FOXBORO, Mass. — It’s easy to see New England Patriots wide receiver Josh Gordon has caught on quickly in his new digs. All you have to do is watch Gordon play every week in a Patriots uniform.
Despite playing just 10 games, Gordon leads the team with 701 receiving yards. But how did Gordon get to this point after coming to the Patriots two weeks into the 2018 season?
“He’s a smart kid, so he learns well,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Friday morning. “For better or worse, he’s been in a lot of different systems. I know it was only one team, but it was a lot of different systems up there. Most everything we’ve asked him to do he’s done somewhere along the line for somebody. There isn’t a lot of, ‘Well, I’ve never done that before or what are we talking about here.’ It was just kind of transferring it into what we do relative to the way he did it in the past and what the differences are and maybe what the similarities are.
“He’s spent a lot of time with Coach (Chad) O’Shea, Coach (Josh) McDaniels and others, and the offensive staff and team have worked with him and he’s worked hard himself to try to not only learn the whole offense but certainly stay up on the week-to-week game plans. As we go through each week, I would say we’ve gained a little more ground on the overall knowledge of the system. Not there but going in the right direction.”
It’s also been working throughout the day with quarterback Tom Brady, who’s obviously a valuable resource for any wide receiver. Brady clearly also sees the benefit of getting a receiver as talented as Gordon up to speed as quickly as possible.
“Just really enjoyed our time together,” Brady said Friday. “We spend so much time here. We’re here until late at night, early in the morning. We’re on the field, watching film and so forth. It’s been great. I can’t say enough great things.”
Gordon didn’t need much persuading to put in some overtime with Brady.
“I think it’s a good suggestion to take if somebody offers it to you, especially Tom Brady,” Gordon said Friday. “I think it’s something that you should pick up on and try to get involved in, and that’s what I did.”
Gordon seems to have had particular success this season on quick slant routes, to which he agreed, “If they can’t stop it, we’re going to keep going to it.”
Teams have not only had trouble keeping Gordon from catching passes on that route but also halting him after the catch.
“Yeah, he’s very strong at the catch point,” Brady said. “He’s got a big body. It’s hard to go through him. He’s got a great catch radius. When the ball’s in the air, he just attacks it. I think most of the time they’re not really going for the ball. They’re just trying to get him on the ground. His catch-and-run is dynamic. He’s made a lot of great plays for us this year.”
Gordon is third among qualified receivers this season in yards after catch per reception. He leads the league in yards per catch since his Patriots debut in Week 4.
“Just finish the play as hard as I can, take it as far as I can, hold onto the ball, try to help us get a first down, move the chains more than anything,” Gordon said. “That’s what I’m thinking about.”
The Patriots take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday at 4:25 p.m ET. The 9-4 Patriots have struggled on the road this season and will look to turn around their fortunes against the 7-5-1 Steelers.
