Sporadic reception

FOXBORO - Last Sunday, reality stared the Patriots in the face. It hit them in their biggest weakness. Jabar Gaffney, the team's third receiver in 2008, had six catches for 61 yards, helping spur the Broncos to an overtime win. By contrast, neither player presumed to be the third option before the season was with the Pats in Denver. Veteran Joey Galloway was not active for the second consecutive week after struggling through the first three. Greg Lewis was cut after preseason. Meanwhile, stars Randy Moss and Wes Welker are left to take on opposing secondaries virtually by themselves. The pair has a combined 56 catches for 594 yards. Galloway, Julian Edelman and Sam Aiken have just 23 receptions for 238 yards among them, and most of Edelman's production came in place of Welker in Week 2. Where has the third receiver gone? And will Galloway (seven catches, 67 yards) re-emerge for quarterback Tom Brady against a battered Titans secondary tomorrow? A reporter told Galloway there were plenty of questions for him. ``I don't have any answers,'' Galloway replied, politely declining an interview. There were few in the locker room. Aiken wouldn't speak to the larger picture of finding a complementary option. ``I'm going to think whoever they put in there is going to make plays,'' said Aiken, who has one catch for 26 yards. The rookie Edelman, who played quarterback at Kent State, capably filled in for Welker with an eight-catch, 98-yard performance against the Jets. He's managed just seven receptions for 47 yards since. He was asked if he hopes to be the third receiver. ``I'm not trying to be any kind of receiver,'' Edelman said. ``I'm just doing what I'm told.'' In the past, there have been options aplenty for Brady: Deion Branch made 43 catches for 489 yards in 2002. Troy Brown racked up 39 catches for 466 yards in 2005. Donte Stallworth added 46 catches with 697 yards in 2007. And Gaffney last year made 38 receptions for 468 yards. Brady has been clear that he tries to feed the ball to his best players - Moss and Welker. He also knows he must involve others. ``It's just about finding ways to get them the ball when it's not going to those two,'' Brady said this week. ``The more productive players you have, the more the defense can't really focus on those two particular guys.'' The Patriots may be sixth in the NFL with 260.8 passing yards per game, but they are also second in attempts per game (41.4). They have just 11 passes of more than 20 yards and none more than 40. The benefits of finding another threat abound. That way, it may be more difficult to double-team Moss, while it helps Welker play only in the slot. ``Talk about, say, Wes as a slot receiver,'' coach Bill Belichick said. ``There's not too many teams that match up better against him as he would match up against them. So there are a lot of advantages to doing that from a match up standpoint.'' Belichick has explained Galloway's inactive status as a combination of injury issues and matchups. ``A lot of times we don't know who that's going to be for sure until around this time,'' he said. ``Sometimes it's a game time decision based on injury.'' Galloway's production has been limited, but this quest doesn't just have to be limited to receivers. Asked if the tight ends can be more involved, Chris Baker would only say, ``I think we've got plenty of capable guys.'' Pass-catching back Kevin Faulk is also a possibility, but he emphasized that the door is open for everyone. ``Whenever you have a bad game or lose a game,'' he said, ``everybody has to step up. So there's opportunities for everybody right now.'' - irapoport@bostonherald.com Third receiver the charm? Since Tom Brady became the Patriots starting quarterback in 2001, he has always had a third option at receiver to turn to when his top two pass-catchers were covered. This year, the team is still struggling to find a player to take pressure off Randy Moss and Wes Welker after entering the season believing Joey Galloway and Greg Lewis were options. Here is a breakdown of each season's third-most productive receiver (in yards) in The Brady Era: Year/Player/Catches/Yards/Touchdowns/Team record 2001/Terry Glenn/14/204/1/11-5 2002/Deion Branch/43/489/2/9-7 2003/David Givens/34/510/6/14-2 2004/Deion Branch/35/454/4/14-2 2005/Troy Brown/39/466/2/10-6 2006/Troy Brown/43/384/4/12-4 2007/Donte Stallworth/46/697/3/16-0 2008/Jabar Gaffney/38/468/2/11-5 2009/Julian Edelman*/15/145/0/3-2 *Eight catches for 98 yards came in place of an injured Welker vs. the Jets. Compiled by Ian R. Rapoport