Drake Maye needs to be much more consistent for Patriots to win
For the Patriots to have any level of success this season, Drake Maye needs to make a Year 2 leap at quarterback. He had a few nice throws in Sunday's season-opening loss to the Raiders at Gillette Stadium, but we've already seen that from the quarterback.
What the Patriots really needed from Maye on Sunday was consistency. He hit on a few big plays, but missed on a number of his shorter throws in third-down situations. Those are what really doomed the Patriots against the Raiders, along with the offense's disappearing act in the second half.
Maye's numbers in the box score actually look pretty good. He threw for a career-high 286 yards. He connected on 30 of his 46 pass attempts, with the 65.2 completion percentage good for the fourth-best of his young career.
But it's always dangerous to form an opinion on just a box score. Maye threw just one touchdown and was picked off on a costly overthrow to start the second half. A chunk of Maye's passing yards came late in the fourth quarter against Las Vegas' prevent defense with the Patriots down by two scores. He should have had an even better completion percentage too, but was missed on a number of passes that should have been easy completions.
As he did in during his preseason action, Maye sailed several passes over the head and outstretched arms of his intended target. While he hit a few big plays against the Raiders, he missed too many of his intermediate passes that made life all the more difficult for the Patriots' offense.
He sent a third-and-8 pass way over the head of DeMario Douglas to end New England's first possession, and then he put too much mustard on a pass to Douglas in the end zone later in the first quarter. Maye made up for that end zone misfire with a lovely touchdown strike to Douglas on the next play, which should have been a spark for the offense. But the unit fizzled out from that point until the team's final possession of the game.
Maye's interception came on an overthrow to Stefon Diggs, which really crushed the team's first-half momentum. He later sent a third-and-11 pass over Kayshon Boutte after the Raiders took their 14-10 lead after the pick.
Overall, Maye was 16-of-26 in the second half. But 54 of his 136 passing yards after halftime came on New England's final possession with the team down by 10.
To truly reach his full potential, Maye needs to be able to connect on those short and intermediate passes. He needs to work on his footwork so the ball doesn't fly out of control when it leaves his hand on those throws. He's got the ability to make big plays when they pop up, but to be great he needs to hit those quick passes, a staple of the Josh McDaniels offense.
but consistent passing wasn't Maye's only issue on Sunday.
Drake Maye looked lost as a runner in Week 1
The other problem was Maye appeared to be in his own head -- along with head coach Mike Vrabel and McDaniels. Both spent the summer urging the quarterback to remain a quarterback for as long as possible, and only use his legs when absolutely necessary. Maye suffered a head injury last season so it's in his best interest to remain out of harm's way, but he was clearly overthinking when he could have used his running abilities on Sunday.
He wisely got down and slid on most of his scrambles, but he was timid to even take off for most of the game. Maye's ability to improvise is one of his best attributes, but it was absent in Week 1. He picked up just 11 yards on his four carries.
It's a delicate balance for the Maye to learn and it's important for the Patriots to reign the quarterback in when it comes to letting him run free. But he can use his legs for the Patriots' benefit, and it would be nice to see McDaniels put in some designed runs for Maye.
Drake Maye eyes perfection, per Mike Vrabel
Vrabel's trust in Maye and the offense, or lack thereof, was clear in the fourth quarter when the head coach opted to punt the ball away with his team down by 10 points and facing a fourth-and-10 at midfield. The offense was going to go for it on fourth-and-5, but a Will Campbell false start pushed them back and Vrabel instead relied on the defense to get the ball back with just under five minutes to play.
Maye and company didn't see the ball again under after the two-minute warning. They drove downfield for a field goal to make it a seven-point game, but that was all the offense really did in the second half.
Vrabel reserved judgement on Maye's performance after the game, but spoke about his quarterback during his Monday morning interview with WEEI. Vrabel said Maye strives to be perfect, but that simply isn't going to happen in the NFL.
"I think that he wants to be, at times, perfect. I need to get past that. We all have to get past that," Vrabel told The Greg Hill Show on Monday. "You need to be precise and not perfect. And if you make a mistake, it's the reaction that you have to the mistake that everybody sees and then they're like, 'Oh, wow, that was a mistake.' We have to clean our reactions up. Our responses have to be much better. And then getting into the flow. Because you see really good timing, precision and accuracy. And then we see some other misses."
Vrabel said he wants more consistency more than anything out of Maye.
"I thought he had some really good decisions. I thought he was accurate at times, and then I thought there were some misses. That's how it goes," said Vrabel. "I thought we protected, for the most part, fairly well. It was never perfect, never will be. But I thought there were some clean pockets against a few really good pass rushers."
Maye is just 23 and Sunday was only his 13th start as a pro. There is still plenty of time for him to grow as an NFL quarterback and become something special in New England. Sunday was his first game in a new system with a new offensive coordinator, and it's going to take time for him to get comfortable with McDaniels and the new offense.
But the expectations are high for Maye to produce now, or at least lead the Patriots to wins on Sundays. He wasn't the only one to blame for the team's Week 1 loss, but it's clear Maye still has a lot of learning and a lot of growing to do in order to really reach his true potential as an NFL quarterback.