Pats Pulpit
The last time the New England Patriots played against the Houston Texans was a coming-out party for wide receiver Kayshon Boutte. Following a quiet rookie season and uneventful start to his sophomore campaign, he finished with 59 receiving yards and a touchdown on three catches.
The numbers do not jump off the page all while the Patriots ended up losing 41-21. And yet, Boutte caught the eye due to one play in particular: beating All-Pro cornerback to catch a 40-yard touchdown on a go route. It was both his first career score, as well as the first touchdown pass thrown by then-rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
Fifteen months later, Boutte will go up against the Texans again. And while he is well aware of the challenge, he also is full of confidence.
“Obviously, they’re a good unit. No. 1-ranked defense, whatever you want to say,” he told reporters at his Gillette Stadium locker on Thursday. “But we’re a good offense, too. We’re not going to discredit ourselves. Just keep doing the same things we’ve been doing, honestly.”
The Patriots’ primary outside receiver, Boutte is entering the divisional round of the NFL playoffs with 37 receptions for 617 yards and six touchdowns to his name, including a 4-catch, 66-yard outing versus the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday. However, the Texans are a different kind of animal.
Boutte knows what he will be in for against Stingley and company. For starters, the Texans are not a team heavy on disguises; they line up, and more often than not simply punch their opponents in the face — the type of play style the wideout himself is appreciate of.
“They’re just physical cornerbacks. But at the end of the day, I’m physical too. So, that’s a matchup I like every day of the week,” he said.
“It’s a lot of man coverage. Whether you say Cover 3, Cover 4, they sit and press it, and they play true man-to-man. It’s not something I’ve never seen before. Derek Stingley, good cornerback. Played against him in college; last year, too. I look forward to the matchup.”
For Boutte and the rest of the Patriots wide receiver, though, the secret lies in not focusing on the opponent but rather in looking inward.
“We know we’re going to get man coverage. We have to beat it. It’s that simple,” he explained.
“We’re going to do the same things we’ve been doing. At the end of the day, we want to make them try to adjust to how we play. They’re not too complicated on defense, not too many different looks. We’ll get a good tell at what they’re doing. But just being us.”
Ultimately, though, the 23-year-old acknowledges that it will all come down to execution.
“We just have to be on point with everything,” Boutte said. “They are a team that feeds off of an offense’s mistakes. So, if we take care of what we got to do, I think it all plays out.”
