Stephen A. Smith Calls Out Drake Maye and Romeo Doubs After Patriots Loss image
Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
With A.J. Brown expected to be out for the next four games, there is going to be a lot of focus on multiple players in New England's offense.
At the top of that list will be Romeo Doubs, who finished Wednesday night's game, his Patriots debut, with zero catches on three targets.
This was about as ugly of a start to the year as anybody could have imagined, though it's also important to recognize that it was just the first game of the season and Doubs will get more comfortable as the year goes on.
Despite that reality, it doesn't sound like Stephen A. Smith of ESPN is giving him much grace or time to figure things out. In fact, Smith had a lot to say about what could happen if Brown is injured, and none of it was very kind to Doubs.
“That is going to put the onus on a number two to be a number two when last night he [Doubs] didn’t look equipped to be a number three, let alone a number two, so that is something to be concerned about,” Smith said, H/T Pro Football Network.
“Particularly with Drake Maye making some of the decisions that he made last night, it definitely is not good news for the New England Patriots,” he added. “It’s not a death knell, but it’s not good news.”
It's tough to disagree with Smith in the simple sense of how poorly Doubs played on Wednesday, but it's also important to recognize that he's been a WR2 at other points throughout his career already with the Green Bay Packers.
This isn't a guy who was asked to fill some huge role that he never has before, so he ultimately should be more than fine.
More Patriots