Pats’ midseason awards
We’re at Week 9. Most teams have hit the midway point with eight games in the books. The Patriots, at 6-2, are halfway home. They don’t have their bye week until Week 11. Heading into tonight’s showdown with the Packers, they’ve already filled Bill Belichick’s film library with plenty of highlights and a plays the team would like to forget. Sifting through the tape ourselves, colleague Kevin Duffy and I thought we might come up with a few superlatives befitting of the first half and offer our take. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise we don’t think alike in every category. Here’s how it shook out:
MVP
KG— James White. Usually, this is a Tom Brady award, and while the GOAT has had to carry a bad offense at times without much help, no one has been more important or valuable to him, or done more to lift that offense, than White. The running back leads the team in receptions (55), yards (459) and touchdowns (6). He’s also 5th in the league in third down conversions (11). Whenever a play needs to be made, he makes it. His teammates call him “Mr. Do It Right.” During a first half with Rob Gronkowski scoring just one touchdown, the Patriots having to weather the first four games without Julian Edelman, White has produced above and beyond. With a defense that’s still giving up big plays, it’s hard to pick anyone there, even if Stephon Gilmore is having a great year. Running backs coach Ivan Fears said he might be partial, but he’d vote for him, too. This one’s a no-brainer.
KD— James White. Hard to pick against Jimmy White here. I couldn’t bring myself to go with a defensive player. Not because there haven’t been strong performances on that side of the ball; Stephon Gilmore locks down opposing No. 1 wideouts on a weekly basis. Trey Flowers has continued his ascension into the top tier of defensive ends, equally adept at terrorizing the passer and stuffing the run. But, really, the defense hasn’t won games for the Patriots. The offense has been the catalyst. And no player has been more important than James White, who has clearly established himself as one of the premier passingdown backs in the NFL. White is on pace for 110 receptions, over 1,326 yards from scrimmage, and 16 touchdowns. That’s absurd. The NFL record for most receptions by a running back is 102 by Matt Forte in 2014. If he stays healthy, White should be in position to beat it. White has a knack for maximizing each touch. He possesses excellent instincts, always appearing to be in the right spot or in a perfect position to make a defender miss. In crunch time, Tom Brady is always looking for No. 28.
Most disappointing
KG — Big plays against the defense - still! Last season, the defense was plagued by giving up big play s early in the year, and late. In the Super Bowl, they were destroyed by big plays, as the Eagles hit on five gains of twenty or more yards (36, 26, 24, 55, and 34). You would think, they might solve that problem, or attempt to solve it the following year. Nope. Thus far, eight games in, the defense has given up four plays of twenty or more yards per game on average. It’s still big play city with Bill Belichick’s defense whether a running back catches a ball out of the backfield and runs for a huge play, or there’s a connection downfield with a receiver.
KD — Rob Gronkowski. The tight end is still a difference-maker. He’s just not the devastating force that he’s been in past years. Gronkowski has one touchdown and two red-zone targets in seven games. He’s battled through ankle and back injuries throughout the year. Of course, Gronk’s impact doesn’t always show up in the box score. He was a monster as a run blocker in the epic win over the Chiefs. He also delivered receptions of 43 and 39 yards in the final minutes (yes, those showed up in the box score). It’s possible that Gronkowski turns it around statistically in the second half. His average of 64 yards per game is his lowest since his rookie season.
Best moment
KG — The final drive against Kansas City. The score was tied, 40-40. They had 3:03 on the clock, they started from their 25, and that 7-play, 65 yard drive, which ended with a 28-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, was vintage. It featured Brady working his magic in the two minute drill. It featured a must-have third down conversion by Sony Michel on a third-andone. The fact they even handed the ball to the rookie back with the game on the line spoke volumes. It also featured a classic Rob Gronkowski play, beating a defender down the right sideline deep for a 39-yard gain. That was the money play setting up the field goal, and kept the Pats alive for the all-important No. 1 seed.
KD — The final drive against Kansas City. In a few months, we could look at this as a season-defining moment, sort of like the Pittsburgh game a year ago. A loss would have put the Patriots three full games -plus the tiebreaker -behind the Chiefs. That would have essentially squashed their chances of capturing the No. 1 seed. But the Pats survived with a 4340 win, moving within one game of the Chiefs in the AFC. Brady hit James White for 16 yards and Gronkowski for 39 on consecutive plays to set up the gamewinning field goal as time expired.
Most surprising
KG — Gronk confirming his threat to retire. I suppose I could say all the turnovers and the uncharacteristically poor special teams play. Those all qualify in the “surprising” category. I could also say the emergence of Trent Brown as Brady’s blind side protector, after all the angst over losing left tackle Nate Solder in free agency. But the Gronk admission trumps all of those in my mind. It came after the Patriots loss to the Lions. During the post-game interview session with Gronkowski in the Patriots locker room, the tight end stunned the mob at his locker when he let it slip that Adam Schefter’s report of a proposed deal with the Lions back in April was in fact true, only he cut it off at the legs, threatening to retire. “Yeah, it happened,” Gronkowski told reporters after the Lions’ 26-10 win. “(Tom) Brady’s my quarterback, that’s all. I wasn’t going anywhere without Brady.” The fact Gronk openly verified that kind of information was a shocker. It never happens with the Patriots. KD— Turnovers! Tom Brady committed a turnover in each of the first seven games, tying the longest streak of his career. As the Patriots have morphed schematically and discovered innumerable winning strategies over the years, there has been one constant: They simply do not give the ball away. From 2010-17, Brady committed 75 turnovers in 124 regular season games. His turnover rate has nearly doubled this season, as he’s committed eight in as many games. On the other side of the ball, the Patriots defense is coming up with the ball at an impressive rate. After registering 18 takeaways all of last season, they’re already up to 16 this year. That helps bigtime.
Player to watch
KG — Julian Edelman. The Bills game was his best since returning from the PED suspension that forced him the miss the first four games of the season. Edelman is also coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL. He’s looked good in spots, but Monday night was a consistent force, and his usual pain in the butt self for an opposing defense with nine catches for a team-high 104 yards. So he’s just heating up, and should be even better in the second half. Despite missing those first four games, Edelman already leads Pats wide receivers with 25 catches to go along with 251 yards and two touchdowns. If he played the full 16 games, he’d be on pace for 100 catches, 1,004 yards and eight scores. KD— Josh Gordon. So far, the Josh Gordon experiment can be considered a mild success. Can he take it to another level in the season’s second half ? The bet here is yes. Gordon is supremely talented. That much was obvious in his first moments as a Patriot, when the entire Miami secondary was needed to wrestle Gordon to the ground. And the game-sealing 34-yard touchdown against the Colts was a special play, as well. If he can stay focused, Gordon could be in for a huge second half.