The Hits Keep Right on Coming as the Patriots Lose Kendrick Bourne for the Year With a Torn ACL

Were it any other team, losing a receiver who has 406 yards and four touchdowns halfway through the season to an ACL tear would be noteworthy. One of those cost of doing business things every NFL team deals with. And hardly worth the precious time of a handsome, desirable blogger to post about it.

But this isn't any other team. This is the 2023 New England Patriots. And losing Kendrick Bourne is the latest of the Biblical Plagues that have descended upon a roster that was thin to begin with. Without him, it's basically a piece of plastic wrap. One that's now stretched to the breaking point over a bowl of moldy leftovers that is this season. (I had no idea that's where this metaphor was going to end up once I started it. But it works.) 

How important was Bourne? He was nothing less than the best offensive player on this team all season. After surviving Matt Patricia's time out chair last year and admitting he had a literal Come to Jesus moment and cleaned up his act:

Movie Guide - Kendrick Bourne, joined the Sports Spectrum Podcast to talk about his love for Jesus and why he surrendered his life to God after hitting rock bottom. 

“I was a big partier; I’ve been partying all of my career really, and all of my life,” Kendrick began. “One night, I’m in Miami, I’m in my prime, I’m out partying. Drugs, alcohol, women, the whole nine.” 

“I was on a boat one night and something I drank put me into a spiritual realm, a demonic realm. It was really scary, and I almost didn’t have control of myself. I’ve always believed in God, I’ve always been a Christian, but I’ve never been truly in, truly surrendered as I am now,” he explained.

... he has been having a career year. A fan, team, and media favorite. By all accounts a leader in the locker room. And far and away the most reliable target Mac Jones has had, with:

• 55 targets, 21 more than the No. 2 guy.
• 37 receptions. RB Rhamondre Stevenson is second with 25.
• 406 yards. Hunter Henry is next with just 238.
• Four receiving touchdowns. The rest of the roster combined has five.

In rough numbers, depending on how you measure it, Bourne has been about 30-40% of the Patriots receiving production. And the one thing we know for sure is that over the remaining nine games, he'll be zero percent. 

In his absence, this is what the rest of the wideout crew has done to this point:

That's a total of 52 receptions and 488 yards. To put that in perspective, if those totals belonged to a single player, he'd be 10th in the league in catches and 23rd in receiving yards. 

And by the looks of things in Miami, we can expect DeVante Parker to be out a long time.  Which would bring the total to 37 and 330, or 30th and 59th in the league, respectively. 

Just to rub more salt in the open wound here, do you know who else has 37 receptions? Jakobi Meyers. He also has 385 yards and five touchdowns. And take a guess who currently has the 59th most yards, with 322. That would be Jonnu Smith. So either of two is producing as much as the Patriots entire wide receiver depth chart that will dress for the Washington game next Sunday. 

So let's just steer into the skid and accept that this is the kind of season we're forced to endure. On top of all the other ills that have befallen us - the offseason roster decisions that were disasters in hindsight, the mistakes that cost this team winnable games, a general lack of elite athletes all over the field - they're now going to field this collection of receivers this week and asking a third year quarterback who's already had his struggled to win with it. The football equivalent of one of those Food Network shows where they give you a pack of Ramens, some squid ink, a can of cat food and a box of "Oops! All Crunchberries" and tell you to make a Michelin Star meal with it. 

The bottom line is that the Patriots just lost their best offensive player to go along with losing Christian Gonzalez and Matt Judon, their top two defensive players. And we're less than halfway through the season. And the way things are going, they might want to keep Hunter Henry encased in bubble wrap when he's not playing. It's that kind of a season. 

Now if you'll excuse me, Bourne's "drugs, alcohol, women, the whole nine" are starting to sound pretty good right now. But I'm probably just going to just go lie down for a while. Maybe until the start of training camp.