{"id":95317,"date":"2025-09-19T09:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T09:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=95317"},"modified":"2025-09-19T09:42:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T09:42:44","slug":"why-patriots-coaches-are-praising-veteran-wrs-unselfishness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=95317","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS PRAISE: New England coaches can\u2019t stop talking about a veteran WR\u2019s shocking unselfishness, a rare move that\u2019s blowing up inside the locker room and sparking debate across the NFL as fans wonder if this quiet sacrifice could secretly change everything for the team\u2019s playoff push."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<nav aria-label=\"articleLabel\">\n<ol id=\"articleLabel__list\">\n<li id=\"articleLabel__listItem\">Patriots<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<ul>\n<li><time datetime=\"2025-09-20175832742800000:17:08\">Updated: Sep. 20, 2025, 12:17 a.m.<\/time><\/li>\n<li><span aria-hidden=\"true\">|<\/span><time datetime=\"2025-09-18175821365200016:40:52\">Published: Sep. 18, 2025, 4:40 p.m.<\/time><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\">\n<article id=\"arc-HO7TYTFDYRDIBMJNKFHZNOMXYI\" data-type=\"article\">\n<div>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<div><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/resizer\/v2\/CY67T6Q6HFCPLOQMFMN2WCJUSI.jpg?auth=9b34045110f35adae840b3aff6a2e6f7571b1d1add3e79abea7b0075253d0009&amp;width=500&amp;smart=true&amp;quality=90 500w\" media=\"(max-width: 500px)\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/resizer\/v2\/CY67T6Q6HFCPLOQMFMN2WCJUSI.jpg?auth=9b34045110f35adae840b3aff6a2e6f7571b1d1add3e79abea7b0075253d0009&amp;width=800&amp;smart=true&amp;quality=90 800w\" media=\"(max-width: 800px)\" sizes=\"80vw\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/resizer\/v2\/CY67T6Q6HFCPLOQMFMN2WCJUSI.jpg?auth=9b34045110f35adae840b3aff6a2e6f7571b1d1add3e79abea7b0075253d0009&amp;width=1280&amp;smart=true&amp;quality=90 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, (max-width: 800px) 80vw, 60vw\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/resizer\/v2\/CY67T6Q6HFCPLOQMFMN2WCJUSI.jpg?auth=9b34045110f35adae840b3aff6a2e6f7571b1d1add3e79abea7b0075253d0009&amp;width=1280&amp;smart=true&amp;quality=90\" alt=\"Why Patriots coaches are praising veteran WR\u2019s unselfishness\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>New England Patriots wide receiver DeMario Douglas (3) celebrates a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders with center Garrett Bradbury, center, and running back Rhamondre Stevenson (38) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p id=\"F7OCCFQNUBF4ROKC5GHALXP7I4\">FOXBOROUGH \u2014 It looked like DeMario Douglas was catching passes all summer, and that wasn\u2019t just the eye test.<\/p>\n<p id=\"PAG7O22HXRCAPO537Z54NKZJFE\">\u201cPop was the highest targeted player in all of training camp,\u201d wide receivers coach Todd Downing said on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5WKMQR66QFEGRFDOCVEBNHKRLA\">That hasn\u2019t translated to Sundays yet.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ISMO4ONVINHQ7CJ3XP7S32JXRE\">The shifty slot receiver has three catches for six yards in New England\u2019s first two games, but coaches are bullish on how Douglas is handling things behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p id=\"UGASQM4TGNHJVIL4ELFLWTUDDM\">\u201cThe ball hasn\u2019t found him as many times early in the season, but he hasn\u2019t batted an eye,\u201c Downing said. \u201dHis work ethic has stayed the same. His attitude and his contagious energy has stayed the same.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"WVKY2Y2WHZENLKMUXO7SOKRSTY\">Though six other Patriots pass catchers have more receptions than Douglas at this point, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said there hasn\u2019t been a need to talk to Douglas about his smaller role to start the season. The third-year veteran is a professional.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5PWPDRBOI5GENAGD3TIHODTUO4\">\u201cNo conversations. I mean, Pop\u2019s awesome,\u201d McDaniels said. \u201cLook, the game dictates a lot of things. Depending on how much we\u2019re in third down, how much we\u2019re in 2-minute situations, how much we\u2019ve 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\u2019re in three receivers, there\u2019s only one back on the field. Every time we\u2019re in two backs at the same time, there\u2019s less. Anytime you put somebody else in, somebody else has got to come out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After being &#8220;the highest targeted player in all of training camp,&#8221; Pop Douglas hasn&#8217;t seen many passes in the early going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":95324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS PRAISE: New England coaches can\u2019t stop talking about a veteran WR\u2019s shocking unselfishness, a rare move that\u2019s blowing up inside the locker room and sparking debate across the NFL as fans wonder if this quiet sacrifice could secretly change everything for the team\u2019s playoff push. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=95317\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS PRAISE: New England coaches can\u2019t stop talking about a veteran WR\u2019s shocking unselfishness, a rare move that\u2019s blowing up inside the locker room and sparking debate across the NFL as fans wonder if this quiet sacrifice could secretly change everything for the team\u2019s playoff push. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After being &quot;the highest targeted player in all of training camp,&quot; Pop Douglas hasn&#039;t seen many passes in the early going.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=95317\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T09:42:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T09:42:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/LUU-88.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrLuu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrLuu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=95317\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=95317\",\"name\":\"\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 PATRIOTS PRAISE: New England coaches can\u2019t stop talking about a veteran WR\u2019s shocking unselfishness, a rare move that\u2019s blowing up inside the locker room and sparking debate across the NFL as fans wonder if this quiet sacrifice could secretly change everything for the team\u2019s playoff push. - 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