The New England Patriots walked away with a hard-fought win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 12.
The low-scoring 13-9 battle reflected the rainy conditions and the lack of offensive firepower for both teams. New England found out before the game that they would be without Phillip Dorsett and Mohamed Sanu — leaving them with four active wide receivers. Julian Edelman, N’Keal Harry, Jakobi Meyers and Matthew Slater were the only targets that Tom Brady had at the wide receiver position.
Edelman is the only receiver out of this group to record more than 15 NFL catches. He finished the game with eight catches and 93 yards on 12 targets.
Rookie wide receivers Harry and Meyers were expected to step up, and that’s exactly what they did. They didn’t put up game-changing numbers, but they both provided just enough to help walk away with a victory.
Harry recorded the only touchdown of the game on a back-shoulder acrobatic catch in the redzone. The ten-yard touchdown reception was the first of his career and it put enough points on the board to slide past Dallas.
Meyers finished the game with four catches for 74 yards and he took numerous big hits without having to leave the field. Meyers’ longest catch was for 32 yards and it was mostly due to breaking tackles and gaining yards after the catch.
Brady talked about the young receivers in his postgame press conference and had nothing but good things to say.
“They played a lot of plays. Proud of those two,” Brady said. “They put a lot of effort in this week. They’re making improvements and it’s great to see. They both came through with some big plays for us.”
The Patriots added left tackle Isaiah Wynn to the mix against Dallas and had some positives to take away from the game. With a healthy receiving corps and an upgraded offensive line, the Patriots’ offense should begin to ascend with playoffs around the corner.
