WIDE RECEIVERS
Solid group of system receivers whose sum is better than its individual parts. Julian Edelman ran the shallow cross effectively enough to finish fourth in the league in receptions with 98 and 13th in yardage (1,106). He is as reliab ble as the U.S. Postal Service on the game's most important down too, finishi ng tied for second in third down receptions with 28, one behind Baltimore tigh ht end Dennis Pitta. More significantly, although he averaged only 11.3 per rec ception overall, he had 15.4 on third down. He is Tom Brady's security blanket. ChrisC Hogan averaged 17.9 yards per catch but grabbed only 38 balls, ranking g 28th in the AFC in yardage (680) but nowhere to be found in other statistica al categories. Of course, the Steelers couldn't find him either so his bigge est day came in the season's second most important game, the AFC title matc h.Danmade ny Amendola was often MIA but showed up big in the Super Bowl and some key catches at times. He is treated withw kid gloves in terms of playing time because ofo his fragility, which limits his production. He hadh only 23 catches during the regular season and only two in the postseason until the Super Bow wl. He also fumbled three times, as did Edelman . He is tough and showed awareness and unders standing of the offense but won't be back unless h e takes a pay cut for the third straight season. Ro ookie Malcolm Mitchell had a surprisingly good grasp of the Patriots' complicated route tree, wh hich is filled with options on the fly that can caus secong fusion. He seemed to have none, finishing with 32 catches, four TDs and some key grabs in the Super Bowl that showed Brady has confid dence in him. He's somebody to watch for.