Skip Bayless typically is the first noteworthy pundit to defend Tom Brady and the Patriots.
But in wake of recent weeks, the “Undisputed” co-host is struggling to find ways to hype up New England.
Bayless wasn’t at all impressed with the Patriots’ Week 15 win over the Bengals in Cincinnati. Brady and Co. looked sharp on their opening drive, but from there, the offense struggled against a vastly inferior opponent. The wide margin of victory once again could largely be credited to New England’s stout efforts on defense and special teams.
As such, Bayless isn’t feeling very confident in the Patriots’ offense as the playoffs near. In fact, he believes there’s only one player who can help improve the unit.
“…The only ray of hope for this team — it has one potential silver lining, one potential game-, season-saver. His name is N’Keal Harry,” Bayless said Monday on FOX Sports 1. “He played all of two snaps against the Kansas City Chiefs at Foxboro. Yesterday, N’Keal Harry played 38 snaps. You don’t think they were trying to feature him, trying to get him to grow up fast? They know what’s obvious: he’s their only hope. He’s all they have at receiver who can actually make a play, separate, make something happen. So they handed it to him twice and Brady actually stooped to throw it to him four times and he caught two. The second one that he caught was for a touchdown…”
"On an impressive scale of 1-10, I give New England's performance yesterday a 1. I'm not impressed. The only ray of hope for this team, one potential silver lining and potential season-saver is N'Keal Harry. He's their only hope. He's a stud." — @RealSkipBayless pic.twitter.com/bPC1Qtpzdh
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) December 16, 2019
Sunday marked the first time the Patriots even marginally cut Harry loose. The rookie’s limited usage became somewhat surprising, as he seemed to routinely make the most of the few times his number was called. He obviously has a long way to go in building cohesion with Brady, but given New England’s dearth of high-end offensive weapons and Harry’s freakish athleticism and playmaking ability, it feels like the Patriots would be doing themselves a disservice by keeping the ball out of his hands.
Offense coordinator Josh McDaniels admitted prior to Week 15 he needed to find more ways to get Harry involved. Sunday was a step in the right direction, and the Patriots shouldn’t look back, especially considering Julian Edelman’s laundry list of ailments.
