Peter King demotes Anthony Gonazlez to fourth string

Normally, this would be link material, but Peter King's "10 Things I Think I Think" had an item so absurd that it has to be slammed, and hard. Here's the item:

6. I think the most significant single play of the weekend could well have been the right-in-his-hands drop by Colts wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez late in the first half at Detroit. The Colts are trying to give Gonzalez one of two jobs -- Marvin Harrison's right wide-receiver spot, or the slot receiver job. But Peyton Manning and offensive coordinator Tom Moore are waiting for Gonzalez to raise his game and grab one of the jobs. After the Gonzalez drop, Manning threw six more passes, none to Gonzalez, and Dallas Clark was back in the slot, his comfort zone with Manning.

Manning's going to throw to players he trusts, and with Gonzalez dropping a ball like that one -- and not making enough plays otherwise in the preseason -- he could well make Manning lean on Clark and rookie Austin Collie more inside, and Pierre Garcon outside. That really solves all your fantasy problems with the Colts, doesn't it?

So many things wrong with this, where to start...

1. The Colts aren't trying to give Gonzalez the slot receiver job. That's not something I've read anywhere. He's the #2 WR, not the slot the guy.

2. The Colts are waiting for him to raise his game and 'grab' one of the two jobs? That's stone cold absurd. He "grabbed" the job last year with his outstanding play and 72% catch rate (#2 in the NFL).

3. Gonzalez hasn't made plays in the preseason? Well, Manning threw to him on a deep ball that turned into a 40 yard interference penalty on the first drive. He's had four catches and a TD in not even a full game worth of work this preseason. One drop is meaningless. It's less than meaningless. This guy had the second best catch rate in the NFL last year, and one drop in a preseason game has destroyed Manning's confidence in him!

4. Manning threw six more passes! None to Gonzalez! He also threw none to Reggie Wayne! Reggie Wayne is now the Colts' third wide out! Manning didn't throw to him!

This is probably the single most stupid thing I've ever read by King. It's so bad, it defies logic and belief. Pierre Garcon ahead of Gonzalez?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

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written by shake n bake, August 31, 2009

Peter King is dumb.

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written by DZ, August 31, 2009

That's gotta be the worst thing he's ever written, right? I mean seriously...

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written by LukeM, August 31, 2009

"But Peyton Manning and offensive coordinator Tom Moore are waiting for Gonzalez to raise his game and grab one of the jobs."

Am I the only one who thinks Peter King is trying to imply that he heard this from Manning and Moore?

Wow.
written by Cass, August 31, 2009

I can't believe he wrote that utter trash. And to think he used to be one of my favorite writers.....

I miss Dr. Z (my favorite sports writer ever). He would never write stuff like that.

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written by DZ, August 31, 2009

I think he got confused about something he heard.

I think he heard that the Colts are waiting for AG to raise his game to an elite level (which we all are), and got confused as to what was meant.

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written by DemondSanders, August 31, 2009

Oh my, Peter King. That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. By anyone.

Oh, I almost forgot DZ.
written by Cass, August 31, 2009

When are you planning to unveil your famous season preview (I think the Star Wars one singlehandedly put this site on the map, if that makes sense.)?

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written by DZ, August 31, 2009

Predictions piece is out tomorrow. Projected standings will come out middle of next week.

Are we talking about the same Guy?
written by tjbindy, August 31, 2009

You know . . .some of us are tired of watching Gonzalez stink it up and then listen to the excuses on why it is OK. He is slow and seems to drop alot of passes. Comparing a dropped Gonzalez pass with a Harrison catch and seeing something positive there is absurd. As for the 70+ percent catch rate; frankly; you can make the numbers say anything you want them to . . .bottom line is that Gonzalez has not lived up to the hype. It is time for him to step it up; or step out of the way.

-3

What?
written by NormFThomas, August 31, 2009

Tj, are you crazy? Did you forget about Gonzo in his rookie year stepping up when Marvin went down? Or how about the Eagles preseason game when he caught the corner fade behind Asante Samuel? That was a Marvin-esque catch and he made it easily. Frankly I find this whole "Gonzo isn't living up to the hype" thing ridiculous. When he was drafted everyone was excited for him to be then next Brandon Stokely, but there was very little hype in terms of his ability to be a solid #2 until he did just that after Harrison went down. And maybe my memory is bad, but did Reggie Wayne have as much hype as a #2 as Gonzo apparently does? Do you think he should step out of the way after all the dropped passes last year? Have some faith man, holy crap.

Good.
written by Cass, August 31, 2009

I can't wait.

I'm starting to worry about you, tj
written by coltsfanawalt, August 31, 2009

After the comment early in the last article and then this one. Not sure your angle. Who could possibly believe anything you said about Gonzo? He has been a success story already. We can make numbers say anything we want them to say? Are you serious?? We're talking about catch rate here, not some obscure and meaningless stat. Meaningless is one preseason drop. Catch rate over the course of a season is a good indicator.

You know what, I am going to consider that you just have a strange sense of humor, and that you're being heavily sarcastic with that kind of talk. And so I'm preaching to the choir, as you really agree that Gonzo is great. Sorry for the ramble, amigo!

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written by shake n bake, August 31, 2009

Oh yes, devious us. Skewing the stats by using receptions divided by targets.

