Patriots have ‘all the belief in the world’ in Christian Gonzalez

The Green Bay Packers had their way with the New England Patriots secondary in Week 9, and one player more than any other was in the spotlight afterwards. Being the closest defender on multiple big plays, Christian Gonzalez was the poster boy for his team's 45-27 defeat.

Despite the performance, however, the Patriots are not hitting the panic button. Instead, their belief in the 24-year-old remains unshaken.

Obviously, Christian had a couple of plays that he'd definitely want back, said defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr ahead of Thursday's practice in Munich. But there are some things that fans don't see or people don't see that might not be on Christian, but he happens to be around the ball. And sometimes the blame comes with that.

But we know what Christian's capable of and we have all the support and belief in him in the world."

According to charting by Next Gen Stats, the Patriots' No. 1 cornerback became the first defender since at least 2018 to give up 80-plus receiving yards to two different players in one game against the Packers. Overall, the Patriots defense allowed Green Bay's receiving duo of Christian Watson and Matthew Golden to beat them for a combined 17 catches for 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

With a Detroit Lions team on the dock more than capable of putting pressure on a defense itself, the Patriots and Gonzalez in particular will need a quick turnaround. According to Kuhr, however, the start was encouraging.

I don't want to do any predictions or anything like that, but I thought we had a really good day of practice yesterday, he said. There was good energy. There was good execution. There was improvement in communication, some connection in the back end it was exciting to see. There was some good energy out there. I think the guys were excited to get back to work, like, Let's get this thing right.'"