Tag: Kendrick Bourne

Patriots officially place leading receiver Kendrick Bourne on injured reserve

The Patriots announced WR Kendrick Bourne is being placed on IR.

The New England Patriots officially announced wide receiver Kendrick Bourne has been placed on injured reserve.

On Monday, an MRI revealed Bourne tore his ACL in the Week 8 game against the Miami Dolphins. There was hope that it was just an MCL injury, but it ended up being a worst case scenario for the Patriots.

Bourne currently leads the team with 37 receptions for 406 yards and four touchdowns. After a down year, he had emerged as quarterback Mac Jones’ favorite receiving target.

The timing is tough considering Bourne was playing on an expiring contract with a chance to play himself into a lucrative extension with the Patriots or elsewhere.

Instead, he’ll be shifting focus to rehabbing his injury in hopes of returning to the field as soon as possible. Bourne has made a living off proving people wrong since he arrived in the NFL as an undrafted free agent.

Only a fool would count him out now.

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Patriots Twitter reacts to Kendrick Bourne season-ending injury news

Patriots Twitter reacts to the devastating news that WR Kendrick Bourne is out for the season.

On Monday, it was announced that New England Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne would be out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

This is a big hit to the team’s wide receiver room, and it takes away their most productive playmaker at the position.

Bourne was on his way to having another solid year. He had three catches for 36 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins on Sunday. He had 37 catches for 406 yards and four touchdowns on the year. Now, the Patriots must look to replace his production in what is an already thin wide receiver room.

Patriots Twitter was saddened by the news, as the injury hits keep coming for New England.

Instant analysis of Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne suffering season-ending injury

What’s the plan for the Patriots after losing Kendrick Bourne for the season?

Nothing has gone right for the New England Patriots this season. So in a way, it was no surprise when the news dropped on Monday that wide receiver Kendrick Bourne would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.

Such is the Patriots’ luck in 2023.

First and foremost, this flat out stinks for Bourne, who has come a long ways from the days in Matt Patricia’s doghouse. Under offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, we were witnessing a reawakening of the explosive playmaker that emerged in 2021.

As for the team, there really isn’t anyone on the roster capable of replacing the production Bourne gave the Patriots. Demario Douglas has a ton of potential as a future high-volume receiver, but it’s unfair to expect him to emerge as a top playmaker, when he’ll likely be seeing double teams and bracket coverage as a rookie.

Keep in mind, DeVante Parker also went down with a head injury on Sunday, So outside of Douglas, there’s JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Reagor and Kayshon Boutte.

Can quarterback Mac Jones get the offense back on track by making lemons out of the lemonade?

It’s an impossible task that’s being asked of him, all while playing behind a makeshift offensive line that changes faces more often than Pistachio Disguisey.

The Patriots could use the rest of the season to gauge the potential of players like Thornton, Boutte and Reagor. Can one player or multiple players step up and take advantage of the opportunity that has now opened up on offense?

Thornton is the main one to keep an eye on down the stretch. The physical traits of being a bigger and more explosive outside target are clearly there, but he has yet to put things together consistently enough on the field.

He was a healthy scratch ahead of the Week 8 meeting with the Miami Dolphins. This could be his final opportunity to prove he’s worth the second-round draft pick the Patriots used to get him in 2022.

The Patriots could also shift the focus even more towards the running backs and tight ends as pass-catchers in an offense that needs all of the help it can get right now. Regardless of what the team does, it will still be an uphill battle the rest of the way.

Fixing a bad offense without the player personnel to make it work will be the greatest challenge Bill Belichick has ever faced in his coaching career.

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Report: Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne out for season with torn ACL

Kendrick Bourne is reportedly done for the season with a torn ACL.

The New England Patriots were hoping for the best case scenario with Kendrick Bourne, but instead, they got the worst case scenario after the wide receiver underwent an MRI for a knee injury on Monday.

Per the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Bourne suffered a torn ACL in the loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, which will keep him sidelined for the rest of the season.

It’s a devastating blow considering this was trending towards a bounce-back year for Bourne, who led the Patriots with 37 receptions and 406 receiving yards.

For the Patriots, it’s another major loss at a position of need. With DeVante Parker also going down with a head injury, the team has been reduced to Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Reagor and Kayshon Boutte.

Bourne was playing in the final year of his contract. So there’s a chance we’ve seen him in a Patriots uniform for the last time.

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5 big takeaways from Patriots’ 31-17 loss at Miami

Here are 5 big takeaways from Sunday’s Patriots-Dolphins game

A week after their surprising victory against the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots traveled south to Miami to take on the Dolphins on Sunday.

While the Patriots were able to get on the board early, they were ultimately unable to contend with Miami’s explosive offense, losing the game 31-17.

New England quarterback Mac Jones had a rough day at the offense, unable to hit the passes when he most needed to and failing to execute in clutch situations. He was held to far below 200 passing yards, a low point after the performance he put on last weekend.

Here are five big takeaways from the game.

Studs and duds in Patriots’ disappointing 31-17 loss to Dolphins

Who were the Patriots’ studs and duds in Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins?

There were no miracles to be had for the New England Patriots in Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins. It was just more disappointment from a team that looked outmatched on the road.

The Patriots are clearly trying and competing every week, but those efforts are thwarted at every turn by one team seemingly always having the better built roster.

