Patriots Diggs Quietly Closing in On Significant Milestone
Stefon Diggs nears 1,000 yards as injuries boost his role and impact on Patriots' offense
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Coming off of Sunday night’s win in Baltimore, New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs quietly added to what’s become an impressive stat total this season.
Diggs finished the Patriots’ latest 28-24 victory with 138 yards on 9 receptions, with three of those receptions for 39 yards coming in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s win.
After that performance, Diggs is sitting with 76 receptions for 869 yards with two games remaining, just 131 yards away from 1,000 yards for the season.
Reaching that milestone certainly won’t be easy. He would have to average 66 yards per game over these final two weeks to get there, which starts Sunday down in New York against the Jets.
In their last meeting against New York in Week 11, Diggs had a big game on Thursday Night Football. He snagged nine passes for 105 yards, with the Patriots dominating New York in a 27-24 win.
The veteran had seen his playing time dip in recent weeks. He played just 47.9% of the snaps against the Bengals in Week 12, 47.7% against the Giants in Week 13, and 50% of the snaps in Week 15 against the Bills.
However, against the Ravens, Diggs’ playing time jumped, and he was out there for 59.5% of the snaps. That was the highest playtime percentage he’s seen since that Week 11 outing when he was out there for 68.7% of the offensive snaps.
Diggs will likely see more time this weekend as Kayshon Boutte (concussion) and Demario Douglas (leg) are potentially going to miss time. If they’re not out there, that could see Diggs’ workload increase and open the door for another big afternoon.
The good news is, his mere presence has already seen a jump in production for his teammates.
With Diggs on the field this season, Maye is 233-for-312 (74.7%) for 2,728 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 6 INTs. Without Diggs on the field, Maye is 88-for-141 (62.4%) for 1,219 yards, 9 TDs, and 2 INTs.
Drake Maye:
With Diggs: 233-of-312 (74.7%) 2,728 yards, 16 TDs, 6 INTs
Without Diggs: 88-of-141 (62.4%) 1,219 yards, 9 TDs, 2 INTs
His fellow receivers have seen a bump as well, with the players around him seeing higher totals for the most part when he’s out there.
| WITH DIGGS | WITHOUT DIGGS | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAYER | TGT | REC | % | YDS | YPR | TGT | REC | % | YDS | YPR | ||
| Stefon Diggs | 93 | 76 | 81.7% | 869 | 11.4 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Hunter Henry | 53 | 37 | 69.8% | 439 | 11.9 | 25 | 15 | 60% | 224 | 14.9 | ||
| Kayshon Boutte | 25 | 21 | 84% | 371 | 17.7 | 16 | 10 | 62.5% | 156 | 15.6 | ||
| Mack Hollins | 37 | 27 | 73% | 317 | 11.7 | 28 | 19 | 67.9% | 233 | 12.3 | ||
| Demario Douglas | 19 | 13 | 68.4% | 187 | 14.4 | 21 | 14 | 66.7% | 209 | 14.9 | ||
| Austin Hooper | 12 | 9 | 75% | 132 | 14.7 | 11 | 9 | 81.8% | 115 | 12.8 | ||
| Kyle Williams | 11 | 4 | 36.4% | 91 | 22.8 | 5 | 3 | 60% | 98 | 32.7 | ||
If Diggs is able to ultimately hit that 1,000-yard total, it would mark the seventh-straight season where, when he’s played 15 or more games, he’s finished the season having reached that milestone.
Maye had high praise for Diggs following Sunday night’s win.
“Diggs, people have no idea what he means to this team,” said Maye. “He’s a leader. He’s been great in the locker room. He wants the football in his hand.”
“He just keeps showing up and making plays, and he’s doing it at a really high level, and he’s just bouncing back and vocal, and he’s awesome to play with.”
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