Game against Washington is an opportunity for Patriots to get Sony Michel and Josh Gordon going

As we turn the calendar to October, the 4-0 Patriots are still trying to get the ball rolling in terms of their offense. It’s still REALLY early and we know the Patriots like to use the first couple weeks to try and find what works for them as an offense and find the correct schemes. However, we still have yet to see major contributions from the Patriots key players in Sony Michel and Josh Gordon.

The run game as a whole has been in a rut for awhile now but Sony Michel’s 2.8 yards per carry is what stands out in it. Obviously, they have key guys hurt up front with Andrews and Wynn and the losses of Rob Gronkowski, Trent Brown and Dwayne Allen don’t help the situation. However, facing a Washington run defense that ranks 4th in the league in terms of most rushing yards given up, it provides an opportunity to get this run game something to build off of.

If the Patriots can get up big early — which they should have no problem doing — it should allow for an opportunity for Michel to get a ton of touches. We haven’t seen Sony Michel break off a long run like we did last year, but with Washington allowing the most 20+ rushes, I’d expect a lot of chunk plays from Michel in a huge breakout performance for him.

Now shifting our focus to the passing game, it’s been almost two months since Josh Gordon has been reinstated to the league and we haven’t seen him reach his full potential just yet this season. Most of it seems to be Josh McDaniel’s not doing a great job getting the ball in his hands, which he admitted himself earlier this week.

Gordon isn’t as dominant as he was in 2013 (no one expects him to at that level) but if the Patriots can get him to be half of that, he can be a true game changer in this offense and dominate a lot of guys he lines up across. Despite his three catch performance last week, we’ve seen how he can be utilized in this offense after making plays in the open field and his big play ability with two spectacular grabs vs the Jets two weeks ago. With just fourteen catches on the season and just one touchdown, Sunday is an opportunity to show that Gordon can be a top priority when preparing for the Patriots.

With the Redskins secondary coming in ranked 30th in the league with wide receivers picking up 680 yards on 58 catches and 8 touchdowns, it proves to be a great chance for Gordon to get going.

It’s unsure who he’ll get from a matchup perspective, most likely Josh Norman, however, if there was ever a game where we can see Josh Gordon dominate and get his swagger back, it’s vs. the Redskins and getting him the ball and making plays can help this offense down the stretch.

Despite the 4-0 Patriots weak schedule, we have yet to see Sony Michel and Josh Gordon reach their full potential which means this offense is just going to get even more scarier once these two get going like we know they will.