FOXBORO — The Patriots’ decision to thrust rookie quarterback Drake Maye into a starting role in one of the team’s most difficult games was questioned last week.
It might wind up paying off as the Patriots’ schedule gets easier for a stretch.
Maye was able to work out some nerves in Sunday’s 41-21 loss to the Texans — a game that, based on the talent disparity of the two teams’ rosters, the Patriots were unlikely to win. Maye began the game 1-of-3 with an interception. He heated up during a two-minute drill to end the first half and wound up with a 20-of-33 line with 243 passing yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, a lost fumble and five scrambles for 38 yards.
“He got better as the game went on and that was important to see,” head coach Jerod Mayo said Wednesday. “Hopefully we can build off of that.”
The Patriots play a winnable game against the Jaguars on Sunday in London. A slow start from Maye could put the Patriots in a hole. But with Maye shaking some of the nerves out against the Texans, there’s reason to believe that he can continue the success he saw over the final 31 minutes of Week 6.
Maye said there’s “no doubt” his performance from Week 6 will give him more confidence going into Sunday.
“As the weeks go on, I think I’ll get more and more confident, especially with the game plan stuff,” Maye said. “It’ll be a little different this week going overseas, but I have to figure that out. But at the same time, going out there, understanding the plan and understanding, ‘Hey, I liked studying this last week,’ and can carry that on, or ‘Hey, I’m going to ask T.C. [McCartney] to do something different in the quarterback room so we can get on the same page with different looks.’”
Head coach Jerod Mayo is emphasizing a fast start overall this week. The Patriots trailed 14-0 after the Texans’ first two possessions. A missed field goal prevented the Patriots from falling into a 17-0 hole. And the Patriots’ defense allowed the Texans to drive down the field before Marcus Jones picked off quarterback C.J. Stroud in the end zone. So, things could have been even worse.
“We have a period in practice today where it’s like nothing else really matters,” Mayo said about getting off to a fast start. “It’s not about X’s and O’s and schematics. We have a start-fast period where it’s just offense versus defense, and we’re rolling out of the gate, and that’s the plan.”
The period will take place in the red zone, where the Patriots have struggled on offense and defense through the first six weeks of the season.
The Patriots’ offense has scored a touchdown on just 35.7% of their red-zone appearances this season. The defense has allowed a touchdown on 61.1% of their red zone appearances this season, ranking 22nd lowest.
The Patriots have scored just five touchdowns in 14 red-zone appearances this season. Maye scored one of those touchdowns in just one red-zone appearance. His other two touchdowns came on longer passing plays from outside the red zone.
One thing that Maye feels he improved upon as the game went along was seeing how the Texans were handling the Patriots’ offense.
“We call it ‘the flavor of the day.’ What do the Texans want to do? They want to kind of heat us up, play man, kind of what these defenses are trying to do to us that day. I think it’s kind of easier to get a picture of what they want to do, whether it’s down and distance or certain guys, what they want to do, or hey, they want to kind of put a spy on me, what they want to do defensively,” Maye said.
“I think it was easier for me to kind of see what the Texans were trying to do to us as we got down the road in the game. I’m sure some teams would try to mix it up down the road, but kind of easier for me as the game went along like, ‘Hey, they’re trying to do this. We can exploit them these ways.’”
The Texans’ defense ranks eighth in expected points added (EPA) per play on the season, and Maye was still able to have success against them. The 209 total passing yards allowed by the Texans’ defense in Week 6 was actually a season-high for Houston.
The Jaguars rank dead last in EPA per play and EPA per dropback. Maye should be able to build some confidence against that unit.
