The dominant catches popped up this week, but he's been delivering almost all year. Even with all the challenges of this offense he's on pace for a 1,000 yard season. That despite them feeding Preston most of the limited opps through the first half of the year.
Again, when we analyze players in a vacuum with their trending performances used as indicators of future consistency... it is misguided.
Consistency is the product of time. Even Chris Chambers had dominant performances for sustained stretches. Then he would go silent or develop cases of the dropsies at inopportune times.
Parker has shown to be more reliable this year, but he has had shown streaks before. Increasing the length of sustained performances does not point to a change in behavior. In many cases, it is the same behavior simply encountering a new level of execution. Given time, it will even out... even as new frequencies emerge. We simply have not seen enough sampling to understand how this current streak factors into a larger pool of inconsistency.
Moreso to my point, I simply believe he is a known quantity to this point. And while his highs are high, his lows can be deadening. I think all things considered, he fits better with this staff. And the less we depend on him being consistent, the more we can enjoy the outlying games of great performance.
He is a roller coaster. Not a straight line.
But even looking at NE's roster when they had Moss, Gronk and Welker, they did not rely solely on Moss, Gronk or Welker.
I expect Williams to have great days, Parker to have great days and Player X to have great days. We are past NEEDING to wait for the light to finally come on for Parker. Now, he is more of a contributor. And that matches how and why we are paying him.