Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe On Pace for Decline in Yards, Rise in TDs

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe has already missed one of the Chiefs seven games and at his current pace, will suffer 250 yard decline in his career average for receiving yards.  He is also on pace for 57 receptions, far below the total in either of his first two seasons.

Here are some of Dwayne Bowe's career stats compared to his projected finish based on the first seven weeks of the season:

The offensive line hasn't changed much talent-wise in the last three years, yet Bowe was able to put up better numbers with Croyle/Huard/Thigpen throwing to him.

The positive to take from this is the touchdowns.  Bowe has been Matt Cassel's favorite target through seven weeks, including the Chiefs only win at Washington.  Bowe was targeted 14 times but only caught six of them.  Still, though, he got 109 off those six catches.

I know it's just a projection - and can easily change good or bad through eight more weeks - but Bowe is becoming the recipient of a few more passes, especially in the red zone, with Tony Gonzalez no longer there.

Bowe was a little late getting out of the boat with an injury in week three so I would expect his numbers to go up from here on out, not down.  One of the intriguing aspects of his first two seasons was how consistent he was with his numbers.  It generally takes wide receivers a little longer to become comfortable in the NFL, so, relative to other rookie receivers it's a good set of numbers.

What do you think?  Will Bowe exceed his projected numbers through seven weeks?