So Far, The Patriots Have a Broken Connection With Dwayne Allen

Ian Logue

6 years ago at 5:00 am ET

Ed Mulholland - USA TODAY Sports

Looking over the Patriots stats through four weeks, it’s pretty obvious that on the offensive side of the ball, one of these players doesn’t quite fit in like the others.

With Tom Brady starting to connect consistently with each of the receivers in his group, newcomer tight end Dwayne Allen remains the only receiver who Brady hasn’t been able to connect with over the course of the first four games of the season.

For Allen, part of it hasn’t been his fault, but lately, it hasn’t looked too good for the newcomer. Brady badly missed him in the season opener against the Chiefs and since then, there have been a few close calls but overall the veteran is currently 0-for-6 when targeted by Brady.

0-for-6.

That’s not a misprint. As a matter of fact, Allen is the only Patriots receiver who has been targeted and has yet to make a reception with one quarter of the season under their belt.

It’s tough to say why that is but knowing how stringent Brady is when it comes to the details, it eventually reaches a point where there’s just too big of a disconnect to start to wonder what the problem is.

Whatever the issue, they’re not on the same page. So much so that Brady, who has completed 27-of-39 (69%) and 4 touchdowns on third down to this point, hasn’t even targeted him on third down so far this season. Even rookie Jacob Hollister was targeted once (an incompletion) but Brady obviously felt that there was a sliver of a chance he might catch it. Clearly, Allen hasn’t earned that confidence to this point.

Even Jacob Hollister has logged two receptions from Brady, including one where he got lit up but held onto the football.

It’s no secret that some players have a tough time settling into this offense and Allen admitted back during training camp that he might have been in over his head.

“It is extremely hard,” Allen told the Boston Herald. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it.”

However, it’s not like Allen was shipped here and this wasn’t a place he wanted to be. He told the newspaper that being a Patriot is something he he prayed for, but when that opportunity finally came along, it may have been a little harder than he thought.

“It is hard but also stimulating and very exciting,” Allen said of learning the offense. “It is one of those things that where you pray for something so long, and when it comes, you can’t cry because it’s harder than you thought it was going to be.”

Allen logged just nine snaps on Sunday and was targeted once in the loss to Carolina. It certainly tempers the expectations from when they traded with Indianapolis for a 4th round pick to acquire his services.

The veteran tight end’s upside is great and it’s always fun to see guys who are struggling finally have that “Ah-ha!” moment and finally get it together. The bad news is, we’re already a month into the season and the question for Allen might end up being whether or not he’ll get that opportunity before Bill Belichick and the club switch gears and move on without him.