It tastes so good once it hits your lips.

Wes Welker bolted for Denver on Wednesday to join forces with Brady/Belichick arch-rival Peyton Manning.

Twitter was abuzz upon finding out that New England’s two-year, $10 million offer fell shy of Denver’s contract.

While some already started the early work on engraving the tombstone of the 2013 New England Patriots, let’s look at this from the opposite side.

Here is what we know about Denver’s newest slot receiver:

• Welker will be 32 years old on May 1. 
• He hasn’t missed a game in two years.
• He caught 672 regular season passes as a Patriot.

So, why would New England skip out on Welker, who by the numbers, is Tom Brady’s favorite weapon?

I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out. Times change in the NFL and in order to win you have to keep evolving. This version of the Patriots, which began in 2010 after the in-season Randy Moss trade, ran its course.

Over a three-year span, New England went 39-9, won three AFC East crowns, and went to Super Bowl XLVI.

Noticeably absent in the last sentence is the presence of the words “Vince Lombardi Trophy.”

Despite their precision passing attack thwarting numerous foes, it wasn’t enough to claim the organization’s fourth Super Bowl victory.

During New England’s last three postseason trips, they were held to 51 points total in those games. That’s extremely notable considering the Patriots finished first, third, and first in scoring since 2011.

Essentially, the Jets, Giants, and Ravens concocted schemes in the playoffs to slow New England’s typically potent offense.

Thus, the Pats have to switch it up. Last year, the Patriots coughed up $16 million guaranteed each to tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Those moves were an obvious declaration of where the focal point of the offense was headed in the future.

Just like they did with Deion Branch in 2006; Moss in ’10; and now, Welker, sometimes cutting bait with receivers that can help your offense makes sense once we see what the rest of the plan is going to be.

On the surface, it would appear Welker could have re-signed if New England or the former were willing to even bend their stance slightly.

Of course, the Patriots are a smart organization. Bill Belichick and company have a plan obviously that probably goes beyond signing oft-injured (but five years younger) slot receiver Danny Amendola to a five-year, $31 million deal soon after Welker flew the coop.

While many have already called into question the dubious Brady extension, there must be some explanation/scheme related to this. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit before we know the plan’s totality.

I’m willing to sip from the fruity trough of Belichick and friends flavored Kool-Aid once again…although, getting some defensive help and a deep threat at receiver to stretch the field would make it go down a bit easier.

Don’t jump Tom…well, not yet anyways.