Asked about not being involved as often, Wes Welker didn't refute that his part in the New England Patriots offense seems to have changed.
FOXBOROUGH -- The first half ended Sunday at Gillette Stadium and Wes Welker had hardly made any impact at all.
He didn't start the 20-18 New England Patriots loss to the Arizona Cardinals and he wasn't targeted on a pass until the two-minute warning had already past. The 25-yard reception on his first target was Welker's 558th with the Patriots, pushing him past Troy Brown for the franchise career mark. But the honor came at an odd time.
Welker seemed an afterthought in an offense that featured him to the tune of 122 catches and 1,569 yards last season, in an offense that has helped him register each of the top three single-season reception marks in Patriots history. He began the game on the sideline as Julian Edelman lined up on the field and didn't even make a bigger mark in the first half when Aaron Hernandez went down with a right ankle injury.
Even after Welker finished with five catches for 95 yards as the Patriots went his way far more often in the second half, an unofficial count had the star taking just 63 snaps compared to Edelman's 75. For reference, Welker lined up for 89 percent of snaps last season; his unofficial 76 percent Sunday was considerably less than that, though higher than the 65 percent he recorded last weekend.
Welker's increasing amount of bench time could be just a meaningless, early-season blip that will fix itself over time. But asked about not being involved as often, Welker didn't refute that his part in the offense seems to have changed.
"You know, you want to be out there, I think, as a competitor and everything else. Especially on Sundays, it's what we play for and what we work for and you want to be out there," he said. "At the same time, (coach Bill Belichick) felt like whatever was best for the team and I'm for that. And I totally understand that and I'm just there to help out however I can."
Tom Brady was asked directly whether he was on board with Edelman playing in front of Welker.
He responded, "Those three guys rotate a lot, so there are plays that Julian is in there for; there are a lot of plays that Wes is in there for. I love both those guys and they both work really hard. That's always (coach Belichick's) decision -- who's out there, that's not really my decision."