There was a different energy around Gillette Stadium ahead of the Patriots’ Week 6 game against the Houston Texans.
For a team that had lost four consecutive games, arguably looking like the worst offense in the NFL through the first five weeks of the season, the excitement was palpable throughout the tailgates around the parking lots at 1 Patriot Place.
And it wasn’t just the retro “Pat Patriot” reds making their 2024 return that had Pats Nation fired up.
Sunday marked what could be the beginning of the next great era of Patriots football, as number three overall pick Drake Maye made his debut as starting quarterback.
Head coach Jerod Mayo said on Friday that this change at QB had given his team a “renewed sense of energy,” and a crowd full of brand new 10 jerseys was feeding off of that ahead of kickoff.
Having seen only one series of action prior to Week 6, Maye was given a tall task for career start No. 1, as Houston is inarguably one of the most complete teams in the NFL.
While the rookie had flashes that should have Patriots fans feeling encouraged moving forward, it wasn’t enough.
The Patriots lost their fifth straight game, falling to the Texans 41-21.
Here are your “Ups & Downs” for Week 6. Let’s start positive:
Ups:
- Bryce Baringer: I am, once again, leading this section with the punter.
And no - I will not apologize.
I’m not going to run through a play-by-play of all his best punts like I normally do, because you guys get it at this point.
This guy is really good, and we get to see a lot of him every single week.
Baringer extended his streak of games with a punt of 50-plus yards to 23. That leads the NFL.
The best player on the Patriots is their punter.
- Drake Maye: Sure, he wasn’t perfect.
We all saw the interception in the first quarter where the rookie completely skyed a ball intended for 5-foot-8 DeMario Douglas (props for the tackle on the interception return, by the way).
And I’m going to partially blame Maye for Austin Hooper’s fumble in the third quarter. The tight end was open in space after the play action, and he had to awkwardly come back to the ball to make the catch. As he was stumbling around to catch his balance after barely securing the ball, Houston punched the ball out. The Texans recovered, eventually leading to a field goal for Ka'imi Fairbairn that put them up 27-7.
Players with far less demerits who have been far less detrimental to the outcome of games have landed in “Downs.”
I get it.
But this kid clearly has a ton of potential, and we saw that at a few different points throughout the ballgame.
Let’s first focus on the end of the first half, with his team down 14-0 with 53 seconds left before UConn’s marching band was set to take the field for their halftime show.
The offense took over on their own 16-yard line, and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt decided to allow the rookie to let it rip and try to put up points on the board. The offense was set to get the ball to start the second half, so going for the ol’ Tom Brady-Bill Belichick double whammy was in play.
On 2nd and 8, Maye hit Douglas in space for a gain of 22.
On 2nd and 10, Maye set up Douglas to draw a defensive pass interference penalty, throwing him the ball 13 yards down field. Spot foul, and the Patriots now had the ball on Houston’s 47 yard line with a fresh set of downs.
On the next play, Maye found Douglas again - this time for 7 yards, giving the offense a 2nd and 3 to work with 11 seconds to go from the Houston 40.
That’s when Maye uncorked it, finding second-year wide receiver Kayshon Boutte in single coverage for a 40-yard touchdown up the right sideline.
The energy pregame that had dissipated came rushing back. Gillette Stadium probably just witnessed the best pass thrown by a Patriots quarterback since 2019.
This was the exact type of sequence you want to see from a rookie quarterback in his debut.
Fast forward to the third quarter on New England’s 10th possession of the game.
Maye drove the ball 70 yards over 4:22, capping the drive off with a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Hunter Henry to make it a 27-14 game with a minute left in the quarter.
Maye was 5 for 5 on that drive for 64 yards, with the big highlight play coming on a short pass to Henry in space for a gain of 30 that gave the Patriots the ball on Houston’s 38.
Team is getting punched in the face. Defensive line is all up in his grill all game long. Offensive coordinator isn’t doing him any favors. Yet the kid was able to put this drive together and keep the team alive, even if it ended up all being for naught.
At 9:24 in the fourth quarter, we got another flash of brilliance for Maye.
On 3rd and 5, Maye found Douglas for a 35-yard touchdown, giving the second-year receiver his first career touchdown catch. That capped off an eight-play, 70-yard drive that lasted 3:50. It was a lot of stop-and-go, but ultimately the drive ended in a score. That was something that almost felt impossible with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback.
And I know that’s not the bar Maye will be judged by for his career, but it’s a real time example of what Patriots fans should be able to expect from their quarterback moving forward.
It wasn’t perfect, but he showed that with the right play calling and enough time to make proper reads, he can do some special things.
DeMario Douglas: The second-year receiver had arguably the best game of his career on Sunday.
“Pop” caught six balls for 92 yards, with one of those receptions resulting in his first career touchdown catch.
And as I mentioned earlier, he drew a key defensive pass interference penalty that helped set-up his team’s first touchdown of the game.
Watching him work with Maye on Sunday has to have Patriots fans excited about what this duo could be capable of with the right play calling and a solid offensive line.
Downs:
- Discipline: After 12 penalties in Week 5 for a loss of 105 yards, the Patriots opened Week 6 with an illegal formation penalty on the opening kickoff of the game.
Not the tone you’re looking to set there, fellas.
After Houston surgically drove down the field on their opening drive, the Patriots forced a stop on 3rd and goal to stop the Texans from opening the game with a trip to the end zone - until we saw more yellow hit the ground.
Pass interference was called in the corner of the end zone on safety Marte Mapu, giving Houston a fresh set of downs from the New England 1-yard line.
