Hogan, Mitchell catch on quick
Receivers fit right into offense
HOUSTON — Chris Hogan didn’t waste much time in establishing himself as a deep threat.
In the season opener at Arizona, Hogan blew by defensive back Brandon Williams to haul in a 37yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to help the Patriots defeat the Cardinals, 23-21.
Hogan went on to catch 38 passes for 680 yards and four touchdowns during the regular season. His 17.9 yards per catch was tied for the league best with Washington’s DeSean Jackson for receivers with at least 35 catches.
Hogan teamed with rookie Malcolm Mitchell to give the Patriots a pair of downfield threats. Mitchell started slowly, but finished with 32 catches for 401 yards and four scores. The duo played a large part in Tom Brady posting his best yards-percompletion average (8.2) in six years.
“You want to build a team that is very difficult to defend,” said Brady, leading up to tomorrow’s Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons. “If they are going to cover one guy, then you have to throw it to the other guy and we have to make the plays. If they are going to stop the pass, then you have to hand it off and make yards in the run game. That is what makes it challenging for defenses, and that is the kind of pressure we need to put on them.”
Hogan came to the Pats as a free agent after four seasons with the Bills. Many high-profile receivers have arrived in Foxboro and struggled, but Hogan picked up the system right away, though he admitted it was not very easy.
“There is a lot of detail involved in the offense and you have to stay on top of all the little details,” Hogan said. “I think most importantly is being able to go out there and play fast, especially with a guy like Tom, who has been in the offense for a while. He likes to go out there, likes things to be at a good tempo.
“I just studied the playbook as much as possible and took advantage of all those reps I got during training camp, the offseason, stuff like that. Just so I can get used to the tempo, get used to how (Brady) likes to play, how he likes play calls coming in fast. The better I knew the offense the faster I was able to play.”
Mitchell was slowed by an elbow injury in the preseason and was limited early on. The fourth-round draft pick from Georgia had his coming out party at San Francisco, catching four passes for 98 yards and a touchdown in a 30-17 victory. A week later, he caught a pair of touchdown passes in a hard-fought 22-17 win over the Jets.
“I just tried to learn as much as I could from guys like Julian (Edelman), Danny (Amendola) and Chris (Hogan),” Mitchell said. “Every day I come in here, I am looking to do things to grow as a player.”
Hogan stepped up his production down the stretch, particular after tight end Rob Gronkowski went down with a back injury against the Jets. He saved his best performance for the biggest stage, catching nine passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the AFC title game against the Steelers.
“Tom was able to find me a lot of the time in the deep part of the field,” he said. “For me it was just kind of just taking advantage of those plays and trying to make plays for the team. It seemed like I was always that guy down the field.”