Tag: Kendrick Bourne

Kendrick Bourne says he’s experiencing ‘no symptoms’ while on COVID-19/reserve

Kendrick Bourne provided a positive update after the Patriots put him on COVID-19/reserve

New England Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne provided a positive update after going on COVID-19/reserve on Monday.

The Patriots have not disclosed whether Bourne tested positive or was a close contact to a COVID-positive person, either of which could land a player on COVID-19/reserve, depending upon his vaccination status (which the Patriots also won’t disclose). Bourne, however, did provide some insight into what he’s experiencing. He and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux discussed Bourne’s situation on Instagram.

“U ok bro?? That COVID got your [expletive] huh,” Godchaux wrote on Monday.

“smh this some bs I’m fine tho no symptoms,” Bourne said in response.

If Bourne is asymptomatic and vaccinated, he can return faster than if he’s unvaccinated, per NFL rules. If vaccinated, he could test out in time for Sunday’s game. That said, few players have been able to do that this year.

Bourne is one of many Patriots receivers whose status for Sunday is in doubt. Receivers Nelson Agholor and N’Keal Harry suffered head injuries on Saturday night during the team’s loss to the Colts. If those three players can’t go, the Patriots have Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski and practice-squad receivers Kristian Wilkerson and Tre Nixon.

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WR Kendrick Bourne among 4 Patriots to land on COVID-19/reserve

An outbreak could only increase the degree of difficulty in an already-challenging matchup against the Bills.

New England Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne was among four of the team’s players to land on COVID-19/reserve.

Bourne went on the list with linebackers Harvey Langi, Cam McGrone and Ronnie Perkins. McGrone is on the NFI-list is out for the season. Perkins is on injured reserve and will be out for at least three weeks. Running back J.J. Taylor, tight end Dalton Keene (IR) and linebacker Calvin Munson are already on the COVID-19/reserve list for New England.

Bourne has been one of the Patriots’ most productive receivers with 45 catches for a team-high 667 yards and five touchdowns. Langi has been a role player, playing at a very limited capacity. McGrone and Perkins haven’t played a snap.

The Patriots receiver position includes Bourne, Nelson Agholor, Jakobi Meyers, N’Keal Harry and Gunner Olszewski. If Bourne cannot return and Agholor (head injury) misses time, the Patriots may have issues at the position.

An outbreak could only increase the degree of difficulty in an already-challenging matchup against the Bills.

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Patriots WRs coach Troy Brown explains how Kendrick Bourne has exceeded expectations

Kendrick Bourne leads the Patriots in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. But that’s not what surprised Troy Brown.

The New England Patriots are careful and intentional about how they spend their money. They paid tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry the exact same amount per year in free agency ($12.5 million), a clear message they were both TE1. They also paid receiver Nelson Agholor at $11 million per year and Kendrick Bourne at roughly $4.25 million per year. It’s clear who they thought would be WR1 in 2021.

Bourne, however, leads Patriots receivers in receiving yards and touchdowns — and, frankly, highlight-reel plays. It’s fair to say he has exceeded expectations. But there’s one category where Bourne has been particularly outstanding, according to Patriots receivers coach Troy Brown.

“I think his ability to run with the ball after the catch has been probably more than what I expected it to be,” Brown said Monday. “He has excellent hands and catches the ball well.”

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Bourne has 42 catches for 623 yards and five touchdowns. His yards after the catch are the most among Patriots receivers and second-most on the team behind running back Brandon Bolden, surely due to the team’s heavy reliance upon the screen game, which exclusively generates YAC.

Brown touted the value of having Brown in the Patriots’ position group.

“I didn’t know Kendrick before he got here and I just think his level of enthusiasm on everything he does for every single play,” Brown said. “From practice to the game to whatever it is we’re doing, the guy is always — he’s able to show us an unbelievable amount of energy when you’re around him. It helps the guys. It helps him. It helps us as well, because he’s so lively with everything that he does.”

Brown added: “We just look at the guy like, ‘Wow.’ Kendrick’s made some great catches for us. You just kind of go, ‘Wow.’ And you just wait for him to make some more plays the next time.”

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Kendrick Bourne doesn’t care about your fantasy football team

Kendrick Bourne had a blunt take for those criticizing him over lack of fantasy value.

