Chris Hogan’s ‘welcome back’ moment came with a loud thud in last weekend’s game against the Tennessee Titans.
FOXBORO — Chris Hogan’s ‘welcome back’ moment came with a loud thud in last weekend’s game against the Tennessee Titans.
With 11:01 left in the second quarter, Tom Brady hit Dion Lewis two yards behind the line of scrimmage. As the running back tried to make his way downfield, Tennessee linebacker Wesley Woodyard closed in. Before he could get there, Hogan came crashing through the scene and landed a crushing block on Woodyard to spring Lewis loose. Hogan led the block with his previously injured right shoulder.
Welcome back, indeed.
“That helped get back in the swing of things,” Hogan admitted on Wednesday.
For a player who’s played in all but one game in his four previous NFL seasons, Hogan’s 2017 campaign was difficult. Now, the receiver is back, feeling healthy and ready to help the Patriots in this weekend’s AFC Championship game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Things didn’t start bad for Hogan. Instead, the receiver was on pace for a career year during the Pats first eight games. By the time he suffered a shoulder injury, in Week 8, he was tied for sixth in the NFL in receiving touchdowns. Unfortunately, Hogan wouldn’t score again for the remainder of the regular season.
The 29-year-old missed seven of the final eight regular season games. The Patriots attempted to bring him back in Week 14, against Miami, but Hogan didn’t look the same. He finished that game with one catch for one yard before being shut down for the final three games. In all, it was a difficult time for Hogan.
“It’s frustrating. For me, I’ve never been hurt before like that. I never missed this many games,” Hogan said. “At first, it was frustrating not to be out there on the field. You put a lot into this. To miss those games and not be out there with the guys is definitely frustrating.
“Once you kind of get over that frustration, you do whatever you can to A, get yourself better and get back on the field and B, just making sure you’re kind of in tune with everything that’s going on. Whether that’s being in the meetings, being attentive, watching the film. Kind of putting yourself visually in those situations so when you’re back out there, on the field, you try to feel like you haven’t missed that much time.”
Hogan’s rehab process crawled along, but there were signs that the receiver was starting to get close to returning. The biggest came in Week 17. During the Patriots’ preparation for the New York Jets, Hogan got more work in than he had most of the season. The only difference was that it was on the Patriots’ scout team.
That week, Hogan emulated several Jets receivers to give the Patriots’ starting offense a better look. He was good that the team named him one of six “practice players of the week.”
“Yeah. It was one of those weeks where everything was starting to feel better,” Hogan said. “I was able to be in a different position and be on the scout team. I used those reps to get myself prepared for the game speed of things and help the team wherever I could. I was just happy to be back out there, feeling better.”
Hogan certainly looked better last weekend. The receiver played 83 percent of the offensive snaps (67 total) and eight snaps on special teams. His crushing blow on Woodyard was a sign that his shoulder felt just fine. Then with 1:52 remaining in the second quarter, Hogan hauled in a 4-yard touchdown pass from Brady — his first score in over three months (since Week 5).
It was Hogan’s only catch of the game, but the receiver said it didn’t take him long to shake off the rust.
“I don’t think it took me very long,” Hogan said. “Obviously I was able to be out there practicing the weeks prior to that. I took those practice reps as seriously as I could so I could kind of get back into the game speed of things. So that I didn’t go out there and it was all of a sudden really fast. I felt pretty comfortable out there.
“I was pretty excited to be out there.”
Mark Daniels writes for the Providence Journal of GateHouse Media.