After every New England Patriots game, we are publishing an admittedly subjective list of “winners and losers.” A.J. Brown found himself included in each of the last two editions, and both times in the “loser” category.
Why? Because the big-ticket offseason acquisition failed to live up to expectation against the New York Jets in Week 6 and again versus the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. In total, he has caught just six passes on 16 targets in those two games, gaining 75 yards in the process.
His lack of production as the Patriots’ No. 1 wide receiver has been notable. Brown himself is not stressed or frustrated by it, however.
“I’m a vet, I understand how the game goes,” he explained after the Patriots’ 30-24 loss in Chicago. “It’s just how the game is. I know what type of player I am and I know that that’s always the case, every time I line up I get a lot of attention. Teams try to take me away and it gives a lot of opportunities to other guys to make plays and soften that up for me. And then whenever I get my shots, I have to make them.”
So far, Brown has not been able to make the shots on a regular basis. Against the Bears, he had a deep ball broken up at the catch point — a play that could have been flagged for defensive pass interference — and saw two other targets fall incomplete.
He did catch passes of 18, 16 and 14 yards for his best output as a Patriot to date, but the team did not send two draft picks to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year for 48 yards’ worth of production. He was brought in to help lift Drake Maye and the passing offense to new heights, and so far has not delivered on that promise.
Of course, the circumstances played a role in this as well. In the season opener in Seattle, Brown caught three passes in just over two quarters of play before exiting with a high ankle sprain. He missed the subsequent four games on injured reserve, and has participated in only four non-walkthrough practices since his return last week.
The 29-year-old knows that he cannot force the issue, and neither can his quarterback.
“Drake did a really good job just taking what they gave us. You can’t force that,” he said. “It’s tough, but you can’t get aggressive. You can’t get emotional and try to force something. I think he did a great job just taking what they gave us, and unfortunately in the first half we were just stubbing our own toe.”