There are a few themes to the New England Patriots’ winning ways through the years, including their history of successfully throwing the ball no matter who is catching it.

They’ve had Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski. They’ve also done it with guys who aren’t obvious stars. Tom Brady has had success throwing to guys like David Givens, Deion Branch, Reche Caldwell, Troy Brown and others. Now they’re getting a big contribution out of Chris Hogan, who had nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s AFC championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hogan spent three seasons with the Buffalo Bills and never had a 100-yard game with them.

And what’s striking is the Patriots have done just fine this season with Gronkowski practically playing just five healthy games. I think the Patriots were uniquely equipped to have success without Gronkowski, and their overall approach has allowed them to unearth productive receivers like Hogan as well.

The Patriots have a different game plan every week, on both sides of the ball. They will entirely change what they do from week to week, based on perceived weaknesses in the opponent. As such, they’ve never had an offense that ran through Gronkowski per se, even though he has been very productive. They don’t run an offense through anyone. It changes week to week. So when the Patriots had to come up with game plans that didn’t involve an injured Gronkowski, it wasn’t a huge philosophical shift for them.

Hogan is a good example of a talented but overlooked player who can be very productive within the offense. I like him as a receiver – he has some skill as a deep threat, and has good size – but I believe a lot of his success is a product of the Patriots’ schemes and concepts. I think Julian Edelman can win routes from the slot, whereas Hogan fits great within the context of the offense. They can get receivers open a lot with formations, personnel and route concepts. And Brady is great at finding those open receivers, of course.

When we look at the Patriots’ AFC title game win, we see some of these concepts in action.

On third-and-8 in the second quarter, the Steelers used a late rotation to “Cover 3” zone, with three defensive backs each responsible for a deep third of the field. The Patriots’ three-man route concept from the trips side (three receivers) broke down the coverage and left Hogan wide open with room to run. The late rotation from safety Mike Mitchell moving to the middle forced cornerback Artie Burns to over-compensate on Danny Amendola’s seam route. Edelman ran an out route that ate up the flat defender William Gay. That left Hogan open for 22 yards.

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