In the run-up to the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots’ spotlight will also be on the big stars Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks. But the success of the Patriots machine weighs heavily on other shoulders. Players rarely talked about. SPOX presents the ten secret heroes of the Patriots, Super Bowl LII will be released on the 4th of September. February from 11.45 pm live on DAZN – optionally with German and original US commentary!
Trey Flowers (EN)
Flowers doesn’t exactly have the size of a guard for his position at 1.93 meters, but he still manages to put his insane athletic abilities under enormous pressure on a regular basis. For the second year in a row he has to play a flexible role and is used as an edge-rusher as well as an interior lineman and outside-linebacker. And no matter which position he has to play, he finds a way to put his stamp on the game.
Enemy offensive coordinators have to constantly adapt their blocking scheme due to its flexible deployment options. Flowers showed how problematic this can be in these playoffs at the latest. Against the Titans he dominated in a pass rush that forced Marcus Mariota to the ground eight times with the ball in his hands. Against the Jaguars there were three pressures, a pass break-up and eleven tackles.
Against the Eagles, Flowers will face one of the best offensive lines in the league. But Philly will also have difficulties with the agile Lineman. In his only third season he has to be ranked among the best of the league. And if the Patriots can build up pressure on Nick Foles, the tape will first look for flowers.
Chris Hogan (WR)
Hogan started the season like no other in the Pats. The former lacrosse player collected five touchdowns in the first five games. Last season, Hogan was an absolute weapon on deep balls and had an incredible yards-per-catch score of 17.9 – with 38 receptions.
However, he missed the second half of the season almost completely with a shoulder injury, which seemed to put a strain on him even in the play-off matches.
The two weeks until the Super Bowl could provide the just needed relief and regeneration and let Hogan find the chemistry from last year’s postseason with Brady. Here he collected an average of 111 yards with a total of two touchdowns in three games, including a 180-yard performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Stephon Gilmore (CB)
After a difficult first half of the season, Gilmore was able to clearly improve and live up to the money invested in him by the patriots at the Free Agency. Gilmore had to face criticism early in the year after not looking good in games against the Chiefs, Saints, Texans and Panthers. The severity of the criticism naturally also had to do with the high expectations due to the contract, the communication problems in the secondary were obvious.
In the AFC Championship Game at the latest, the former Bills defender was able to shut down all the critics. He pursued his opponent Dede Westbrook with outstanding coverage and smashed a 4th down pass attempt by Blake Bortles to the ground. An outstanding and above all decisive play.
Gilmore will face Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith in the Super Bowl. Both of them had a very good season and could make the difference in the NFC Championship Game against the Vikings with three touchdown-receptions. As Malcolm Butler doesn’t play a good season on the other side, Gilmore will be even more focused against the good passing designs of the Eagles.
Nate Solder (LT)
The left tackle plays in his seventh season with the patriots and does not get too much publicity for the position. This year this changed with the nomination for the Walter Payton of the Year Award, but it’s the constant performances that make him so important for Brady and for the Pats’ Run Game.
In the playoffs he had to deal with one of the league’s best defensive lines and even increased pressure against the Jaguars. Due to Brady’s hand injury, the risk of the five-time Super Bowl Champion’s wound reappearing after contact with his opponent was not exactly small.
Solder and the line did a very good job against one of Rushs best pass in the league, however, and allowed Brady another 4th-quarter comeback. In the Super Bowl he will be confronted with Vinny Curry, Timmy Jernigan and situational lineback or safety flashes.
Kyle Van Noy (LB)
After two years in Detroit, Van Noy had to a certain extent won the lottery and was traded as a patriot. In the meantime, it can be counted as the most important linebacker in the squad of the Pats, at least after the season’s end of Dont’ a Hightower had been decided. This season he has evolved from a role-player to an absolute leader.
Only Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung delivered more tackles this season than Van Noy. Only Flowers was able to produce more Tackles for Loss and one more sack, not too much is said about Van Noy, but he could become a key player in the Super Bowl when it comes to stopping the Eagles Offense.
Page 1: The expensive Cornerback, a lucky grip from Detroit and a weapon for Brady
Page 2: All-purpose offensive and defensive weapons and an important matchup puzzle piece