Patriots
“We had a great drive, we just didn’t finish.”
Another stretch of offensive ineptitude for the Patriots on Sunday afternoon against the Giants apparently pushed wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to his breaking point.
According to NESN.com’s Dakota Randall, Smith-Schuster got into a heated exchange with Patriots wide receivers coach Troy Brown during the second quarter of Sunday’s 10-7 loss at MetLife Stadium.
The incident occurred after Mac Jones’s second interception of the day, with Randall reporting that Smith-Schuster slammed his helmet on its mount after his back-and-forth with Brown before sitting on the bench.
Following New England’s loss to New York, Randall asked Smith-Schuster about what led to that exchange along the sideline with Brown.
“It was just frustration of wanting to put points on the board,” Smith-Schuster told Randall. “We had a great drive, we just didn’t finish. Just frustrated that [we] had an opportunity to put points on the board and we didn’t.”
During the play where Jones was picked off for the second time, Smith-Schuster was not targeted — with the ball intended for Demario Douglas before it was plucked by Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke.
Smith-Schuster told Randall that his frustrations shared with Brown did not have to do with a lack of targets.
“No,” Smith-Schuster said. “I mean, the decision (Jones) made, he made. At the end of the day, I just — there’s just things that we need to work on. … (Don’t) force it, just take the points.”
Smith-Schuster’s blowup with Brown stands as a fitting outcome in what has been a miserable first season for the veteran wideout in Foxborough.
The 27-year-old receiver reeled in just two catches for 10 yards on Sunday against New York, with Smith-Schuster now up to 24 catches for 159 yards and one touchdown over nine games.
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