who was the better WR?

[tms]

For me, this debate tends to shine a light on Dalton's mediocrity. There really is no reason why AJ couldn't match Chad- but he never really could. He was a threat on isolated plays, made extraordinary catches and commanded plenty of attention. But his success always seemed predicated on Dalton being able to get him the ball.

And I know the stats don't always bear that out and it's more of a 'feel' thing- but it's still a thing. Andy was a game manager when you needed someone to take the bull by the horns. In that sense, Chad was a direct beneficiary of Palmer and, for that matter, even Kitna. I don't know if "alpha" is the right word for them but there was never any question that they were the ones dictating the offense. They weren't at the mercy of their headsets and constantly looking to the sideline for answers. Instead, they were in the huddle with their teammates and could adapt to changes on the fly. And if a player like Chad had the hot hand, they wouldn't overthink it: they'd keep feeding him.

I wish we'd seen prime AJ with someone else. I think it would have been a different story. We never found a way to capitalize on his gifts, least of all his maturity.