It’s a contrast that could have been foreseen when Julian Edelman was officially placed on injured reserve with a torn ACL on Sept. 2. But using his loss as the sole reason for Amendola’s gain would be doing a disservice to the latter.
What Amendola has done in the absence of the New England Patriots’ most-targeted wideout of the post-Wes Welker era deserves more credit than that. And his credit has been paid in numbers.
At 31 years old, and as the sixth-oldest member of the roster, Amendola is on pace for his most productive campaign since arriving in the league as a Dallas Cowboys undrafted rookie out of Texas Tech in 2008.