Chris Hogan’s wide-open 47-yard touchdown against the Texans was so impressive that Bill Belichick even had a lot to say about it. But the most interesting thing Belichick said was that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels came up with the play idea after eavesdropping on some Texans defenders from the sideline.
Bill Belichick reveals the clever way Josh McDaniels came up with Chris Hogan’s wide-open TD play
Josh McDaniels came up with this one on the fly, according to Belichick.
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
It all started with a routine 7-yard reception by Hogan. The Texans are in Cover 4, and Hogan cuts his route to the outside. He makes the catch. Pretty standard.
But McDaniels overheard Texans safety Andre Hal and cornerback Johnathan Joseph discussing the play.
“And Josh McDaniels did a great job of kind of picking this up and seeing this, and I think Hal was telling Joseph that the next time they do this, you’re going to track to the top and all that,” Belichick said. “And so rather than waiting until that happened, we ran this play again. It’s a little different look — this time the back’s in the backfield. But it’s the same idea.”
Hogan runs essentially the same route initially, and Hal and Joseph have both adjusted, as they discussed. But then Hogan cuts back inside and takes it all the way to the house. And thanks to McDaniels’ adjustment, there’s no Texans defender anywhere near Hogan:
Belichick is known for being buttoned up with the media, so it’s interesting to see him break down Patriots plays in detail in this regular feature each week. This week, Belichick also broke down the game-winning touchdown pass from Brady to Brandin Cooks, which sealed the game for New England.
The Texans had a 33-28 lead, but Brady got the ball back with plenty of time for a two-minute drill. On the touchdown play, Hogan runs a post route and the Texans defense wasn’t going to be fooled by him again. Cooks takes advantage of the safety on his side cheating over to help contain Hogan, and he speeds into the end zone to catch Brady’s game-winner:
Hogan’s score was the result of some good ears and a smart adjustment from New England’s offensive coordinator, and it gave the Patriots a 21-20 lead going into the half and ultimately helped New England pull off the 36-33 win.
Here’s the video of Belichick breaking it down.
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