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Listening and reading a lot of the analysis on the New England Patriots coming out of last Thursday night’s loss at MetLife, you would think we’re at the midway point of the season and that what we’ve seen so far is a small sample of how the rest of this season will play out.
While the road will likely have some additional twists and turns, how things end will probably – or at least hopefully – look a little different.
The biggest challenge for this football team is going to continue to be up front, with the health and play of their offensive line being the key to all of it. Left tackle Vederian Lowe sat out of practice on Wednesday as he continues recovering from his knee injury, while Caedan Wallace, who suffered a knee injury of his own late Thursday night after starting in place of Lowe, was limited.
The Patriots appear closer to getting Sidy Sow back in the lineup after he suffered a preseason ankle injury. Rookie Layden Robinson has gotten the start at right guard since Sow has been out, with Robinson’s strength being in the ground game, although he’s struggled at times in pass protection. Sow was out there participating Wednesday and told reporters his ankle has responded well, but it remains to be seen when he might be back out there.
So far, to try and bolster what’s been a shaky group, the club has been working in an extra lineman at various points, which has been a strategy that has garnered some success. Before the Jets game, this was a key factor in the positive production in their ground game, adding an extra layer of physicality in their effort to control the line of scrimmage.
It worked out fairly well. Over the first two weeks, they held the ball for 34:03 and 35:42, respectively. However, last Thursday night, they had it for just 19:56 while the Jets had it for 40:04.
That’s, well, less than ideal.
They converted just 2-of-11 (18%) on third down, which repeatedly put the defense back on the field against Aaron Rodgers, who ended up having his best game since coming back from his Achilles injury this season. One of the issues contributing to that was the fact the defense had a tough time getting pressure on him, as well as allowing him to get outside the pocket.
Love him or hate him, Rodgers is too good a quarterback for that. With the defensive backs forced to cover longer, Rodgers certainly took advantage.
“Yeah, he was getting the ball out fast,” said Mayo after the game. “I would say one of the more disappointing things that we talked about, ad nauseam, was to keep him in the pocket. I felt like we, at too many times, let him out of the pocket, and this is a guy who can make all of the throws.”
That’s exactly what happened. Rodgers burned them multiple times, missing just a handful of throws all night after completing 27-of-35 for 281 yards and two touchdowns. It forced the Patriots into having to throw, and as the score started to get away from them, they became more one-dimensional.
That definitely didn’t turn out in their favor. It allowed the Jets defense to pin its ears back and bring pressure, finishing with 7 sacks, five on Jacoby Brissett, and two on Drake Maye, along with finishing with an incredible 15 total quarterback hits.
A lot of the talk following Drake Maye’s cameo appearance has been about pushing to get him out there sooner, especially after how the first three weeks have played out. New England finds itself even worse off than it was through three games in 2023, sitting second-to-last in scoring with an offense that feels like it’s lacking any type of spark to this point.
As much as it feels like a change might help, it’s tough to feel confident in putting him under center behind this current offensive line. Maye got lit up multiple times Thursday night, with one play seeing him try and side-step pressure, only to turn straight into a defender who wrapped him up and took him to the turf with a massive hit.
The one positive is that Maye got right back up and looked fired up about the play, which given his frame is a reminder that the Patriots now have a big, tough, player who will be carrying the torch when the time does come. However, Maye still looks like a player who is a work in progress and his near interception on his first throw coming off what was a slow release is a reminder that he’s still got some work ahead of him.
At the same time, his 4th down throw to Demario Douglas for 15 yards as Maye slid in the pocket and fired a perfect strike to the second-year wideout near the end of the game was a glimpse of what he’s capable of. That’s what fans are hoping to see more of. It’s just a matter of when he’ll get out there.
But until they can protect him, it’s tough to feel confident about putting him out there. What we’ve seen from Brissett so far is already a reminder of why it makes sense to allow things to play out along the offensive line. Brissett is no stranger to big hits, but even he’s starting to look like a player who is becoming more and more hesitant with the football, likely fearful that he’ll take a shot and possibly turn it over. He’s gone from someone who had been relatively decisive at the start of the season, to a player who is holding onto the ball longer than he should, albeit he’s also pulled off some miraculous plays on multiple occasions.
Still, the fact is he’s looked a little shell-shocked at times. Given that it’s happening to someone with his experience, it’s yet another reason why holding off on putting Maye out there makes sense.
At the end of the day, we’re just three weeks into the season, and this team has too many other questions it needs to answer before the rookie hits the field full-time. Given the direction things are heading, that time will come at some point, as the odds are pretty good the club will be somewhere at or below .500 by the midway point in four more weeks, which by then will hopefully see them at least have whatever band-aid approach they’re able to put together up front in place to make it through the season.
Until then, while it might be a little painful to get through some of these games, it’s going to require taking some additional lumps to allow them to get to that point.
Keeping Maye upright is the goal, especially for a player who they’re trying to help build confidence. If they can avoid putting him out there and prevent him from taking some of those hits, that certainly makes more sense. Otherwise, keeping Brissett out there until there’s more stability feels like the better option.
Make no mistake, playing Maye is going to be necessary, for a multitude of reasons beyond just their success on offense. The most important reason is going to be for the rookie to show some promise and hope heading into the offseason, which New England will need next March when they try and attract free agents.
Despite the amount of money they had to spend, the biggest challenge the Patriots dealt with was they had nothing to sell to the players they tried to bring in, which essentially saw them spurned by the majority of guys they approached. We saw that play out twice during the negotiations for Calvin Ridley and later Brandon Aiyuk, both of whom used New England to drive up their respective price tags, before Eliot Wolf ultimately walked away from the negotiations.
The odds are pretty good that the Patriots will be back in the mix and will be aggressive again next spring, but Maye’s performance will absolutely be paramount in whatever success they’re able to have at attracting free agents. As a result, they’re going to need to show that they’re a team on the rise with a promising young quarterback, which wasn’t the case prior to April’s draft.
When he’ll play is obviously the key question, and with 14 weeks remaining in this regular season, there’s certainly plenty of time for that. For now, getting some semblance of continuity up front is going to be the key to how this process will play out, and until that happens, there’s no point in playing the rookie.
Maye’s a tough kid, but if he takes as many shots as Brissett has in a short span, he’ll also be looking over his shoulder on each drop back, which will derail his development and challenge his own future success.
Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time to figure all of it out, although when it comes to the group on the offensive line, they may have to settle for just good enough and allow Maye to do the rest when he does finally take the field.
The good news is that the rookie is no stranger to adversity, having dealt with a fair amount of that at North Carolina. The bad news is that he’s likely going to be dealing with it at some point here against bigger and faster players. After what we saw Friday night, the Patriots still need time to figure that out before that opportunity happens.
In the end, Maye taking the field at some point this season is likely inevitable. Who or what the Patriots will be by the time that happens is the only unknown, but for them to be anything beyond who they are here in 2024 at this point is going to hinge on what happens when he does finally step in under center. The best-case scenario will be to see him grow and finish on somewhat of a high note, regardless of what the club’s record ends up being.
But the Patriots need to at least fill in some of the cracks in this current foundation before they take that step. Granted, that feels like a big ask at this point, which is why being patient and giving the line time to grow gives the rookie his best shot to build off his brief appearance last week.
Mayo said on Wednesday that Maye has looked good in practice but also added, “it’s just practice,” and essentially alluded to the fact Maye still has some work to do.
His time will come. Hopefully, by then, the Patriots will be ready to protect him a little better than what we saw last Thursday night.
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