New England Patriots: Will Keshawn Martin step up?

Tonight, the New England Patriots are expected to add another win in their quest for a playoff bye in the AFC, and one player who could be an X-Factor against his former team, the Houston Texans, is No. 3 wide receiver Keshawn Martin.

Heading into today’s Sunday Night Football clash between the New England Patriots and Houston Texans, who are playoff contenders in their own rights, both Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski are listed questionable on the official injury report. Of course, the Patriots love listing players questionable, and both of these star pass-catchers are in very different situations. Amendola caught seven passes in last week’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and is thus fully expected to suit up, whereas Gronk seems like a 50/50 shot at best.

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Either way, Patriots wide receiver Keshawn Martin looks ticketed for another significant role in the passing game, and he’s coming off of his worst performance of the regular season. Unfortunately for Martin, last week’s loss to the Eagles also saw him earn his largest workload of the year, meaning that he failed to impress in his eight targets.

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Roughly three of those eight targets were drops, including a critical one on what could have been another game-winning drive on Tom Brady‘s resume, so Martin had as many drops as receptions. On the bright side, Martin did turn his three receptions into 45 yards, which helps make him the owner of a 14.8 yards per reception average this season.

Facing his previous employer in the Texans, Martin has a real chance to make an impact on Sunday night, and it’s a big opportunity for a little-known player to make a splash with the national spotlight on him. On paper, Martin fits the profile of the type of wide receiver who comes out of nowhere to become a productive cog in the Patriots offense for a brief period of time, but he hasn’t quite fit the “next man up” mantra with Julian Edelman out just yet.

That said, despite his rough performance last week, which included some ugly run blocking, there are some positives worth noting. Firstly, even though he caught just three of his eight targets against Philly, Martin’s catch rate this season is still sitting at 62.5%. That’s not great, but an average of 9.25 yards per target is nothing for a No. 3 wide receiver to be ashamed of. Secondly, he didn’t play well last week, but, to be blunt, Brandon LaFell was much worse. Outside of James White, it wasn’t a banner day for any of the New England pass-catchers, so it would be unfair to criticize Martin much for his Week 13 game.

This all makes Martin’s potential impact against Houston all the more interesting, because he does have serious bounce-back potential. The 25-year-old Michigan State product has plenty of speed and quickness on his 5’10”, 190-pound frame, thus giving him the ability to find pockets of space and even stretch the field against a Texans pass defense that is among the top ten in the league and rising.

In fact, the Texans are on such a hot streak defensively that they’ve failed to allow 225 passing yards or more since the first of November (when they suffocated Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans). J.J. Watt is as dominant as ever with 13.5 sacks and five swats, and Johnathan Joseph and Kareem Jackson are always busy putting in strong work in the secondary.

Dec 6, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) runs with the ball against the Philadelphia Eagles during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

So the Texans will present Brady and the Patriots with an even more difficult matchup than the one they faced last week, and the focus is clearly on the pass-catchers to step up.

Amendola and White figure to lead the way if Gronk is indeed unable to play, but Brady needs more help. He played an exceptional game against the Eagles, but his wide receivers did such a poor job of gaining separation or catching the dang ball that the Pats ultimately fell short in the end.

The Texans have beaten the Cincinnati Bengals this season, and that primetime victory serves as a reminder that this isn’t a team to take lightly.

We all know about stars like Watt and DeAndre Hopkins, but the Texans have managed to receive significant contributions from other players, such as Whitney Mercilus, who is second on the team in sacks with 6.5.

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Therefore, the Patriots must also hope that their lesser-known contributors at the skill positions can shine in some fashion, and they’ll hope that Martin can show the rest of the league why a few fans in New England believe he’s the next sleeper receiver to catch passes from TB12.

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