Heading into the 2025 New England Patriots season, one key question still remains.
Can this team get back to being competitive again on offense? Can they be better than the team that finished last season near the bottom of the league in scoring?
Obviously, the Patriots started the 2024 campaign with Jacoby Brissett under center, and it’s safe to say that yielded fairly poor results. They were ranked 31st in the NFL in scoring through the first five games of last season, putting up just 62 points while allowing 102 points on the defensive side of the football. They reached the 20-point mark just once during that span, which happened in their Week Two 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks at Gillette Stadium.
When Maye stepped in and got his first start against the Texans, things were better. But they still only hit the 20-point mark five times during the games he started, which included a 25-22 win over the Jets in Week 8, but it was also a game where Maye left the game early on after suffering a concussion.
Overall, Maye ended up 1-9 as a starter in 2024. While he made things interesting each week, the team simply couldn’t find a rhythm consistently on the offensive side of the football.
When you look at the film, there were so many good moments that fans can dismiss the 10 interceptions he threw, largely because there were some that simply went off the receiver’s hands and ended up in the arms of a defender.
There weren’t many “what was he thinking?” moments, which is one big takeaway that fans can look back on from last season. The only one that might fall into that category would be the overtime loss against Tennessee. He threw one early in the game, which certainly wasn’t good, and the one he threw in overtime was also disappointing.
The latter was one Maye not only took credit for, but the way he described it tells you it’s not something that fans should worry about becoming a habit.
“First down and see the safety. I think we’re throwing into the wind,” explained Maye after the game. “I got to put some more on it. Just a dumb decision. Something you’d like to have back, especially in that situation. We’re going to go at least tie it up. We’re on, like I said, our own 40. Sometimes the best players throw it away. It’s a bad decision on my part.”
However, looking at that final play a little further, it’s tough to even put that one completely on him. One side note that happened in that sequence was the fact that Kendrick Bourne fell down after getting his feet tangled with the defensive back. Prior to that, Bourne had seen the safety stay with him, leaving Kayshon Boutte alone down the field against his defender.
However, Bourne’s stumble allowed the safety to leave him and ultimately make the interception, and it ended up spoiling what might have instead been viewed as a great throw to Boutte, who had a step on his man downfield. In fact, the odds are pretty good, based on where he was, had Bourne continued to draw coverage, and left Boutte one-on-one, that the ball would have landed right in his hands as he came back across the field for a potentially huge gain.
Instead, Bourne fell down and it set up the turnover. Unfortunately, it also ended a comeback bid in what had been an unbelievable touchdown throw by Maye at the end of regulation to even put them into that position.
But while that moment was one of several “what if?” type of moments for the rookie, the bigger question now is whether or not Maye can turn the corner this season.
As it currently stands, this offensive line should be much improved from the group that saw 11 different starting combinations and 16 different guys see time in 2024. During OTAs, reports indicated that the initial group saw Will Campbell lining up at left tackle, Cole Strange at left guard, Garrett Bradbury at center, Mike Onwenu at right guard, and Morgan Moses at right tackle. While it remains to be seen how the interior of the line might shake out, the fact they now have two guys who should provide some consistency on the edge is big. Both Vederian Lowe and Demontrey Jacobs struggled mightily last season, leaving Maye far less time to operate than he should have had.
Even so, facing pressure was an area where Maye excelled at last season, which some might remember was one of the things he liked about Alex Van Pelt’s offense, given that it provided options for those very scenarios.
Under Josh McDaniels, it will likely be a lot of the same. That was one area that seemed to frustrate former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, who played under McDaniels. It felt like things were fairly thorough when it came to those playcalls, which became more evident after McDaniels left for Las Vegas to take over the Raiders head coaching job.
Reports after that season indicated that Matt Patricia’s stint as offensive coordinator didn’t seem to cover those same situations. Both Jones and other players reportedly questioned Patricia in some of those same “what if this happens?” scenarios, and they were apparently rebuffed after Patricia didn’t seem to give them an answer.
That’s part of what makes this year so intriguing. Maye will likely be put in plenty of positions to make plays, and they at least have better personnel up front protecting him. With someone like Stefon Diggs in the mix, it should raise the level of the wide receiver group as a whole, especially if rookie Kyle Williams steps up and Demario Douglas finds himself in more positions to potentially have a breakout season.
With guys like undrafted free agent Efton Chism also making noise, it should be an interesting competition heading into camp. More importantly, it could be a group that will be better than what we saw in 2024, hopefully, making them a little more formidable.
One interesting note is that from Week 6 through Maye’s final full game in Week 17, the Patriots were fifth in the NFL in fourth-quarter scoring, outscoring opponents 90-76 over that span. Granted, this was often a team playing from behind, but it doesn’t change the fact that three of the four teams in front of them in that category (Bills, Eagles, Commanders) were all playoff teams.
This was a team that also didn’t fare well out of the gate in 2024, whether it was to start the game or coming out of halftime. They were 25th in first-quarter scoring and 32nd in third-quarter scoring.
How much of that can be put on Van Pelt’s shoulders is tough to say. But in 2021, the last time McDaniels was the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, the numbers indicate they were better prepared in both scenarios. New England was 14th overall in that category in the first quarter and 16th in the third quarter. They were also third in fourth-quarter scoring, outscoring opponents 165-71 over that span.
However, one big difference is the fact that, unlike the last two years, even the biggest pessimists aren’t completely sure what to expect. There now at least seems to be more confidence that this team should be more competitive this season, and knocking off Miami or Buffalo at various points this year feels like far less of a longshot compared to past seasons.
With McDaniels in Maye’s corner, it should be interesting to see how he executes. McDaniels has been known to be in the quarterback’s ear all the way until the communication cutoff, giving Maye plenty of pre-snap support. After the snap, it’s also a scheme that should give him options and room to make plays.
For a team that’s spent the last two years at the bottom of the league on offense, the stage is definitely set for Maye to put New England back in the mix in the AFC. Most pundits have the Patriots now at 7-8 wins, and some have that total even a little higher, which tells you just how differently this group is viewed both with Mike Vrabel’s arrival and the current roster.
In fact, while it’s too early to even talk playoffs, the fact that can even be pondered tells you how far this team has come compared to where they were a year ago.
For now, as long as they can live up to the expectations of being a team that will go wire-to-wire again, that’s about all fans can ask for. But hopefully, the days of struggling to put points on the board are in the past. For a team that was pretty rough throughout much of last year, there’s definitely nowhere to go but up.
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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.
It’s hard to compare McDaniels (Raiders, Pats) vs Van Pelt of 2024 on stats. The Pats issues last year were almost entirely personnel and or injury relative. It’s different teams, different situations. New systems went in on offense last year as well. But that seemingly went well as AVPs offense was semi-simpler. The pats offense backed off some of the zone running, but that adjustment was needed. The O-line couldn’t do it. This year on offense, the personnel should be better. The depth s/b better too. The offense s/b better in whole, and by a wide margin of improvement. “On… Read more »