With one more game to go before the 2024 exhibition season comes to an end, the New England Patriots will be ‘on to the Cincinnati Bengals,’ who the club will face on the road to kick off the season.
The only question will be who will be out there at quarterback to duel it out with Joe Burrow, with the hope of getting off to a 1-0 start in what’s expected to be a tough season.
Could rookie quarterback Drake Maye be that guy? After several good days of practice and a solid performance last Thursday night, it’s starting to sound like that might be the case.
Head coach Jerod Mayo appeared on WEEI on Monday and said during the interview that despite Jacoby Brissett being the expected starter, it’s very possible Maye could unseat him ahead of the season.
“100%,” said Maye on Monday when asked about that possibility. “We’re still in training camp. We still have our preseason game against Washington. And once again, we don’t have a starting quarterback right now. When it’s time, we’ll announce that. But he could absolutely be QB1. So could Jacoby. So we just got to see how it plays out.”
As far as what it would take for him to get there, Mayo said that it’s going to come down to whether or not Maye can continue stringing days together and keep trending in the right direction.
“I would say with all positions, it’s just consistency,” said Mayo. “You don’t want to ride the up and down waves. And that’s what he’s been proving here as of late. And we’ll see if this trajectory continues to go that way.”
The opinion certainly sounds like it’s changed from where it was a couple of weeks ago. Up until Thursday night, Brissett appeared to be the player who would get the starting nod to begin the season. However, he had a rough showing against the Eagles, which opened the door for Maye to start making a case for himself.
Overall, Brissett was just 3-of-7 for 17 yards and threw a costly end zone interception, which negated any shot the club had at getting points.
The veteran has had a rough preseason. He went 0-for-3 in his lone series against Carolina, bringing his total in back-to-back outings to 3-of-10 (30%) for 17-yards and his turnover.
Meanwhile Drake Maye finished 6-of-11 for 47 yards including a rushing touchdown, having engineered two scoring drives against a competitive Philadelphia defense. He was also 5-of-7 (71.4%) for 47 yards in that first half, including 2-of-3 on third down, both of which moved the chains.
Mayo was asked if he’s noticed a difference in the rookie since the Eagles game, and what it could be attributed to. The first-year head coach credited Maye’s success to his hard work and his steady approach, which is what has seen him make strides as of late.
“I mean, it’s attributed, first of all, to his hard work and dedication to his craft,” said Mayo. “This guy comes in early, leaves late. Every day, he’s one of those a life of guys, and he’s done a great job. But I would also say the coaches have done a good job meeting with him one-on-one, making sure that he’s comfortable in this game. But he’s absolutely getting better. That was part of the plan.”
So far, the plan to bring him along slowly has certainly appeared to begin seeing some dividends. The next question will be whether or not the rookie can build enough momentum over these next couple of weeks to possibly overtake Brissett at the top of the depth chart.
For now, Mayo said when it comes to who will be out there against the Bengals, that remains a question mark. And it’s one he won’t be able to answer until the club finishes the preseason and starts making a real evaluation.
“We still don’t know right now,” said Mayo. “We have another preseason game, and then a week after that. When I know, I’ll let you know.”
As the famous quote goes, “so, he’s saying there’s a chance?”
It certainly sounds like it. And that’s yet another reason why Sunday’s nights finale in Washington will certainly be that much more interesting.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
You can’t go by the media in comparing Brissetts summer snaps vs Maye’s. Why? Cuz summer games are not on par with the regular season. Specifically, teams like CIN, SF, NYJ, SEA (Sept opponents) will game plan for playing against a rookie QB (Maye) to fool him into mistakes on coverages and blitz reads etc. That does not happen in the pre-season games. The practices with 11on 11 are probably a better gauge for AVP and the coaches. That said, I think the baseline plan of playing the veteran that actually knows and played in the AVP offense (Brissett) is… Read more »