Sneaky Good Amendola Clutch As Usual In Playoff Setting, But Has Been That Way All Season

The quarterback rolled to his right, escaping the collapsing pocket through a large gap created by his linemen who escorted the strong-side pass rush up and over the imaginary protective bubble, headed towards the line of scrimmage, where just beyond his receiver was engaged in a hand fight with the opposing cornerback...

...the receiver locking eyes with the quarterback as he pump-faked the ball once to cause the corner to react and break discipline on the receiver, who took advantage of the fake and sprinted towards the opposite sideline, raising his hand to give the quarterback a target over the big bodies converging on him...

Amendola, Gronk and Hogan celebrate a touchdown vs. Titans

And, yes.

When New England Patriots' wide receiver Danny Amendola saw Tom Brady breaking the pocket and chugging into the flat, he locked eyes with Brady who, by sheer familiarity with Amendola knew that he was going to sprint to the open flat on the opposite side. Brady stopped just short of the line of scrimmage, set his feet and fell backwards, lofting the ball over the outstretched arms of three defenders...

...delivering a perfect bucket throw that gained a first down and kept the Patriots' final scoring drive alive. Not that they needed more points, but once you get locked into a serious point scoring groove, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.

Amendola had other receptions in the 35-14 victory over the Titans - eleven to be exact - but that was most highlight reel worthy play of the bunch. That's because Amendola is anything but flashy - he doesn't possess elite speed, has all the size of a standard garden gnome and an injury history that reads like a human anatomy quiz...

...but it's worth noting that of those eleven receptions, seven went for first downs and five of those converted third downs - and you wouldn't know it unless you looked at the box scores the next morning.

Something else you probably wouldn't know is that including the performance against the Titans, Amendola is the second-leading receiver on the entire Patriots' roster with 72, behind only tight end Rob Gronkowski's 75 - of course, Gronkowski has a huge edge in yardage gained, but that's not the point.

The point is that Danny Amendola had a solid season. In fact, Amendola has the third most receptions in the league among teams remaining in the tournament, behind only Philly's Zach Ertz and Gronkowski.

Known for being especially clutch in the postseason and an afterthought during the regular season, Amendola teams with Gronkowski and running backs James White, Rex Burkhead and Dion Lewis to form the most formidable short game in the league, built particularly to take advantage of linebackers and safeties in isolation.

The versatility of the backs in particular make things challenging for opposing defensive coordinators - even for Todd Wash, the defensive coordinator for the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars who has guided his charges to being recognized as one of the top set of stoppers in the league and lead all of professional football in passing yards allowed.

That number is skewed some, however, when one considers that the Jaguars were thrown against only 509 times this season, which was fourth lowest mark in the league - why? Simply because their opponents had such success in rushing against them (4.3 yards per carry), so why test that excellent secondary?

With the backs that New England employs, defenses must be aware of the threat of the run, even on obvious passing downs, which gives the Patriots the advantage of fully calling upon their play action, led by the master of the play fake in Brady, whose wizardry and slight of hand can stagger a pass rusher and freeze a linebacker...

...and whose skill at looking off defenders only to burn them is unmatched, which can only help against the Jaguars' secondary, who are playoff neophytes despite their successes and regular season experience.

They get to deal with the likes of Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett and Kenny Britt - not to mention Gronkowski up the seam - who will rotate in and out of the lineup like a hockey line changing out, taking turns running corners down the field and just plain running them down. And if Brady is on with the uptempo game, the trend has been that he can toy with an exhausted defense for the entire second half.

And when a defense allows a quarterback like Brady artistic expression, the entire world gets to see Brady playing like he's drawing up plays in the dirt - a true men among boys, as it were.

And that's where Amendola makes his bones, hauling in the tough circus catch or a laser beam to the sidelines like he did in the overtime session of last February's Super Bowl to extend the game-winning drive - that notion, married to his performance in last Saturday's victory over Tennessee, causing Gronkowski to label him Danny "Playoff" Amendola for his penchant for heroics when the lights are the brightest and the stage is the largest.

But it's really just Danny Amendola - or "Dola", if you prefer - because he's just as clutch in the regular season. Just no one really notices.