Patriots WR reacts to Miami locker room reports

FOXBOROUGH — Kendrick Bourne has seen the reports about the lighthearted tenor of the Patriots postgame locker room after a blowout loss to the Dolphins. MassLive’s Mark Daniels captured the scene well:

“At 4:28 p.m. Drake Maye was in the hallway of Hard Rock Stadium’s visitors locker room. The Patriots’ 34-15 loss hit the rookie quarterback hard. Before meeting with the media, Maye stood outside the door of the press conference room where he leaned up against a large blue bin with his head in his left arm.

“Just around the corner, it was a different scene with several players on offense smiling and laughing with one another. It was a strange scene for a team that was embarrassed by the Miami Dolphins. Although not everyone was happy – several players were upset – the sounds of light laughter filled the side of the room where offensive players got dressed. The mood was in stark contrast to the Patriots quarterback.”

• BETTING: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.

In his eighth NFL season, Bourne has been on both terrific teams and abysmal ones. In the locker room at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, the wideout was asked whether losing hurts this Patriots team enough.

“That’s a great question,” Bourne replied. “I look at losing, we have to learn from it. We’ve gotta use it in a certain way. I’ve seen the reports about us laughing or whatever. I don’t really know. But I think it’s a mindset. We can’t be pouting around also. We can’t just hold on to bad things. We have to move on.

“So I think there’s a balance to it. Not taking it as a joke. It’s not funny to lose. It’s not a joke at all. But there’s also a balance of, we can’t hold on to the past and let our mistakes, let the losses affect this week. So I think of that as balance. We take it serious. We want to be better. But, also not let it affect us moving forward.”

Seemingly always upbeat, Bourne also pointed out that there are plenty of different personalties in an NFL locker room, and players process things in a number of ways.

“Everybody takes it different,” Bourne said. “I always try to think positive. So I kinda can move on fast. But I do take it to heart. I do go look in the mirror and honestly tell myself if I played good enough or bad enough. If I did anything to help the team. So if we evaluate it honestly, if we’re being transparent with ourselves, I think that’s the best way to look at it. But everybody is different. Some might just be mad for a week and that’s how they move. I’m not mad at that player or this player. If my teammate is smiling and happy and my other teammate is mad, I know (one) personality from building a relationship with him and I know (the other) personality from building a relationship with him. So I don’t look at it as that. I just look at it as I know my teammate.”