The Patriots monkey-stomped the Bears on Sunday and their offense started to look like the juggernaut we are all used to seeing. The two players most responsible for that offensive explosion were receiver Brandon LaFell and tight end Rob Gronkowski.
2 players making the Patriots offense scary again
Thanks to a stretch-the-field emerging threat in Brandon LaFell and a healthy and happy Gronk, the Pats are lighting up defenses and should have the AFC scared of what’s next.
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LaFell has made great strides in recent weeks in becoming the deep threat Tom Brady and the Patriots offense have been missing for most of this season. On Sunday he finally had that breakout performance that he had been building up to over the last few games. One of the major reasons why everything has started to come together for him is Brady finally showed the chemistry with LaFell that evidently needed time to develop. Brady also showed a lot of trust in LaFell on several timing routes where if the receiver doesn't run the route correctly, the ball will likely be picked off. LaFell, for his part, had to inspire Brady's confidence in him by snagging several of his passes out of the air that weren't exactly right on target. That was supposed to be something that LaFell would struggle with because of his allegedly "suspect" hands, but I could see no evidence of that this week:
By the end of the game, LaFell had career-highs in catches (11) and yards (124) and one touchdown. That was 11 catches on 12 targets and on the one incomplete pass, interference was called on the cornerback that was covering him. LaFell gave the Patriots something on Sunday that they haven’t had in a long time -- a big wide receiver who can stretch the field. When you have at least the threat of being able to take the top off of a defense, it forces defensive coordinators to respect that with their coverage choices and that opens things up underneath. If LaFell can consistently perform each Sunday the way he played this week, the Pats will finally have that threat in their offense again.
Which brings me to the second guy who was most responsible for the Patriots' offensive resurgence, the aforementioned tight end Rob Gronkowski. After a litany of injuries hampered Gronk's preparation this offseason, he predictably got off to a slow start. At the beginning of the year he just didn't look nearly as fast or explosive as he had in previous seasons. Then right around the Bengals game in Week 5, he started to flash again. Like LaFell, Gronkowski had been building up to a breakout game in recent weeks since and he finally got it on Sunday, and then some.
With nine catches for 149 yards and three touchdowns, Gronkowski posted season-highs in all three categories. Because LaFell was doing such a good job on the outside on Sunday, Gronkowski was given a lot of space to work the underneath holes in the zones as well as the middle of the field.
The Bears were faced with a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario with both guys getting busy in the same game. If they concentrated too hard on LaFell, then Gronkowski would eat them alive underneath and vice versa. Basically, it didn’t matter what they tried to do on defense. When the Patriots are rolling like that, the opposing defense is always going to be wrong.
What was most encouraging about Gronkwoski's performance were his last two catches, both of which went for touchdowns. On the one at the end of the second quarter, he motioned out from the backfield wide to the offense's left. He then beat linebacker Shea McClellin on a jump-ball fade route from the 3-yard line. On that play he showed the explosiveness we have all come to expect from him but hasn't always been there recently due to the spate of injuries:
Gronk's last touchdown was off a simple crossing route, but then he morphed into BEAST MODE after the catch and found his way to the end zone. First, he accelerated away from safety Chris Conte who was attempting to cover him man-to-man. Then he hip tossed a hapless Ryan Mundy up off him so he could change directions and make a beeline for the end zone. Around the 5-yard line, cornerback Al Louis-Jean decided he wanted to go on a piggyback ride and Gronkowski happily obliged him right into the end zone.
Two years ago those two plays would just be par for the course with Rob Gronkowski, but lately we haven’t seen him do those kinds of things. With Gronk looking like his old self again and LaFell lighting it up on the outside, the playoff race in the AFC just got a lot more interesting.
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