With the New England Patriots winning a good old-fashioned slugfest by a 14-10 score, the victory on Monday night caused frustration among fantasy football players. Offense was not at a premium throughout the course of the evening, and Patriots wide receivers did not put up big-time numbers.

Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne played 15 snaps against the Bills. He carried the football for three yards and did not see any targets. The output for Patriots receivers was low across the board on Monday. Nevertheless, Bourne was not too concerned with his play as it related to the fantasy football realm.

The Patriots have indeed won football games, taking a seven-game win streak into their next game with the Indianapolis Colts. As the playoffs get closer, winning will undoubtedly be paramount.

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Stars, studs and duds from the Patriots’ massive win over the Titans

From Kendrick Bourne to Mac Jones to N’Keal Harry.

The New England Patriots’ second half against the Tennessee Titans was a thing of beauty, with execution in the areas that helped the team form an identity during its six-game win streak, which continued in Week 12.

New England ran the ball well and generated takeaways in the second half — two things the team did not do well in the first half when the Titans seemed to have a shot at winning the game. Once New England managed to get yards out of Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris and forced fumbles out of J.C. Jackson and Davon Godchaux, the Patriots coasted to victory and piled on points in their 36-16 win.

Here are the stars, studs and duds from the game.

Bill Belichick explains why Jalen Mills is ‘kind of the defensive Kendrick Bourne’

Jalen Mills has been a largely unheralded member of the Patriots’ secondary. He’s far from perfect — but an important cog.

New England Patriots cornerback Jalen Mills has been one member of a massively important free-agent class from the 2021 offseason — and perhaps that’s why his impressive work is going somewhat underappreciated.

Mills has lined up across from cornerback J.C. Jackson, one of the team’s stars, and arrived at the same time as edge Matt Judon along with tight end Hunter Henry and receiver Kendrick Bourne. While those three acquisitions have made headlines for their impressive impact on the team, Mills has quietly settled in as the team’s CB2. That’s partially a surprise because he had issues at cornerback during his stint with the Philadelphia Eagles. He played some safety as a result. But the Patriots haven’t needed to move him around. They’ve trusted him as their No. 2 cornerback for the entire season.

“Jalen’s kind of the defensive Kendrick Bourne,” Belichick said during a press conference on Monday morning after the team’s 36-16 win over the Tennessee Titans. “High energy, always ready to go, very durable, tough, out there all the time. Has a good, physical style of play. Generally tackles well in the run game, jams receivers and has good instincts. He’s around the ball. He’s done a nice job for us. It’s a different system than what he played in in Philadelphia, but I think he’s adapted to it well and is a good all-around football player. He’s good in all areas and continues to learn a little bit more about the system that he’s in.”

Mills has played 79% of the team’s defensive snaps. Opposing quarterbacks have targetted him 44 times for 26 catches (59%), 313 yards and five touchdowns, per Pro Football Focus. He has logged five pass breakups and zero interceptions. It’s clear that quarterbacks would prefer to target Mills over Jackson, who has allowed just one touchdown to his seven interceptions.

The truth is that, while the Patriots have had two elite cornerbacks for years with Jackson and Stephon Gilmore (and other tandems before that), it’s not sustainable to have a pair of shutdown corners. Most teams have a clear-cut No. 2. Mills may be the weaker link, but he’s been good enough.

“We’ve had generally decent coverage,” Belichick said. “Obviously, we’ll be tested this week against Buffalo’s passing attack, but Jalen’s been a really solid addition for us. I’m glad we have him, and I love his versatility and his overall play style.”

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Kendrick Bourne on the Patriots offense: ‘I don’t think there is a ceiling at all’

New England’s offense, at first, looked lost for an identity. Then the 4th quarter happened. The Patriots again looked like a juggernaut.

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The New England Patriots offense looked lost for its identity to start their game against the Tennessee Titans. Then the fourth quarter happened. The Patriots again looked like a juggernaut.

They had been a run-first offense for the entire year, but they weren’t finding any running room against Tennessee — not until the fourth quarter. Prior to that, the Patriots relied upon their passing game and Mac Jones, buoyed by an excellent game plan from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. But when they got to the end zone, they had problems — again, until the fourth quarter.

