Bedard: Team thinks Maye has made a huge leap forward this offseason.

[Huckleberry1]

No one has any idea how Maye will look next season. Not me. Not you. Not Vrabel. Not Maye.

A step forward or back is possible. Just as is holding serve. Personally I think it is highly likely his cast will be much better so that will help. He didn't have a great cast last year and it showed in the playoffs. But we need to be fair. He also wilted a bit under the lights. It was a bit concerning cause 3 or 4 games he wasn't good, even considering his competition. Personally I think he did very well in the Houston game all things considered. The other 3 were meh to bad even when adjusting for his 10 being vastly outplayed by the other 11.

I don't need his stats to be better really. I need his choices to be better. Maye still has a number of weaknesses in his game.

1 His pocket awareness is suspect. He is at times late to buy space. A step forward or to the side would have made some forced fumbles not happen. Too many times he stood like a statue in a collapsing pocket that had an escape path and didn't take it before throwing. This was perhaps the best part of Brady's game. He was a master of pocket movement and knowing who was around him. It was rare late in his career to have a ball knocked out of his hand while in motion. This develops a bit over time, but right now it can be moved a whole grade up from a C- to a B- if he focuses on it this off season.

2 Sometimes his passes sail high. This to me is a mechanics issue. When he misses he misses high, not low. This is a problem and he needs to figure it out. Every QB misses and his miss rate is certainly really good, but it is better to miss more often and miss low than miss less often and miss high. A lot of picks came from these high misses.

3 Red zone progressions needs to be faster. Maye had issues in the red zone so far in his career, and it is not just his targets. When things compress they move fast and you need to make a choice. Too often when he succeeded in the red zone it was cause he dropped a beautiful pass in over the top. Sensational stuff. But those are hard and low probability. The guys who do well here deliver a lightning strike between defenders with anticipation. He doesn't do this well yet. Few guys do to be fair. But the great ones do. I think he has the processing speed to make it work. He just needs to work at it.

If he fixes these 3 things he is the best QB in the NFL right now.

Bob, he was the best player in the NFL last year, and as hard as they played they wouldn't have sniffed .500 without him. I get that there are areas he needs to improve, but the idea that he's some big question mark going into the season is absurd. That was his first year in MacDaniels system and he played brilliantly in it. People are talking about his " processing speed," and " not making his checkdowns" etc etc like they actually know what they are talking about, when in truth they don't even know what play was called. And as far as his " pocket awareness" goes you are talking about a guy whose OL played poorly when they played good defenses, and who was " aware" enough to get the hell out of out of the pocket and get them 1st downs when they needed them.

I'll say it one more time, Maye has things to improve on, but the claim that he's some unknown quantity is ridiculous. He's the best young player in football, and we are really lucky to have him on this team. The future would be bleak without him, even with good coaching, as teams with no quarterback always suck.

And to the Captain, Sam, FCB, and the rest of the miserable ****s who are never satisfied, go suck your own ****s, or Felger's, and root for another team, because nothing any Patriots team does is ever going to satisfy you.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

It's a bit of a Oxy moron for me when I think of last years record..because with last year's roster we had some tough battles in the postseason.. the idea for us is getting back to the superbowl and winning itmm

Beating the chargers and the Texans both by double digits showed this team is legit. 14 wins is still doable with this schedule if the moves work out and we have decent health.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

No worries. I should have better clarified. The impact of having a bruising full back, a when healthy unquestionable top 10 OL in Vera-Tucker, a meat head with the brushing mentality in the blocking TE in Hill. Along with Rham who was awesome down the stretch last season.. so in summary I don't mean a singular player here who's Dillon as there's only one Corey Dillon.. I'm simply referring to Dillon and his impact he had on the running game and Brady as a whole. If the running game is better like I tend to believe it will then Drake will become greatly benefited from it.. look at how Josh allen and his running game benefited him last season.. Hopefully this clarifies what I was trying to say..

I gotcha. Yes, lots of upside there!

 

[KamikazeKnight]

I really hope this ends up being true lol. It was so good to have football being fun to watch again instead of just frustrating, and he'll have to be good with this schedule we've got.

 

[Real fan 02]

Beating the chargers and the Texans both by double digits showed this team is legit. 14 wins is still doable with this schedule if the moves work out and we have decent health.

Absolutely patsy.. look at all the sum of the parts.. we have essentially 3 Head coaches on the roster Vrabel, Josh and Doug Marrone.. we have an added advantage at coach and QB each week this season.. I believe in this team the culture and the direction the teams headed..

 

[BobDigital]

Bob, he was the best player in the NFL last year, and as hard as they played they wouldn't have sniffed .500 without him. I get that there are areas he needs to improve, but the idea that he's some big question mark going into the season is absurd. That was his first year in MacDaniels system and he played brilliantly in it. People are talking about his " processing speed," and " not making his checkdowns" etc etc like they actually know what they are talking about, when in truth they don't even know what play was called. And as far as his " pocket awareness" goes you are talking about a guy whose OL played poorly when they played good defenses, and who was " aware" enough to get the hell out of out of the pocket and get them 1st downs when they needed them.

I'll say it one more time, Maye has things to improve on, but the claim that he's some unknown quantity is ridiculous. He's the best young player in football, and we are really lucky to have him on this team. The future would be bleak without him, even with good coaching, as teams with no quarterback always suck.

And to the Captain, Sam, FCB, and the rest of the miserable ****s who are never satisfied, go suck your own ****s, or Felger's, and root for another team, because nothing any Patriots team does is ever going to satisfy you.

