FOXBORO — All summer, the chatter was about how deep the New England Patriots' wide receivers were. Adding A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs would help unlock a different part of this offense we didn't see a season ago.
But four weeks into the year, we really never got to mention DeMario Douglas or Kyle Williams a whole lot. Hell, before Efton Chism's heroics in Buffalo, he was rarely brought up. But now that Mack Hollins went down with a calf injury, all three of those players were crucial parts of the team's success in Week 5.
Douglas got the scoring started early in the Patriots' 45-17 beatdown of the Las Vegas Raiders, sprinting untouched for an opening 25-yard touchdown catch. Williams tacked on a team-high 91 yards after making a 34-yard touchdown grab of his own. Douglas would find the end zone once more in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Chism was targeted the most out of any pass catcher (six) and caught five of them for 57 yards.
It was a great day for a room that only had four players suit up at kickoff.
"They're all ready to go. They all played different positions. That's not easy, you know, to learn three different positions and being able to step in there and block and make plays," Mike Vrabel said postgame. "The ball found each and every one of them. And I think (wide receivers coach) Todd (Downing) does a great job, and I think they all care about each other.
"Those receivers, they, they don't care who catches the ball. They don't care who catches a touchdown. They're just as excited for the next guy if it was them, and I think that that's truly what we wanna build around here, you know? And I gotta get it to be the entire team. I gotta get the entire team to look at it like that."
Downing, in his second year with the team, has preached "serving" in the meetings — and that was on display today.
"I feel like that's what God put us on this earth to do," Douglas said. "To serve others. And man, I feel like our group has been harping on that."
Offensive Monsoon Gives WRs Larger Opportunities
Part of their outing was the emergence of the true Drake Maye, who racked up five total touchdowns today in his first 300-yard game since December of last season. When the quarterback is firing on all cylinders, it helps out the wide receivers who might be playing in larger roles than they might have a year ago.
Maye was very complimentary of them.
"I'm confident in myself and my abilities and the guys around me," the quarterback said, who also connected with Hunter Henry for his own first touchdown of the season.
That group might not have had the largest external expectations coming into this game against a Raiders team that had more wins. But inside their locker room, those receivers knew what they were capable of.
"It's just how much respect we have for everyone's work ethic on a day-to-day basis," Chism said in front of his locker. "We all love each other. We're a tight group, and so I love seeing Kyle score, Rome score, Pop. It's just awesome. And with Mack and A.J. out — everyone is just so close and tight. It's an awesome room and I'm very blessed to be a part of it."
"We have a lot of talent. Everybody can do everything in that room," Williams said. "So when you gave a room like that, it's kind of easy. When people go down for them to step up because it's like we already know what they come with. And the preparation. ... It's not even a question what we did out there. It's not even a question of why it happened or how it happened because the preparation is what led us here today."
The Patriots will have the opportunity to get Brown back off of IR this week after his four-week hiatus. Adding that weapon into this receiving room should work wonders for this passing attack as it starts to find its groove.
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