In Amendola they trust
WR comes through again
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
FOXBORO — A day later, Patriots coaches still had nothing but good things to say about Danny Amendola.
“There’s nothing I don’t love about Danny Amendola,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said of the wide receiver who caught eight passes for 77 yards and five first downs in the 19-14 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night. “Every time he’s out there, you feel good about what may happen if the ball is headed toward him, and he always comes up big in the biggest moments or biggest games.”
Amendola has emerged as a goto target for Tom Brady, who already was without receiver Julian Edelman for the season (knee) before tight end Rob Gronkowski sat out with a thigh issue.
It’s no surprise to his coaches to see Amendola not only pick up the team in the punt return game — he had one for 40 yards in Tampa — but also step forward as a trusted weapon Brady can rely on.
“I thought Danny gave us a lot of critical plays in the game,” coach Bill Belichick said. “He gave us punt returns, some catches and he blocked well. He had a couple of key blocks in the running game, as well, so I thought he really did a solid job for us in all the areas, in all of the things that he was asked to do, which he usually does.
“He’s one of our best and most dependable players.”
Amendola, who missed the New Orleans Saints game with an injury, is second on the team with 23 catches (running back James White has 29).
On Thursday, he was the longest-tenured pass-catcher in Brady’s arsenal, and the familiarity was evident when the quarterback sought out Amendola when he needed a big catch.
“Basically the same thing we’ve seen from him all year and for many years,” McDaniels said. “The guy, he’s a great football player and he does a lot of things well — he’s tough, he always makes an impact when he’s in there, he blocks hard, he gets open in the passing game, he catches the ball, he’s hard to tackle, he returns punts, makes big plays in the kicking game, he’s a great teammate.”
Painful penalties
Matthew Slater was thrilled to be back on the field, but he wasn’t enthused by what he saw.
The special teams captain, who missed the first four games with a hamstring injury suffered in training camp, was discouraged by the Pats incurring 12 penalties for 108 yards.
“Anytime you can win in this league it’s something you are happy about but obviously it wasn’t the cleanest game,” Slater said. “There were a lot of penalties and some sloppy football at times but it is always better to learn in victory than in defeat.”
Two of the most egregious penalties were committed by Brandon Bolden on special teams. Bolden was flagged for an illegal block in the back on a punt return late in the second half and extended a Tampa Bay drive in the third quarter when he was called for a neutral zone infraction with the Buccaneers punting on fourth-and-2.
“It was disappointing,” Slater said. “There were some that were avoidable and some that were a little bit borderline but we knew they were calling the game tight.
“We had to do a little bit better job of adjusting and playing the way the game was being called.”
Branch(ing) out
Defensive tackle Alan Branch has gone from indispensable to a nonfactor after not making the trip to Tampa due to performance issues.
Belichick didn’t expand on why he decided to leave Branch home.
“Whatever players are inactive for whatever the reasons were, a combination of reasons, we felt like the players we activated were the ones that gave us the best chance to win the game,” Belichick said.
Branch started 16 regular-season games and three playoff matches last season and recorded a careerhigh 49 tackles. He was involved in 60 percent of the plays last year and was arguably the team’s best defensive lineman. He was involved in 61.8 percent of the plays in the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs before falling down the depth chart.
Brady bashing
Brady’s 40-year-old body took another beat down vs. Tampa Bay. The quarterback was sacked three times and took six hits from a Bucs defense that had just one sack in its last three games.
Brady has been sacked 16 times in five games, one more than he had last season in 12 starts. He has absorbed 32 hits this year compared with 33 last season.