Personnel decisions probed
Down WRs, Thornton ineffective, Boutte sits
FOXBOROUGH — Some curious personnel decisions Sunday left the Patriots shorthanded on both sides of the ball in a 20-17 loss to the Commanders at Gillette Stadium.
On offense, the Patriots left rookie receiver Kayshon Boutte inactive, and included wide receiver Tyquan Thornton on the game-day roster — even though Thornton popped up on the injury report late in the week with a foot issue.
Thornton was ineffective against the Commanders, finishing with one catch on four targets for 7 yards. (Mac Jones targeted him on three consecutive third-down pass plays in the first half, and all came up short.) Thornton hinted that his injured foot was an issue, and said while said his struggles were “definitely injury related,” he also needed to improve.
“Friday kind of bumped my foot up, so I tried to go out there and play through that.” he said. “I wasn’t putting good stuff on film, so it is what it is.”
“It definitely impacted me today. But definitely, I have to be better on my end. I felt like I could go. I got into the game, and it really wasn’t that.”
Thornton didn’t play in the second half. Asked if it was an injury decision, he replied, “I don’t know. You’ve got to ask the coaches.
“There was definitely a lot I could have done differently. I could have run better routes. Created more separation. I take full accountability.”
The decision to have Boutte inactive, and then leave Thornton on the bench for much of the last two-plus quarters left the Patriots shorthanded at receiver.
“We activated the players that we felt were the best players to put in the game,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.
They ended up relying on Demario Douglas and Jalen Reagor for the bulk of the second half, with JuJu Smith-Schuster getting an extended look late in the contest.
“Just go out and do what the coaches ask you to do. Know what to do,” Reagor said. “And it makes it easier for them to put you on the field. I just feel like taking advantage of my opportunities and doing what I can do. Just doing what the coaches ask.”
Smith-Schuster, who was targeted on the pass play that ended up being the game-sealing interception from Washington, was asked if a lack of playing time prevented him from getting into a rhythm.
“I’m not a guy who’s going to make excuses when it comes to playing time or anything like that,” said Smith-Schuster, who had one of his most productive days as a Patriot with six catches on seven targets for 51 yards. “I just know that when my time comes, I try to make the best of my opportunities, like today. I didn’t play until toward the end of the game, going in and out.
“Whatever the game plan is, that’s what it is.”
In addition, the Patriots sat cornerbacks Jack Jones and J.C. Jackson for a sizable portion of the first half. Jones missed the entire first quarter, initially getting the call with just more than 11 minutes left in the half. Jackson sat for the first two defensive series before he entered the contest.
“We played all the corners,’' Belichick said. “I think we played all the safeties. I think we played everybody on defense.”
Jackson wasn’t talking after the game, and Jones was nowhere to be seen in the locker room. (Jones did post an Instagram video, but didn’t address why he was missing for the first quarter-plus.)
“My department isn’t personnel,” said safety Jabrill Peppers when asked about his fellow defensive backs. “Whoever is out there, we trust in them. They have a job to do. And the standard doesn’t change. As a safety, it’s my job to make sure everybody is of one accord [and] communicate well. Rally the troops. That’s where my focus was.”
Stevenson breaks out
The biggest offensive bright spot for the Patriots was the play of running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who rushed for a season-high 87 yards, with 64 yards coming on a secondquarter touchdown run.
“It was crazy,” said Reagor, who helped deliver a key block to spring Stevenson. “Right before the play, we were walking back to the huddle and I was like, ‘You’re about to break one.’ He was like ‘Bet.’ When I was running, I kind of glanced back and saw him break and I was like, ‘Oh.’
“Just trying to do my job,’' Reagor said. “Making sure he didn’t get tackled by my guy. That’s the worst.”
“They were in an even-wide front,” said center David Andrews. “Really, when teams do that, really not all pass-rush down, you can kind of expect something coming inside. They kind of brought a blitz [and] we did a good job picking it up.
“Give these backs space, they can do a really good job. Rhamondre did a great job reading it. It was a good play.”
The 64-yard touchdown run was the longest of Stevenson’s NFL career. It was also the longest play of the season for the Patriots, besting the 58-yard touchdown catch from Pharaoh Brown in Week 3 against the Jets.
Roughing was the call
After the game, referee Adrian Hill was asked by a pool reporter for the reasoning behind the 15-yard roughing the passer penalty against Washington’s KJ Henry in the first half.
“I was the calling official and the call was roughing the passer due to full body weight,” he said. “The ruling on the field was that the defender came down with forceable contact, chest to chest. He didn’t perform one of those acts to remove most of that body weight — a gator roll or a clear to the side when he was coming in. He came down directly with that force on the player, so the category was full body weight.”
Asked what the defender is supposed to do to avoid putting his full body weight on the quarterback, Hill offered two alternatives.
“One we call the ‘gator roll’ where if he takes that player and rolls to the side so they both land on their side, that 90-degree rotation as he comes around,” he said. “Or he comes down and breaks the fall first with hands and knees almost like in a crab-like fashion on top of the quarterback.”
Out of their division
The Patriots dropped to 2-7 for the first time since Belichick’s first season as coach in 2000. In addition, they remain winless (0-5) in non-division games. They’re the only team in the NFL without a win outside of their division . . . Douglas was asked about his fourthquarter catch that was eventually overturned. “Nah,” he said with a small smile. “I didn’t catch it.” Douglas also was asked about a fourth-quarter punt return in which he ended up losing yardage so close to the goal line. “On that play, I just need to go forward,” he said. “Get the 5 yards. I was just trying to make the big play. Every play can’t be a big play. That’s all I have to get.” . . . The Patriots are set to play against the Colts in Germany next weekend. “It’s a great opportunity for a lot of us,” said special teams captain Matthew Slater. “Again, nobody should be feeling sorry for us. We’re blessed to be playing this game. We’re blessed to have an opportunity to go there. We should enjoy it, and we should go out there and play to win.”