To Josh McDaniels
BOSTON (CBS) -- Seeing Aaron Dobson on the inactives list the past two weekends has caused many heads to be scratched around New England, as the second-year receiver was expected to play at least some role in the Patriots' passing game this year.
Yet now, thanks to a report by Shalise Manza Young, we know why Dobson hasn't dressed. He reportedly "mouthed off" to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels prior to the Week 3 matchup vs. Oakland, and he's since spent the last two games nowhere near the playing field.
If the story is true (and it's certainly believable), then it's a rather odd decision from a team that currently ranks 30th in the NFL in passing. You'd think that no matter what is said behind closed doors, the team wouldn't make decisions that might negatively impact the results on the field. Sure, Aaron Dobson isn't exactly Jerry Rice, but he would have been more helpful to the offense than the eighth offensive lineman who dressed on Monday night.
UPDATE: Bill Belichick says the report is simply not true.
So it stands to reason that whatever Dobson's comment to McDaniels was, it must have been a doozy. And because Bill Belichick will never tell us what came out of the receiver's mouth (in fact, Bill will only tell us that he's "on to Cincinnati"), here are just a few guesses as to what Dobson said to McDaniels.
13. "Hey, remember when you drafted Tim Tebow in the first round?"
It's a given that not every single draft pick is going to work out, but a first-round pick typically should. And when you trade up in the first round to select Tim Tebow, a player who might not have been drafted by any team until the third or fourth round, only to see his career flicker and fade away to the point where he was out of the league within four years, you done screwed up. You just might open yourself up to some criticism for it, too. Forever.
12. "Dude, remember when you tried to make Tebow work in the NFL again? LOL!"
Continued: "Yeah, we needed to work in a handful of rookie receivers and new guys last summer, but instead of focusing on that, you divided your attention by trying to make Tim Tebow an NFL quarterback again. Thanks for that, it really helped us integrate me, KT, DA and JB into the offense and as a result, we really hit the ground running as an offense last year! Don't you remember when none of us had any idea what we were doing out there, and we were getting chewed out on the sidelines by Tom Brady, even though it wasn't really our fault that we weren't prepared in the least bit to play in NFL games? You rock, Josh!"
11. "While we're on the subject, remember when you tried (and failed) to trade Jay Cutler in a three-team deal in order to acquire ... Matt Cassel?! Man, you know how to pick 'em when it comes to quarterbacks."
Josh McDaniels is a quarterbacks coach, but he's yearned for prolific passers like Tim Tebow and Matt Cassel. Seems strange.
(If you're keeping track, since leaving the Broncos Cutler has thrown for 1,716 yards and 21 touchdowns more than Cassel and Tebow combined.)
10. "Can you please stop running the triple fake end-around screen pass? That doesn't work in any level of football beyond Pop Warner."
There's nothing Josh McDaniels loves more than the ol' trick play that doesn't even come close to working, so such a suggestion from a wide receiver would be considered highly offensive to Josh.
9. "Josh, I want to respect you but I'm having trouble because I know that you're a huge fan and supporter of Danny Amendola."
When the Patriots signed Danny Amendola, it was widely believed that he'd fit right in to Josh McDaniels' offense, because the two had worked together previously during McDaniels' brief time with the St. Louis Rams. Well, Amendola has played 16 games for the Patriots, and he has a whopping 57 receptions for 649 yards and two touchdowns. That comes out to 3.6 receptions and 41 yards per game. In the previous four years of his career, Amendola averaged 8.2 receptions and 72 yards per game, while scoring seven touchdowns in 24 games.
What's the deal, Josh?
8. "Sweet visor, man. I used to have a visor, too. When I was in sixth grade."
Fashion burn.
7. "Hey, so if you bench me vs. KC and you only dress three wide receivers, you wouldn't be crazy enough to try to run plays out of three-receiver sets on more than 50 percent of our offensive snaps, considering we're only dressing three wide receivers, right? Like ... you're a professional, you'll probably play to the strengths of our roster and go with a number of heavy sets to try to chew up yardage on the ground, right? Like ... you know ... you're not going to start the game with three passing plays that are destined for failure and an early punt ... right? You won't call twice as many passing plays as running plays when we're not dressing 40 percent of our receiving corps and we have two rookie linemen making their first NFL starts in the loudest stadium in history, right??"
Nope.
6. "Josh, I was just thumbing through this book of Super Bowl history and I was wondering -- how did you send the No. 1 offense in NFL history out onto the field against the Giants in Super Bowl XLII and not start the game running the sets that led to that record number of points scored? Did you really come out with just two wide receivers? That seems strange, Coach McDaniels. Shouldn't you have had four wide receivers on the field before motioning Kevin Faulk out of the backfield, leaving Tom Brady to operate out of the shotgun with the most lethal assembly of weapons he's ever had at his disposal? Is this why the team that scored roughly 37 points per game that season (and scored 38 vs. that same New York team just a month earlier on a very cold night in a windy outdoor stadium) managed to score just 14 points in the climate-controlled Super Bowl? Man, that's some crazy stuff!"
OK, Aaron probably didn't say that. But I would have.
5. "Hey, while I'm on the subject, what the heck did you do to the offense when you returned in the 2011 postseason as an "offensive assistant" in Bill O'Brien's offense? That team averaged over 32 points per game but could muster just 17 points in the Super Bowl? Do you hate Super Bowls?"
Eh, it's just the Super Bowl. Scoring points isn't that important.
4. "Hey man, I think you were really smart to come up with the idea of throwing deep to Randy Moss and underneath to Wes Welker in 2007, and I think it was brilliant how you asked Tom to throw routes of 5-15 yards to Welker and Aaron Hernandez in some of the past years, but now that you don't have those elite receiving options to make plays on their own, don't you think you should come up with some sort of offensive strategy for us? I mean you've had more than a full season to try to think of something."
A plan for the offense? That type of audacious questioning will not be tolerated!
3. "Ha! I just went on YouTube and found that video of you freaking out after you beat the Patriots back in 2009. It's even funnier to watch now, knowing that after you celebrated as if you had just won the Super Bowl, you ended up losing 17 of your next 23 games and then getting canned. Egg on your face!"
Powerful fist pumps, though.
(The title of that YouTube video is a little harsh, but that's just how much Denver fans disliked Mr. McD.)
2. "Hey, are you the coach from that mining school?"
No, that would be cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer, who served as the defensive coordinator for the prestigious football program of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. McDaniels spent an entire year as a graduate assistant for Nick Saban at Michigan State before being accepted into the Belichick Program. That type of mix-up will get you benched real quick.
1. "Seriously though, can you please figure this out? Our offense is ridiculous right now. We are only better than Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Oakland, and I'm sick of it. Figure it out."
That's all that really needs to be said.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
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