Hogan holds no ill will for Bills
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
FOXBORO — Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan left the Bills this offseason on really good terms, so tomorrow is anything but a revenge game.
Hogan, who has eight catches for 122 yards and one touchdown this season, is living up to the three-year, $12 million contract he signed as a restricted free agent in March. The Bills effusively praised Hogan upon his departure, and coach Rex Ryan kept the sentiment intact this week.
“Anytime someone pays you a compliment like that, as a head coach too in this league, you obviously take that. And that meant a lot to me, especially coming from him,” Hogan said yesterday. “I’ll be forever grateful for them, that organization. They gave me my first chance. That’s really where I made my start of my career, and I was there for four years. I established a lot of relationships with those guys and to this day still do. I will always look back on my career and that’s where it all started.”
It took the Penn State lacrosse star a while to get his football career going, but he had 77 receptions for 876 yards and six touchdowns over his last two seasons with the Bills, who didn’t have the cap space to match the Patriots’ lucrative offer, particularly as they were trying to structure their passing attack around Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and
Marquise Goodwin.
So the Bills gave him a congratulatory slap on the butt, and Hogan has set the tone to take his career to a new level with the Patriots’ passing attack. He has been a featured receiver, and his chemistry with Tom Brady throughout the offseason suggests he’ll continue to take off in the coming months.
“I’m the type of guy, I was going to come in here and do whatever was asked of me,” Hogan said. “So if it’s play 60 plays, 30 plays, do whatever I need to do to be on the field, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve been on the field a lot but I’ve been trying to take advantage of every single second and every play that I’m out there.”
Of course, the competitive wideout couldn’t wait to ditch the pleasantries upon the arrival of tomorrow’s 1 p.m. kickoff.
“Those guys are all my friends still, but we’re playing a game now, and once that whistle blows and for 60 minutes I’m going to be playing football,” Hogan said. “After that, we can talk and do all that, but my focus is doing my job and taking advantage of all my opportunities out there.”