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After taking the week off to get more familiar with New England’s system, wide receiver Josh Gordon made his debut for the Patriots in Sunday’s 38-7 thrashing of the division rival Miami Dolphins.
Gordon was targeted twice in the game, catching both passes for 32 yards, and after the game he talked about how supportive his new quarterback Tom Brady has been so far.
“It’s awesome catching a pass from Tom at any point in time,” the 27-year-old said in the post-game press conference. “He’s been rooting for me and it’s been awesome to have his support and his love, as well as the rest of the teammates and staff here. Tom’s a passionate guy, and I love that, and I love the game of football. I think we’re going to mesh just fine.”
Gordon also added, “I have no doubt I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity. I’m more than blessed, I’m extremely grateful to be put in this scenario. I think the only thing right for me to do is to take full advantage of it. I’m loving it, I’m enjoying it. The guys have been great. It’s a real home environment. I feel as comfortable as ever.”
Following the game, both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady had praise for how Gordon is fitting in with the team.
“Josh has worked hard. He’s a smart kid. He’s got quite a bit of experience. He’s obviously played in a lot of different systems with different coordinators and so forth. So I think one way or the other, he’s probably experienced things that we’re doing in one of those systems,” Belichick said in the post-game presser. “He’s been able to pick things up quickly and has experience doing different things. So it was good to get him out there. We’ll just see how it goes, take it week to week.”
On Monday, during an appearance on on WEEI’s Kirk & Callahan, Brady said of Gordon, “He’s been really working hard and trying to get things right. I don’t feel like I had to worry about where he was lining up or what he was running. He was super confident. I could tell in his eyes he knew what he was doing. He’s just been great since he’s came in. So, hopefully we can keep it going and build on it.”
Brady also discussed how he and Gordon have been trying to get more comfortable with one another.
“We get along well. He sits right next to me, so it’s just a nice rapport to have that,” said Brady. “… Now that he’s our teammate, we’ve got to get to know each other, because you can build that trust and chemistry in different ways. You see it with guys I played with for a long time. It builds and builds and builds. And what happens is, you just — you’re able to make a lot of good plays, and you basically eliminate all the bad plays.”
It sounds like, at least for now, that the trust issues the Browns reportedly had with Gordon have not been a problem in New England. Surprise, surprise.