[saphojunkie]

Some of Bowe's drop in production has to be tied to the offensive scheme as well. He had fifteen fewer receptions last year than 2010, and FOUR HUNDRED fewer yards.

So, let's look at:

In 2010, Bowe had:

37 catches 1-10 yds (362 yds, 5td)
25 catches 11-20 yds (532 yds, 5td)
7 catches 21-30 yds (219yds, 4td)
1 catch - 41+ yds (45yds, 1TD)

In 2013, Bowe had

38 catches 1-10 yds (357 yds, 4td)
15 catches 11-20 yds (279 yds, 1td)
1 catches 21-30 yds (26yds, 0td)

Okay, so clearly two things happened in 2010 that didn't last year:

1. Bowe was targeted downfield quite a bit more;
2. Those targets resulted in touchdowns at an alarming rate.

I think, however, those touchdown numbers either need to be dismissed as outliers (it's very difficult to repeat or predict TDs for receivers). That, or Charlie Weis is a mother****ing genius and all must bow down. Let's go with option A.

Okay, so what happened after 2010? Was this the scheme? Or did Cassel just have the balls to go downfield?

Let's look:

In 2011 Bowe had:

11 catches behind LOS
40 catches 1-10 yds (402 yds, 4 TD
24 catches - 11-20 yds (487 yds, 0TD)
4 catches - 21-30 yds (97 yds, 0TD)
1 catches - 31-40 yds (52yds, 0TD)
1 catches - 41+ (45 yards, 0TD)

Once again, roughly 25 targets in the intermediate (11-20 yd range). But this time 5TD turned into 0TD. So, we might be right to ignore scores.

However, the ball was clearly being thrown downfield more. Bowe's effectiveness in the short range hasn't dropped at all. His production in the intermediate routes took a small hit (23.4 YPC in 2010, 20 YPC in 2011, 18 YPC in 2013).

It's the deep/intermediate (11-30 yards) where Bowe has taken his production to the next level. And that is exactly where the dropoff in production has come from.

The idea that Bowe suddenly sucks or had a bad year is ridiculous. He has historically been productive in the deep passing game and there frankly weren't nearly enough deep passes last year.

Part of that is Alex Smith and part of that is the offensive scheme. Hopefully both change this year and you'll see Bowe kicking ass just he's always done.

EDIT: Here's 2012, which I think is an abortion and should never be spoken of, but whatever:

6 catches behind LOS (60 yds, 0 TD)
35 catches 1-10 yads (329 yds, 1TD)
13 catches 11-20 yds (255yds, 0 TD)
5 catches 21-30 yds (157 yds, 2 TD)