When New England Patriots rookie Drake Maye took the field three weeks ago against the Houston Texans, the big question was whether or not he could flourish behind the mess that was their offensive line and turn around what had been a floundering offense.
Yet, somehow, Maye has far exceeded expectations and has drastically altered the outlook and trajectory of a franchise that had been heading in a tough direction under first year head coach, Jerod Mayo. With Jacoby Brissett as the starter, the club was at the bottom of the league in scoring, with the Patriots ranked second to last above just the Miami Dolphins with 62 total points through five games.
Over that span, Brissett threw just two touchdown passes, with the veteran often holding onto the football for longer than he should. Part of that was due to what had been a makeshift offensive line as the Patriots tried to find answers at both tackle positions, along with center being added to their list of issues after David Andrews was lost for the season. Brisset racked up 17 sacks and took an absolute beating as the Patriots lost four straight following their win over the Bengals in Week 1.
Some of those sacks were self-inflicted, with Jerod Mayo also alluding to the fact the ball wasn’t coming out as fast as it should have been. Still, he praised Brissett for his toughness but was clearly frustrated with the direction his team was headed.
After going toe-to-toe with the Seahawks in an overtime loss in Week 2, things dropped off as the club managed just 3, 13, and 10 points on offense over the next three games.
But things changed when Maye took over. The rookie went out and threw three touchdowns in a loss to the Texans, with turnovers being the key to what went wrong in that game. The following week in London, Maye went out and completed 70.3% of his throws and threw two touchdowns against Jacksonville, including an 11 play, 68 yard scoring drive to open the game.
But following that drive, the defense allowed two straight touchdown drives, along with a 96-yard punt return for a touchdown, which capped off a 22-point second quarter for the Jaguars, putting Maye and the offense in a hole they couldn’t quite dig out of. The Patriots were then forced to abandon their running game, running just three times in the second half as Jacksonville went on to win 32-16.
However, against the Jets, Maye had gotten off to a fast start. He put together a 10-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 17-yard touchdown run Maye took in himself on their second offensive series. That score put the Patriots up 7-0, and it looked like things were going their way.
But an 18-yard run by Maye on a scramble on New England’s next possession saw him take a helmet to the back of his head, leaving him dazed as he needed help getting to his feet. Following the hit, Maye clearly wasn’t himself, and the offense stalled and was forced to punt. The rookie was then replaced by Brissett, and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Up to that point, Maye had been in relative command of the offense and had racked up 46 yards and a touchdown running the ball through just over one-quarter of play. They were moving the chains, and Maye was responsible for three of the team’s five rushing first downs.
Improvement In Scoring
Maye’s touchdown before his departure added to a point total that saw him responsible for the offense’s 44 points through three games, which isn’t far off from the 62 Brissett managed in his five starts. In fact, after the team’s performance on Sunday, the Patriots have actually scored a total of 62 points in their last three games, matching that previous total. That ranks them 16th in the league over that span, which is a massive jump from where they were previously at 31st overall.
But looking at the quarterback play overall, the second-half totals are where Maye has absolutely shined. Against both Houston and Jacksonville, Maye completed a combined 25-of-38 (65.8%) for 305 yards, along with 3 touchdowns and one interception. He completed 63.2% of his throws against Houston, and 68.4% against the Jaguars.
Through six games, which includes his second-half performance on Sunday, Brissett was a combined 52-of-90 (57.8%) for 496 yards and just one touchdown.
Brissett only eclipsed the 60% completion mark in the second half twice during his previous starts, coming into Sunday’s game having completed 38-of-67 (56.7%) for 367 yards and a touchdown. Sunday saw him complete 14-of-23 (60.9%) in the second half during the Patriots’ comeback win over the Jets, which was just the first time he’s completed over 60% of his throws over the final two quarters since he did it against the Jets back in Week 3.
One other area of note has been in the red zone. Prior to Sunday’s game, Brissett was just 8-of-17 (47.1%) for 27-yards and two touchdowns. During Maye’s brief time as a starter, he’s already 3-of-5 (60%) with two touchdowns. On Sunday, Brissett had his best day in the red area, completing 4-of-6, including 3-of-5 in the final quarter, where he led them on that game-winning drive.
The veteran appeared to have at least benefited from the time off, and like Maye, seemed to have a different perspective having watched the previous couple of games from the sideline.
For now, Maye’s emergence appears to have turned the tide for an offense that had been spinning its wheels before he took over. The only question might be when we might see him back on the field, with Maye reportedly having been limited in practice so far this week. If he can’t go, one would have to hope things carry over for Brissett against what should be a beatable Titans team.
Should he return in two weeks, it would certainly set up an interesting match-up. Maye would potentially have a chance to match last year’s win total for the club in a showdown against fellow rookie Caleb Williams the following Sunday in Chicago against the Bears.
But the most promising sign for Maye so far is the fact each game he’s been out there, he’s taken a small step forward and continues to improve. Considering how bleak things looked just a month ago, his emergence at least gives everyone something to look forward to heading into the second half of this season.
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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.
