Kayshon Boutte’s clutch catch salvages nightmare game for Patriots wideouts

FOXBORO — For the first 58 1/2 minutes, Sunday’s Patriots-Jets matchup was the game from hell for New England’s wide receivers.

Up to that point, Patriots wideouts had dropped as many passes from quarterbacks Drake Maye and Jacoby Brissett (five) as they’d caught.

Kendrick Bourne and Kayshon Boutte each had two passes bounce off their hands. Tyquan Thornton had one. All five would have resulted in first downs.

It was the continuation of a weeks-long problem for that position group, which made headlines for all the wrong reasons during the leadup to the Week 8 clash at Gillette Stadium.

Boutte’s butterfingers were especially glaring after he crowed during the week about not wanting to have to “demand” targets in the Patriots’ offense. Fortunately for the second-year pro, he was able to find redemption on New England’s game-winning drive.

Brissett and Boutte connected for a 34-yard completion on third-and-10 with 1:29 remaining, with Boutte beating All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner on the play. The big-play hookup put the ball on the Jets’ 9-yard line, and Boutte was tackled inches shy of the goal line on a subsequent 4-yard catch.

Rhamondre Stevenson scored the deciding touchdown one play later, giving the Patriots a much-needed 25-22 victory.

“Kayshon made a great play,” said Brissett, who beat an unblocked Jets blitz on his long ball to Boutte. “I felt like I underthrew it. As soon as it came off my hand, I was like, ‘Damn.’ He made an unbelievable play, a play that we needed at that time. The safety had tilted the opposite way, away from the X, where Kayshon was lined up. He did the rest. I was a mere speck on the play.”

Boutte, who’s now hauled in receptions of 30-plus yards in three straight games, said his earlier drops didn’t shake his confidence.

“There’s not a ball that I feel like I can’t catch,” he told reporters. “So I feel like my biggest thing after a drop is just not to get in my own head because I know it’s a play I can make. So just kind of putting that by and moving on.”

Despite Boutte’s late breakthrough, the Patriots will need more from their embattled receiving corps moving forward.

Boutte, Bourne, Thornton, DeMario Douglas and K.J. Osborn combined for seven catches on 16 targets for 78 yards in the win. Struggling second-round rookie Ja’Lynn Polk missed the game with a concussion, and fourth-rounder Javon Baker only played on special teams.

Bourne and Osborn, the only established veterans in that unit, saw four targets between them and finished with zero catches. Bourne has four catches for 29 yards in four games since his return from an ACL tear.

“Personally, I’ve just got to play better, man,” he said. “I hated that game. I just played so bad. I’ve just got to look in the mirror, too. I’ve got to make more plays, and as a group, we’ve just got to focus in and play better. It’s good to get a win, but there’s a lot to improve on.”

Bourne promised improvement in a postgame post on X, writing: “Ima play better NE!”