Rookie quarterback Drake Maye talked about what life was like for him in his first season with the New England Patriots during a recent appearance with Chris Long on the Green Light podcast.
With an offensive line that was a mess for much of the year, Maye found himself under pressure while taking a fair amount of hits. However, one hit he took this season certainly is one he won’t forget, with a shot from Danielle Hunter in his first start against Houston being the toughest.
Long asked him about the hit during the episode, noting that the rookie was down for 18 seconds after the play. Maye admitted that one definitely hurt, and said that was his first taste of life in the NFL.
“The one question I have in that first game is, I had you down for 18 seconds after [Danielle] Hunter hit you. I timed it,” said Long. “Did it feel like 18?”
“I saw him at the Pro Bowl as well, man,” said Maye. “And I said, that was my ‘welcome to the NFL moment.'”
Maye said that the defensive line and edge players are at a different level in the NFL. That was certainly something that stood out, with Maye noting that he obviously got strip-sacked on that play and Hunter looked like a “created player in Madden” and that it was a hit he shouldn’t have taken.
“Yeah, that was my moment,” said Maye. “First start, Danielle, and obviously, Will Anderson, both of them coming off the edge. We were worried about them. Everybody in the NFL now has, the D-Lines… You all are coming off the edge, man. It’s tough for us QBs. I think every team we face, you feel like the D-Line is always good.”
“It was a tough job for O-Lines across the league. They got such a tough job. But, yeah, I was definitely… I just threw a touchdown in the first half. We’re down 14-7. Get the ball in the second half. We got a chance to get back in the game. That first drive, I get strip-sacked by Danielle Hunter. He looks like a created player in Madden coming off the edge.”
“I didn’t see him coming. And I should have got the ball out. Bad sack I took.”
As far as which team had the most ‘ferocious’ defense he faced, Maye gave credit to a handful of teams, but the Texans were certainly one that was one of the toughest.
“I think the Texans, they’re hard not to say them,” said Maye. “I think played some other… I thought the Chargers, I think Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack, they still got some kick in their stride, and they played well. Other than that, I thought actually the Jets were good. I think they were good. I think they had some guys kind of banged up throughout the year, but they had some good players.”
Maye was also asked which coordinator he was most impressed with during his preparation, and he actually credited Sean McDermott in Buffalo.
“That’s a good question. The biggest thing, I think, what Sean McDermott and them do up in Buffalo, kind of what they’ve done in the history. He was obviously with the Panthers back when I was growing up, he was the DC there and kind of watched him go to Buffalo and how the defense has been for so long.”
“They kind of do the same stuff. They stay in nickel personnel, and they keep it simple. But kind of what they do is pretty cool. Just stay in four down and make you beat it. They got a good nickel and they’re good up front. Von Miller’s still making plays on the edge.”
With one season in the books, the hope now is that the Patriots add some talent this offseason to hopefully protect him a little better heading into 2025.
The Patriots re-signed both Ben Brown and Demontrey Jacobs on Thursday, but the goal is likely to see David Andrews come back healthy for one more run, along with adding a couple of tackles either through free agency or the Draft. That would allow both players to simply be offensive line depth and avoid seeing either having to play any meaningful snaps next 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.
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