Championship Weekend has started off with an epic tilt! The Patriots overcame the Ravens by virtue of a missed field goal with 15 seconds left via Billy Cundiff. Now it’s time to talk about our Focus Point for the game. There are so many interesting players to look at in isolation for the Patriots here, but we elected to put Aaron Hernandez under the microscope to see what we could learn as the game happened. He did not disappoint, as he provided 66 yards receiving and another 9 yards as a running back.
Joe Gibbs once said that a tight end is a player that you’re going to be pissed at half the time. You either have a player who is a fine blocker, but is then too big and slow to be an effective receiving weapon, or you have a real weapon as a receiver, but he can’t block in the run game. Aaron Hernandez might be the latter type of tight end (if indeed he is a tight end at all), but the Patriots minimize the impact of the negative aspects of his blocking so it just doesn’t matter.
In 2011, Hernandez averaged 84.9% of New England’s offensive snaps and topped 90% just five times (four of them in the last five games). In this game, he was on the field for every snap the Patriots ran on offense; 70 of them in total. Maybe he would have been given a breather had Rob Gronkowski not gone down with an ankle injury, but in the game against Denver he was similarly ever-present until he took a hit late in the game. The Patriots decided it was probably wise to pull him from that game and protect him going forward as Hernandez has clearly become one of the most important cogs in the New England offense.
When it comes to the question of his run blocking, we see some interesting numbers. 31 of those snaps were running plays, but Hernandez only lined up in a standard tight end position (i.e., in tight to the line of scrimmage and not split wide or into the slot) on 18 occasions. Three of those plays were kneel downs by the Patriots' offense and two more were quarterback sneaks where Hernandez did little more than watch. Seven more of those snaps were passing plays where Hernandez released and ran a route leaving just six snaps where the Patriots expected Hernandez to man-up as an in-line blocker from the tight end position. Maybe he does block like a receiver, but the Patriots simply don’t expect or need him to do any more, because they’re not asking him to in-line block.
The Patriots continued their trend of lining Hernandez up in the backfield, doing so on 13 occasions in the game. Hernandez ran the ball three times as a running back, all on sweeps towards the sideline. These picked up 9 yards, all coming on the first when he showed enough of a burst around the corner to force a missed tackle from Ravens LB Danelle Ellerbe. Otherwise, the Ravens defended those sweeps well and shut them down for no real gain. As a receiver, he did well without being spectacular, picking up first downs and making players miss after the catch. Hernandez could have had even more of an impact if he had found a way to haul in a tough catch with 12:58 to go in the second quarter on a pass Tom Brady put just a little too much distance on.
Highlight Plays
With 5:05 to go in the second quarter, Hernandez caught the ball on 2nd-and-7 on a simple hitch route before making LB Danelle Ellerbe and safety Bernard Pollard miss tackles on his way to picking up the first down.
Areas of Concern
As we have discussed earlier, it may not matter much, but his in-line blocking is a weakness, and will likely remain so. With 2:03 to go in the fourth quarter, Hernandez was beaten to the outside by LB Jarret Johnson who shed the block and made the tackle for a short gain on 2nd-and-3.
By the Numbers
Snaps: 70 (100% of all plays)
Running game: 31 snaps (three carries), beaten once outside at the point of attack, sealed his blocker away from the point of attack on a couple of occasions, but was mostly not involved as a blocker.
Passing game: 39 snaps, none as a pass-protector. Targeted 10 times, caught seven passes for 66 yards, dropped one (on a tough catch), had one knocked out by Ed Reed on the final drive, and saw one deflected at the line.
In Summary
While it's true Hernandez didn’t put up monster numbers, he was an efficient and versatile weapon for New England at multiple positions. It is quite telling that he was the intended target when Tom Brady needed to pick up a key third-down conversion on their final drive.
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