Do the New England Patriots have a wide receiver drama involving Kendrick Bourne and offensive line coach Matt Patricia? Bourne was notably underused in the Patriots' 20-7 road loss to the Miami Dolphins, sparking speculations that he might be in somebody's doghouse and that somebody could be Patricia, according to Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston during an appearance on Gresh & Keefe.

Against the Dolphins, Bourne only got one look from Mac Jones and he turned it into 41 receiving yards.

Curran said that Kendrick Bourne missed a meeting in the preseason, which Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald confirmed to be the Patriots' date with the Carolina Panthers.

“Can confirm Bourne was sent home from the Carolina game because he was late to the pregame squad meeting, where coaches basically take attendance. My understanding is Bourne’s issues with the offense have been about targets, not coaching. We’ll see if his targets change soon.”

Behavior aside, Kendrick Bourne's lack of playing time in Week 1 was also possible because the Patriots simply has him lower in the pecking order than the other New England wide receivers.

“Adding to this, based on his play in training camp and preseason, the Patriots saw Bourne as their fourth-best receiver coming out of camp,” per Callahan. “Accordingly, he saw fewer first-string reps in the final weeks of camp than Meyers/Parker/Agholor. And fewer snaps than all of them Sunday,”Callahan added.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had earlier said that Kendrick Bourne's minimal usage against the Dolphins was not something planned and was more of a fluid decision made based on the flow of the game.

Last season, Kendrick Bourne was among the chief targets downfield of quarterback Mac Jones. Bourne, was in fact, second on the team with 800 receiving yards to go with five touchdown catches on 55 receptions and 70 targets.  The arrival of DeVante Parker in Foxborough hasn't yet impacted Bourne's share of targets downfield, though, as evidenced by the mere two targets he received in Week 1.

With so many lines to read in between, it's probably best to just wait for how the Patriots will use Bourne in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road before making any more speculations.