We’re only six weeks into the regular season, but this is shaping up to be one of the more unique years in the recent history when it comes to the Patriots’ passing game. Here are three quick thoughts on where things stand.
1. James White could be the first running back of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick Era to lead the team in receptions. We already knew White had a chance to have a significant impact on the New England offense, but before everything is done, he could end up with 90-plus catches. He has 37 through six games, 11 more than Rob Gronkowski. He’s on pace for 99 catches this season, which would be a franchise record for most catches in a season by a running back and the most catches in a season by any member of the Patriots’ offense since Julian Edelman had 105 catches in 2013. As long as nothing crazy happens, he’ll remain one of the two or three most important parts of the passing game the rest of the way.
2. The continued emergence of Josh Gordon could ultimately mean fewer targets than anticipated for Phillip Dorsett. Dorsett popped in the opener against the Texans with a career-high seven catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Between that and his work with Brady over the course of training camp, it was believed he had gained a foothold in the quarterbacks’ inner circle. But he only played three snaps in the Sunday night win over the Chiefs while Gordon was in on 63 snaps. The Patriots will remain a game-plan team, and snaps will fluctuate from week-to-week. But as long as Gordon remains healthy, it appears he’s supplanted Dorsett on the depth chart for the time being.
“I think each week, his role has increased in practice and as far as the number of different things that he feels comfortable and we comfortable with him doing,” Belichick said of Gordon’s movement from 18 snaps in each of the previous two games to 63 against the Chiefs. “I think it'll continue to go that way. That may not necessarily correlate exactly to number of snaps. I mean, we don’t sit there and count snaps during the game. I would just say that his role is expanding weekly, and we'll just see how it all plays out.”
3. The Patriots’ play-action game has become sharper over the last three weeks. Over the first three games of the season, New England was 11-for-20 for 139 yards and an interception when it came to play action. The last three games, the Patriots’ have seen a spike in their totals, going 14-for-21 for 188 yards with a touchdown (the dramatic 34-yard pass play to Gordon) and an interception. That doesn’t include a 42-yard pass play against the Chiefs that included a fake pitch and ultimately resulted in a sizable pickup on a toss for Gronkowski. In all against Kansas City, the Patriots were 6-for-7 for 56 yards in play action. (It also doesn't include draw fakes.) On Tuesday, Belichick was asked about the improved play-action totals, and gave partial credit to the improvements in the run game.
“When the running game is effective, that helps the play-action passes a lot, so probably nothing has helped our passing game more than the running game and vice versa,” Belichick explained. “I’d say that’s really a big key for us. Throwing the ball to some different players or certainly making the plays look the same is tougher on the defense. If you're running the ball effectively that brings a lot more people to that run action than if you're not running it effectively.”