Content Post A dead period topic - Drake Maye expectations for year 3 - Realistic and otherwise

[mgteich]

I base my comments on the difficulty of the 2026 schedule and not your blind team worship.

OK, so the schedule costs us 3 games. That's still 11 wins. And, BTW, BUF's schedule is at least as difficult.

Do you think that we won't make the playoffs? There's even a good chance of us winning the division.

Once we are in the playoffs, the tough schedule won't matter much. Of course, we do have to play better in the playoffs than we did last year.

I don't expect us to have a bye. We should be in the playoffs with a better team than last year. And then we'll see what happens.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Like many here I think that the most important thing for Maye is going to be his processing speed , and that will affect the rest of his game. Last year MacDaniels system was brand new to Maye, and while he ran it really well now he's had a full offseason to go over all of the looks he faced and options available to him. This season he should be much faster understanding the looks defenses are giving him, and how to take advantage of them, Pocket presence, moving chains, cutting down on fumbles, and ultimately winning close games will determine his season more than big numbers will.

 

[TheRainMaker]

This season will be much more challenging for Maye and the team than last.

Tougher venues - Seattle and KC are the loudest stadiums in the NFL.
Better QBs - Darnold, Mahomes, Goss, Williams, Lawrence, Allen x 2, Nix.
Challenging travel - 2 West coast trips and 1 game in Germany.
Out of rhythm game dates and start times WNF - 7:20 pm, TNF - 7:15 pm ,MNF - 7:15 pm ,SNF - 7:20 pm, SMF - 8:30 am

The Chiefs have been the class of the AFC the last 8 years. The Pats are the first team to make it of the AFC since the Bengals in 2021, so they will have a bullseye on their back. Nobody thought the Pats were going to miss the playoffs in 2002, but they did due to the schedule being a gauntlet and the defense taking a major step back. Brady was constantly playing catch up and we were lucky they even went 9-7 that season.

This team will has the 3rd most primetime games, overseas game and will play many good QB's. Their defense will be tested.

And, the Pats 2025 film has been thoroughly dissected and broken down by at least every DC on the slate for this season. Like any good defense they will try to take away what Maye is good at. If they are successful, Maye will have to adjust.

The game plan will be for DL to put their heads into the chests of the Pats OL and drive them back into Maye. They were doing that throughout the 2025 playoffs. Brady had a period from 2009-2013 of weird pocket behavior after the Giants, Ravens and Rex Ryan's Jets were fooling him into believing someone was near him when they really weren't. Maye could start that behavior by taking off running if he doesn't trust the OL.

I do not observe that killer instinct in Maye like Brady. I see a roll with flow type QB in Maye. I did not like Maye whining to McDaniels how hard it was in the AFCC in Denver. Give me a break.

I think he was frustrated with how the OL was atrocious, his tendency of fumbling and them narrowly escaping Denver who didn't have their starting QB. A win is a win, but it was seriously concerning with the way they played before the blizzard.

 

[Ring 6]

Many fans are like you are ready for Dynasty 2.0 to resume. The champagne is chilling. The Homers have gone ape. All this talk about the Pats being the best team in the AFC is nonsense.

Yall will be throwing Anne Mayes cookies at Drake if he dont shape up.

Keep clowning yourself

 

[Ring 6]

Drink some more champagne.

I base my comments on the difficulty of the 2026 schedule and not your blind team worship.

You told us Polk and Baker were high potential weapons.

Where are they anyway?

Just incapable of admitting you are wrong. Like a disease.


And of course when you are exposed you make up a lie and say I said it.

 

[BTTA]

Many fans are like you are ready for Dynasty 2.0 to resume. The champagne is chilling. The Homers have gone ape. All this talk about the Pats being the best team in the AFC is nonsense.

Yall will be throwing Anne Mayes cookies at Drake if he dont shape up.

No harm in that optimism. It is a bunch of guys playing a game and pretending that it is way more important than it is. And none of them could care if any of us dropped dead tomorrow. May as well engage superficially.

 

[XLIX]

OK, so the schedule costs us 3 games. That's still 11 wins. And, BTW, BUF's schedule is at least as difficult.

As the denizens of this forum are well aware, the difference between a first place and 2nd place schedule (among 2 teams in the same division) is only 3 games. Despite coming in 2nd place, I think Buffalo has a raw deal with the tougher schedule:

NE: Seattle, Pittsburgh, Jax
Buffalo: Rams, Baltimore, Houston

No gimmes in there but I honestly prefer NE's schedule.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

As the denizens of this forum are well aware, the difference between a first place and 2nd place schedule (among 2 teams in the same division) is only 3 games. Despite coming in 2nd place, I think Buffalo has a raw deal with the tougher schedule:

NE: Seattle, Pittsburgh, Jax
Buffalo: Rams, Baltimore, Houston

No gimmes in there but I honestly prefer NE's schedule.

There is one other, sometimes important difference: BUF is an "A pair" team and NE is a "B pair" team, meaning NE goes on the road against KC and the Chargers while BUF plays DEN and LV on the road.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Our WR1 and WR2 are new to our system.

