Those who watched “Monday Night Football” this week saw the New Orleans Saints pass and fail to control Darren Waller, the star of the Las Vegas Raiders.
That will be the challenge for the New England Patriots defense this Sunday.
In two games, Waller occupied the moment in the NFL in receptions and goals, Arizona Cardinals open catcher DeAndre Hopkins, who led the Saints, completing with 12 receptions in 16 goals for 103 yards and a landing in the 34-24 win for newly reinstated Raiders. None of his teammates saw more than three goals.
“When you start with a guy like Waller running as fast as the open receivers,” Patriots corner Jason McCourty said Tuesday, “you know it’s going to be a long day. “
While Kansas City’s Travis Kelce and San Francisco’s George Kittle are widely regarded as the two NFL closed wings, Patriots coach Bill Belichick advised that he would take Waller, who broke with 90 receptions for 1,145 yards and three scores in 2019, in either.
“In fact, it’s really hard,” Belichick said Tuesday in a video conference. “It’s been a long time since we’ve noticed a guy like that. . . There are other smart closed wings, but no one does more than this guy. “, and it does very well. “
Waller ran a score card from 4. 46-40 yards to 6 feet 6 inches and entered the NFL as an open receiver in 2015, however, he has become more than a large open receiver. Belichick said his versatility and multiple abilities make him a damaging offensive weapon.
“He has wonderful reception skills. He played as a catcher, has a lot of duration as a great receiver does, but he’s very fast and he’s blocking in a very competitive way,” Belichick said. “He’s not afraid to combine things. In fact, he is more than a closed receiver, however, he has every possible skill. He’s a very intelligent internal receiver, who has difficulty making that move there. In fact, it was awesome to see.
“We saw it last year, we saw it in the off-season, and you just see it all: play it open, play in the backfield, play as a closed wing, run deep, catch and run, block, play flash, attack point plays. (It’s) a very flexible player (and) a pretty exclusive guy in the league. . . . It’s an adjustment problem. “
The Patriots have behaved well against closed wings, so this season, keeping Mike Gesicki from Miami 3 trapped for 30 yards in Week 1 and bleaching Greg Olsen of Seattle for a purpose sunday night. His teammate Seahawk Will Dissly hit a 9-yard pass.
Second-year defensive runner Joejuan Williams New England’s biggest canopy opposed Gesicki. Williams, Devin McCourty and rookie Kyle Dugger took turns opposing Olsen as a component of the Patriots’ game plan.
Gesicki and Olsen had more than 500 yards received a season ago, but none are close to Waller’s talent point This, along with the Raiders’ elite lack (rookies Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards and sophomore Hunter Renfrow are their options), can get Belichick to send corner no. 1 Stephon Gilmore to Waller this weekend.
Gilmore has managed to control narrow, high-level stretches in the past, as opposed to Zach Ertz last season and Kelce in the 2018 AFC championship game. However, none of those responsibilities were a task per game, as Gilmore covered Ertz only in a handful of third attempts and did not pass Kelce until the last quarter.
Whether with Williams, Dugger or a repositioned corner, the location of tactics to protect players like Waller will be at the forefront of Belichick’s brain in the coming weeks. In their next 4 games, patriots are expected to face a Waller Challenge. followed by Kelce, followed by Noah Fant of Denver, followed by Kittle.
Kelce, Waller and Kittle are superstars. They took first place, time and third place respectively in yards received among the wings closed last season, surpassing 1,000. Fant, a first-round athletic team in 2019, ranked 14th with 562nd and has been one of the league’s most productive closed wings in two. games this season (11 goals, nine receptions, 138 yards, two touchdowns).
And it doesn’t end there. The Patriots will also see Mark Andrews of the Baltimore Ravens (fifth in yards received in 2019) at Week 10, Hunter Henry of the Los Angeles Chargers (ninth) at Week Thirteen and Tyler Higbee of the Los Angeles Rams (seventh) in Week 14.
Andrews and Higbee have already scored landing games this season (two in Week 1 and Three in Week 2, respectively). Henry’s 156 yards received this season only stay with Gesicki (160) among the wings closed.
How complicated is this stretch? Consider this: Before the season, Belichick tried to point out corner veteran Aqib Talib with those clashes in mind. Talib, who has never been afraid to fight, admitted that he is not in a position to do so.
We’ll see if the Patriots’ defensive backs are.
Miniature photo by Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports Images