Kayshon Boutte had a career day in Buffalo.
The second-year wideout caught five passes for 95 yards — both career highs — and found the highlight reel with a terrific touchdown catch on New England’s opening drive. Boutte ran down the right sideline with Kaiir Elam in man coverage and Drake Maye lofted a perfect ball his way. The lone deep safety, Cam Lewis, couldn’t make up the ground in time, and Boutte waited until the last second to put his hands out so Elam couldn’t break the pass up. It was perfectly executed.
On Tuesday morning, Maye said he believed his chemistry with Boutte was growing.
“Boutte has been making some big plays for us,” Maye said. “I tell these guys every week, ‘I’m going to give you all a chance, especially in man (coverage).’ We’ve gotta be able to beat guys in man. I think Kayshon is showing it every week. Week in and week out, he’s starting to show it. Proud of Boutte. He’s put the work in. I think it started the first couple weeks when he was blocking in the run game, he got the coaches’ eye, and now he’s making plays in the passing game.”
It was interesting that Maye brought up the man coverage aspect, as Boutte got himself into hot water by criticizing offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt for not being aggressive enough against that coverage scheme in Arizona. Boutte apologized to the offensive coordinator afterwards, and Van Pelt said he took no offense to it.
“We knew they was gonna play man (coverage) the whole game. But I feel like it’s disrespectful when they go man first quarter, you know?” Boutte said after the loss to Arizona. “So I feel like we need to be better at attacking that instead of being shy about it.”
The Patriots were aggressive against man coverage in Buffalo and Boutte has the 28-yard touchdown catch to show for it.
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