The New England Patriots’ offense sputtered without two of Tom Brady’s top options Sunday.
The Patriots scored only one offensive touchdown without wide receivers Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman in their 26-20 overtime loss to the New York Jets. It sounds like Brady could be hoping to get his receivers back on the field this Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
“Well, we’re definitely playing with new players out there,” Brady told Jim Gray on Westwood One Sports on Monday. “That’s just part of football, it’s part of this time of the year. We’re still in a good position. We’re 12-3. Our whole season is in front of us. We have a hugely important at Miami on Sunday. Hopefully we can get some guys back this week, some of our dependable, consistent players.
“But the guys who are out there, whoever is called upon, has to get the job done. We as players yesterday, we didn’t get the job done. You can sit here and make a thousand excuses for why you didn’t get the job done, but we just didn’t play good enough. … We’re learning with some of the new players that are in there. If we want to win these games against playoff-caliber opponents, we’ll have to play much at a much higher level than we did (Sunday).”
Brady was 22-of-31 passing for 231 yards and one touchdown with one interception against the Jets. He was fine when a receiver got open quickly, completing 16 of 19 passes when getting rid of the football in 2.5 seconds or less. He was 6 of 12 when holding onto the ball for 2.6 seconds or more, with two sacks and an interception.
Amendola (knee), Edelman (foot), safeties Patrick Chung (foot) and Devin McCourty (ankle), linebacker Jonathan Freeny (hand), guard Josh Kline (shoulder) and cornerback Troy Hill were inactive Sunday. Offensive tackles Sebastian Vollmer and LaAdrian Waddle, cornerback Justin Coleman, defensive end Rob Ninkovich and safety Jordan Richards suffered injuries during the game.
Amendola sat against the Jets after aggravating a preexisting knee injury in Week 15. He practiced last week despite the ailment.
Edelman returned to practice Dec. 11 after breaking his foot in Week 10 against the New York Giants. He was listed as doubtful to play the Jets and didn’t make the trip to New York.
The Patriots travel to Miami on Thursday night and will practice in Florida on Friday. Because of those plans, the Patriots could be inclined to have Edelman and other injured players make the trip to Miami, which would mean we wouldn’t know their game status until Sunday.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
