FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — “How will the Patriots ever replace him?” was all the rage around these parts when Wes Welker bolted for the Broncos in free agency last spring.
The answer: Quite easily, it turns out. The Patriots had no shortage of concerns hanging over their heads going into this season, but replacing Welker is no longer one of them as New England prepares to renew acquaintances with the NFL’s most prolific slot receiver in Denver on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, and to a lesser extent running back Shane Vereen, have more than made up for the gaping hole in receiving production left when Welker spurned the Patriots’ offer to return and signed with Denver.
Edelman recorded a career- and team-high 105 catches for 1,056 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season, while Amendola — the injury-prone former Ram — added 54 receptions for 633 yards and two scores and Vereen emerged as a fearsome receiving weapon out of the backfield with 47 catches for 427 yards and three touchdowns.
That trio hasn’t slowed down in the postseason, either combining for 11 receptions for 177 yards — including a 53-yard grab by Amendola — in the Patriots’ 43-22 rout of the Colts in the divisional round last week.
Just don’t expect them to brag about practically making Welker a distant memory in New England, even after he led the NFL in receptions in three of the previous six seasons before signing with Denver.
Asked if it was satisfying to quiet the skeptics about replacing Welker, Edelman danced around the question Wednesday.
“To be truthful, we haven’t really thought of that,” he said. “That’s kind of been the media’s thing. We’re more worried on what we have to do, especially as an individual.”
That’s typical for the Patriots, who are always marching under strict orders from Bill Belichick to keep their responses limited to the team as a whole and the game at hand.
That game this week would appear to offer even more opportunity for Edelman and the others to pile up big receiving numbers, considering the Broncos’ secondary was already banged up before losing reliable cornerback Chris Harris to a knee injury last week.
Denver’s injury woes on defense were more interesting to Edelman than the fact Welker will be watching his replacements up close Sunday.
“What I have to do to prepare for the team we’re about to play, along with what I have to do to help the unit,” Edelman said of the Welker angle as a whole. “So I’m not really thinking about that.”