PATS AIMING FOUR BIG HEIGHTS
As folks hone in on ways to fix the Patriots’ defense, the offensive side of the ball has flown somewhat under the radar through the first five weeks of the season.
Oh, and if you haven’t paid close enough attention, they look like a juggernaut.
The Patriots are on pace to have an historically great season passing the football, even without Tom Brady’s favorite target Julian Edelman.
In fact, the Pats receiving corps, led by Rob Gronkowski and Brandin Cooks, has a chance to become the first team in NFL history to have four different pass catchers eclipse the 1,000-yard mark.
Brady has Brandin Cooks (379 yards, on pace for 1,213), Rob Gronkowski (318 yards, on pace for 1,193), Danny Amendola (288 yards, on pace for 1,002), and Chris Hogan (267 yards, on pace for 922) rolling after the first five games.
Five teams have had three receivers who recorded 1,000 yards in one season. The most recent examples were Kurt Warner’s 2008 Cardinals (Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston) and Peyton Manning’s 2004 Colts (Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Brandon Stokley).
The Patriots haven’t accomplished that feat, even in the vaunted Brady era.
The closest the Pats came was in 2011 when Wes Welker (1,569) and Rob Gronkowski (1,327) were the league’s top receiving tandem, and Aaron Hernandez (who missed two games to injury) finished with 910 receiving yards.
The Patriots also made runs at having three pass catchers with 1,000-plus yards in 1994 when Ben Coates had 1,174 yards but Michael Timpson and Vincent Brisby finished just shy of the mark, and in 2014 when Gronkowski had 1,174 yards but Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell couldn’t quite get there.
Those seasons represent three of the 10 instances in NFL history where three pass catchers on one team had at least 900 receiving yards.
Is this somewhat of an obscure stat?
Sure. But it is indicative of the depth that the Patriots have on offense, and the spread-itout attack they’ve unveiled this season.
Not only do the Patriots have a number of receivers tallying gaudy yardage totals, they are also one of four teams this season to have five players with at least 15 receptions — Cooks (18), Gronkowski (20), Hogan (23), Amendola (23) and running back James White (29).
Brady has always been known to throw the ball to the open man, forcing defenses to cover all five eligible receivers on any given play. But this year more than ever Brady is relying on any available pass catcher to carve up opposing defenses.
It’s set up the 40-year-old Brady — if he can stay healthy after a start to the season that has seen him beat up more than usual — to have a chance at, statistically, one of the best seasons in NFL history.
His 340 yards per game puts him on pace for 5,446 passing yards this season, which would be just shy of the single-season passing yards mark currently held by Peyton Manning, who threw for 5,477 in 2013.
Brady has only crossed the 5,000-yard plateau once in his career, when he threw for 5,235 in 2011.
So while the injury to Edelman raised questions about the Pats offense initially and dampened comparisons to how this team might resemble the 2007 unit that scored 589 points, don’t let his absence fool you.
This Patriots offense is as dangerous as ever.