What's Missing From the Patriots Offense? Size Matters!

Well, it has been a few years since Tom Brady was a Patriot and most people will argue that he is what’s missing and the reason the team has not been a super bowl contender. Others will argue that the great TE Gronk is no longer there and that he is the reason they are struggling. Both valid points as Brady is one of the best QB of all time.

But the truth of the matter their is a 3rd factor that people overlook. That is the importance on the little man on the Patriots Roster. That’s right, the missing piece the past three years has been a 5'‘9 little elusive wide receiver causing issues in the middle of the field. Those little guys were great at getting open vs those zone coverages and it helped them win 6 Super Bowls during the Brady era.

Let’s take a look at all their super bowl victories since 2002 and you will notice they all have one thing in common. That is the 5’9 wr that caused havoc for defenses.

Let’s see, you had Troy Brown, Deion Branch, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola doing damage in the slot and causing nightmares for bigger, non twitchy CB for years. Combine that with the run game, Gronk and Hernandez mixed in and you had a potent offense. Those little WR took advantage of their speed and often won those 1 on 1 matchups over the middle. They also were great against the traditional zone defenses, cover 3, 2 and 4 that NFL teams love and had a knack for getting open in the system on various crossing routes. Also, they were outstanding on the goal line using their speed and change of direction to get open.

Their leading WR in every super bowl were all the slot wr and all did damage within the system.

The Stats are as follows:

2002- Troy Brown led the Patriots with 6 catches for 89 yards in their 20-17 victory over the Rams.

2004- Deion Branch led the Patriots with 10 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown in their 32-29 victory over the Panthers.

2005- Deion Branch had 11 catches for 133 yards in their 24-21 victory over the Eagles.

2015-Julian Edelman had 9 catches for 109 yards and a TD in their 28-24 win over the Seahawks

2017- Julian Edelman had 5 catches for 87 yards and Danny Amendola had 8 catches for 78 yards in their great comeback vs the Atlanta Falcons.

2019- Julian Edelman again went off for 10 catches for 141 yards in their victory vs the Rams, a tough 13-3 victory.

“In their Super Bowl Losses"

Even in their 2008 loss to the Giants, Wes Welker was the leading wr, not Randy Moss,as Welker put up 11 catches for 103 yards.

In 2012, Welker again led the wideouts with 7 catches for 60 yards. You get the idea!

Here’s some highlights from Edelman in the Super Bowl vs The Seahawks! Look at all the times he either worked the middle of the field or got a mismatch on a Cb or safety.

The last 3 years they’ve moved in a different direction and didn’t have that quick, route running WR that would cause problems for CB over the middle. So before you place all the blame on Mac Jones, consider they didn’t have that elusive quick slot WR to cause havoc against defenses and in my opinion a considerable reason that the offense has tailed off. It’s the part that made this offense work!

2022-Jakoby Meyers 6 ‘2 had 67 catches for 804 yards

2021-Kendrick Bourne 6’1 had 55 catches for 800 yards

2020-Jakoby Myers was again the top Wr.

The point is the missing piece was the little man who could work the middle of the field and be effective on all the crossing routes which made the Patriots.

So all in all, I leave you with this, size matters!
I hope you enjoyed this article and realize how important a little wiry approximately 5 foot 9 wr matters in the Patriots system.