Kristian Wilkerson with a pair of receiving touchdowns for New England

Reserve wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson of the New England Patriots has a pair of touchdown in his first extended regular season action.

Entering their bye week, the New England Patriots were the talk of the football world. Winners of seven-straight games, Bill Belichick’s men were sitting atop the AFC standings with a 9-4 record, and were atop the AFC East after surviving against the Buffalo Bills on a windy Monday night back in Week 13.

Things have taken a bit of a turn since then.

In rather un-Belichick fashion, the Patriots lost two-straight games coming out of their bye week, dropping a road game tot he Indianapolis Colts before the Christmas holiday, and then losing to the Bills at home the day after Christmas. The pair of losses saw the Patriots fall out of first place in the division, and now face the prospects of fighting to stay in the playoffs altogether.

Thankfully for them, a late Christmas gift was delivered on Sunday.

A visit from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Patriots are rolling at home this Sunday, currently holding a 34-3 lead over the visitors early in the second half. A surprise star for New England? Reserve wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson. With Nelson Agholor still sidelined after suffering a concussion against the Colts, and N’Keal Harry scratched from the list of actives, Wilkerson saw his first extended action of the regular season.

And has two touchdown receptions to show for it.

After notching his first career reception in the first quarter, Wilkerson got on the score sheet on this play from late in the second:

New England has used some sprint and boot concepts recently with Mac Jones, and on this play Wilkerson runs a delayed crossing route working from left-to-right. Jones’ primary read is the running back releasing to the flat, but with that route covered the quarterback has to get to a secondary read, which is Wilkerson coming across the field. Jones puts the throw in a good spot and the receiver completes the play for a touchdown.

His second touchdown came early in the second half, on a fake screen play with Wilkerson releasing vertically:

The design works to spring Wilkerson free on the deep route, and Jones takes advantage for the touchdown.

With this game getting out of hand, fans at Gillette Stadium are likely keeping an eye on the out-of-town scoreboard, where the Miami Dolphins are struggling against the Tennessee Titans and the Bills are in a close game with the Atlanta Falcons. A Patriots’ win coupled with a Dolphins loss clinches a playoff berth for New England, but if the Bills somehow lose to Atlanta, the Patriots could be back atop the division with one game to go.