Jerod Mayo promised more Drake Maye, and that’s exactly what we got on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium during the Patriots 14-13 preseason loss to the Eagles.
After watching presumptive regular season Week 1 starter Jacoby Brissett lead the offense during their first three series, Maye took over and immediately gave the team a spark.
His most impressive drive came during his second series, starting at the Eagles 49 yard line.
It started with a short pass to the flats to rookie Ja’Lynn Polk, who made two defenders miss for a gain of 6 yards. This is the exact type of play Patriots fans want from this combo on 1st down for years to come in Foxborough.
Four plays later, on 3rd and 11, Maye found running back JaMycal Hasty on a misdirection screen pass for 23 yards up the left sideline - a perfectly executed play to set up the first goal-to-go situation of Maye's preseason career.
Three plays later, coming out of the two minute warning, Maye punched the ball in the end zone on his own for the first touchdown of the game - a 4-yard scramble out of the shotgun on a designed option run.
Maye looked fast, loose, and in control of the ballgame.
The soggy, sparsely filled stadium was alive. Patriots fans' metaphorical glasses were beginning to fill back up after a joint practice on Tuesday had them pouring their glasses out.
For a brief moment, it felt like the times of old for New England.
“[Maye] had great composure,” said Mayo during his postgame press conference. “I thought it was a good drive. I thought he went out there and did a lot of good things. So hopefully he can build on that, and we’ll see how this week goes.”
Throughout Maye’s four drives under center, the offense often resembled the one he ran for three seasons at North Carolina. A lot of empty sets, a lot of shotgun, and a mix of zone read plays - one of which leading to his touchdown run.
Mayo said postgame that making sure this type of game plan was in place for Maye is “very important” for his continued work towards getting more comfortable on the professional level.
“It’s very important to do those things,” said Mayo. “He did it in college, and, you know, the problem is from college to here is just the language. And once you can start to link the language that you learn in college to the language that you’re learning right now, the game becomes a little bit easier from an Xs and Os perspective.”
Maye echoed his head coach’s sentiment postgame, and said that he has been working with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt on installing plays that he’s comfortable with, as well as getting on the same page with which types of plays he likes for certain situations.
“The great thing about this offense is because we do a lot of different things,” said Maye. “You know, we spread it out empty, we can get 12-personnel, 13-personnel out on the football. So we do a lot of things. We got keepers, we got kind of the whole nine yards. I think a lot of the stuff kind of translates from college - other than getting in a huddle and using a cadence, it all translates.
“We go through a list of plays you like before going out there, and I’m just going out there kind of knowing what’s going on. So we got a little bit of an idea of, ‘Hey, it’s 3rd-and-medium, I think this call’s coming, this is what I told him I liked.’ So, [Van Pelt] does a great job of kind of understanding our feedback from all four of us, and just kind of calling what we like. It’s an awesome way for us to connect.”
A connection that did not occur in this one but still may have been the throw of the night was a ball deep down field in the second quarter from Maye.
It was 3rd and 8 from their own 37 yard line, and Maye dealt with some slight pressure on the edge. He stepped up into the pocket, and delivered a 50-yard bomb up the middle of the field to rookie receiver Javon Baker. Baker laid out for the extremely catchable ball, but came up short.
Maye flashed his big play ability. Baker flashed his separation. Unfortunately, the flashes did not align for a highlight.
But for Patriots fans longing to see an offense capable of these types of plays consistently, this drop is one that goes in the positive column.
Leading the negative column would be Brissett, who looked subpar in his three series leading the offense.
He was 3 of 7 passing for 17 yards with an interception, and “interception” is in bold for a reason.
On his second series under center, the offense had moved the ball well on the ground to set the team up for their first red zone trip of the night. But on 3rd and 3 from the 8 yard line, Brissett completely telegraphed a pass to the end zone for tight end Austin Hooper, who was blanketed by Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox.
Maddox picked the ball off, and brought the ball all the way out to their own 45 yard line.
Brissett said, “The other side was bracketed, and I’m coming back to [Hooper], and we just weren’t on the same page at the same time.”
A brutal mistake from the man who is tasked with helping to groom Maye into New England’s eventual starting quarterback.
And it was nearly two picks on the night for the veteran quarterback, as his next-and-final series ended with a batted ball on 3rd and 7 intended for DeMario Douglas that hung in the air just long enough to where it was almost surprising that the ball wasn’t intercepted.
During the postgame, Mayo took a question about Maye playing behind a shaky offensive line as an opportunity to make one thing clear - if Maye earns the starting job, it will be his job regardless of who is starting in front of him.
“For me, we always talk about competition, and that’s at all spots,” said Mayo. “So even if Drake, you know, beats out Jacoby - I mean, he earned that role, and we don’t really take [the offensive line] into consideration.
“When he’s ready to go, and if he’s better than Jacoby, then he’ll play and he’ll start.”
On Thursday, he looked ready to go, and better than Jacoby.
But the question remains:
How soon before he starts?