FOXBORO — Thursday night, after the Patriots were embarrassed by the Jets, head coach Jerod Mayo wasn’t ready to name a starting quarterback. Then he pulled an all-nighter re-watching his team’s 24-3 loss and was ready to affirm his commitment to Jacoby Brissett.
Mayo said Monday morning on WEEI that since that sleepless night, he still believes Brissett, not rookie Drake Maye — who replaced Brissett late in Week 3 — gives the Patriots the best chance to win.
But Brissett needs help.
“Right now, Jacoby is still our starting quarterback,” Mayo said. “Even after the game, I watched that film the whole way back home. I got in early in the morning and still felt the same way. We have to support him across the board as a coaching staff and as players. We have to support him, keep him clean, and hopefully give him opportunities to look for the open receiver.”
Brissett has been under pressure on a league-high 46.7% of his dropbacks, per PFF. Brissett has only been the cause of that pressure 8.6% of the time, which ranks 25th-highest among 31 qualified QBs. The offensive line has been responsible for pressure 88.6% of the time, ranking 10th-highest in the league.
The position most responsible for that pressure is left tackle at 37.1%, which is the third-highest rate in the league.
That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The Patriots have played three games and had four players align at left tackle. Chukwuma Okorafor started Week 1 and was benched for Vederian Lowe after 12 snaps before ditching the team and being played on the left-squad list the following Saturday. Lowe started Week 2 but suffered an injury late in the game and was replaced by rookie Caedan Wallace, who started Week 3. Wallace got hurt late in Week 3 and was replaced by Demontrey Jacobs, who was claimed off waivers from the Broncos in late August.
Wallace looks like he escaped a major injury, while Lowe was still not participating in practice Monday. With less than a week to go until the Patriots play the 49ers in Week 4, Wallace looks like the favorite to start with Jacobs serving as a backup.
