New England Patriots: 5 Las Vegas Raiders players who are most dangerous
New England Patriots must contain Darren Waller
If the New England Patriots want to limit the Las Vegas Raiders offense, it will start with containing pass-catching tight end Darren Waller.
Following a 12-catch performance against the New Orleans Saints for 105 yards and one touchdown, the dangerous tight end does enter this Week 3 matchup a little banged up and questionable for the game, but Bill Belichick knows, if he plays, he is a problem.
The Patriots coach offered much praise of Waller during his press conference with the media earlier in the week, via Patriots.com:
"“I think it’s been such a long time since we’ve seen a guy like this. He’s really got great receiver skills, played receiver. He’s got a lot of length like a big receiver does, but he’s got very good quickness and he blocks very competitively. He’s not afraid to mix it up. So, he’s definitely more than a receiver playing tight end, but he’s got all the skills that can come inside. He’s a very good inside receiver, which sometimes the wide outs have trouble making that move in there. He’s really been impressive to watch. We saw him last year, looked at him in the offseason and you just see him doing everything – playing wide, playing in the backfield, playing tight end, running deep, catch-and-run plays, blocking, flash plays, point of attack plays. So, very versatile player, pretty unique guy in the league. There’s some really good tight ends, but nobody really does more than this guy does and he does it very well. He’s got excellent hands and makes a lot of tough catches. He’s definitely a matchup problem.”"
As the Patriots have historically had a tough time covering tight ends like Darren Waller, players like Devin McCourty and J.C. Jackson know the challenge ahead of them. But, will it be their responsibility?
It is possible Bill Belichick goes with a player like JoeJuan Williams to cover Waller with help of course. The second-year cornerback has the size and was drafted to address this area of concern.
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Whatever the case, the Patriots defense as a whole will have to account for the Raiders tight end. As Belichick typically does, he will take the opposing team’s top player out of the game. In this case, it is Darren Waller.