danny amendola

Great stuff from Oliver Thomas who saved me the trouble from doing this breakdown later this week. 

Amazing day from Amendola, and I don’t want to get too much into Welker comparisons, but those clutch catches that were 10s on the difficulty scale, certainly were ones we didn’t get from WW at times the last couple seasons.

This catch below was just insane.

Those who have read our picked-up pieces entries before may recall the term “rub concept” in which two receivers work off of each other, typically near the goal line. In its simplest form, the outside receiver runs in, the slot receiver runs out and a natural pick is formed. We expect the Patriots to use this concept extensively this season, but not just near the goal line. With two gifted slot targets in Amendola and Edelman, it’ll be a staple of their underneath passing game, as was the case on a third and 5. The two were the inside receivers as part of a three-man bunch to Tom Brady’s right side, with Edelman running roughly five yards before turning inside, while Amendola ran up the field for a couple of strides, stuttered and broke out, catching a pass just two yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The direction of Edelman’s route gave Amendola enough space to work with to grab the first down and move the chains. Those two will be a tough task for middle-of-the-field pass defenders.

As I was saying…

No one is saying that there aren’t concerns for the Patriots with what unfolded. It was ugly, at times, for a team that prides itself on taking care of the football to be sloppy. Some of the team’s young players didn’t rise up. More on the Patriots Mike Reiss has the Patriots blanketed for ESPNBoston.com. Check in for all the latest coverage. Blog • Send a question for Mike’s mailbag But at the same time, if we haven’t learned by now that the opening game of the season isn’t always reflective of what is to come and that teams evolve over the course of a season, then we haven’t been watching closely enough. To be able to win with a clutch final drive, overcoming their mistake-filled ways, is something that Belichick, Brady and others believe has significance.

Enjoyed this one with a closer look at Danny Amendola and the preconceptions about his injury history.

That’s why the “fragile” label bugs Amendola so much. Yes, he has played only 16 games once in four NFL seasons (he also played in all 14 games after being signed by St. Louis off Philadelphia’s practice squad in Week 3 of 2009). It’s not as though he refuses to play on sprained ankles or with minor dings. His injuries have been freakish and painful.

Tom Brady and Danny Amendola Light Up the Buccaneers

The Patriots quarterback was efficient in his command of the offense, dictated the pace of the game at the line of scrimmage and consistently produced in the short-to-intermediate route tree coming off an injury in practice last week. However, what really stood out on the field was the connection Brady had with Amendola. One could gather this conclusion by simply checking out the routes from the slot (option, whip option, bubble screen) and the quick, three-step out cuts when Amendola was aligned as a No. 1 receiver. And don’t forget about the deep seam route the wide receiver caught for a touchdown versus the Buccaneers’ Cover 2 defense. Sound familiar? It should, because those are some of the same concepts we saw in the past from Wes Welker in the Patriots playbook.