The Patriots lost a game on Sunday night, but they may have found a new weapon. Mohamed Sanu looks like he’s going to add another dimension to that offense.
Sanu isn’t as athletic or talented as Josh Gordon. He doesn’t have the same ability to get downfield. Sanu is one of the league’s slowest starting wide receivers. But he looks like a better fit with what they’re trying to do. The Patriots like to use lots of short passes – even more so this season, with the team trying to get by with a lesser offensive line.
Sanu was on the field for all of their plays Sunday night, and he caught 10 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown.
He’s not going to give them any chunk plays, but he gives them another guy who can catch a lot of short-range balls. He’s a different style of receiver than Julian Edelman (who’s smaller and a lot quicker) but he’s another option they can utilize heavily. (They’ve actually got three of these high-volume short-pass options if you also include James White.)
The Patriots use mostly three-receiver sets. They’ve got Edelman and Sanu catching short, quick passes (before defenses can get to Tom Brady) and they have Phillip Dorsett to run deeper routes (but more usually serve as a decoy).
Sanu has only been with the team for two weeks, and he had 14 targets last night. As we pass the halfway point of the season, only 16 times has a player had more targets in a game.
| PLAYERS WITH AT LEAST 14 TARGETS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | T.B. | W 40-34 | 18 | 13 | 152 | 11.7 | 2 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | Car. | L 26-37 | 17 | 9 | 96 | 10.7 | 0 |
| Jamison Crowder, NYJ | Buff. | L 16-17 | 17 | 14 | 99 | 7.1 | 0 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | at Sea. | L 29-30 | 17 | 9 | 117 | 13.0 | 1 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | Hou. | L 20-27 | 17 | 13 | 183 | 14.1 | 2 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | at Sea. | L 34-40 | 16 | 12 | 180 | 15.0 | 1 |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | at Atl. | L 20-24 | 16 | 8 | 72 | 9.0 | 0 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | Den. | L 13-20 | 16 | 15 | 86 | 5.7 | 0 |
| Will Fuller, Hou. | Atl. | W 53-32 | 16 | 14 | 217 | 15.5 | 3 |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | N.O. | L 25-36 | 16 | 10 | 87 | 8.7 | 1 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | NYG | L 31-32 | 15 | 8 | 190 | 23.8 | 3 |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | NYG | W 35-14 | 15 | 9 | 113 | 12.6 | 0 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | T.B. | L 40-55 | 15 | 9 | 121 | 13.4 | 1 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | T.B. | L 40-55 | 15 | 13 | 164 | 12.6 | 0 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | at Det. | L 10-13 | 15 | 8 | 98 | 12.3 | 0 |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | Phil. | L 27-34 | 15 | 10 | 180 | 18.0 | 0 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | at LAR | W 55-40 | 14 | 12 | 172 | 14.3 | 2 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | N.O. | L 27-33 | 14 | 11 | 154 | 14.0 | 1 |
| Darren Waller, Oak. | at Min. | L 14-34 | 14 | 13 | 134 | 10.3 | 0 |
| Evan Engram, NYG | at Dall. | L 17-35 | 14 | 11 | 116 | 10.6 | 1 |
| Mohamed Sanu, N.E. | at Balt. | L 20-37 | 14 | 10 | 81 | 8.1 | 1 |
| Amari Cooper, Dall. | G.B. | L 24-34 | 14 | 11 | 226 | 20.6 | 1 |
| Michael Gallup, Dall. | G.B. | L 24-34 | 14 | 7 | 113 | 16.1 | 1 |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | Jac. | L 17-27 | 14 | 5 | 55 | 11.0 | 0 |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | Ariz. | L 23-26 | 14 | 10 | 123 | 12.3 | 1 |
| Alex Erickson, Cin. | Jac. | L 17-27 | 14 | 8 | 137 | 17.1 | 0 |
| DJ Moore, Car. | T.B. | L 14-20 | 14 | 9 | 89 | 9.9 | 0 |
(Of the 27 times a player has had at least 14 targets, by the way, all but four of those were by players on the losing team.)
—Ian Allan