FOXBORO — Jordan Richards bided his time.
Last Sunday, with a pass from Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles spinning toward wide receiver Allen Robinson — the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Allen Robinson, that is — Richards knew he could not break up the play at the point of the catch.
“I knew I had to play the body, not the ball,” said the 5-11, 210-pound Richards, who did 13 bench press reps of 225 pounds at the NFL combine but zero reps of a live, leaping human.
But that’s what he did. Richards played Robinson’s body by catching him in the air and pushing him just far enough so the receiver could only get one foot down in bounds.