Danny Amendola comes up big in fourth quarter for Patriots

Danny Amendola #80 of the New England Patriots reacts in the fourth quarter after a touchdown catch during the AFC Championship Game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium on January 21, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Credit: Getty Images / Elsa
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Danny Amendola has spent much of his career with the Patriots in an understudy role. But with a preseason injury that sidelined Julian Edelman for the year and a concussion that forced Rob Gronkowski to leave Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Jaguars, Amendola wound up with a major role in New England’s offense.
The 32-year-old wide receiver came up huge when the Patriots needed him most, catching two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to rally the Patriots from a 10-point deficit in a 24-20 win over Jacksonville at Gillette Stadium. Amendola had a 9-yard touchdown catch with 8:44 to play and a 4-yard reception with 2:48 to play for the winning score.
He also had a 20-yard punt return to set up a short field for the winning touchdown and threw a pass for 20 yards to Dion Lewis early in the fourth quarter that ended with Lewis’ fumble.
“I’m thankful for my opportunity here and what it’s been the last five years,” Amendola said. “I have a lot of great memories here. Any negative thing or anything that’s tried to hinder me, I try to ignore and focus on the positive things that have been going on in this building for the last five years for me. I’ve tried to build off that and be a good teammate, and that’s the only thing I really focus on.”
Amendola had another key catch late in the game, as his 21-yard reception on third-and-18 kept a drive alive. He scored his first touchdown four plays later.
“The third-and-18 play, basically I think I had a little bit of an option route in the middle of the field and I saw that there was room,” he said. “I had pointed out the line [to gain the first down] before the play snap, so I knew where to get to and Tom [Brady] had a laser and it was perfect.”
Amendola was perfect on his two touchdowns, especially the game-winner.
“It’s a play I’ve scored on a couple times this year,” he said. “I have a crosser in the back of the end zone and Tom reads the first whip route on the left to ‘Cookie’ [Brandon Cooks], and then if he doesn’t have it, then his eyes come to me in the back. We had it and it was a zone coverage. I obviously didn’t see what happened to Cookie on the first read, and then Tommy had a great ball. I knew it was coming right by that ’backer or safety in the back. It was a great throw.”
Amendola managed to get both feet inbounds just inside the end line.
With no Gronkowski, the Patriots needed Amendola in a big way.
“I don’t feel any added pressure, no,” he said of Gronkowski’s absence. “Every play, I’m competing my tail off to try to win the route, win the block or whatever my job is on that play. Whoever is in the game, whoever is beside me, I have a lot of trust and faith in them, whether it’s Gronk or Cookie or Hoagie [Chris Hogan]. Whoever it is, I know we have a lot of trust in this room.”
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