Wes Welker's return to New England had its nice moments. Welker was the subject of a surprising video tribute and received a postgame hug from Bill Belichick.
Unfortunately for Welker, the night also had too many nice moments for the Patriots. Welker dropped at least a pair of crucial catches late in the game. And he was involved in the game-deciding fumble by Tony Carter. Welker, who was set to receive the punt, took the blame for not telling Carter to move away.
"I just felt like there was a lot of traffic, it was a high ball, (I) basically didn't want to get into a situation where somebody's running into me or anything else, and ended up with a situation that I didn't want to happen in the first place," Welker said, via CSNNE.com. "I gotta do a better job of getting up there and getting those guys out of the way, and making sure it doesn't hit them."
Welker believes he could have yelled to Carter earlier in the play.
"I gotta get to him earlier and tell him, and get those guys out of the way if I'm not going to make the catch," Welker said. "I was a little bit in between and you can't be that way."
The drops are the bigger issue. Welker dropped more passes-per-target than any wide receiver in football over the last two seasons. We went back to watch all of Welker's targets on NFL Game Rewind. He had two clear drops in the fourth quarter and overtime, including Denver's last play from scrimmage. There was another play in which he got his hands on the ball but was unable to make a tough catch with Kyle Arrington guarding him. Meanwhile, Welker's old buddy, Julian Edelman, had 110 yards and twotouchdowns for New England.
Like the rest of the Denver wideouts, Welker didn't hurt the Patriots' defense Sunday night. That might be the most shocking storyline of all.
*The latest "Around the League Podcast" broke down Broncos-Patriots and every Week 12 game. *
