Gates vs Witten

[adriano]

I admire Wittens toughness..And I love him as a player.
But, Gates and its not even close.. Gates will probably
go down as the best TE ever..

[gccosph]

Love Witten. Like Gates. I see both sides. But there both awesome TEs and I could see it either way. I think Witten should be a 97 at least with all his accomplishments.

[primetime9]

Quote: Originally Posted by R0M0mentum09

1st ignore my avatar as I'm as unbiased as they come. The release of 99 overall ratings for Madden NFL 12 has recently sparked much debate. This is one that caught my eye. Who's the better overall TE? Witten had a slightly better statistical season than Gates (44 more catches though). It should also be noted that Gates missed 6-7 games (still put up noteworthy stats) and Jason Witten had Jon Kitna under center for over half the season (Impressive feats for both!) My assessment. . . Athleticism/Measurables: *Gates* by a land slide Hands: *Witten* 4th TE to ever reach 600 catches and did it at the fastest pace ever. Witten is the only current TE on pace to break Tony Gonzalez TE catch record. Vernon Davis was quoted "Jason Witten possesses the best hands of any WR/TE in the NFL". Route Running: *Witten* Gates can be a bit lazy here as his incredible athleticism allows him to be, Witten on the other hand lacks speed/burst and only gets open by running a crisp route. Blocking: *Witten* Witten is in someways hurt by his blocking ability, he gets limited targets in the redzone due to his teams use of him as a blocker (explains Wittens lack of TD's compared to other "receiving" TE's). Better Overall TE: *Witten* Madden OVR ratings: 98 OVR for both. Your thoughts?.

those r way off.
1. athleticism- Gates (DUH)
2. hands- Gates: some of the best hands a TE will ever possess, hes still young and will be doin it for a long time. Will catch Witten in catches easily
3. Route running- Gates (again DUH) being that big and that fast, he creates the biggest match up problems in the NFL. He blows by LB's and out jumps any safety. runs his routes right on target and Rivers puts the ball on a dime to him
4. Blocking- Witten: stronger at the line of scrimmage and allows that good backfield to get around the edge

Better- Gates (easily) if i had to rate them
Gates- 97 pros-WR skills cons- blocking
Witten- 95-96 pros- blocking, smarter overall than Gates cuz hes not as good as him so he uses his wits to find open space in coverage whereas Gates can run anywhere and beat anybody

[SIMstyle]

Quote: Originally Posted by shnuskis

We can agree to disagree a little. Thats fine. I just don't think a guy who averages 10 td's and just under 1,000 yds a year over the last 7 years and has the best 26 game stretch of his career would be rating something that isn't there. I would just give him a lower durability. But there are different ways of accomplishing the same thing with ratings.

agreed. and those are monster numbers...the thing is, if you're talking production (which is unbiased) 80 catches for 1,000 with 4-5 TDs @ TE is insane. being a better athlete is all well and good...but production rules.

when we rate players we often blot the names out so that we're rating "what was done" instead of rating a guy high because of a name.

[KOTC Wayne]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoxFan01605

The trouble with the comparisons are that they are different player types AND have different roles in the offense. Gates is hands down more explosive and athletic. Witten, while certainly an excellent route runner and pass catcher, simply doesn't have the burst that Gates has. I would say Witten is a better blocker, but not to the degree that some people seem to think (people act as though Gates is a one-trick pony, which isn't the case). I think the comparisons between the two are similar (conceptually) to ones between Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. You can't argue the production of Emmitt and he maximized everything he had, but I don't know too many people who would say he was better than Barry Sanders. I would say the same about Witten relative to Gates. That said, as a Cowboys fan, I wouldn't trade Witten for anyone, including Gates. I think he brings a needed toughness and credibility to a relatively soft Dallas team. I don't think you can really reflect that in ratings though.

I'm a Cowboys fan too but I agree with your assessment. Also, while blocking is important for a TE, it's not the most important attribute for a TE. Route running ( getting separation and getting open ) and catching is the two most important thing's you need your TE to do and blocking is like the extra cherry on top. It's like saying since Manning or Brady aren't good scramblers then Rodgers is the better of the three and while scrambling is important, it falls under the least of important attributes. Same with a CB, while you would want him to tackle, how he defends WR's is the CB's most important attribute ( Deion ) and while you have decent cover CB's with great tackling skills ( Antoine Winfield ), it's no way that Winfield is in Deion's class even though Deion wasn't a great tackler.

Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone and you get my point of why you can't really use Witten's blocking in an argument vs Gates.

[BigSpleen]

Gates is ten times better. and I hate the chargers..................

Anyone who says witten is a better route runner or has better hands cannot be taken seriously.

[angels eclipse7]

Witten is a stud but Gates > Witten

[Lonestar80]

Both of these guys will be in the HOF when they are done playing. Who cares what their overall rating is in Madden '12. Besides if you don't like Witten's rating you can always adjust it, that is the beauty of the game.