WR’s little drop of horrors
Decker unhappy with struggles
FOXBORO — Eric Decker hasn’t had the greatest beginning with the Patriots, and he’s taking full responsibility for it.
After spending the entire offseason as a free agent without a team, the veteran wide receiver signed with the Pats early in training camp. The late arrival forced Decker to learn the offense and build chemistry with Tom Brady on the fly.
And it has been a sharper learning curve than Decker anticipated.
Yesterday, his struggles continued. On what was an overall sloppy day of practice for Brady and the offense, Decker dropped two passes, which has become a theme over recent practices, and he’s well aware of it.
“There’s no excuses for it,” Decker said. “It’s something that I obviously have to address and that’s something you work through. In my mind, that’s why God created practice. It’s just to be able to get better and try to flush that out. My job is to catch the football, so I have to do better in that field.”
Both yesterday’s drops were egregious. The first happened during oneon-one coverage against practice-squad cornerback Jomal Wiltz. The second fail occurred during a private side session with Brady where there were no defenders. Decker was visibly frustrated as he tossed the ball into the ground.
The weather conditions were wet and the footballs were damp, but Decker didn’t concede to that being the reason for his drops.
“There were obviously wet conditions, but those are built-in excuses and in this game you don’t have excuses, you just execute,” Decker said. “You get the job done. That’s why we’re professionals, that’s why we get paid to do what we do and in these situations and these environments you learn what you need to do to get better as far as catching the ball, top of routes not slipping. Those are things that make a difference. Little things.”
To Decker’s credit, he responded well to his gaffes. Late in practice, he beat cornerback Jonathan Jones on a deep route and hauled in a well-placed ball from Brady. But it’s clear Decker’s transition is still a work in progress.
That makes sense.
He is still knocking off the rust after signing with the Pats on Aug. 2. He played in only four snaps in last Thursday’s preseason game against the Redskins. He’s slowly building confidence with Brady and he’s still getting the playbook down of what he called a “complex offense.”
Even though Decker played under Josh McDaniels in Denver, the offense seems to be a little different than what he expected.
“There’s a little carry over,” Decker said. “I thought there might be more, but they’ve changed things over the years. So it’s just a learning curve. Just getting in the playbook, understanding what’s asked of certain concepts and certain formations, those things. There’s a little carry over but not a lot, so it’s been a lot of studying.”
For now, he’s not getting too low over frustrating moments as he continues to try to pick up the offense and build a rapport with Brady. A veteran of eight seasons, the 31-year-old Decker knows how to keep pushing forward.
“It’s part of the game,” he said. “We’re all human, we’re all going to make mistakes, but it’s don’t let it become a habit. Don’t let it happen over and over again.”