FOXBOROUGH — It looked like DeMario Douglas was catching passes all summer, and that wasn’t just the eye test.
“Pop was the highest targeted player in all of training camp,” wide receivers coach Todd Downing said on Thursday afternoon.
That hasn’t translated to Sundays yet.
The shifty slot receiver has three catches for six yards in New England’s first two games, but coaches are bullish on how Douglas is handling things behind the scenes.
“The ball hasn’t found him as many times early in the season, but he hasn’t batted an eye,“ Downing said. ”His work ethic has stayed the same. His attitude and his contagious energy has stayed the same.”
Though six other Patriots pass catchers have more receptions than Douglas at this point, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said there hasn’t been a need to talk to Douglas about his smaller role to start the season. The third-year veteran is a professional.
“No conversations. I mean, Pop’s awesome,” McDaniels said. “Look, the game dictates a lot of things. Depending on how much we’re in third down, how much we’re in 2-minute situations, how much we’ve decided to play the game in one personnel grouping or another for multiple different reasons would dictate a lot of things for a lot of players. Every time we’re in three receivers, there’s only one back on the field. Every time we’re in two backs at the same time, there’s less. Anytime you put somebody else in, somebody else has got to come out.
