We have hit that point of the season when slumping rookies will be said to have hit an imaginary "wall."
Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone was asked this week if rookie receiver Sammy Watkins had hit that hypothetical wall after struggling through November.
"I hope not, you know?" Marrone responded, per the Buffalo News. "I hope not."
Marrone hopes not because his team desperately needs the playmaker to step up in the final four games of the season if the Bills are to pull off major upsets to make the playoffs.
Since putting up back-to-back 120-plus yard games in Weeks 7 and 8 and earning the Rookie of the Month award for October, Watkins has struggled. He hasn't earned more than 35 yards in any of his last four games, culminating in his professional worst 11 yards on three catches last week.
Watkins knows he's been struggling, but not due to some magical wall that cropped up during the team's Week 9 bye, but rather because teams now have a scouting report on him.
"Later in the year, defenders read your body language, how you come off the ball," Watkins said. "There's some things I got to switch up. That comes with just changing your game up. If you do the same thing for nine or 10 weeks, people can figure out how you do things."
Watkins also dismissed that he's any more banged up than any other NFL player this time of year.
The rookie said he's simply working to beat coverages in new ways, but that is easier said than done when he's facing the opponent's No. 1 corner every week. If the Bills (7-5) are to make a postseason run, they'll need the rookie to snap out of the funk.
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