FOXBORO -- Josh Gordon came out of the locker room at halftime of Sunday's win over the Bills with his left knee wrapped. It was a sign that yet another body part on another Patriots receiver was feeling less than fine. There wasn't much that he or the team could do about it, though. They needed him. He played 56 of a possible 63 snaps.
Gordon popped up on the Patriots injury report Wednesday, listed with a knee injury, and he strolled through the locker room later with a compression sleeve on his left leg.
Add this most recent ailment to whatever he was dealing with in a Week 3 win over the Jets, when Gordon took a few hard shots and he had to leave the game briefly with a finger injury.
Clearly, he's banged-up. But he's one of the most important pieces to an offense that is reliant on a potent passing game as it figures out its run-game identity. He knows that, and he's planning on being out there again Sunday.
"Had a couple tough games," Gordon said Wednesday. "But all the same, I think, you know, just come in, do what our treatment staff suggests, I'll be ready to go on Sunday."
Gordon caught three of the six passes sent his way in Orchard Park, New York for 46 yards, including one crosser that went for 31 yards. For the season, he's reeled in 14 of 24 targets for 221 yards, while he's had big games against the Jets and Steelers, he was relatively quiet against the Dolphins and Bills.
New England Patriots
Despite the up-and-down nature of his production through the season's first month, though, Gordon's offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels likes what he's seeing.
"You know, Josh is doing well," McDaniels said. "He's ready to go, he practices well, he practices hard, he really studies the game plan. He's moved into multiple positions this year, whereas last year he was more in one spot most of the time.
"Honestly, I need to do a better job of finding ways to get him the ball throughout the course of the game in whatever role or position that we're asking him to play. So, I'm very happy with what he's doing, and we're going to continue to work with him and all our skill guys, hopefully as we go through the season, to improve and reach our best performances. Whatever the peak is for us this year, we're certainly not there yet and we have a lot of work, a lot of practice to put in to reach that. But I'm very happy with what Josh is doing."
Gordon has a few things going for him that would suggest, when healthy, there are better days ahead for him. The first is something McDaniels referenced: With some experience in the offense coming into this season, and mostly healthy since joining the team following his suspension, Gordon has been used in a variety of alignments.
The Patriots have used Gordon outside the numbers -- where he was almost exclusively last season -- as well as in the slot, as an in-line blocker in the running game, and as a pre-snap motion player off the line of scrimmage.
"I think I've been moved around a lot," Gordon said. "Learned different nuances of the game, different positions. I think it was really fun just trying out different spots. Playing from the slot, outside, motioning, shifting around. Having that familiarity has been a lot of fun. But yeah I would say it's opened up."
Believe it or not, thanks to Julian Edelman missing an entire half in Week 3 due to a rib injury, Gordon is the team's leader at the receiver position in terms of snaps played. They need him -- as well as Edelman and Phillip Dorsett. They could use N'Keal Harry when he's eligible to return off of injured reserve in Week 9.
The team's best and most efficient offensive formations have been receiver-heavy 11-personnel (one back, one tight end, three wideouts) and the less-frequently-used 10-personnel (one back, four wideouts) this season. Their run game has been down and their passing game has carried them.
If that's going to continue, Gordon is going to have to be a factor. Even banged-up, it sounds as though he feels like he's in a better place in the system than he was a year ago around this time.
He was asked if he was "on track" to make good on the idea he proposed earlier this season, which is that there should be good things coming for him in this offense now that he's more familiar with it.
"I think I'm on track just by being here," he said. "I think it was a great opportunity being able to come back here and just be a part of the team. Just take one day at a time. I'm having fun each and every week. For me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be at."
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