Larry Fitzgerald's Performance Without Boldin?

[CC]

How will the injury to Boldin (who is out for an undetermined amount of time) affect Larry. There are two strands of thought here.

1. Larry is the only viable threat on the entire Cards offense without Boldin. He will get a ton of looks and targets which will lead to big games out of him.

2. With no other viable threats on the Cards offense teams will key on Fitzgerald and make the other players beat them, thus lowering his value and leading to weaker performances.

I tend to lean toward theory #1, but it could easily turn out the other way.

[eaglesfan]

Wideout not hurt as badly as feared

By MEL REISNER, AP Sports Writer
October 31, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- The Arizona Cardinals got good news Monday when an MRI examination determined ace wide receiver Anquan Boldin's knee injury was nothing more than a bone bruise.

No timetable was set for Boldin's return, but the team said he wouldn't be out as long as feared.



I think it will be:
1. Larry is the only viable threat on the entire Cards offense without Boldin. He will get a ton of looks and targets which will lead to big games out of him.

[joshyboy72]

I guess Boldin's injury isn't as severe as expected...

but even if he does miss some time I don't think it will help Fitz that much. He was already producing at a great level, not really at one where Boldin was significantly cutting into his numbers. It's more of a situation where they help each other...if there was no Boldin, there's no reason why defenses shouldn't double or triple team Fitz to get McCown to force it elsewhere and make mistakes.

That being said...I don't think it will really hurt Fitz's numbers if Boldin misses time, but I wouldn't expect any bigger games than what we've seen from him.

[Azrael]

For as long as Boldin is out Larry will get force fed the ball from McCown I think. On a side note, Bryant Johnson may not be a bad short term pickup.

[killiansjmd]

Fitz put up good numbers when Boldin was out last year so I'm guessing theory #1.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

I also say theory 1 -

but let me ask you guys a question - when has the theory that 2 WRs working together to open the field for each other created a situation where both play above themselves and thusly increased their statistical performance ever happened? Or put another way - when has there been a situation that two WRs working together made BOTH WRs stats increase as opposed to one WRs stats increasing when the other was injured? I know this isnt coming out as smoothly as I would like, but I think you guys know what I'm talking about.

The only one I can really come up with is the 2002 Bills when Peerless Price and Eric Moulds formed the perfect duo and each set career highs in some of the recieving cats (not all cats though, as Moulds had put up better yards a couple of times).

For example - we all know Holt and Bruce formed arguably the most prolific WR tandem over the last 5 seasons, but when did Holt have his best season? In 2003 when Bruce was banged up and played through injury for much of the season.

[Mercer Boy]

Glenn and Keyshawn are doing pretty good together this year...Glenn's got more yards because he runs the deep stuff, and Keyshawn has more TD's because he knows how to get open and make tough catches in the end zone.

Any surprise that the same QB who put Moulds/Price on the map is in Dallas right now?

[Paladyr]

yea personally I think fitz value goes up. Before they were running some plays for boldin and some for fitz, now it should all be fitz...

[Mookie4ever]

I also say theory 1 -

but let me ask you guys a question - when has the theory that 2 WRs working together to open the field for each other created a situation where both play above themselves and thusly increased their statistical performance ever happened? Or put another way - when has there been a situation that two WRs working together made BOTH WRs stats increase as opposed to one WRs stats increasing when the other was injured? I know this isnt coming out as smoothly as I would like, but I think you guys know what I'm talking about.

The only one I can really come up with is the 2002 Bills when Peerless Price and Eric Moulds formed the perfect duo and each set career highs in some of the recieving cats (not all cats though, as Moulds had put up better yards a couple of times).

For example - we all know Holt and Bruce formed arguably the most prolific WR tandem over the last 5 seasons, but when did Holt have his best season? In 2003 when Bruce was banged up and played through injury for much of the season.

Harrison, Stokely, Wayne and Clark last year. You could argue that the last three took away some of Marvin's production but I would argue that Marvin has plateaued and is going to produce around the same numbers no matter what.

[Kensat30]

Fitz Value goes down without Boldin IMO.

Fitz was already one of the most targeted WRs in the league even with Boldin in the lineup(10+ week in and week out)... McCown goes to him too much already, forcing it into double coverage, hucking a jump ball downfield on 3rd down, etc.. Even if Fitz gets forcefed the ball even more and becomes the overwhelming #1 most targeted WR in the NFL, how good is the Arizona offense going to be as a result? The workload is already at a high point, I don't see MORE of a workload helping his stats. Maybe on a Pittsburgh Steeler or Carolina Panther offense where they employ a rush heavy attack and there aren't too many passing targets to go around in the first place. But in Arizona? Nah..

Remember, Arizona has BY FAR the worst running game in the NFL at this point. Boldin and Fitz were already bending their spines carrying this team on their backs. How is Fitzgerald going to do it all by himself?

McCown is just not looking good, although maybe you're still optimistic about the SF game and the Carolina fluke? Bryant Johnson can be pretty much classified as a first round bust at this point. Their former #4 WR Charles Lee(#3 without Boldin) got cut a couple weeks ago over a sideline dispute... Who exactly are Marcel Shipp and "1,000 yard rookie" JJ Arrington scaring?

Why not just double Fitz all game long and force Arizona's other non-existant weapons to beat you? Hard to expect the Fitz's already inflated stat totals to go up when the defense is gonna focus specifically on shutting him down every week. There is no other threat on that offense to disuade a defense from taking away Larry Fitzgerald, and that is gonna hurt both him and the Arizona offense (field position, game situations, scoring).

Larryz Fitzgerald is a beast and will still get his, but you can't expect him to actually be better with less weapons around him. The scoring opportunities are almost surely going to go down without Boldin in the lineup, and I think TD scoring potential is Fitzgerald's most attractive aspect from a fantasy perspective.