FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Patriots used to love making use of bulletin board material whether it was legitimate or not. Rodney Harrison often made up slights, just to keep an edge and keep teammates motivated.

And usually, those Patriots teams delivered to silence all the naysayers, real or imagined.

This year, however, the jabs and put-downs haven’t been imagined, or made up, especially when it comes to the Patriots’ receiving corps. They’re very real.

For instance, in Mike Sando’s annual Quarterback Tiers, featured in The Athletic, one of the evaluators Sando spoke with said that Patriots quarterback Mac Jones has “the worst supporting cast of any young quarterback.”

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, meanwhile, had the Patriots ranked 26th when it came to wide receiver, tight end and running back talent.

There’s plenty more.

Locally, the Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi said this during a recent television appearance when asked what he’s seen of the receivers in camp: “Stink, stank and stunk.”

At the time, the notion wasn’t an exaggeration. Patriots receivers struggled until the team started practicing in pads.

It is fairly evident Kendrick Bourne has taken notes. During his media session following practice Sunday, it was apparent those words were etched in his brain when asked about the confidence level of the receiving group.

“We got a lotta confidence, man. We got a lot of doubters, so we got a lot to prove, so I’m excited, man,” Bourne said. “It’s good to be the underdog sometimes. They don’t know we’re coming.”

Bourne wasn’t done. Right before taking a last question, he threw out the Giardi line – “Stink, stank and stunk” – before exiting.

By the sound of it, the receivers have a chip on their shoulders. And it is rather large. It seems they’ve been paying attention to all the knocks on the receiving corps, even though Patriots Coach Bill Belichick stresses that players “ignore the noise.”

They’ve made mental notes of all the talk about how much the team needed to add DeAndre Hopkins just to have a chance to be competitive. They’ve digested all the chatter about them not being good enough.

So listening to Bourne on Sunday, they’re out to prove the pundits and naysayers wrong. Maybe the Red Sox don’t like the President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom calling them underdogs, but the Patriots’ receivers are embracing the term in their fight to be considered better than good.

Catching up with Bourne after the media scrum, he provided further context to the “Us Against the World” mentality the unit has adopted.

“There’s always going to be doubters, but we don’t look for approval from the outside world,” Bourne told MassLive. “We look for the approval of Bill (Belichick), first and foremost, and our coaches. If they feel good about us, and confident with us, then we believe in ourselves.

“When we all believe together, the confidence is high, so we can prove it to the world, that we are who we say we are, we are who we feel we are, and then we can go out and show everyone and make them believe.”

Bourne wasn’t alone when it came to delivering that message.

DeVante Parker first tweeted his approval of Bourne’s comeback to all the naysayers, Giardi in particular.

And then, following a Giardi tweet during practice about Parker doing a nice job of high-pointing the football over Jack Jones, the receiver followed up with his own tweet: “Stink, stank, stunk.”

So they’re having a little fun with it, but also trying to use it to their advantage. But with that, comes a word of caution – they’re going to need to deliver to really have the last laugh.

As Bourne said, it’s on them to prove the detractors wrong. It’s on them to show that they’re better than advertised. It’s on them to squash the “Stink, stank, stunk” narrative.

If they can’t, more egg on their face.

Still, Bourne says it’s hard to ignore the noise when it hits close to home. Players become even more focused on righting what they consider a wrongful depiction of their talents. With no catches and a drop during the competitive team drills at Sunday’s non-padded practice, Bourne could have picked a better time to push back at being disrespected. But he couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

“Yeah, it’s definitely hard to ignore the noise with social media nowadays, but for us, it’s just about doing what you’re supposed to do every day. Coming in and getting better every single day, building your confidence,” he said. “Silencing the doubters comes with work. It comes with putting it in every day … in the end, we know how we feel. We know what we’re capable of.”

Time will tell.

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