The Patriots can't start Maye behind their abysmal offensive line and other Week 3 takeaways
FOXBORO - After Drake Maye made his pro debut with a brief appearance for the Patriots late in Thursday night's loss to the New York Jets , there is a lot of excitement to see more of the 22-year-old quarterback. But the Patriots should, under no circumstance, start Maye anytime in the near future.
It's a scaredy-cat mentality, but the thought of Maye playing behind New England's offensive line is absolutely terrifying. He got to experience that first-hand on Thursday night.
Maye went in with just over four minutes left in New Jersey, which Jerod Mayo called a good opportunity to get the rookie some NFL snaps. Really, it was Mayo giving Jacoby Brissett a break after he took an absolute beating from the Jets defense.
Brissett was under fire all night and ended up getting sacked five times. The Jets hit him a dozen times, as Brissett was pummeled on 52 percent of his dropbacks.
It didn't get better when Maye entered the game. He played 16 snaps in his one series and dropped back to pass nine times. He was sacked twice, including on the final play of the game, and hit three times.
He took a violent hit on a third-and-3 scramble, when Jamien Sherwood sent Maye to the ground after a one-yard pickup.
Talk about a "Welcome to the NFL" moment. Maye shrugged off that big hit in the locker room after the loss.
"I think it felt pretty good – to get a hit under my belt," Maye said. "You always wonder, your first NFL hit – it happened in the preseason – but these are the ones that count. Kind of good to get that out of the way. I'll feel good tomorrow."
After his first pass was nearly picked, the rookie did make a few nice throws, including a 15-yard dart to DeMario Douglas on a fourth-and-10. Maye also moved the chains with a nice fourth-down scramble. There is definitely a lot of promise there, and Maye should provide some hope for the future.
But the Patriots shouldn't force it with Maye. Not with this offensive line, which was on its third starting tackle on Thursday night and had practice squaders cycling in late in the contest. The pressure was coming from everywhere and rushers were mostly unblocked. The Pats allowed 17 QB pressures on 35 dropbacks in the game.
The Patriots cannot protect their quarterback at the moment, no matter who is out there on the offensive line. Even when they get called for a hold - as they did on three straight snaps on Brissett's final drive - the O-Line can't keep their quarterback from getting sacked.
If you want a glimpse of what a rookie quarterback looks like behind a bad line, take a look at what is happening in Chicago. Top overall pick Caleb Williams is starting for the Bears, and he's been sacked nine times - seven of which came last week in a loss to the Texans. He's completed just 56 percent of his passes with no touchdowns and two picks.
Mayo left the door open for Maye to take over as the starter, but the Patriots are not ready to support their rookie and the future face of the franchise. Unfortunately, that means Brissett is going to have to go back out there to take however many hits the offensive line gives up.
"I'm big man, I can take it," the veteran said after his Thursday night beating. "I'm always going to get back up. That's one thing about me, I'm always going to get back up and find ways to make plays. That's what it comes down to."
The Pats are lucky to have a veteran like Brissett to take such hits and keep Maye safe on the sideline. If the offensive line starts to show an ability to protect their quarterback, maybe the Patriots should reconsider. But until then, keep the kid away from that offensive line. We don't need to see the Patriots ruin another quarterback prospect.
Now let's get to the other takeaways from Thursday night's embarrassing loss. It'll be quick, because no one really wants to relive what happened in New Jersey.
The Patriots had little success on first down
With the 22 yards lost yards on sacks - and counting the four yards Rhamondre Stevenson picked up before he fumbled - the Patriots picked up 66 yards on their 20 first-down plays. That's an average of 3.3 yards on first down. Nine of their first-down plays either went for no gain or lost yards, including their final five first-down plays of the game with Maye at quarterback.
That is not setting your offense up for success.
The Patriots dropped back to pass on 14 of their first-down plays, essentially abandoning the run game that has been their bread and butter this season. It was an odd decision, given New York struggles against the run over the first two weeks.
New England did pick up two straight first downs on their second drive of the second half, with Brissett hitting DeMario Douglas for 22 yards and Austin Hooper for 19 on back-to-back plays. But the Patriots still ended up punting that possession away when Brissett was sacked on a third down at the New York 23, knocking them out of field goal range.
The Patriots only picked up just 11 first downs on Thursday night, two of which came because of a New York penalty.
Stevenson should be holding a football from now until Week 4
Stevenson's fumble luck ran out on Thursday night. He fumbled in each of the first two games, but the Patriots were able to recover those. But on the first snap of the fourth quarter, with New England down 21-3, Stevenson took a handoff and let the ball get punched out of his hands. The Jets recovered at the New England 37 and tacked on a field goal.
Stevenson was the Patriots' offense over the first two weeks, rushing for 201 yards. But he wasn't able to get anything going Thursday night, averaging just 3.8 yards on his six carries for 23 yards.
The running back should spend the next week-and-a-half with a football in his hands anywhere he goes.
The defense was just as abysmal as the offense
What was the worst part of the New England defense on Thursday night? Take your pick.
There were the 252 yards the Patriots' D gave up in the first half. How about the 14 missed tackles in the game? Or maybe the 10 third-down conversions the defense surrendered, which let the Jets possess the football for over 40 minutes?
The Jets also found the end zone in three of their four trips to the red zone. It wouldn't be fair to single out any players on the New England defense, because they were all guilty of poor play throughout the loss.
Just an ugly, ugly performance from the New England defense on Thursday night.
Revolving fourth cornerback is hurting the team
The Patriots are trying to find depth at corner, but have had little success. Marco Wilson was a disaster when spelling Jonathan Jones in Weeks 1 and 2, getting flagged for pass interference in both games. Alex Austin got the call in Week 3 and immediately found himself in Aaron Rodgers' crosshairs. Austin whiffed when Rodgers sent a short pass to Allen Lazard in the red zone and had no chance to bring the receiver down on his touchdown catch-and-run. (He only got a handful of Lazard's stretchy undershirt on the failed tackle attempt.)
The Patriots are going to need their depth pieces to step up at some point. So far, they haven't been able to answer the call.
