New England Patriots: Examining the wide receivers in Week 1

After a tough loss to the Chiefs in Foxborough, the New England Patriots will have more than enough time to prepare for their Week 2 matchup against the New Orleans Saints. One of the main problems was that New England’s receivers were pretty ineffective. This raises the question, What exactly is happening with the New England receiver corps?

In Week 1, the New England Patriots got smashed, and that’s a fact. The hopes for a perfect season came crashing down. Only three receivers managed to catch a pass for the Patriots last night, a shockingly small number. Those were Danny Amendola, Brandin Cooks, and Chris Hogan. Here is a small breakdown of the wide receivers.

Danny Amendola: 

Shockingly Amendola was Brady’s main receiver catching 6 passes for 100 yards. This is Amendola’s third 100-yard game in the last 2 seasons. It would’ve seemed as if the 9-year veteran would become a menacing threat further on the year but he couldn’t complete last night’s game after a head injury. After analyzing Amendola’s injury history it is clear that this concussion is serious due to his history with this type of injuries. This is the third time he has gone down due to this type of injury.

Brandin Cooks: 

The young newcomer had an almost silent match until his 54-yard reception. Cooks was intended to come in and replace injured Julian Edelman. He only managed to receive 3 passes for 88 yards. A positive from the game is that we managed to see the verticality and the speed of Cooks in that 54-yard reception. It will be interesting to see how Cook’s role develops along the season.

Chris Hogan: 

Hogan was criminally overhyped for this contest. He only managed to receive just one pass for eight yards. It was as if Brady completely forgot about our #15, rarely targeting him during the passing game. After Amendola’s concussion he could see an even greater role but first, he must regain Brady’s trust. The only positive we can get from Hogan’s game is his speed and his ability to run the football as was seen on a reverse early in the first quarter.

After watching how our receivers played we can clearly see that the team is in crisis. Hours before the game Malcolm Mitchell was told his season was done after being placed in the injury-reserve list. This took out another important weapon for Tom Brady.

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Regarding last night’s game, Brady seemed a bit off on his passes. Even Gronkowski was affected since he only managed to catch two passes. If the team wants to flourish Brady needs to bring his A game back. Even Brady said that the loss couldn’t be blamed on the injuries and that the team still has to get better.