There were very few New England Patriots players who had good games on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. However, arguably the worst performance on the field came from Pro Bowl cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
PFF initially charted out the game for Gonzalez. According to them, he was targeted 11 times on 36 coverage snaps. On those 11 targets, he allowed 10 receptions. That was for 187 yards and 40 yards after the catch. He would allow a touchdown and only have one pass breakup.
By no means was Gonzalez the sole reason why the Patriots lost 45-27. However, when the player you paid $135 million, making him the highest-paid player at his position, performs like that, it’s almost impossible to overcome mistakes by other players.
New England Patriots DB Christian Gonzalez on His Performance
Following the game, Patriots DB Christian Gonzalez knew how poorly he performed. There was never any avoiding it, and he admitted how poorly he played in the loss.
“They got the best of me today … I had a bad game,” Gonzalez said. “I’m not shaken up by it. I’m not too worried about it. I’ll move on and be ready next week.”
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel wasn’t afraid to call out Gonzalez either. He publicly shared what he thought of the performance, and he also made it clear that it’s hard to expect the team to win without one of its best players performing to their standard.
“When your best players don’t play good, you don’t have much of a chance in this league,” Vrabel said.
Gonzalez previously missed time this season with a shoulder injury that he suffered back in Week 3. That cost him a couple of games.
“I mean, they did a good job,” Gonzalez said. “He came out and ran good routes. Ran the routes they had in the gameplan and Jordan Love was able to get him the ball. I just gotta be able to finish and make those plays. I’m right there, I just gotta make those plays. I mean, it’s not the end of the world. I had a bad game. I’m not shaken up by it, I’m not too worried about it. I’ll move on and be ready for next week.”
Patriots DB Christian Gonzalez on the Defensive Gameplan
It doesn’t take a football genius to see that the gameplan didn’t work on defense for the Patriots. 45 points is the most the Patriots have allowed in a regular season game in 33 years. It’s also the most points they’ve allowed at home since 1970.
Gonzalez addressed that gameplan after the game. However, as he explained, things went wrong when he couldn’t take away the X for the Packers.
“The plan to stop the X plays I mean was just — just, like, playing our defense,” Gonzalez said. “There’s things that go into it… I can’t fall on a go route. I can’t turn and get tripped up. The defense is counting on me to hold down the backside, hold down everything else just like we have been. I mean, just stopping it. I mean, that was just the plan. Obviously, we didn’t and they did a better job.”
The Patriots and Gonzalez will need to bounce back quickly from the loss. Now 5-4 on the season, they’ll head to Europe to take on a tough Detroit Lions team.
Patriots DB Christian Gonzalez Reacts to Performance vs. Packers