Patriots Wide Receivers Understand Criticism Of On-Field Antics

The Patriots’ offense is one of the least productive in the NFL, with 506 yards rushing and 558 yards receiving to begin the season.

The porous offensive line has allowed quarterback Jacoby Brissett to be hit 40 times and sacked 15 times through four games. Brissett has completed 61 of 101 passes and just two touchdowns.

DeMario Douglas has caught 12 of those passes for 94 yards, but in the Patriots’ blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, the wideout had three receptions for 13 yards. The lack of offensive targets saw Douglas showing his displeasure on the field, something Jerod Mayo took issue with. Douglas knows having tantrums on the field is not a good look.

“I don’t know what got into me. That’s not me,” Douglas told MassLive’s Karen Guregian on Wednesday. “I felt bad as soon as I watched it. That was poor by me, how I was on the field. But my team got my back, and I definitely got theirs. It’s just my love of the game. And I love winning.

“… Sometimes it’s not just about me getting the ball, it’s about our execution. I’m like, ‘Dang, we needed this.’ I feel like (if we made certain plays) it would be a turning point. We needed this.”

Tight end Hunter Henry leads all Patriots with 14 catches on 21 targets, but the only two touchdown catches were on balls caught by rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk and tight end Austin Hooper. Polk, like Douglas, showed his displeasure on the field Sunday after only three catches for 30 yards.

“You really have to be mindful of it,” Polk told Guregian. “I think about it all the time. Everybody’s watching us. So, you have to be very aware of your body language, and how you’re moving and your frustration because it’ll be contagious down the road.”

“… I would be wrong to sit here and say we don’t get frustrated, or we don’t have days where our head might be down a little bit. But, I think the biggest thing is having faith. Just coming in each and every day, and trusting and believing in each other in the locker room, and know what we have in there.”

The Patriots will look for their first win since upsetting the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 on the road when they host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.