Patriots
The 21-year-old Maye completed 13 of 20 throws for 126 yards and a touchdown on Sunday night’s game.
Before we dive into the status report on the Patriots quarterback situation, can we all pass something on the agenda first?
Promise me — and I, in turn, will promise you — that we will never relitigate the decision to trade Mac Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick in March.
In fact, let’s agree to never even consider relitigating it, even after he inevitably comes in for an injured Trevor Lawrence and completes 14 of 18 passes for 97 yards, a touchdown, and at least one goofy celebration in a Jaguars victory sometime in November.
All right, fine. Bob Lobel can do the why-can’t-we-get-players-like-that schtick. Lobie is grandfathered in. For the rest of us, no genuine laments allowed. Jones was broken here, and no matter if he succeeds elsewhere — and he did have the highest passer rating among all quarterbacks that played significant time in preseason — moving on was the right thing to do.
No “Why’d they whack Mac?” nonsense. None.
Deal?
Shake on it?
Good.
The new kid is better than he ever was anyway. And I say that with full recall of the Patriots’ 9-4 start during Jones’s encouraging rookie year in 2021.
Drake Maye is obviously far more physically talented than Jones, with his legs and his arm — especially with his arm — and that’s befitting of a player chosen third overall in the draft.
What seems to have surprised even his coaches is how fast he has learned, which has resulted in unexpectedly rapid progress even within the confines of his first NFL training camp. One example: his inconsistent footwork was one of the primary knocks against him coming out of North Carolina, and it was valid, as Bill Belichick showed us on draft night.
Maye already has made extraordinary progress. During Sunday’s game, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth said late in the first half, with equal parts surprise and admiration, “His footwork looks awesome.”
And did I already mention the arm? I am certain, starting with the majestic deep ball that Javon Baker couldn’t hold in the Eagles game, that I have rewound and rewatched more Maye passes this preseason for the fun of it than I did during the entirety of Jones’s three seasons.
I think Maye’s improvement is one reason the messaging from rookie coach Jerod Mayo has been so inconsistent — and, at times, contradictory.
He didn’t expect the 21-year-old Maye — who completed 13 of 20 throws for 126 yards and a touchdown Sunday night against the Commanders in the third and (mercifully) final preseason game — to legitimately compete with veteran Jacoby Brissett for the starting job.
Instead, he’s emerged as the Patriots’ best quarterback, which has left Mayo in the kind of quandary that is tricky even for veteran head coaches.
The potential franchise quarterback looks the part, and a potential franchise quarterback is the most valuable asset in professional sports. But those charged with protecting that quarterback — that asset — look incapable of doing their part to keep him upright, healthy, and progressing.
To be more blunt: The Patriots line was downright inept, and the Commanders, who sat 34 players, weren’t exactly sending the modern-day Charles Mann and Dexter Manley as pass rushers.
A play or two rarely passed without a transgression. The Patriots line committed four illegal formation penalties — three by alleged left tackle Chukwuma Okorafor — committed three other penalties, botched two snaps (with Nick Leverett filling in for David Andrews), and permitted a sack that caused Brissett to injure his shoulder.
On multiple occasions when he was in the game, Maye was under siege before a play could develop. On one, he lost a shoe, but still completed the pass. It was a complicated feeling, watching Maye make plays amid the chaos — an incredibly encouraging sign for the long haul, for sure, but one not devoid of anxiety given how often he was in harm’s way.
After watching that, it’s entirely possible that Eliot Wolf’s recent quote about the Patriots’ assortment of blockers — “We’re very excited about our offensive line group” — is regarded by Patriots fans with the same mocking disdain that Tom Werner’s “full throttle” vow gets from Red Sox fans.
Maye looks ready to play, but it would be coaching malpractice to ask him to survive his rookie season healthy behind the Island of Misfit Linemen we saw Sunday night.
Maybe it gets better. It probably will — the performance can’t get much worse. Andrews will be there as the fulcrum, and Mike Onwenu is reliable wherever he plays. Fourth-rounder Layden Robinson has made his mistakes, but his blocking pops. And — OK, this is the desperate part — maybe there is a left tackle to be found on the waiver wire.
But if/until the line connects, the choice is obvious. Brissett, the embodiment of a replacement-level quarterback, must play over Maye. It’s not totally fair to him, but he’s being paid $8 million as a placeholder, knows and accepts who he is, and has experience navigating difficult situations. (He’s 18-30 as a starter.)
The Patriots know what it looks like when a young quarterback gets battered, then twitchy, then gun-shy, then melts into a puddle. Mayo and Wolf were both here for Jones’s regression. They watched it all fall apart. They know why, and how.
The temptation to play Maye must be so intense, especially as the new bosses, desperate to succeed. He is so much better than Jones, and he’s better than Brissett already. Maye knows this. Wolf knows this. We all do. But they also ought to know better.
This offensive line can’t protect Maye.
They can.
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