Tom Brady wasn’t asked about his newest wide receiver during his alarmingly short postgame news conference, but he offered a brief assessment during a Monday morning radio appearance.
Brady was asked during an interview with WEEI’s ” The Greg Hill Show” about N’Keal Harry, the New England Patriots rookie who made his NFL debut Sunday in a 17-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
“N’Keal has worked hard,” the quarterback said. “He got some opportunities (Sunday), and we’ve got to just keep getting him up to speed. He missed a lot of football, so we’re going to try to incorporate him the best way we can and use his skills to see if he can be a productive player for us in the second half of the year.
“I don’t want to make a bunch of predictions and (say) ‘We’ll do this’ or ‘We’ll do that.’ It comes down to all of us doing it — not speaking about it, but actually going out and doing it.”
That last sentence mirrored Brady’s message Sunday night when he made clear his frustration with the current state of the Patriots’ offense.
Harry took on an unexpectedly heavy workload in his first taste of regular-season NFL action, playing 32 of 74 offensive snaps and finishing with three catches on four targets for 18 yards. The first-round draft pick played just seven snaps in the first half — and none during the final eight minutes before halftime — but hardly left the field after a concussion knocked fellow receiver Phillip Dorsett out of the game early in the third quarter.
The 21-year-old called his three receptions, which went for 11, 4 and 3 yards, “routine plays that I’m supposed to make.”
“I haven’t really looked at the film yet, so it’s hard to assess (my performance),” Harry said after the game. “I know there’s a lot of things I wish I could have done better during that game, so that’s just going to be my main focus moving forward.”
