New England Patriots wary of Corey Grant

Running back Corey Grant isn't likely to line up with the Jacksonville Jaguars' offense more than a couple of times in Sunday's AFC championship game. He took 49 snaps at running back during the 2017 regular season, and in two playoff games, he's been on the field with the offense four times.

But the New England Patriots have their eye on Grant as they take on the Jaguars for a spot in Super Bowl LII.

Grant had 248 yards and two touchdowns on 30 rushing attempts during the regular season. The former Opelika High School and Auburn standout got 114 of those yards from punt formation.

On Sept. 24, Grant took a short snap and ran 58 yards on fourth down in a 44-7 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. On Nov. 12, he ran 56 yards for a touchdown on a fake punt in a 20-17 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Chargers. Grant also had a 51-yard run from punt formation in a preseason game.

"(Jacksonville special-teams) coach Joe (DeCamillis) has always done a great job of making sure that his guys are prepared," said Matthew Slater, the Patriots' special-teams captain. "He's always called the games very aggressively, and I think it's no different this year. They've got a tremendous core group of players, and it seems as though they play with a plan in mind and they've been able to go out and execute it.

"Obviously, those three fake punts have been huge for them. Corey scored on one that was a tremendous run. I think we've got to do a great job of playing alert situationally, understanding their tendencies, when they like to call those, trying to get a bead on that, and then just playing our keys. We have to play our keys, we have to play disciplined and be prepared at all times for any number of things."

While Grant's long run against the Colts allowed Jacksonville to pile it on Indianapolis, his touchdown against the Chargers provided a pivotal play in a tight win. It's the kind of thing that can make the difference in the AFC title game, New England coach Bill Belichick said.

"I think we've seen a number of games that have come down to one situation, one play, one or two individuals involved in a play in that particular situation," Belichick said. "Absolutely. I'm not suggesting that it's reckless in any way. I think it's very well calculated. They have been very successful at it. It puts a lot of pressure on their opponents, it's helped them win a lot of games and they're good at it. I'm sure they will keep doing it."

Grant earned his spot on the Jaguars as an undrafted rookie in 2015 because of his ability to return kickoffs. He's still handling that duty for Jacksonville. On 19 kickoff returns during the regular season, Grant averaged 24.9 yards, which would have been fourth-best in the NFL if he had enough returns to qualify for the rankings.

He's had returns of 21 and 23 yards in this year's postseason.

"They're very good in the kicking game," Belichick said of Jacksonville. "They're aggressive. They have a good return team with (punt returner Jaydon) Mickens and Grant. They have a good coverage group, good specialists. They're very aggressive. They have run fakes. They do other things that are a little bit unorthodox to keep you off-balance in that phase of the game."

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The Jaguars and Patriots will kick off at 2:05 p.m. CST Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. CBS will televise the game.

The winner of the game will receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy as the champion of the AFC and represent the conference in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4.

The AFC champ will face the NFC champ, which will be either the Minnesota Vikings or Philadelphia Eagles. They'll square off in the NFC title game at 5:40 p.m. Sunday in Philadelphia. FOX will televise the game.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.

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