Two plays later, star quarterback C.J. Stroud hit standout wide receiver Tank Dell in that same corner for 6. A successful extra point later, and Maye was going to have to begin his NFL career down 7-0.
It was almost déjà vu on the next possession for the Texans, as the Patriots got another stop on third down with Houston deep in New England territory.
That stop, of course, was tagged with a yellow flag - pass interference on Marcus Jones gave Houston a fresh set of downs from the 10 yard line, and one play later Stroud found Joe Mixon in the end zone. Another extra point was good, and Houston was ahead 14-0 with 3:13 to go in the first quarter.
On the third possession of the game for Houston, New England got yet another third down stop that was negated by a penalty. This time, it was an offsides called on Deatrich Wise. That turned 4th and 10 into 3rd and 5, and Houston was getting another crack at it. Lucky for Wise, Keion White bailed him out with crazy pressure on the next play, forcing a throw away by Stroud.
The Patriots offense joined the flag party on their third possession of the game, with Vederian Lowe being called for illegal man downfield, and Demontrey Jacobs being called for a false start. The couple bursts of energy Maye gave the offense on that series with his legs were made irrelevant.
Special teams was feeling left out, and decided to add to the flag total ahead of the Patriots’ fifth possession. Midway through the second quarter, after a beautiful punt return from Marcus Jones would have set New England up at their own 49 yard line, a flag was thrown on Marcellas Dial for holding. That’s a 10-yard penalty from the spot of the foul, setting New England up for a drive at their own 11.
They cleaned it up in the second half, there’s no questions about it. Outside of a rare false start called on the quarterback on a touchdown drive in the third quarter, and another false start on an inconsequential drive with 11:24 left in the fourth, the yellow for the Patriots had gone away.
But lots of yellow for a bad football team early in a ballgame is going to be hard to overcome, especially against a far superior opponent.
- Alex Van Pelt: With his brand new toy at starting quarterback, you would think the offensive coordinator would want to unleash Maye and give Gillette Stadium a show.
Clearly that was not the plan.
On the first two plays of offense for New England, Maye handed the ball off to running back Antonio Gibson two straight plays for a combined total of 1 yard.
Fans started booing as the stage was set for a 3rd and 9. They wanted to see Maye do his thing!
Maye (correctly) threw the ball away, and it was time to punt.
All that pregame energy for Maye left the stadium like air coming out of a balloon.
Van Pelt continued to try and run the ball all game long, even though it was clear that the beat-up offensive line was incapable of getting the push needed to make it a worthwhile weapon for the Patriots offense.
More on that coming up.
It was not until the final drive of the first half for New England that Van Pelt began to allow Maye to show off his arm.
On the five play, 84-yard touchdown drive, Maye had two impressive completions to Douglas before finding Boutte in single coverage for a 40-yard touchdown up the right sideline.
It’s frustrating that it took a one-minute offense situation to force Van Pelt into allowing Maye to show off his arm talent. This drive set-up a second half that saw Maye throw for two more touchdowns, and show that he has real promise moving forward.
If the offense is called differently the first 29 minutes of the game, we may have been looking at a different outcome on Sunday.
- The Offensive Line: Are you surprised?
A theme that carried throughout the entire game on Sunday was New England’s inability to get their running game going. Gibson and fellow running backs JaMycal Hasty and Terrell Jennings only managed 44 yards rushing on 21 attempts with starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson sidelined with a foot injury.
It was clear that the offensive line, who was down to their third different center on the year (Ben Brown, signed from Raiders’ practice squad on Wednesday), was not going to get the push needed to make running the ball a viable option. But as we discussed earlier, Van Pelt was determined to keep trying (insert annoyed emoji of choice here).
A mix of problems with pass protection and penalties came on the third possession, as we saw penalties called on both Lowe and Jacobs, on top of a sack that ended the drive allowed by Jacobs. Texans standout defensive end Will Anderson blew by the 6-foot-6 tackle and tossed the rookie QB to the ground.
On the Patriots fifth possession, tackle Zach Thomas, who had come in for an injured Lowe, allowed a sack on 2nd and 7 to Anderson for a loss of five. There were open receivers on the play. Instead, it was a punt two plays later for Baringer.
On the first possession of the second half, hoping to ride the momentum of the 40-yard touchdown catch from Boutte to end the first half, Thomas got beat yet again.
This time, it was by former All-Pro defensive end Danielle Hunter, leading to a sack-fumble. Houston’s Mario Edwards recovered on the New England 10 yard line, and two plays later Stroud was finding star wideout Stefon Diggs for 6. Extra point was good, and Houston was on top 21-7.
On the Patriots’ first possession of the fourth quarter, the offensive line screwed up in an unconventional way, leading to an interception for Houston.
It was supposed to be a simple screen pass on 1st and 10. But Anderson, who continues to show why he was worth trading up for in the 2023 NFL Draft, evaded a cut block from Thomas before the pass could get out to the boundary. Anderson leaped up and tipped the ball, and it was miraculously scooped out of the air by his teammate Eric Murray, who somehow came up with the ball while reaching around a block by the Patriots.
You just have to see this thing to believe it:
Anderson made Thomas look bad again in the fourth quarter, getting his third sack of the game and forcing the Patriots into a punt on 4th and 21 with 5:56 remaining in the game.
This beat up offensive line had no answers for Houston, and will continue to struggle as the season rolls along.
They are who we thought they were.
The 1-5 Patriots take their losing act abroad in Week 7, as they head to London for night two of the Jaguars’ annual residency in the United Kingdom.
Lucky for New England, Jacksonville has a matching 1-5 record, and have looked equally inept on offense throughout the 2024 season.
Former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones is Jacksonville’s backup QB.