On Monday morning, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo joined The Greg Hill Show to talk about rookie quarterback Drake Maye’s debut as the team’s starting quarterback.
While the team was unable to snap their losing streak with a new man under center, losing 41-21 to the Houston Texans (5-1) and extending that streak of losses to five in a row, Mayo had a lot of good things to say about his 22-year-old QB.
After the offense got off to a slow start, one that included a bad interception thrown by the rookie on their second possession of the game, Maye eventually settled in, and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt opened up the playbook.
Maye ended the day 20 of 33 for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also was the team’s leading rusher, carrying the ball 5 times for 38 yards.
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 13: Drake Maye #10 of the New England Patriots reacts at the line of scrimmage in his first NFL start during the second half of the game against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium on October 13, 2024 in Foxborough, Massachusetts.Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images
“One of the things that I really liked watching Drake was he didn’t make, kind of like, the same mistakes late in the game that he did make early in the game,” said WEEI’s Jermaine Wiggins.
“And so I guess from watching that, it’s always good to see guys trend in the right direction when it comes to not repeating the same mistakes. Did you get that same takeaway?”
“One hundred percent,” said Mayo. “You know, we always talk about not being ‘repeat error guys,’ and that’s at every position. And you could see that Drake is not one of those guys.”
After the first quarter interception - an overthrown ball to (listed) 5-foot-8 DeMario Douglas - Maye’s throws the rest of the game were either right in the hands of his receivers, or thrown where no one could make a play. It was clear that the rookie was determined not to make that same mistake again.
Maye did throw a second interception later in the game, but it was one of the more freakish plays you’ll see on a football field. I would describe it to you, but you should probably just watch the highlight.
Every year, we see rookies making mistakes that inevitably lead to disastrous performances. One pick leads to a second-guess later in the game, that leads to a strip sack, which leads to a scoop-and-score, which leads to forcing a throw later in the game because now you’re behind two scores. We’ve all seen this script play out many, many times.
That wasn’t the case for Maye, who cleaned up his overthrow issue on the fly and got better as the game progressed.
“Offensively, early in the game, we started slow,” said Mayo. “But when [Maye] settled in, he was able to really take control of the offense, and push the ball down the field. You saw him make plays with his legs, you saw him make plays with his arm.
“The one overthrow - I mean, that was obviously disappointing. And then the tip pass on the screen. Other than that, I thought he did a good job going through his reads, getting the ball out on time, for the most part, and running the offense.”
It’s rare that a team and a fanbase can find so much positivity after losing their fifth straight game, but the Patriots are in a very unique position.
Day 1 on the job for Maye was a relative success, despite the L on the scoreboard.
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 13: Drake Maye #10 of the New England Patriots looks on in his first NFL start during the second half against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium on October 13, 2024 in Foxborough, Massachusetts.Maddie Meyer/Getty Image
The Patriots have a full day of meetings on Monday at Gillette Stadium, followed by an off-day on Tuesday. They’ll get back to the practice field on Wednesday in preparation of their trip to London to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5).
Despite having identical records, New England is currently listed as a 5-and-half-point underdog at both BetMGM and FanDuel on a somewhat neutral field.
I say “somewhat” because London is, after all, Jacksonville’s de facto second home, having played there at least once each of the past 10 seasons.
Also, they will have been in the U.K. for almost two weeks by the time their Week 7 game gets underway at Wembley Stadium, as they played the Bears in London in Week 6, losing 35-16 to rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
With another rookie on tap for Jacksonville in Week 7, we’ll see if Maye can find similar success.
