One thing that has clearly stood out since Drake Maye took over has been the offense’s production, which continues to thrive with the rookie quarterback under center.
After taking over in Week 6 against Houston, he’s come a long way, with the office scoring 16 or more points in every game since he took over, something they did just twice in five games to start the season.
The last three games have been among his best, with the offense putting up 58 points over that stretch (15th in the NFL), including Sunday’s 22-point showing against the Rams. They scored a total of 124 points over the first eight weeks, so the 58 point output the last three games alone is almost half of that total.
As a result, the offense is slowly continuing to grow, and it’s a group that’s been incredibly productive yet continues to be snake-bitten by both bad luck and self-sabotage. The latter they should have some control over, but mental miscues and ill-timed mistakes remain something they need to work on.
Meanwhile what’s also been impressive is the fact they’ve been much more productive in the second half recently. They’ve put up 32 points in the second half in the last three weeks, which is far above the anemic six points they put up over that same span last season. It’s also half of the 64 points they scored over the final two quarters through the first eight weeks of the season.
On Sunday, Maye missed just three passes in the second half, completing 16-of-19 for 132 yards, along with a touchdown and an interception, including 8-of-10 (80%) for 91 yards in the fourth quarter, which was when he threw both his touchdown and the game-ending interception.
That turnover happened on a pass to Demario Douglas, where the two were clearly not on the same page. That sealed the win for the Rams, which was a disappointing finish considering just how well Maye had played to that point.
But overall, he’s put together a pretty good stretch. In the last three games in the second half, Maye is 39-of-53 (73.6%) for 309 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Unfortunately, Sunday marked the second time he’s had a pass go awry with the game on the line, albeit this one obviously had a little more context as both Douglas and Maye agreed there was a miscommunication, which the two said they’ll work on.
Still, he continues to grow, and Jerod Mayo believes that his team is heading in the right direction. Mayo is also confident that it won’t be long before we see the Patriots potentially start finishing off some of these types of games.
“You go back and look at the Rams versus the Seahawks and those guys making those plays down the stretch. It’s very impressive,” said Mayo following the game. “And look, we’ll grow into being able to finish and close out these games. Just got to go back to work, get on the practice field. Tomorrow, we’ll clean up a lot of this stuff. And then Wednesday, it’s changed the page onto the next game.”
Support Us: Help Us Compete Against The Corporate Media Giants
We need your help. If you enjoy our content, please help us beat Google's Corporate algorithm by adding us as a preferred source on Google News.
Click the button below and check the box next to "PatsFans.com"
Add as a preferred source on Google News
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.
