Seams McDaniels has right read
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
During last year’s AFC title game against the Jaguars, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was forced to leave early with a concussion after absorbing a helmet-to-helmet hit from safety Barry Church.
Gronkowski ran a seam route, extended high to reach Tom Brady’s pass, and was met by Church.
On Sunday against the Texans, Gronkowski caught two passes in that high collision area down the seam. The plays went for gains of 30 and 27 yards.
During a conference call yesterday, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was asked if the higher risk impacts how often he called plays for Gronkowski in that area of the field.
“I think a lot is dependent on how they’re defending the deep field. Certainly, if there’s players back there in and around that area, it makes those throws more difficult to attempt,” McDaniels said. “There’s ways if you can try to create a little space, that’s something you can try to do, as well.”
McDaniels said the Pats managed to find a little space in the middle partly because of what Houston did defensively. On one of the completions, McDaniels said it worked because the defenders were “kind of running down the field with him.”
“You’ve got to pick your spots,” McDaniels said. “But more importantly, you’ve got to read it out. If you call ’em a number of times in a game, the quarterback, his responsibility is to try to get the ball to the right spot. Certainly if those areas of the field are defended with a lot of bodies, we’d love to go somewhere else with it, and Tommy does a great job of that.”
There’s a catch to punts
Special teams coach Joe Judge sounded fairly confident if he had to use Patrick Chung, Rex Burkhead or Chris Hogan to field punts, they could get the job done.
Riley McCarron was waived Monday after flubbing a punt late in the fourth quarter Sunday. It’s possible newly acquired running back Kenjon Barner will figure into the mix.
“We’re always working ahead and thinking the ‘if, then, what’ type scenarios. They all work very hard. They’re guys that are before practice, after practice and in practice period guys getting extras, so anytime we put them on the field, we know the level of work they’ve put in going into it and that they’re giving the team the best chance of success in that role,” Judge said during a conference call. “I know there’s a lot of questions right now in terms of what’s the next step going to be, but I’d just say that this isn’t really very unfamiliar territory for us.”
Cordarrelle Patterson, the team’s primary kick returner, also fielded some punts during the preseason. But it’s a much different skill catching punts than kicks.
“Judging a punt is a very difficult thing to do, much more difficult than most people would think. While a lot of times people have the kind of conception of just go back there and catch it, there’s a lot more to it than that,” Judge said. “There’s a lot more variables in catching a punt and it’s definitely something that takes a lot of courage to do to sit on back there with your eyes in the air, trusting your blockers in front of you and having the awareness around you to go ahead and make the play.”
Challenge ahead
Bill Belichick discussed the impending challenge of stopping Jaguars backs Leonard Fournette and T.J. Yeldon.
“It’s a tough combination. (They) both are really good. (They’re) different, but explosive. Tackling is going to be a big issue for us this week,” Belichick said. “Those guys are hard to tackle. They make a lot of yards on their own with their running skills, and so defeating the blocks and getting into position is half the battle and then the other half of it is actually making the tackle and getting them on the ground, so it’ll be very challenging for us . . . .
Belichick expressed disappointment over losing running back Jeremy Hill to a torn ACL.
“It’s disappointing for him and for our team,” he said. “But he’s a tough kid, I know he’ll work hard and I’m sure he’ll be back.”