Listen to Julian Edelman on the Pats' playbook. Took him 3 years until he was comfortable in the system and 5 years to achieve a mind-meld with Brady:



Randy Moss of course thrived in year one, but Belichick said something to the effect that Moss was one of the smartest receivers he had ever coached.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I know there is lots of heartburn with many over the idea of replacing Boutte with AJB, but I really think it's going to supercharge this offense.

Drake's ability to throw downfield dimes in contested catch situations made Boutte the local hero that he is.

AJB is just more dynamic and will be a gravitational force in opposing secondaries, opening up the field for other receivers.

I think there is a good chance we win the AFC again.

Agree - and I'd say the main factors for Drake are:
- his experience level
- AJ Brown, a real WR1
- much better pass pro
- much better run game due to OL, Gilliam, & better RB depth
- stronger WR's 2-4 (Doubs, improved Williams, and two of Pop-Mack-Boutte), also Raridon once he acclimates

I don't see us punting very often. Tough schedule, but 12-5 is achievable. Nobody's really gonna want to play us.

 

[Triumph]

Keep clowning yourself

Keep on proposing your out in left field GM moves that always look foolish.

Maroney, Polk, Baker and Andy Johnson. The 4 Stooges.

 

[Triumph]

Just incapable of admitting you are wrong. Like a disease.


And of course when you are exposed you make up a lie and say I said it.

You lie so much that you had to get a new screen name.

I stated that I believe that Mayes career will more along the lines of Bledsoes. "Along the lines" means "similar", but youre too ignorant to understand.

 

[Triumph]

OK, so the schedule costs us 3 games. That's still 11 wins. And, BTW, BUF's schedule is at least as difficult.

I will be shocked to beat Seattle. Jax in September is brutal and I am no Lawrence fan, but he is better than Tua. NE beat the Phins last season in Miami, but that team was already showing cracks.

I dont see NE beating the Bills in Buffalo this year.

Do you think that we won't make the playoffs?

Yes. Everybody is counting the chickens before they're hatched like Maye is the next Pats HOFer.

There's even a good chance of us winning the division.

Once we are in the playoffs, the tough schedule won't matter much. Of course, we do have to play better in the playoffs than we did last year.

I don't expect us to have a bye. We should be in the playoffs with a better team than last year. And then we'll see what happens.

After the Cinderella season last year that nobody saw coming, I expect 2026 to be a down year.

 

[mgteich]

I will be shocked to beat Seattle. Jax in September is brutal and I am no Lawrence fan, but he is better than Tua. NE beat the Phins last season in Miami, but that team was already showing cracks.

I dont see NE beating the Bills in Buffalo this year.

Yes. Everybody is counting the chickens before they're hatched like Maye is the next Pats HOFer.

After the Cinderella season last year that nobody saw coming, I expect 2026 to be a down year.

A down year? OK

But what is a down year for a team that won 14 regular season games and was the AFC champion?

 

[TheRainMaker]

I stated that I believe that Mayes career will more along the lines of Bledsoes. "Along the lines" means "similar", but youre too ignorant to understand.

Not sure why anyone would get offended by this. Bledsoe was regarded to being among the NFL's best with many of the older guys like Elway, Young, Marino, Moon, Cunningham and Aikman getting set to retire. Bledsoe also had one of the most powerful arms in the NFL.

Unfortunately, some serious unfortunate circumstances happened which derailed that late 90's team and Bledsoe's career. I think had Parcells stayed, Bledsoe has more success. However, Brady is playing elsewhere - most likely SF.

What Maye has in his favor is stability with Vrabel, McDaniels and the staff staying put. They just traded for AJ Brown and have a solid team surrounding Maye. On the other hand, Bledsoe's teams were slowly deteriorating each year after the Super Bowl appearance in 1996.

The OL for 2026 is going to determine this team's fate.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

The math on that is tough. If the attempts per game are down to 25, as you indicated might happen, then 4500 yards is over 10 yards per attempt, and the greatest season in modern history based on that stat alone. If the running game is highly successful, then his stats might be great in every way but the volume numbers.

When Did I say or imply he’d be down to 25 attempts? I mean it’s the off season, I could have said just about anything, but I don’t think that was me. Worth thinking about, though — it’s easy to forget the Pats’ quite capable running game.

 

[BTTA]

When Did I say or imply he’d be down to 25 attempts? I mean it’s the off season, I could have said just about anything, but I don’t think that was me. Worth thinking about, though — it’s easy to forget the Pats’ quite capable running game.

Yeah, it wasn't you, it was Patfanken in the original post here. I just visually crossed up your user names.

 

[Ring 6]

You lie so much that you had to get a new screen name.

I stated that I believe that Mayes career will more along the lines of Bledsoes. "Along the lines" means "similar", but youre too ignorant to understand.

You stated “like Bledsoe missing the playoffs after losing a SB”

 

[Thelonious]

It's sort of great to have a young quarterback who is the sort of player who, when we see a list of areas in which he needs to improve, even quite a lengthy and detailed list, we feel entirely confident he will address every such area. I think his progress to this point has been exemplary, and that his character ensures that that sort of progress will continue. Even with all that he has accomplished, you still feel the remaining upside is pretty remarkable. So long as the O-line holds up, which is more likely than last year but still not a sure thing, I see no reason for anything but optimism.

 

[sb1]

For Maye it's all about the O-Line.

Looking forward to seeing the groupings in camp.