I didn't say he was some big question mark. I am saying there is a question of how good he is. And there is. The sample size is still too small to know where he ends up. No one knows after year 2 for sure what a QB is. They have a range, but don't know. His range right now seems borderline top 5 to best in the NFL give or take. Good range to be in going into year 3. Josh Allen was in much the same boat at this point in his career. Once he started repeating and improving on year 2 during year 3 it was clear. Maye can, and i think will do the same. But i don't know he will.

That is all I am saying. And if he wants to do the same he needs to tighten up on some weaker areas of his game, cause defenses will game plan for them more.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I didn't say he was some big question mark. I am saying there is a question of how good he is. And there is. The sample size is still too small to know where he ends up. No one knows after year 2 for sure what a QB is. They have a range, but don't know. His range right now seems borderline top 5 to best in the NFL give or take. Good range to be in going into year 3. Josh Allen was in much the same boat at this point in his career. Once he started repeating and improving on year 2 during year 3 it was clear. Maye can, and i think will do the same. But i don't know he will.

That is all I am saying. And if he wants to do the same he needs to tighten up on some weaker areas of his game, cause defenses will game plan for them more.

Bob, I respect your football knowledge, and have given you credit for when it was due, but you clearly said he was a big question mark. That's what " nobody knows how good he is" means. And he took a team that went from total ****, to possibly decent, to the Super Bowl. And they wouldn't have even sniffed the playoffs without him. He's the best young player in the league, hands down. Does he need to keep improving, of course, even the GOAT spent his entire career trying to improve every season. Maye isn't a question mark, he's a really good young QB, period.

 

[Real fan 02]

I gotcha. Yes, lots of upside there!

Absolutely.. I love the way Vrabel's reinforced the trenches.. the superbowl showed exactly how important trenches are..

 

[n1997y]

Maye is turning heads in the film room

Is that the Patriots answer to the Jetes winning the offseason again?

 

[Real fan 02]

if Maye can accept a net neutral play, and cut his int's from 8 to 6, his fumbles from 8 to 4 and his sacks from 47 to 20, I would be thrilled.
simply cut the negative plays in half.
learn to "live for the next play".

Goat had Double digit INTs his first 7 years... just saying

 

[n1997y]

According to Vrabel Maye follows the play and checkdowns as they are called, and he said this repeatedly last season. So if people have an issue with the checkdowns it's with MacDaniels.

I think there is a difference between what checkdowns the QB takes, and when (or if) he takes thes them.

So I interpret Vrabel’s support for Maye as saying he follows the sequence of where to go with checkdowns as called.

I don’t think that says anything about how quickly he check down from the first look, which is where I think he has a problem.

I’d be very surprised if McDaniels and Vrabel were calling plays that say “this is your first checkdown, but we really want you to hang in the pocket until you get hit or have to run for your life before you take it.”

 

[mgteich]

I do agree we’ve upgraded the team a bit,

I think that the Offense has been upgraded more than just a bit.

 

[n1997y]

We had 3 4 playoff teams to end last season & only lost 1

Four.

Teams we played in the wild card, divisional, AFCCG, and Super Bowl were all playoff teams.

 

[n1997y]

I do agree we’ve upgraded the team a bit, regular season win wise it may get cancelled out by the tougher schedule though. My hope is the upgrades at ol and wr will help us against the elites should we be back in the sb picture.

So if those factors cancel out that means we should be expecting the effects of the tougher schedule to be offset by the improvements.

In other words, we are looking forward to another 14-3 season?

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I think that the Offense has been upgraded more than just a bit.

True, at least once the aj brown deal is finalized

 

[p8ryts]

So if those factors cancel out that means we should be expecting the effects of the tougher schedule to be offset by the improvements.

In other words, we are looking forward to another 14-3 season?

14-3 season is hard to do regardless of how good the team is. For me, the benchmark is the playoffs.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

So if those factors cancel out that means we should be expecting the effects of the tougher schedule to be offset by the improvements.

In other words, we are looking forward to another 14-3 season?

If the aj brown trade goes through i see us somewhere around 14-3. I feel like the offense will explode and the defense is slightly better too. Alot is riding on health though too

 

[n1997y]

One quibble, maybe two.

People are talking about his " processing speed," and " not making his checkdowns" etc etc like they actually know what they are talking about, when in truth they don't even know what play was called. And as far as his " pocket awareness" goes you are talking about a guy whose OL played poorly when they played good defenses, and who was " aware" enough to get the hell out of out of the pocket and get them 1st downs when they needed them.

Don’t need to know what the checkdown was to know when he did not checkdown at all.

People saying there are things he could improve on aren’t necessarily saying he’s not already good. He is a good young QB, no doubt. But he is young, and he’s not perfect. Talking about where he is less than perfect shouldn’t be seen as saying he’s not good.

 

[n1997y]

14-3 season is hard to do regardless of how good the team is. For me, the benchmark is the playoffs.

Yes, and what I saw in the playoffs last year was a young and thin team that had been punching above their level all season run into injuries and better competition at the same time and still not have the wheels fall off until the Super Bowl.

The key is injuries. It will be this season, as it was last season, and is every season.

 

[Huckleberry1]

One quibble, maybe two.

Don’t need to know what the checkdown was to know when he did not checkdown at all.

People saying there are things he could improve on aren’t necessarily saying he’s not already good. He is a good young QB, no doubt. But he is young, and he’s not perfect. Talking about where he is less than perfect shouldn’t be seen as saying he’s not good.

I don't disagree with the idea that Maye has things to work on, what I disagree with is people saying and acting like he hasn't proven anything already, which there are numerous examples of.

As far as checkdowns go we disagree. I think people are talking out of their asses on the subject, and the times he never checked down at all are usually when he's got less than 2 seconds to throw.