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First-round rookie N’Keal Harry played his debut game for the New England Patriots in Week 11 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
He was placed on the injured reserve list with an ankle injury during the preseason and was activated ahead of New England’s Week 9 matchup. The Patriots decided him not to play him against the Baltimore Ravens, but they felt comfortable with his progress ahead of the Eagles game.
Harry didn’t put up extraordinary numbers in that game, but he did finished with three receptions for 18 yards. After Phillip Dorsett left the game with an injury, Harry’s playing time increased and he finished the game with 32 snaps.
Josh McDaniels had a lengthy response on Harry’s first game during a conference call on Tuesday.
“It was good to get him out there and into the game,” McDaniels said. “I thought he was ready to play. He had a good week of practice last week. In any rookie’s first opportunity to play in the National Football League, there’s probably going to be some good and then some things to work on and that you learn from those experiences in the game. There’s no way you can simulate that in practice or walkthroughs or what have you, so to go in there in a game and compete against other players in that type of situation under pressure, I think it’s a great experience and great exposure for him.
“He made a few catches for us and helped us move the ball. He tried to block in the running game effectively and did a decent job there, and at the same time, there’s definitely things that we’ve been able to see through the film that we’ll improve on and he’ll work towards being better at as we go forward. Every rookie starts at the same spot when you’re going out there for your first time — you’re excited to play, you’re eager to go out there and help your team make an impact. I thought he did some good things, and there’s definitely some things that we’ll be able to work on going forward to make N’Keal a better player and help our offense even more.”
Harry has a short period of time to catch onto the offense and the flow of the NFL before the postseason begins. Fortunately, he has McDaniels, Tom Brady and Mohamed Sanu to get him up to speed.
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