Chris Hogan, The Forgotten One
When we’re talking about the skill guys of New England’s second dynasty, a few names always comes to mind. The dominant one, Rob Gronkowski, the clutch performer playoff Danny Amendola, sweet feet James White, and of course the Iron Man Julian Edelman. But I think we always left out one name, Chris Hogan.
During his tenure in New England, Hogan racks up 1651 yards and 12 touchdowns with the Patriots. Not exactly mouth-watering, but still solid, knowing he did that with only 172 Targets. Because essentially, the Patriots sign him to be, at best, a 3rd option. What makes him a big contributor in my eyes is Hogan brings a new wrinkle to the Patriots’ offense, He provides a vertical game. In his first year, Hogan even leads the league in Receiving Yards per reception with 17.9 yards.
So, why does Hogan often forgotten? Some people said, what separates him from the others is he didn’t have a signature moment. And today I want to debunk that notion.
Let’s turn the clock back to the 2016 AFC Championship Game. The Patriots square up against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Gillette Stadium. Tom Brady, the Patriots’ Quarterback, has been on fire throughout this season. It almost seems as though the commissioner’s suspension lit a fire inside of him. Led by this man, the Patriots once again reach the Conference Final. You remember this part, right? But do you remember what happened in that game? Do you remember who got the most target during this game? It’s gotta be Edelman, right? Why wouldn’t you think that? It’s the playoff, and Gronk missed this game. If it’s not Edelman, it’s probably The famous Danny play-off Amendola, right?
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No, and No.
There is one guy that got more targets than those two in this game, Chris Hogan. Hogan led the team with 12 targets, 2 more than Julian Edelman and 10 more than Amendola. Hogan also led the team in receiving yards with 180 yards, plus he also caught 2 touchdown passes. Let’s take a look at his second touchdown. In the middle of the second quarter, the Patriots led the game 10–6 thanks to Hogan’s first touchdown. With the score still relatively close, the Patriots look to take control of the game. And doing so they did. Hogan caught another touchdown pass from Brady, this one on a flea flicker. Brady lined up under center and gave the ball to Dion Lewis, who after going up near the line of scrimmage turns around and toss the ball back to Brady. After that, he launches a deep pass to Hogan who already beat his man, Touch Down New England. After that, Patriots’ lead grew bigger and bigger to the point where Pittsburgh needed to score in the garbage time to make their final score at least double-digit.
Game Over, The patriots’ won 36–17.
So what do you think? Do I change your opinion about Hogan? I know you can’t become a legend with 1 great game. But, I just want to remind us about our forgotten stud.
I hope when we’re talking about Patriots Dynasty’s second run, we don’t leave out Chris Hogan.
I hope when we walk outside 7–11, we always smile and said to ourselves, “Nice, that’s Hogan’s Nickname”
Wait, did I mention he played Lacrosse on college yet?
