FOXBORO, Mass. — It seems Josh Gordon already passed his first test as a member of the New England Patriots. He’s earned quarterback Tom Brady’s trust.
Otherwise, why would three of Brady’s four passing attempts to Gordon have come on third down?
Gordon officially had two catches on two targets for 32 yards in his debut, but Brady actually threw to his newest receiver four times. The Miami Dolphins just committed penalties on two of those four targets, both of which were incomplete passes.
Gordon converted twice on third down and drew an illegal contact penalty, which also moved the chains.
“He’s put in a lot of work, a lot of time trying to understand where to line up and what to do, and he came up with some big plays today,” Brady said. “He kind of got us going in certain areas. Everyone played pretty good who was out there today, so it was great to have him out there.”
Brady, who made a point to applaud his talented receiver after a 19-yard pickup in the third quarter, wasn’t the only one of Gordon’s new teammates to show love.
“Josh is working really hard,” wide receiver Chris Hogan said. “He’s a good football player with a lot of great skills and he’s working really hard at trying to do his job. He’s holding himself accountable to learn this offense as quick as he can so that he can go out there on the field.”
Safety Devin McCourty is glad Gordon is finally wearing navy blue, red, silver and white so he doesn’t have to worry about covering the big wideout on a game field.
“Hard-working guy,” McCourty said. “He’s come in, he’s quietly just gone out there and worked every day. Kind of just does whatever he has to do to get on the field and as far as being surprising, I mean I saw him in another jersey and he was tough to play against so he’s one of those guys that when you get him, you’re happy he’s on your team.”
Gordon also contributed as a blocker on running back James White’s 22-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. White praised Gordon when asked to describe the run.
“Just a little power play from the gun,” White said. “Just followed (left guard Joe) Thuney, there wasn’t really a hole there, I kind of just peaked left. It was just Robert Quinn standing there. I made him miss and Josh Gordon had a good block blocking the corner and made just a good play.”
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had less to say, however.
“Yeah, as I said, I thought we got contributions from a lot of people; everybody,” Belichick said when asked about Gordon’s performance. “It’s good to have all of the guys out there and good to have them all contributing.”
Overall, it was a positive first impression for Gordon, who can continue to build on that performance if he stays clean and healthy and keeps learning the playbook.
