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

This is 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.