Bourne is expected to play against the Rams after getting zero snaps in Week 10 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It appears Kendrick Bourne will play a bigger role in the New England Patriots offense Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Rams than he will in the New England Patriots offense. last week’s win over the Chicago Bears.
Bourne was active in the Week 10 game against Chicago and had no injury designations, but surprisingly did not play a single offensive snap. The Patriots beat the Bears 19-3 to improve their record to 3-7 entering Sunday’s Week 11 showdown against the Rams at Gillette Stadium.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo was asked during his press conference Friday if he expected Bourne to play this weekend, to which he responded, “Yes.”
“Kendrick had a good week of practice,” Mayo added. “Sometimes you have to – I don’t want to call it a red flag, but to go out there and be active and not get any snaps, he’s a motivated individual. He’s a very good player, we we just have to move it forward.”
Why didn’t Bourne play against the Bears?
“There was a lot that went into it,” Mayo told reporters last SundayYes after the week 10 victory. “Any time you put the active team together…we thought it was the best thing to do to give us the best chance to win. All of these guys bring a certain skill set to the game; we didn’t know everything just not who was going to play more And it happened like that.
Bourne last saw snaps during the Patriots’ Week 9 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans. He caught four passes for 41 yards on six targets in that game. He has eight receptions for 70 yards in five games after making his season debut in Week 5 against the Miami Dolphins.
It’s no secret that the Patriots are lacking high-end talent at the wide receiver position, and they haven’t gotten consistent production from any player at the position this season. If you look at the six players with the most receptions on the team through 10 games, only two of them are wideouts (DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte).
Bourne is a reliable veteran. So if he’s healthy — and he wasn’t listed on the injury report this week — then it makes sense to play him a significant number of snaps. The Patriots need to surround rookie quarterback Drake Maye with the best pass-catching options on the roster, and that should include Bourne.
