Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots are officially back in the playoffs, but eyes are now on the regular season finale as the No. 1 seed may still be on the line with some help.
With that, let’s get into this week’s #PostPulpit Mailbag.
How should the offense go about replacing Mack hollins ? – Evan G.
It will not be a straightforward 1-for-1 swap as the Patriots don’t have another wide receiver with his size on the roster. They’ll miss that as Drake has developed a strong chemistry throwing to Hollins over the middle of the field and downfield as a larger target.
In the receiver room against the Jets, most of Hollins’ opportunities went to Efton Chism III who played a career-high 41 offensive snaps mixing in all over the formation. While the 5-foot-10 Chism certainly is not built physically like Hollins, the rookie makes up for it with his effort — which flashed throughout last Sunday’s game in the run game — and knowledge.
“Efton has just shown an aptitude to understand — that’s not as easy as it sounds,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “Like people say, ‘Well, I just go in there and block the guy.’ Well, first of all is, who am I blocking? When am I blocking him? What shoulder am I blocking him on? Where’s the ball going? When do I fit here? When do I fit there? Do I motion to get him? Do I not? There’s a lot of little things that go into this.
“He’s just shown a strong aptitude and understanding and desire to learn it even though he hasn’t had a million reps at it since training camp. Getting him the work last week, I thought he showed us that he was going to be dependable to do his job in that regard.”
Moving forward, Chism should continue to be counted on in that role while fellow rookie Kyle Williams, who also shows great effort in the run game, could mix in in Hollins’ role now that Kayshon Boutte is back from a concussion.
“It wasn’t just Efton who picked up the slack for Mack,” wide receivers coach Todd Downing said. “It was also Kyle. It was also Stef in some ways, and Pop as well. I’m just proud of how the group came together and played a little bit short-handed and did everything they could to pick up the slack.”
Do you think if Diggs gets put on the exempt list, could we just elevate Jiles/Webb and feel comfortable? Or would it make more sense to sign a Lazard/Tyler Boyd type vet for the playoffs as insurance? Any other names out there on practice squads who could step in relatively quickly that we could snag if needed for the run? – jordsmith87
With the Diggs drama currently working through the league what are the chances that the NFL suspends Diggs during the playoffs? – ShaynaandDanny
It’s always tough to predict how these things can unfold from [both...
