GLENDALE, Ariz. – At first glance, it appeared that Drake Maye’s interception was due to the fault of his receiver, Kayshon Boutte.
With 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Maye’s pass bounced off the hands of Boutte and weight straight to Arizona cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. It was a disappointing turnover for a struggling Patriots offense.
As Boutte retreated to the sideline, he was upset but said he refocused himself after discussing what went wrong with the Patriots quarterback.
“I’ll just say, I know it’s a play I’ve got to make but it’s kind of hard when you’re running full speed in one direction and the ball is kind of low,” Boutte said. “It’s a play I’ve got to make… We talked about it to see what we both could’ve fixed.”
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Maye’s pass was off the mark. However, the Patriots quarterback explained that the reason he placed the ball in the area he did was due to the presence of Arizona safety Budda Baker. Had Maye’s throw been in front of Boutte, he would’ve led his receiver right to a hard-hitting defensive player.
“The intermediate pass to Boutte was kind of unfortunate,” Maye said. “I tried to lead him away from the safety. Stuff like that happens.”
Boutte knew he didn’t have time to dwell on the play. On the next Patriots drive, Maye had sure to right back to the receiver. The quarterback’s next pass after the interception was right back to Boutte. At10:08 of the fourth quarter, the receiver hauled in a 16-yard catch.
That play showed that Maye trusted his receiver.
“It’s not that he don’t trust me,” Boutte said. “Obviously, he knows I can make those plays so it’s not like he’s back there thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I want to throw to him.’ He trusts us. He trusted me to make the play and I did.”
At age 22, Boutte is one of the youngest players on the Patriots roster. After a slow rookie season, where he caught two passes for 19 yards, this second-year receiver is having a productive season in New England. Through 14 games, he has a career-high 27 receptions to go with 349 yards and a touchdown.
With three games left this season, Boutte hopes to finish strong.
“What I want to show is keep going upward,” Boutte said. “Last season didn’t go the way I wanted to but improve every week is all I can do.”
