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“How long that lasts, I don’t know, but when you don’t return to the game, when they won’t let you go back in the game, that would put him in the protocol.”
FOXBOROUGH — Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez is in concussion protocol and his status for Sunday’s divisional-round playoff game is not yet clear, coach Mike Vrabel said Monday.
According to Next Gen Stats, Gonzalez did not allow any catches on five targets within 26 coverage snaps in Sunday night’s win over the Chargers. He is allowing a league best minus-9.7 receptions over expected this season, including the playoffs.
Sunday was Gonzalez’s playoff debut, and he left the game in the fourth quarter with a head injury. He did not return.
“Gonzo continues to play at a high level,” Vrabel said. “Those are the expectations that he has for himself and that we have for him, and yeah, I would say that he would be in the protocol. How long that lasts, I don’t know, but when you don’t return to the game, when they won’t let you go back in the game, that would put him in the protocol.
“So, wherever that goes, that goes, but we appreciate what he’s done and his willingness to line up different places. It’s not quite as easy as — we’ve been through this, but different coverages, locations, motions, and things like that. So, he’s handled that all really well. Hopefully, we’ll get him back.”
Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, and Marcus Jones have been the Patriots’ top trio at cornerback this season. Davis, who starts opposite Gonzalez, has played in 90 percent of the defensive snaps this season. Gonzalez, who missed three games at the beginning of the season with a hamstring injury, has played in 76 percent of the snaps. Jones, who primarily plays the slot, has played in 71 percent of the defensive snaps.
Charles Woods and Kobee Minor have taken on reserve roles. Alex Austin, who was in the mix earlier in the season, hasn’t played since Nov. 23 after a wrist injury landed him on injured reserve.
Welcome back
Through the first two days of wild-card play, the Patriots were the only team to hold an opponent without a touchdown. Having Milton Williams and Robert Spillane back from injury gave them a boost.
Williams had two sacks, including on the Chargers’ final possession. Spillane had six total tackles and deflected a pass.
“It’s good to have [Williams] back, isn’t it?” center Garrett Bradbury said. “Good to have [Spillane] back. Those guys are getting healthy. They’re flying around, it was awesome. I think you’ve got to stop the run in this league to have success. They did that, and then they went to eat. That’s when you saw that pass rush heat up in the third and fourth quarter.”
“It’s awesome. It gives you so much confidence as an offense. Like, in that first half, we didn’t have any touchdowns. We only scored one on the night. It’s like, listen, it’s not going perfect, we’re going to figure it out, defense is going to hold it down and we’ll get the points that we need.”
Chipping away at it
Rhamondre Stevenson was the Patriots’ leading receiver on Sunday with 75 yards on four catches, including a 48-yarder when they were backed up near their goal line.
Stevenson has six touchdowns in his last four games — four rushing and two receiving. He has averaged at least 5.3 yards per carry in each game during that stretch. After some early-season struggles, Sunday marked Stevenson’s 10th straight game without a fumble.
When asked about Stevenson’s recent success, Bradbury highlighted the running back’s aggressiveness in pass protection as a part of his game that may go unnoticed.
“He’s doing some great stuff. Everyone sees the runs and the long catches he has, but I think we ask our backs to do quite a bit in protection, too,” Bradbury said. “Him and [TreVeyon Henderson] will stick their nose in the fan and pick up a blitzer from 10 yards no problem. TreVeyon had a big one on that touchdown.
“Whether it’s chipping edge rushers for our tackles, all those little things aren’t talked about or seen as much, but that makes this offense go as much as the big runs and the big catches.”
