{"id":56354,"date":"2019-01-10T22:36:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T03:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=56354"},"modified":"2019-01-10T22:36:54","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T03:36:54","slug":"charged-up-new-england-patriots-divisional-round-wide-receivers-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/01\/10\/charged-up-new-england-patriots-divisional-round-wide-receivers-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Charged Up: New England Patriots Divisional Round Wide Receivers Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots<\/a> take on the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> at home in Foxboro this weekend, and the Chargers are possibly the most complete team that the Patriots have faced all season. The Patriots offense will have to be running like a well-oiled machine against the imposing Chargers defense. As Josh McDaniels<\/strong>\u00a0commands yet another offense on a historic postseason run, let’s look at the Patriots Divisional Round wide receivers report.<\/p>\n

New England Patriots Divisional Round Wide Receivers Report<\/h1>\n

Chargers Defensive Outlook<\/h2>\n

The Patriots should be facing a fully healthy Chargers secondary this week. Jahleel A<\/strong>ddae<\/strong><\/a>, the Chargers second starting safety across from the talented rookie\u00a0Derwin James<\/a><\/strong>, has appeared on the injury report for two weeks with a shoulder injury but has not been limited in practice at all.<\/p>\n

In their last three games, the Chargers have played a rather ragtag bunch of receivers. The Denver Broncos<\/a>\u00a0have been struggling to establish an identity in their receiving corps all season, and losing\u00a0Demaryius Thomas<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Emmanuel Sanders<\/a><\/strong> ahead of their week 17 matchup didn’t help things.\u00a0Case Keenum<\/a><\/strong> spread the ball around decently well against the Chargers, getting the ball to eight different pass-catchers.<\/p>\n

We can see traces of that same share-the-wealth passing attack when the Chargers lost to the Ravens in week 16.\u00a0Lamar Jackson<\/a><\/strong> targeted nine pass-catchers, eight of which caught at least one target. The last time the Patriots targeted eight pass-catchers was week\u00a015 when\u00a0Josh Gordon<\/a><\/strong> was an active part of the offense.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the Patriots, spreading the ball around in the passing attack doesn’t seem to be that effective against the Chargers. For the Ravens in week 16, no pass-catcher hit 30 receiving yards, with the exception of\u00a0Mark Andrews<\/a><\/strong>, who torched the Chargers for a 68-yard touchdown. That touchdown was the only offensive touchdown scored by the Ravens in that game. The Broncos fared little better with three wide receivers and a running back catching for between 40 and 50 yards. The Broncos also only scored one offensive touchdown in that game, a 20-yard pass to\u00a0Andy Janovich<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Getting the Ball Out<\/h2>\n

One of the major problems that the Patriots receivers will face this week is an indomitable pass rush that racked up seven sacks on Jackson in the Wildcard Round.\u00a0Melvin Ingram<\/a><\/strong> and\u00a0Joey Bosa<\/a><\/strong> are as fearsome a pass-rush duo as the Patriots have seen this season. Of course, this means getting the ball out very quickly to keep\u00a0Tom Brady<\/a><\/strong> upright and healthy for yet another postseason run. The Patriots have seen a couple of decent pass rushing defenses this season, particularly the Chicago Bears<\/a> and Khalil Mack<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0which may provide some insight into how the Patriots intend to approach the Ingram\/Bosa problem.<\/p>\n

Against the Bears,\u00a0Julian Edelman<\/a><\/strong> was the team’s most targeted receiver. But there’s no surprise there; Edelman is likely to be the team’s leading receiver on any given Sunday.\u00a0James White<\/a><\/strong> also saw a good deal of work in that games, another expected outcome. Viewers on Sunday can expect to see these jerseys come up quite a bit, as the Chargers defense has allowed seven touchdowns to wide receivers short over the middle this season.<\/p>\n

However, the short ball may be a touch unreliable this week. The Chargers have the league’s third-best DVOA against short passes according to Football Outsiders<\/a>.\u00a0On the other hand, they have the second-worst DVOA against deep passes according to the same metrics, trailing only the New Orleans Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edelman, to some surprise, has been the team’s most successful receiver deep over the middle, catching 80 percent of his targets in this area of the field according to Sharp Football Stats<\/a>. Given that\u00a0Gus Bradley\u00a0<\/strong>loves his Cover-3s, Edelman should be able to slip into openings in the middle consistently.\u00a0He has the ability to step up as\u00a0a postseason hero<\/a>, and those heroics should be on display this week.<\/p>\n

The Rest of the Gang<\/h2>\n

Chris Hogan<\/a><\/strong> has become the Patriots\u00a0de facto<\/em> deep threat<\/a> with Gordon out of the picture<\/a>. This season, Hogan is perfect up the left sideline, which bodes well for his potential use against the Chargers this week. He’s also 6 for 12 out deep elsewhere on the field.<\/p>\n

This is also a big game for\u00a0Phillip Dorsett<\/a><\/strong>. For Dorsett,\u00a0who has caught all of his last 16 targets<\/em>, any game from here until February could be his last in a Patriots uniform. He’s expected to hit free agency in 2019, and the playoffs are his opportunity to prove to the league that he\u00a0is actually worth the first round draft pick the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> spent on him. The bad news for Dorsett is that the area of the field in which he is most successful\u00a0\u2014 short\/intermediate left\u00a0\u2014 is the area of the field where the Chargers have allowed zero touchdowns to wide receivers and picked off three passes intended for wide receivers.<\/p>\n

The Patriots will have to keep an eye out for\u00a0Derwin James all day, but James will likely have his hands full trying to cover\u00a0Rob Gronkowski<\/a><\/strong>. Both James and\u00a0Desmond King<\/a><\/strong> were used to hold star tight end\u00a0Travis Kelce<\/a><\/strong> to just 67 yards in two meetings this season with the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>. Gronk stands to benefit from Bradley’s Cover-3s as much as Edelman, but the big tight end will likely be doing a lot of babysitting the Chargers defensive backs to open up other opportunities in the passing attack this week.<\/p>\n

Main photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>