Christian Gonzalez is tasked with stopping Patriots offseason target Calvin Ridley

FOXBORO — The Patriots tried to create spray additive with available salary cap space this offseason, but winger Calvin Ridley chosen to join Titans on a four-year, $92 million contract.

Ridley has 10 catches, 15 targets and 143 yards in a 52-14 loss to the Lions, and the 1-6 Titans enter Week 9 with a worse record than the 2-6 Patriots. So perhaps acquiring Ridley, who has just 22 catches for 326 yards and one touchdown this season, wouldn’t change their team’s trajectory much this season. Heading into the week against the Patriots, Ridley wants last week’s stats to be the standard going forward.

“I should have all these games,” Ridley said this week.

Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino wouldn’t confirm that top linebacker Christian Gonzalez will be covering Ridley this week (“because we’re not going to just tell anyone our game plan”), but Gonzalez has been covering opposing wide receivers’ best numbers all season, and Ridley is definitely the Titans’ best option since they traded DeAndre Hopkins to the Chiefs.

“When you watch film No. 0, Ridley, there’s no question why he was one of the top free agents and everyone wanted him on their roster,” head coach Jerod Mayo said Wednesday. . “He is a guy who is very focused. At the same time, he is very open on film, sometimes he doesn’t catch the ball, but on film he is very open, and that will be a challenge.”

Mayo challenged Gonzalez to play the closing game against the Jets last Sunday after the top linebacker had the worst two-week stretch of his career against the Texans and Jaguars, when he allowed a total of eight catches on 10 targets for 115 yards with a touchdown. He answered the call against the Jets, going toe-to-toe with Davante Adams and allowing just two catches on five targets for 25 yards per PFF.

“He challenged me, but it’s more up to me,” Gonzalez said Thursday. “Regardless of whether he challenged me or not, I still have to go into the match knowing that the other team will challenge me.”

Overall this season, Gonzalez has allowed 30 catches on 51 targets for 305 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and three pass breakups, per PFF.

The 2023 first-round draft pick played just four games last season, but scored 79.3 PFF degree of coverage in its limited operation. So far this season, Gonzalez ranks 41st among 96 qualified defensemen in the PFF league. traditional degree of coverage with a score of 67.5. It ranks 43rd in Advanced PFF Coverage, which “uses machine learning to map the separation allowed in the game to the expected PFF coverage grade a player would receive if they were targeted. This system also takes into account the difficulty of the task and the situation when making the assessment,” says PFF.

Despite his relatively lower coverage rating this season, Gonzalez has once again been one of the Patriots’ best and most reliable players this season.

“He has this damn mentality that he won’t let this guy win. He wants to be great and he does everything he can to be great,” Pellegrino said. “I am very impressed with his work ethic. He will take extra reps, repeat on the scout team and do anything that has to do with football. It’s closed. He is very good in class. Very good. Very good at independent film learning. This is something special on the corner.”

Gonzalez has thus far worked with Ja’Marr Chase, DK Metcalf, Garrett Wilson, Brandon Aiyuk, Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs, Brian Thomas and Adams.

It won’t get any easier for Gonzalez going forward, with Ridley, DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Michael Pittman, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Amari Cooper are still on the schedule.

“(I) love it,” Gonzalez said of his weekly matchups. “It’s the only way to feel better. Challenge the best and you’ll see the best every week. These are NFL caliber receivers, so you’ll always see a great receiver. It’s great fun. It only makes me better.”

In Ridley, Gonzalez sees “a great receiver, a player (who) runs great routes.”

The No. 0 Patriots vs. No. 0 Titans game will be the matchup of the day on Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. Gonzalez passed the test against the Jets last week, but he’ll likely see a lot more targets on Sunday given the state of the Titans’ wide receiver corps. Perhaps Mayo should challenge Gonzalez again this week.