Josh Gordon and the New England Patriots each have something the other needs. The talented wide receiver was seeking a landing spot after a troubled tenure that led the Cleveland Browns to trade him to New England, and quarterback Tom Brady could use some tall, speedy targets.
The arrangement has been mutually beneficial, as far as Brady is concerned.
“He’s been really working hard and trying to get things right,” Brady said during his weekly interview on WEEI Radio’s “Kirk & Callahan” show. “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.”
After a 2017 season marked by reports of locker room division and a rift between Coach Bill Belichick and Brady, the Patriots began the season 1-2, prompting all sorts of concerns about whether this would be the season in which the dynasty entered decline. But they seemed to head off that talk on Sunday, beating the undefeated Dolphins convincingly. In his first game with the Patriots after missing the first because of a hamstring injury, Gordon caught two passes for 32 yards. With the Patriots facing a quick turnaround ahead of Thursday night’s game against Indianapolis, Brady took steps up to quickly gain chemistry with his new receiver. That included the locker room seating chart.
“We get along well. He sits right next to me, so it’s just a nice rapport to have that,” Brady said. “… 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.”
Brady has that with Julian Edelman, who returns from a four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, and Rob Gronkowski.
“Bad things don’t happen when I throw it to Julian, bad things don’t happen when I throw it to Gronk just because I know their body language and I know the types of plays that they’re capable of making. You try to make plays, throw the ball where they’re able to make the plays and not the defense,” Brady said. “It’s really a building process, and everything that you’re doing, you’re either building trust, you’re gaining trust or you’re losing trust. And it’s just guys that really are professional and they know what to do and they show up and they’re prepared — you build trust pretty quickly.”
Gordon should be ready for more work Thursday because there figures to be rust between Brady and Edelman, and Gronkowski’s status is uncertain because of an ankle injury that caused him to leave the Patriots’ 38-7 victory over Miami in the third quarter Sunday. Gordon sounds up for the task.
“It’s awesome catching a pass from Tom at any point in time,” Gordon said (via Boston.com). “He’s been rooting for me. 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 gonna mesh just fine.”
Gordon says he knows how lucky he is to have any career at all after being suspended for most of the last four seasons because of multiple drug violations. Most recently, he missed three weeks of training camp to have counseling and treatment.
“I have no doubt I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
“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.”