Patriots: Four Players That Must Step Up In Playoffs

Here are four players that must step up for the Patriots this postseason:

1. James White

In the playoffs, good defenses will try to take away your best weapons. Whether they actually accomplish that feat is a whole different story, but they will sure as hell try. And when you play the Patriots, the top two guys are always Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. Defenses will do their best to stop them, and if by some miracle they do slow them down, other players have to step up. We know Danny Amendola will, but in tight games, you need someone else to go to, and I think James White is that guy for Tom Brady. White is no Dion Lewis, but he is a play-maker, and he needs the ball in his hands more often. Hopefully he can step up this postseason to take some of the pressure off of the top three guys.

2. Offensive Line

I’m not going to single out just one offensive lineman, because every single one of them needs to step up. With Julian Edelman coming back, Brady will be able to get rid of the ball a lot quicker, therefore making the offensive line look better, but the big boys up front still need to play well in order for New England to win another Super Bowl. When Brady has his weapons healthy, all he needs is a bit of time to make defenses pay down the field. This offensive line needs to be able to give him that time. It doesn’t have to be 5 damn seconds, but just enough for Brady to go through his quick reads, make the right decision, and let his weapons go to work.

3. Malcolm Butler/Logan Ryan

Potential number one receivers the Patriots will have to face this postseason in the AFC : A.J. Green, DeAndre Hopkins, Antonio Brown. These guys are arguably three of the five best wideouts the NFL has to offer, and they can completely change the tenor of a game if you don’t match up well. Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan have been superb for Bill Belichick this season, and if they run into one of these receivers, they are going to have to be on top of their game once again. In Green and Hopkins’ case specifically, those two are essentially their team’s entire offense, so if Butler and Ryan can hold their own in that 1-on-1 matchup, the Pats would have no problem advancing.

4. Chandler Jones

Jones had a very good year, finishing fifth in the NFL in sacks with 12.5. However as great as he can be with his individual pass rush on the edge, he is also extremely inconsistent. Over his last six games played, he only sacked the quarterback twice, and both came against a very weak Titans team in week 15. Come playoff time, Jones has to be able to beat the left tackle in 1-on-1 matchups in key situations. The Patriots do have a plethora of very good pass rushers they can roll out there (Sheard, Ninkovich, Collins, Hightower), but Jones is the best 1-on-1 guy, and we all know in the postseason the team that wins the most individual battles usually comes out victorious. If Chandler can do that, Bill Belichick’s defense will wreak havoc on the rest of the league over the next month.