Shortly after the New England Patriots suffered a 45-27 home loss to the Green Bay Packers that dropped the Patriots to 5-4 this past Sunday, New England cornerback Christian Gonzalez acknowledged that he “had a bad game.”
On Tuesday morning, Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk shared that Gonzalez’s bad game “was unlike anything seen before.”
Christian Gonzalez made some unfortunate history in loss to Packers
“Gonzalez allowed seven catches for 105 yards to Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden, and three catches for 82 yards to Packers wide receiver Christian Watson,” Smith wrote. “Gonzalez is the only defender, as far back as Next Gen Stats go (since at least 2018), to allow more than 80 receiving yards in coverage to two different players in the same game.”
Shortly before the season got underway, Gonzalez and the Patriots agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $135M that reportedly included $102M guaranteed and made him the highest-paid cornerback in league history. Thus, it’s understandable that Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel likely wasn’t thrilled with Gonzalez’s performance against the Packers.
Mike Vrabel to Christian Gonzalez: “You can’t take a nap in this league”
Gonzalez missed time earlier this fall due to a shoulder injury. Per the Patriots’ website, Vrabel was asked on Monday whether the shoulder issue has anything to do with why Gonzalez is “not playing at the same level he did prior to” that setback.
“You can’t take a nap in this league,” Vrabel responded. “Whoever the receivers are, especially the good ones, you have to play with great technique. You have to challenge when you can. Same thing that happens with all DBs, right? When you don’t look back at the quarterback sometimes – and they’re going to catch passes; they just have to earn it.”
ESPN’s Ben Solak defended New England defensive players and noted that “sometimes, a quarterback (Green Bay’s Jordan Love in this instance) goes flamethrower mode.” As for Vrabel, he insisted he has faith that Gonzalez will produce a bounce-back outing when the Patriots face the 6-2 Detroit Lions in Munich, Germany, on Nov. 15.
“Christian had a few plays I’m sure that he’d like to have back,” Vrabel continued. “I said this: we have high expectations for him, and he certainly does, too. So, I think it’s about answering the challenge this week and then coming back. Again, to play corner in this league, you’ve got to have a short memory, whether that’s on the good plays or the negative ones, and I’m confident that he will.”
As of Tuesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Patriots as 2.5-point underdogs against the Lions. One would think that Detroit’s offensive game plan will call for receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams to test Gonzalez early and often following what happened in Week 9.
