Brandon LaFell knows he didn't do himself or the New England Patriots any favors when he dropped multiple passes in Sunday's 30-23 win over the New York Jets, but he was just part of a league-wide problem.
Brandon LaFell wasn’t the only WR dropping passes in Week 7
The league has dropped 5.0 percent of passes this week, which is the highest total of the season.
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According to ESPN, receivers have dropped 5.0 percent of the pass thrown this week, the highest total thus far this season.
LaFell caught just two passes for 25 yards, and had either three or five drops, depending on the source. Either way, it isn't likely to endear him to Tom Brady or Bill Belichick, especially with the Patriots taking on the suddenly surging Miami Dolphins on Thursday.
“If I had to give myself a grade, it would be ‘F’,” he told ESPN. “I let the ball get out of my hands too many times. Tom threw some good balls and I should have caught them. But overall, man, we got the win. I just have to get back into it. We have a short week, dust the cobwebs out, and come back out and play a better game.”
It was LaFell’s first game of the season after missing all of training camp and the preseason with a foot injury.
“First game, last game, it doesn’t matter. I expect more out of myself and my teammates expect more from me,” he said.
LaFell wasn't even the only Patriot having a hard time holding on to the ball. Julian Edelman dropped a potential touchdown pass and even Rob Gronkowski let one go through his hands. Luckily for the Patriots, the Jets also got into the act, with Brandon Marshall dropping a pass in the end zone.
Marshall let himself have it on Twitter:
My A** should be walking back to New York. How you bounce back after moments like this produce CHAMPIONS or CHUMPS.. . #jets
— Machine Marshall (@BMarshall) October 25, 2015 As the sun went down across the country, things got even worse. The Carolina Panthers had drops in the Sunday night game, including one by Devin Funchess that turned into an interception. But the Philadelphia Eagles made a tough night for Sam Bradford even worse with their bad hands.
The Eagles dropped eight passes, including a pair by Jordan Matthews, who had earned a reputation last year as a sure-handed rookie but who is also reportedly dealing with a hand injury.
“It’s embarrassing,” Matthews said, via CSN Philadelphia. “And I feel like I’m No. 1 on the list of guys to take that responsibility on my shoulders to get it fixed. It’s not who we are as a team. It’s not who I want to be as a player.”
Bradford finished with ugly numbers -- 26-of-46 passing for just 205 yards and an interception -- but the drops played a key role. Even the interception was off Matthews’ hands.
“I don’t have an answer for why (we dropped passes) but we did have too many to be successful,” Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said. “I thought Sam threw the ball well, threw with authority tonight. The drops, obviously, hurt big time. We have to get an answer for that.”
It isn't a new problem for the Eagles, either. According to Pro Football Focus, Philadelphia wide receivers have dropped 9.7 percent of the passes thrown to them, the highest total by any team since 2007. Bradford leads the league with 25 drops, but even good teams are having problems. Matt Ryan of the 6-1 Falcons is tied for second with 21.
Atlanta struggled with drops again on Sunday, but so did the Tennessee Titans, including this spectacular clanger by Justin Hunter.
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Hunter, obviously, wasn’t thrilled with himself.
“That play in the first quarter really could have established some momentum for us,” he told the Tennessean. “Everything was right. I just have to stay on it a little bit more. I feel like I had it in my mitts. I tried to get up the field and I left the ball. It kills me.”
At least Hunter isn't on the list of the receivers with the most drops, which includes two of Ryan's favorite targets: Leonard Hankerson (seven) and Julio Jones (six), and Edelman also has seven.
Funchess is struggling this season, having dropped six passes and caught six. LaFell, though, was in a class of his own Sunday. According to Pro Football Focus, he has only caught two of the seven catchable balls that Brady has thrown his way.
“There are no excuses,” he said. “I just let the ball out of my hands too much.”
At least this week, he was far from alone.
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