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written by DZ, August 31, 2009

Alright TJBINDY, you asked for it. Let's table this discussion for a few minutes while I work up a new article.

It'll be up in an hour or so, then we can renew the discussion of Anthony Gonzalez using actual data.

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written by ColtsHeadBen, August 31, 2009

Let's all write into PK and see if we can make his mailbag. He's got a TO ego, let's see if he takes back his boneheadedness if he's confronted with statistical evidence. My bet: unlikely.

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written by Maedhros, August 31, 2009

Remember, Peter King is the same guy who said on the radio that he didn't know if he'd vote Marvin Harrison for the Hall of Fame, just because he couldn't recall any memorably catches that Marvin had made.

New Post
written by DZ, August 31, 2009

@TJBindy

Take a look at this post and then complain about Gonzalez.

http://18to88.com/2009-archives/august/first-two-years.html

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written by Derek, August 31, 2009

And yet he has a HoF vote, does he not?

Gonzalez is SLOW?
written by Willy Duer, August 31, 2009

He's by far the fastest receiver the Colts have. Possibly the fastest in the division.

He has never really had a huge amount of hype. He was a bottom of the first round pick that has never been asked to do too much. This year he'll be asked to do more, and every indication is that he will. You're entirely free not to trust him yet but I don't know know where in the hell you came up with slow.

Isn't it Obvious Willy Duer?
written by shake n bake, August 31, 2009

It's because Anthony Gonzalez is white.

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written by tjbindy, September 01, 2009

Because Gonzalez is white? Come on; who cares if he is white, brown, yellow, green ... or even a Martian?

There are lots of ways to skew stats; even Catch percentage. I could list a few here; but frankly it doesn't take much thought to figure a few out so I won't waste your time.

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written by DZ, September 01, 2009

I think the "white" comment was a joke...

You are right, stats can be skewed, but no one did that here. Just because the numbers don't support you, doesn't mean they were rigged.

I'll tell you what: barring injury, if AG doesn't have 1,000 yards receiving this year, I'll publicly apologize to you.

How's that?

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written by tjbindy, September 01, 2009

I do appreciate the gesture; but no apology is either needed nor desired IF you prove to be wrong. I very much enjoy your web site and your insight. I heard your interview on the radio a couple months ago and was quite impressed. You are just expressing your opinion which is very much respected, well thought out, and factually supported.

As for the stats ... I would love to share with you where I am coming from but it really doesnt belong here. I do not mean to imply that there is any intent to rig them. However; most stats are flawed if you look deep enough or look at them with too much generality. They are nice info; but not much more. For example; lost in completion percentage stat is information like type of routes and quality of the other receivers on the field. Both of which could inflate a completion percentage without any intent to rig the numbers.

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written by shake n bake, September 01, 2009

I've run the numbers on the depth of routes Gonzo was running and even accounting for his above average YAC he was running slightly deeper than average routes, with a catch% in the top handful of the league.

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written by shake n bake, September 01, 2009

here's the series of posts

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2009/6/13/908469/anthony-gonzalez-and-wide-reciever

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2009/6/21/920015/anthony-gonzalez-and-wide-reciever

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2009/6/29/928907/wr-stats-2006-2001-data-added-and

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written by DZ, September 01, 2009

That's cool and I appreciate the kind words.

What I would say about Gonzo is that all the non-stat stuff has always been off the charts. The scuttle-butt on him is that he works hard, is fanatical about preparation, and takes the game seriously.

His volume numbers say that he's right where he should be. His quality numbers (DVOA, Catch rate) are off the charts.

It's hard to fake all three (off field reports, volume stats, quality stats).

If Gozno wasn't legit there would be something, somewhere that showed it. All the stats, all the reports seem to agree.

But again, a player has to cross the elite threshold in reality. This is the year for him. There's no 88 vulturing his throws.

The Colts absolutely need 70-80 catches and 1100-1200 yards with several scores from Gonzo. I see no reason to doubt that he'll do it.

He's in the nether-world between "unproven" and "super-star". He's closer to star than bust at this point, however.

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written by tjbindy, September 01, 2009

Shake-n-bake ... .after your post of the extensive stats breakdown; I realize that the "Gonzalez is white" comment probably was a tongue-in-cheek comment and I apologize for taking it any other way.

You are to be commended on the effort it must have taken to put that information together. The stats are very impressive and quite interesting; but it is difficult to make much of a prediction about future events from any of those stats ...... with maybe one exception. It looks like anybody that becomes a primary target for Peyton Manning has a chance at putting up good numbers in your categories. The stats seem to show a correlation that either good receivers make the QB look good .... .or a good QB makes the receivers look good. Hard to tell which came first; the chicken or the egg!

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written by shake n bake, September 02, 2009

Yeah it was a joke. I like to poke at that stereotype whenever I see hints of it. Maybe because Tim Dwight is my all time favorite non-Colt and I loved his (brief thanks to an exploding hamstring) second coming, in Andy Brodell.

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written by shake n bake, September 02, 2009

Well look at Harrison's 08 numbers, and compare them to Gonzalez's. With the same QB there was a pretty big difference between the two players. Or check his 2007 numbers (when he was the #2 most of the season) against Reggie Wayne's, it's not to big of a difference (though obviously Wayne is facing tougher coverage, it shows that he can excel as a #2 WR) There's enough to make me confident that Gonzalez will be a very good #2 WR for Indy.