Fourth-year men Deion Branch and David Givens are among the NFL's most productive wideout tandems.

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, December 22, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- They are short on notoriety, high on production.

Deion Branch and David Givens -- the Patriots' potent pair of fourth-year wide receivers -- are among the league's most productive wideout tandems.

Despite Givens having missed three games this season, they are the NFL's fifth-most-productive wide receiver duo with 128 catches (Branch has 72) this year. On Sunday, Givens had six catches for 137 yards and a touchdown. In the six games before that, Branch made five catches in each one. Both have reached their career highs in catches this season. Branch (910 yards) seems a lock to have his first 1,000-yard season.

"I think they complement each other," said Jets coach Herman Edwards, whose secondary will be dealing with them on Monday night. "I think what they are asking them to do is obviously something they can do very, very well. I think it is a well-coordinated effort by both of them. Whenever you have another guy on the other side coordinated that way, you play off of each other, and that is what they have been able to do."

Givens has three favorite patterns he regularly gets free on, and each one showcases a different aspect of his talent.

The first is the deep out or corner that he runs on either side of the field. Working upfield about 20 yards, Givens breaks to the sideline hard and looks for a pass that already is en route from quarterback Tom Brady. Timing, precision and quickness are the keys on that. The other route he's been productive on is the deep drag route he runs about 15 yards deep from right to left. Toughness to go over the middle and then speed to burst past safeties and corners trailing him are needed there. Finally, there's the crossing route he usually runs along the back line of the end zone. If he's open when he gets to the goal post -- and he often has been -- the ball will come hard and on a line, necessitating a snatch catch in traffic.

Branch, meanwhile, is usually the only wide receiver split out on his side (Givens tends to be on the same side as the tight end). This gives him more room to work 1-on-1 with corners where his speed and absurd quickness come into play. While all Patriots receivers are running "read" routes that change based on coverages, Branch seems to run more of them than the other receivers because he's not working in tandem with another route.

"Deion has been over at the single receiver side for a long time," said Brady. "He's worked in that one-on-one matchup. I think David Givens runs those complementary routes, whether it be a tight end on his side, very well. David is a big, strong, physical guy, (he) catches a lot of balls over the middle. Deion is open on every play. Every time you look, he's open. Every time I don't throw it to him and I throw an incompletion, I come back and he says, 'Hey, T, I was open.' So I have to find ways to get him the ball. I was disappointed last week that he had only two catches. I think some of that was the coverages they were playing that were really dictating where the ball was going. Deion is a big factor in this offense. We have to try to get him the ball as much as we can."

The Patriots will have a decision to make on Givens this offseason. Originally a seventh-round pick out of Notre Dame, Givens will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. This year, he's a restricted free agent making $1.43 million after playing for very short money in his first three seasons.

The Patriots like him. They tried to extend him last offseason. But Givens didn't bite and there's a good chance he'll wind up in the free-agent waters. Why? Because the Patriots generally have a strict amount they'll pay for a player, and Givens likely will find that his age (26 next season) and production level in a very diverse offense will garner real interest.

Branch is signed through 2006. He signed a five-year deal when he came into the league that included $3 million in incentives and a $1.025-million signing bonus. He's playing this year for the second-round minimum ($455,000) and will make $545,000 next year, barring a renegotiation.

Until then, though, they remain their opponents' headache.

"They are obviously a big challenge," said Edwards. "Their receivers are very, very good. I think Branch is a guy that doesn't get a lot of credit. He doesn't have the big name like a lot of these other receivers. He is a guy that can obviously make a lot of big plays. He has done it in the past; obviously, that was shown in the Super Bowl. Givens is another guy that I think is a big, strong receiver that can make a lot of plays for them. They are a challenge. They are two good wide receivers."