Getty Tyquan Thornton of the Patriots
It has not been an easy go of things for New England Patriots wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, who was drafted in the second round by the team in 2022. He has been healthy for just 18 games in two seasons, and in that time, he has caught all of 27 passes, and just five in five games this season.
Thornton is supposed to be the Patriots’ field-stretching deep threat, but he has simply not grown into that role to this point. That is, in part, because one of the requirements for being a deep-threat receiver is that you’re able to catch the ball. And on Sunday against the Chargers, Thornton was open on a deep throw from Bailey Zappe, who gave him a very catchable ball.
Thornton, though, hit the ground, and did so without the ball.
Tyquan Thornton has to catch this football. What the hell are we doing here?
Defensive lineman Davon Godchaux did not like that one bit.
“Like, Tyquan had the guy beat by like three steps,” Godchaux told Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. “And we’ve gotta make those catches. The margin of error is so small. I still think Tyquan’s got a bright future, he’s a really, really talented guy. But the margin for error in this league is so small, man. One opportunity that you let slip, like — we didn’t really get another opportunity to throw another deep ball. DP (Devante Parker) had one, but he ended up being out of bounds.”
‘It’s F***ing Frustrating’
For the most part, even as things have devolved into an unwatchable mess on the offensive side of the ball for the New England Patriots, the members of the team’s stifling defense have kept a stiff upper lip. It’s not easy for a unit to do what the Patriots defense has done three games in a row now—giving up 10 or fewer points each time out—and watching the offense somehow score less.
The Patriots have scored 13 points over the last three weeks, and lost all three games that the Patriots defense had them in position to win. Godchaux broke ranks a bit in expressing his frustration to Callahan. He would like to see the offense, presumably including Tyquan Thornton, take accountability.
“It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating,” Godchaux told Callahan. “I’m not gonna sit up here and say, ‘You know, I still believe.’ It’s f—ing frustrating. Anybody can tell you that. You know, I thought Zappe made some good throws today. I thought there was a couple balls we could’ve caught as receivers, and those guys would tell you the same thing, too. They can take accountability, and we’ve all got (expletive) (expletive) we all messed up on. But the margin of error in this league is so small.”
Bailey Zappe, Tyquan Thornton Take Blame
In their defense, two members of the offense took responsibility for missing the deep throw to Tyquan Thornton—one was Thornton himself, and the other was Zappe.
Said Thornton: “Definitely frustrating, I wish I could get that one back. Just to make that play for our offense, I feel like we really needed that. I have got to do better at my job just to make that routine play.”
Zappe said he led Thornton a little too far on the throw. That is true to an extent—it was still a ball that Thornton should have come up with, even if Zappe did not hit him right in stride.
“There’s some times where I need to throw a better ball,” Zappe said. “Like the deep one to Tyquan, I need to throw it better. I led it too far. Maybe if I throw it six inches shorter, that’s a touchdown, he’s catching and running it. We’ve just got to keep grinding. Those guys are doing phenomenal. I’ve just got to get them the ball.”