Boston Globe - Welker again comes up big
Little things lead to a huge victory
By Michael Vega
Globe Staff / December 30, 2007
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - On a night when the Patriots made a full-on assault on the NFL history book, punctuating their perfect 16-0 regular season with a 38-35 victory over the New York Giants, it seemed it was the littlest things that mattered most.
Take, for example, Wes Welker.
Often the smallest player on the field dating to his days at Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma City, Welker always took pride in playing football with the heart, courage, and grit of much larger men. It was no different last night as the Patriots set out to make history.
In the end, as he has all season, Welker did the little things.
Take, for example, his first catch: a 14-yarder from Tom Brady on the Patriots' second play from scrimmage that followed a 14-yard connection between Brady and Randy Moss. Ranked second in the NFL with 101 receptions through 15 games, Welker entered last night needing one catch to break a tie with Troy Brown for the franchise record for a season. Welker wasted little time getting the milestone reception.
He went on to make 10 more catches for 108 yards, giving him a team-high 11 for 122 yards. And after the game in the crowded visitors' locker room at Giants Stadium, Welker gathered his belongings and carefully packed them in a large duffle bag. But he reserved a special spot for the official program from the game. Would it be his special memento from a special season?
"Yeah, I always keep those," he said. "It's been special, a special year and we've had some good games and we've been able to fight back and win some, but [going 16-0] means a great deal. We still have a lot of work ahead of us and we still have to focus on the prize at hand."
And that prize would be a perfect run in the playoffs, ending with a win in the Super Bowl.
In his first season with the Patriots, Welker became an integral part of the NFL's most-prolific offense, and experienced more success in one year in New England than he did in the last two seasons with the Dolphins. He made more catches (112) for more yards (1,175) and more touchdowns (8) and won more games than he had in 2005-06 in Miami, where he made 96 catches for 1,121 yards and 1 TD on teams that combined for a 15-17 record.
But 112 catches? In one season?
"I never thought that in my wildest dreams," Welker said. "It's something that I can look back and be proud of, but we still have a long ways to go and some bigger things to do out there."
Welker said he never gave one moment's thought to the opportunities that awaited him with the Patriots.
"It's nothing that we really talked about," Welker said, referring to the Patriots' record-setting offense. "We talked about winning football and winning one game at a time and that's what we've done so far and that's what we need to continue to do."
When Brady tied Peyton Manning's NFL record of 49 TD passes in a season with a 4-yard second-quarter toss to Moss, Welker said he never wondered if he would be the one to help his quarterback set the mark alone. That honor went to Moss, who did it in dazzling fashion on a 65-yard grab in the fourth quarter that atoned for a drop he made on a wide-open deep ball the play before.
"You're focused on the task at hand and all the other stuff was media hype," Welker said. "It is special. I mean, I'm happy Tom and Randy did it because I love those guys and they've done a great job and they deserve everything they get, but our goal was to win the game."
From the 14-yard catch he made for his first grab, to the block he made on safety James Butler on Laurence Maroney's 6-yard TD run that pulled the Patriots within 28-23, to his 11th catch of the night - a 12-yarder in which he converted a third and 9 and kept the clock running by staying inbounds at the Giants' 10 - Welker did all the little things.
The little things that mattered most in a 16-0 season.
Michael Vega can be reached at
[email protected].
Originally Posted by GrapevineSooner
