“I’m Good Here on the Bench”: Forced to Be Backup, Drake Maye’s Words Quoted by Former NFL Executive During Patriots vs Jets

The Week 3 game of the league was on! The New York Jets were facing the New England Patriots at their home at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. And as to the delight of New York, the Big Apple team was ahead 24-3 in the final quarter.

Now, as this is a major blowout for the Foxborough team on Thursday, all eyes are shifting toward the Patriots backup quarterback Drake Maye. And the chaos has already begun, as a former NFL executive chose to speak up on behalf of the young QB.

Jacoby Brissett's team gave relief to Drake Maye? Former Vice President of the Packers, Andrew Brandt, on September 19, 2024, on his official X account, wrote, "Drake Maye has to be looking at this offensive line and thinking: "I'm good here on the bench!" He quoted this on behalf of Maye, who even after showing promising performance, especially in the last preseason matchup completing "13 of 20 pass attempts for 126 yards with one touchdown and zero turnovers," was benched by coach Jerod Mayo. And as a result, the Pats went with their veteran quarterback, Jacoby Brissett. Now that the Patriots lost two consecutive games, the franchise's offensive line is arguably considered poor by many, including Brandt. And hence, he thinks Maye must be grateful to have a seat on the sideline to avoid any criticisms due to the team's unimpressive offense.

Now this poor offensive system of New England sounds similar to what analysts Chris Simms and Connor Rogers said on NBC Sports last month. They pointed out that "the Patriots roster is so bad that it will take multiple offseasons for the team to be ready to compete." Well, this is somewhat true given the recent performances of the Pats. As well as, let's not forget that the team is currently in the building mode, with many of the members, including the head coach and quarterbacks, are new to the starting roles.

Nevertheless, as Jets were rapidly increasing their scores against the Patriots, coach Jerod Mayo decided to bring in Drake Maye into the final moments of the game to save the team from a devastating blowout. But it was too late, Mayo! The Jets and their quarterback's vintage performance did wonders at MetLife Stadium on Thursday, winning with 24-3. And the most important part of this win for New York was "the last time the Jets beat the Patriots at home was on December 27, 2015, a 26-20 victory in overtime." So, it would be safer to say that Aaron Rodgers ' team is on the path of making histories with one achieved just now. While, on the other hand, the re-creation of historical moments for the Pats is arguably going too far.

What went wrong for the Patriots that Drake Maye couldn't save them? The Jets came out swinging, and the Patriots never had a chance! In the game, from the very start, Aaron Rodgers looked like his old self, throwing for nearly 300 yards and picking apart the Patriots' defense. The viewers who saw the game felt like it was vintage Rodgers, who spread the ball to eight different players, leading his team to a commanding 24-3 win. In addition to that, the Jets controlled the game from the first whistle itself, and ran for over 130 yards. And on the other hand, it would be fine to admit that in front of strong Jets, New England failed to keep up with their pace.

The biggest blunder for the team turned out to be its offense, which looked completely overwhelmed. To everyone's surprise, they only managed 139 total yards. But what added more to their frustration was Jacoby Brissett's performance. He was sacked five times in total, and guess what? The hits kept coming. But that's not all! The Patriots' defense struggled with missed tackles and injuries, leaving them helpless against Rodgers' relentless attack. And their stressful scenario can be imagined from this – that by halftime, the Jets had 14 first downs to the Patriots' one.

However, it's not like the Patriots didn't have a glimmer of hope. With a field goal, after a few penalties helped them down the field. But it wasn't just enough. Rodgers kept rolling, leading another touchdown drive in the second half that put the game out of reach.

And by that time, not even Drake Maye was able to save his team .

Besides this, do check out our latest Think Tank exclusive interview with Doug Sanders. It's packed with insights on the current NFL season, college football, NIL, and much more.