When the Patriots signed receiver Brandon Lloyd, the perception was that he would provide the outside-the-numbers threat the team had been lacking since the trade of Randy Moss.

While he hasn’t been Moss — no one should have expected him to be — Lloyd has been a viable boundary threat. Lloyd has caught 50 passes, which is as many as Vincent Jackson of the Buccaneers, who signed a five-year, $55.6 million contract in the offseason.