FOXBORO — Sunday’s win over the Falcons was an emotional day for Patriots wide receiver DeMario Douglas and running back Terrell Jennings.
The two Patriots players, who were also high school teammates at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Fla., were both mourning the loss of Douglas’ uncle, who died on Saturday night.
“He was with us. This whole morning was hard,” Douglas said, as emotions started getting the best of him. “As people came up to me, I tried to try to keep — I just tried to be a man, and I just had to put my head down. I just know he was with me, and he was with Terrell, too.”
Jennings described Douglas’ uncle as a “close friend to my family” and said he was “balling” for him.
Douglas had the first 100-yard performance of his career on four receptions with a touchdown. Jennings, who was signed off of the practice squad and onto the 53-man roster on Wednesday, scored his first NFL touchdown on an 11-carry, 35-yard performance.
“I saw the hole. As soon as I touched the end zone, I just praised the Lord,” Jennings said. “I’m thanking God in my head, like, thank you God. This is what I play the game for, to get in the end zone. My teammates being there, that made the whole experience better.”
Added Douglas: “That’s a blessing. We waited for this moment. Terrell did. He trusted the process, and he’s capitalizing and that’s a blessing.”
Both Douglas and Jennings saw their roles increase in Sunday’s game due to injuries. Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte suffered a hamstring injury early in the game and didn’t return, leading to more targets for Douglas.
Jennings split the Patriots’ workload out of the backfield with rookie TreVeyon Henderson after Rhamondre Stevenson was ruled out on Friday with a toe injury.
Douglas had a message for Jennings after his teammate had some doubts about when his opportunity would arise.
“I’m like, ‘trust the process.’” Douglas said. I never had that ‘trust the process’ moment until this year. Now I can really preach it. Trust the process and everything’s gonna play out right.”
Douglas said his “trust the process” moment came when he fell down the wide receiver depth chart this season. Despite seeing fewer snaps, he’s caught 18 passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns this season. He has 232 of those yards in his last four games.