The blocking on the makeshift offensive line was once again abysmal, which initiated a snowball effect of a bad run game and lack of real passing opportunities. Mac Jones was a statue standing in the pocket with nowhere to go with the football.

And the defense couldn’t save him.

The unit typically throws on the red cape and keep things more competitive than it probably should be for the Patriots this season, but this time, they ran into an offensive juggernaut they couldn’t topple.

Here are the studs and duds from the game:

Patriots rule out DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne with injuries

The Patriots have ruled out both DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne for Sunday’s game.

Both New England Patriots wide receivers DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne have been ruled out for the remainder of Sunday’s game with injuries.

Parker sustained a head injury after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Miami Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott. The wide receiver has 14 catches for 144 yards on the season. He had one catch for 14 yards in Sunday’s contest.

Meanwhile, Bourne went down with a knee injury. He’s the Patriots’ leading receiver on the season with 34 catches for 370 yards and three touchdowns. Against the Dolphins, he had racked up three catches for 36 yards and one touchdown before the injury.

New England’s wide receiver depth is not a strong point. Losing two players like Parker and Bourne is just another major obstacle to deal with for the team. Hopefully, there are no long-term ramifications from the injuries.

New England has struggled offensively throughout Sunday’s contest, and these injuries won’t help matters.

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Cowboys CB DaRon Bland gets his third pick-six of the 2023 NFL season

Dallas Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland is nearing NFL history with his predilection for pick-sixes.

Dallas Cowboys defensive back DaRon Bland, a second-year fifth-round pick from Fresno State, was our seventh-ranked slot defender for the 2022 season as a rookie. But as it turns out, Mr. Bland is pretty good on the outside, as well.

With 43 seconds left in the first quarter of Sunday’s Cowboys-Los Angeles Rams game, Bland took this Matthew Stafford target to Cooper Kupp back for a 30-yard touchdown.

It’s Bland’s third pick-six of the season, putting him in some rare company. His first pick-six of the season came in Week 1 against the New York Giants, when he got hold of a ball that was tipped in the air from Daniel Jones to Saquon Barkley after cornerback Trevin Diggs lowered the boom.

Then, in Week 4 against the New England Patriots, Bland took this Mac Jones pass to Kendrick Bourne to the house.

If Bland keeps this up, he’ll be a part of pro football history.

WATCH: Mac Jones hits Kendrick Bourne on 24-yard touchdown vs Dolphins

The Patriots offense picked up where it left off with Mac Jones connecting with Kendrick Bourne on a touchdown pass.

The New England Patriots picked right back up where they left off last week by being the first team to put points on the board.

This time, it was quarterback Mac Jones hitting wideout Kendrick Bourne on a crosser for a 24-yard touchdown. The drive on a shortened field came after safety Kyle Dugger picked off Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the first quarter of Sunday’s game.

It’s a strong start for the Patriots considering the offensive struggles they’ve had this season. They finally got things rolling last week against the Buffalo Bills, and that success appears to be continuing against the Dolphins.

The Patriots have a real chance to turn their season around with a win over the Dolphins. But given the offensive explosiveness of the opponent, it’s going to be a long day for New England’s defense.

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Do Your Job: Who is x-factor Dolphins player Patriots must stop?

Who is the x-factor Dolphins player the Patriots must stop on Sunday?

The Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots matched up earlier in the season in a game where the Patriots ended up falling short. This week, the two teams will run it back with the Patriots heading to Miami to take on the fastest and most productive offense in the league.

The Patriots are fresh off of a statement victory over the Buffalo Bills, and they will look to continue their good play from the previous week. However, they will need to counteract this week’s x-factor player.

The goal of this series is to take a look, week-by-week, at the x-factor, which is the player with the best chance to impact the outcome of the game.

In the Week 2 meeting, that player was Tyreek Hill, and although Hill will likely play a significant role in this game, there is a more important player for this matchup making his regular season debut with the Dolphins.

That player is six-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who has been giving elite NFL receivers troubles for year. The veteran defensive back was a big-time acquisition for the Dolphins this offseason, but he has yet to see the field.

His presence this week means more to the Patriots than trying to stop Tyreek Hill, which they will be trying to do regardless.

Ramsey forms an incredible duo with four-time Pro Bowl corner Xavien Howard. The Patriots offense looked good last week after their offensive line played a great game, but the Bills are having issues with their defense and in particular, their cornerback room.

Receivers Kendrick Bourne and Demario “Pop” Douglas, the best two options for the Patriots, had good games last week, and quarterback Mac Jones was able to make the correct reads. However, if Ramsey plays, it might not matter if the offensive line plays well because Jones might be forced into some coverage sack situations.

Jones needs to have a very good game this week if Ramsey plays because offensive line play alone won’t make make him look as good as it did last week. Receivers will have a tough time getting open, which means Jones will need to fit his throws into tight windows.

There’s no better way of proving naysayers wrong than beating one of the best cornerback tandems in the NFL. It would prove that Jones’ issues in New England has more to do with poor offensive line play than anything else.

Even with receivers having harder times getting open, the ability of the offensive line to compete and stall Miami’s pass-rush will allow Jones and company to have a better control of the game. Win or lose, this will be Jones’ opportunity to show why the Patriots need a true No. 1 weapon to help him beat the likes of Howard and Ramsey in future matchups.

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