How has Stefon Diggs helped take the Patriots’ passing attack to another level? It’s partly because of his ‘late hands’

“It takes time to learn,” said offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

The concept of “late hands” is simple: If you’re a receiver and tracking a ball, you usually have a defensive back mirroring you. If you throw your hands up, the defender — who is looking at the receiver and not the ball — is suddenly aware the ball is coming and reacts accordingly.

That’s why a good receiver will try to throw the defender off by waiting until the last momentto show his hands. Diggs has shown a knack for executing it properly in key situations, including last week’s 31-13 win against the Titans, when he had seven catches on seven targets for 69 yards.

Diggs had an 18-yarder along the sideline in the third quarter that had cornerback Darrell Baker in a blender because Diggs waited to show himself as a target to quarterback Drake Maye.

Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs had seven catches on seven targets for 69 yards in last Sunday’s win over the Titans.George Walker IV/Associated Press

It was something that was drilled into Diggs’s head early in his career.

“You’ve got different [defensive backs] that play different ways,” Diggs said. “Some guys play through the hands. Some guys play through the eyes; play what they see. In practice, it’s kind of really easy because they can’t see your eyes.

“But in the game, guys play anticipation or play through their hands — which a majority of DBs do, just because, if you’re a trailer, you’re playing catch technique. Catching up to a receiver.”

Diggs said it starts with just practicing reaction time. In other words, reacting as late as possible. One other key? The quarterback.

“You’ve got to have a halfway decent quarterback,” Diggs said.

“I’m just doing my job,” he shrugged. “I’ve been doing that for a while, so I don’t think too much of it.”

Diggs can be as nonchalant about it, but New England’s other receivers say it’s rare to make it look as easy as Diggs.

“There’s a lot that goes into it,” said DeMario Douglas. “It’s tracking the ball, being able to keep your speed up, and knowing where the DB is. It’s a skill that’s hard to explain because your natural inclination is to throw your hands up when you see the ball in the air, but you don’t want a DB to play into it. You’ve got to wait. You’ve really just got to wait.

“That’s the hardest thing. Just waiting, because you really could just go like this,” Douglas said as he put his arms in front of his body, “and a good defensive back, as soon as you put your hands out, that’s when you’re going to get burned.”

McDaniels said Randy Moss was “spectacular” in making it work on a regular basis.

“Defensive backs in those contested catch situations are usually taught to mirror the hands of the receiver,” McDaniels said. “So as soon as [the receiver] brings his hands up, then they can either go through the pocket, bring their hands down and try to get the ball out — because you’re basically telling them that the ball is arriving.

“[The receiver] just basically holds it to the very last second, and doesn’t give the defensive back any opportunity to play through the pocket and create an incompletion. Randy was spectacular at it, probably the best I’ve ever seen when we had him here. And I know I didn’t teach him how to do that.”

Douglas said he’s been working with Diggs on how to mimic his approach, saying Diggs and the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase are two of the best he’s seen when it comes to “late hands.” Douglas also acknowledged that’s one of the best parts of what teammate Kayshon Boutte brings.

“Stef shows it all the time in practice,” Douglas said. “I’m always asking him about it.”

Ultimately, there’s more to excellence at wide receiver than “late hands.” But as woeful as the Patriots’ passing game was over the last two years, the sight of Diggs executing something specific like that on a timely and consistent basis — and finding success as a result — is another symbol of a transformed New England passing attack.

“The corner, really, you can tell them when the ball is coming, or you can try to hide it as late as you can,” McDaniels said. “I thought Stef did a great job [with that] on Sunday.”

Christopher Price can be reached at christopher.price@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at christopherprice.bsky.social.