Christian Gonzalez is off to a terrific begin to his profession, and opposing coaches are already taking discover.
“If there’s a better young corner in the league than Gonzalez, you’d be hard-pressed to find (him),” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer stated this week. “He’s playing at a really high level.”
Through his first three video games, Gonzalez has been tasked with defending among the league’s greatest broad receivers, and the rookie has excelled. He helped restrict the Eagles’ explosive passing sport towards A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, breaking apart a late fourth-down move that gave the Patriots an opportunity to win.
Gonzalez helped restrict Tyreek Hill to 5 catches for 40 yards, and made a key interception within the fourth quarter supposed for the Dolphins star. He adopted that up by holding Jets receiver Garrett Wilson to simply two catches whereas in protection. Against Hill and Wilson, the rookie shadowed the 2 stars for stretches of the second half in each video games.
Gonzalez’s Pro Football Focus grade of 84.4 charges fifth amongst cornerbacks within the NFL, and he’s an early candidate for the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Inside Gillette Stadium, the Patriots aren’t shocked that Gonzalez has been so good this early.
“I don’t know if I would say surprised,” Patriots defensive coach Steve Belichick stated. “Just because we did a lot of work on him coming out of college, so you could see a lot of these traits when you watched all the college tape and stuff like that. I wouldn’t say surprised, but he’s been playing really well so far, which is the expectation of all our players around here. But I’m definitely happy we have him. It’s why we drafted him and everybody else, so I’m happy that he’s doing well and hope it can continue.”
Gonzalez has one other large take a look at this Sunday towards Cowboys star wideout CeeDee Lamb. But if the primary three weeks are any indication, the rookie will likely be as much as the problem.
“Gonzo’s done a great job,” Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo stated. “Every week, we challenge him with some of these things, whether it’s to their go-to guy or against someone else with no help. He’s a very good corner, can play man-to-man, can play zone, but obviously still has a long way to go.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com