New England Patriots Receiver Raves About Top Patriots Defender
Wide receiver for the Seahawks raves about the best Patriots defense
It seems highly likely that Christian Gonzalez, the cornerback for the New England Patriots, won’t be matched up against wide receiver Jake Bobo of the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. One benefit of being the fourth receiver on Seattle’s depth chart is that Gonzalez will likely attract D.K. Metcalf of the Seahawks or another talented player from the team’s positional group, which also includes Jaxon Smith-Njigba and veteran Tyler Lockett. Bobo is okay with Gonzalez’s focus being directed elsewhere. When they faced off in college two years ago, he had had enough of the Patriots cornerback.
With Gonzalez covering him, 6-foot-4, 217-pound pass-catcher Bobo—who played four seasons at Duke before completing his undergraduate career at UCLA—put on a good showing. He caught eight passes for 101 yards and one touchdown. Gonzalez did have a game-high two pass breakups in addition to making five tackles. Bobo, however, is more likely to recall that game for Oregon’s 45-30 defeat over the Bruins; at halftime, the Ducks were ahead 31-13.
the’s not the only thing Bobo remembers from the competition, though. He remembered how Gonzalez’s extraordinary talent leapt off the page then, as it does now. Bobo told NESN.com, “The first thing you see is just his physical tools.” “Obviously tall and long, he possesses excellent ball skills. He’s intelligent, and he has an extremely good football IQ when we play in person. I had to cover up a few splits. And you could just sense that, depending on his coverage and what they were running, he would line up a certain way if I split outside the numbers and a different way if I was a little tighter.