That’s when everything started clicking, just like we’ve seen throughout the team’s six-game win streak which continued in their 36-16 win over the AFC’s now-former top team. The running game ground away at the Titans to the point where after starting with 23 yards on nine carries in the first half (2.6 ypc) they finished with a respectable 105 on 24 carries. Between that and Jones’ 310 passing yards, the Patriots were mighty impressive.

“I don’t think there is a ceiling at all,” receiver Kendrick Bourne said when asked postgame about their offense under Jones. “We try to emphasize that.”

But then he walked it back as best he could.

“[Matthew] Slater just talked to us after about not getting overzealous about ourselves. Nothing like that,” Bourne said. “We’re onto Buffalo now and that’s the focus. That’ll be good for us to just certify ourselves.”

Jones finished the game 23 of 32 for 310 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 71% of his passes, which will boost his season average (70%0). Does anything surprise the Patriots about their rookie QB?

“No surprises,” receiver Jakobi Meyers said after the game. “Mac is the type of guy who will come in here to compete, be the best guy he possibly can. The guys around him have to continue to do a better job supporting him and I feel like that is why he’s been playing better.”

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Mac Jones highly critical of himself despite recording second 300-yard game

The rookie is an absolutely perfect fit for the New England Patriots.

Mac Jones is an absolutely perfect fit for the New England Patriots.

Instead of honing in on the six-game winning streak and his second 300-yard game, Jones was focused on missed opportunities in the 36-13 victory against the Tennessee Titans. Jones finished the day throwing 23 of 32 for 303 yards and two touchdowns, with a 72 completion percentage.

He did fail in some circumstances to score touchdowns, as Nick Folk finished the day with five total field goals that added up to 15 points. Jones discussed these missed opportunities in detail following the game.

“I think just execution in the red zone,” Jones said, via WEEI. “The goal is to score points and the best teams in the league are like 70 percent on touchdowns and we can be better there getting up to that number. But at the end of the day when you have control of the game, the goal is to get points and obviously we want to score touchdowns. That happened later, I guess and it just needs to continue to improve and we’ve put a lot of stress on it so there’s nothing that the coaches aren’t doing or anything. It comes down to us and executing.”

There was a hilarious moment where Jones thought he rushed for a first down and he was clearly three yards short — but, that didn’t stop him acting like he moved the chains.

“I didn’t think I got the first down. I thought they were going to call it. I slid like head first or whatever but it didn’t count. It is what it is,” he said. “I didn’t know there wasn’t a flag thrown. That was just a rookie – rookie error there.”

The rookie continues to show improvement and his biggest test is ahead with the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Bills again in the next three weeks.

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Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne on Mac Jones’ toughness: ‘He never folds’

Kendrick Bourne continues to pour on the praise for his rookie quarterback.

Following the New England Patriots’ 45-7 win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 10, receiver Kendrick Bourne said he’s never seen Mac Jones get rattled.

Behind the league’s hottest defense, the No. 15 overall pick has led his team to a six-game winning streak after beginning the season 2-4. The Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans, who came into the game as the top seed in the AFC, in a 36-13 dominant contest. If the Baltimore Ravens fall to the Browns on Sunday night, the Patriots will be the sole leaders of the No. 1 seed in the conference heading into Week 13.

A big part of the Patriots’ success is Bourne, who finished the victory against Tennessee with five catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns. He spoke about Jones following the game and continued to pour on that praise.

Simply put, Bourne said Jones “never folds.”

Jones has the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and the Bills again over the next three weeks — he will continue to be tested.

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Patriots’ David Andrews has hilarious comparison for Kendrick Bourne

David Andrews had a hilarious comparison for Kendrick Bourne on Sunday.

The New England Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans, 36-13, in a home game in Week 12. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne was a big part of the victory, as he caught five passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Averaging 12.2 yards per reception, the 41-yard catch was his longest of the afternoon.

With the two touchdowns, the wide receiver has recorded four touchdown receptions in the last three games.

Following the game, center David Andrews had an interesting comparison for the wide receiver. With Bourne’s high leaping ability and energy, Andrews compared the wide receiver to a dog with energy in its own right.

New England will need Bourne’s energy next Monday when they take on the Buffalo Bills with first place in the AFC East on the line. Kickoff is set for 8:15 PM.

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