With 55 catches at the season's halfway mark, the Patriots' James White is on pace to break the NFL record for receptions in a season by a running back. With 102 receptions with the Chicago Bears in 2014, Matt Forte currently holds the mark.
FOXBORO – His forte is catching passes.
Now, halfway through the season, Matt Forte is beginning to come into James White’s view.
With 55 receptions through eight games, the Patriots' running back is on pace to finish the year with 110, a total that would not only obliterate Tony Collins’ franchise-record 77 in a season by a running back set in 1986 but eclipse Forte’s NFL-record 102 by a running back set with the Chicago Bears in 2014 as well.
With six touchdown receptions heading into Sunday night’s game with Green Bay at Gillette Stadium, White is on pace to finish with 12, which would also set a league mark for running backs, topping the record of nine shared by Chuck Foreman (with Minnesota in 1975), Leroy Hoard (Cleveland, 1991) and Marshall Faulk (St. Louis, 2001).
“It’s not necessarily about the total,” said White. “It’s just going out there … putting my best foot forward, whether it’s 10 catches, one catch. If I get the ball, the fate of the team’s kind of in my hands, so I just want to make a play, make a smart play, protect the football and get as many yards as I can. So, it’s not really about the number. I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to help our team get wins each and every time we step out there.”
White’s reception total is nearly double that of the Patriots’ second-leading receiver, tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has 29. His 459 receiving yards and six touchdown receptions also lead the team. Gronkowski is a close second to White in receiving yards with 448, but the next highest touchdown reception total to his six are the two each that have been caught by wide receivers Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson.
White has also carried the ball 48 times for 204 yards, a 4.3-yards-per-carry average, with two touchdowns. With 663 yards from scrimmage (24th in the league) and eight touchdowns overall, White is on pace to finish with 1,326 yards and 16 TDs this season.
Brady could've been a 10: With Tom Brady facing Aaron Rodgers, Sunday night's game is a battle of 12s.
Brady could've been a 10, though.
"It wasn’t really my choice," Brady said of the number he was given when he arrived in New England as a sixth-round draft pick in the 2000 draft. "I was 10 in college (at Michigan) and when I got here, (punter) Lee Johnson was 10. So whatever number was on my locker, which was 12, that was the one that Don Brocher (the team's late equipment manager) gave me. I wore that my first year and then we released Lee and I thought about going back to 10, but I just stuck with 12."
Nobody does it better: Packers head coach Mike McCarthy says it won’t qualify as breaking news, but the Patriots’ Bill Belichick is the best in the business.
“Stating the obvious, he’s the best in football for a number of reasons,” said McCarthy. “I think not only do they challenge you schematically week to week, how their research and development and game planning process is put together, they’re going to challenge it.
“We like to feel we do the same. But the thing I’ve always admired is the consistency and the fundamentals, the techniques and their discipline in situational football. You don’t ever see his teams beat themselves.”