FOXBORO — The Patriots got running back James White and wide receiver Chris Hogan back for Saturday night's divisional-round game against the Tennessee Titans.
Through the first seven games Hogan was on pace for a career year as he was among the league leaders in receiving touchdowns with five. (He still finished third on the team.) Hogan, however, suffered a shoulder injury in Week 8 and Tom Brady lost one of his favorite [...]
FOXBORO — The Patriots got running back James White and wide receiver Chris Hogan back for Saturday night's divisional-round game against the Tennessee Titans.
Through the first seven games Hogan was on pace for a career year as he was among the league leaders in receiving touchdowns with five. (He still finished third on the team.) Hogan, however, suffered a shoulder injury in Week 8 and Tom Brady lost one of his favorite targets for most of the second half of the season.
Hogan missed seven of the final eight games. He appeared in the team’s Week 14 loss to Miami, but caught only one pass for one yard. The Pats shut him down for the remainder of the season. Although he didn’t play in the final three games, Hogan was named a practice player of the week after Week 17.
White was certainly needed on Saturday as the Pats played without running backs Rex Burkhead (knee) and Mike Gillislee (knee). White suffered an ankle injury last month and missed the final two games of the season.
White finished fourth on the team in receptions and was one of Brady’s favorite targets on third down this season. He’s also one of the Patriots' best running backs when it comes to picking up the blitz.
The Patriots' inactive list did have a few surprises. Alan Branch headlined a group that also included Kenny Britt, Burkhead, Gillislee, Johnson Bademosi, David Harris and Cole Croston.
Branch suffered a knee injury in Week 14 against Miami and missed the final three games, but said he was feeling healthy last week. He was limited in practice leading up to Saturday night's game. Without Branch, the Patriots relied on Malcom Brown, Lawrence Guy, Ricky Jean Francois and Adam Butler.
Britt, Bademosi, Harris and Croston were all healthy scratches.
Big Three will meet
It appears that Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft will meet to smooth things over.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the three will meet after the season to sort out any tension that came about this season. Brady's and Belichick’s relationship has been reportedly strained after the quarterback’s trainer, Alex Guerrero, was banned from the team plane and sidelines during games.
“There is going to be a meeting after the season, whenever the season ends, between Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to clear the air and get through a lot of this tension that they have had to deal with this season," Rapoport said on NFL GameDay on Saturday. "There is tension from the Jimmy Garoppolo trade and who wanted what, to Tom Brady’s trainer and all of these issues they have battled through this year. My understanding is this is expected to continue past this season.”
The source of the attention has been talked about a lot over the last two weeks. ESPN published a story detailing some of the friction (Brady and Belichick have denied most of the details). Before Saturday’s game, Kraft talked with WBZ-TV.
The Patriots owner disputed the notion of drama overtaking Gillette Stadium.
“What people don’t understand, we’ve been together as a unit for 18 years. When you have something good going, there’s always tension,” Kraft said. “If you have good people, there’s always dynamic things going on. There’s nothing that much out of the ordinary. [Brady]’s focusing on what he does best and so does everyone else. With all due respect to our friends in the media, our guys in the locker room don’t really pay too much attention to it. Thank goodness.”