When the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski left the AFC Championship game on Sunday after taking a hit to the head in the first half, you would be forgiven for thinking that New England was in trouble. Losing at the time to the surging Jaguars, the Patriots would be without their most dangerous pass-catching threat (and blocker, for that matter) for the rest of the game.
The Patriots needed to throw the ball, and the Jaguars seemed to have all the answers. The secondary was locking down Brandin Cooks (aside from a few pass interference calls). Chris Hogan struggled to find space to work. Unlike the Titans the week before, the Jaguars were actually able to cover Patriots’ running backs Dion Lewis and James White out of the backfield. Jacksonville had the best defense in the NFL, and with Gronkowski out, they had effectively defended (or knocked out) five of the Patriots’ best playmakers.
So New England’s sixth playmaker, Danny Amendola, stepped up. And the Patriots won the game.
Patriots lost Julian Edelman in the preseason. Lost Gronk today. So Danny Amendola becomes a playmaker today.
— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) January 21, 2018
The phrase “next man up” is a trite cliché.
I am not denying this. It’s the sort of thing that Football Guys On Television say, with just a touch of gravitas, while the other thick-necked dudes around them nod. “Quite right, Biff,” one will reply, as the thick-necked chorus around him grunts approvingly.
“Next man up” is also a cliché that is necessary. Injuries happen in football at a disconcerting and frankly horrifying rate. NFL coaches will lose players, and when they do, they have to tell their team something. Not just something: They have to lie. That’s all it is, on most teams. “Next man up,” for most, is a big old whopper. You can’t be honest and realistic as a coach. When your best player goes down, you can’t look at the rest of your team and say what you know in your brain is true: “Well, fellas, we’re pretty well and fucked, eh? Anyway, good run. Where we getting beers after the game?”
No. You tell them “next man up” and hope like god they believe you.
That’s how it is for most teams. You lose your best player, you tell the next guy it’s his time to step up, he does his damndest, but he’s not quite good enough, so you lose the game.
It doesn’t seem to work like that for the New England Patriots. Amendola showed that on Sunday afternoon, when he rose to the occasion and helped win them a game.
It started with just under 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter with the Patriots stuck on third-and-18 at their own 25 after a Jaguars sack. Tom Brady took the snap, bought himself a moment, and — with the Jaguars keyed in on the Patriots’ other weapons — connected with Amendola for a 21-yard gain and a first down.
You could almost see the switch going off in Brady’s head. OK, they’re not giving Cooks and they’re all over Hogan. They’re cutting off the running backs. But Amendola...there might be something there with Amendola.
After a wild flea-flicker play that found Phillip Dorsett for 31 yards — shoutout to Josh McDaniels for emptying the playbook when it mattered most — Brady then targeted Amendola on the next play. The pass was incomplete, but that didn’t matter. Brady had found the matchup he wanted. The next pass was to Amendola for 14 yards, and the next after that was a nine-yard touchdown to Amendola again, this to cut the lead to 20-17.
After the teams traded punts, and a 30-yard return from — you guessed it — Amendola, Brady went right back to what was working. He completed two more passes to Amendola on the drive, including the pivotal touchdown pass. The Patriots had a lead they wouldn’t give up, and they were once again heading to the Super Bowl.
The reasons that the Patriots are able to do this — to say “next man up” and not only believe it, but have it work time and time again — are fairly obvious. They have the best quarterback and the best coach in the league. It’s easier to step up when Brady is throwing you the ball and Bill Belichick is designing the game plan that will give you the best chance to succeed.
The Patriots are also able to say “next man up” because on top of Belichick being a very good coach, he’s a very good GM. The Patriots are deep. They’re deep because they win, and they can convince guys to take less money to come play for them. They’re deep because Belichick is ruthless and will cut anyone. They’re deep because they’re smart and sign guys who fit the way they want to play.
Sometimes that depth means they can do something new and different to deal with an opponent. Against the Titans, they knew Tennessee’s linebackers would struggle to stay with Lewis and White, so they threw it a lot to Lewis and White. Against the Eagles — another team that has handled injuries incredibly well, no small reason why they’ll also be in the Super Bowl — I’m sure they’ll have some other plan, some key matchup they’ve locked in on that will feature someone else in their stable of skill players.
But that depth also means that the Patriots can adapt when shit goes sideways. They have given themselves outs. When Gronkowski went down, it took Brady a little time to figure out where he was going to go. But figure it out he did. Amendola became the hero. When they needed the next man, up Amendola stood. If only it were that easy for everyone else.
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