Here's How N'Keal Harry Performed in Patriots Debut vs. Eagles
Week 11 marked the regular season debut for New England Patriots rookie receiver N'Keal Harry, who had spent the first eight weeks of the regular season on injured reserve. Harry had been activated the Saturday before the team's Week 9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but the coaching staff elected to deem him as inactive for that game, giving him two more weeks to prepare for his NFL debut.
During the Patriots' 17-10 win over the Eagles Sunday evening, Harry was thrust into a larger role once fellow receiver Phillip Dorsett exited the game in the second half because of a head injury. The result: Harry caught 3-of-5 passes for 18 yards.
After playing a very limited role in the first half, one that consisted of a lot of run blocking, Harry played every snap in the second half of the Week 11 game.
“It was great just to finally be out there and see what it’s like,” said Harry to NESN's Zack Cox postgame. “I’ve got a lot to work on, but I’m excited moving forward.”
Harry's lack of production was the result of an overall poor passing game against Philadelphia. Tom Brady completed just 26-of-47 passes, and had a career-high 14 incompletions in the first half. The team's leading receiver, Julian Edelman, only had 53 receiving yards and five catches. Mohamed Sanu had just two catches for four yards.
New England will look to improve their passing game in Week 12 when they take on the Dallas Cowboys who have a top-10 defense and rank No. 7 in the league in passing yards per game allowed. Depending on Dorsett's availability for that game, Harry could once again see a heavy workload if his fellow wideout has to miss time. If that's the case, then we may see more production from Harry in that game.
