To the naked eye, when a quarterback takes a lot of sacks, the offensive line gets the brunt of the blame. The one black mark on the New England Patriots' six-game winning streak has been Drake Maye taking sacks, as the second-year passer has been sacked 15 times over the last 11 quarters.
That certainly isn't sustainable for a team looking to surprise the NFL landscape by winning the AFC East, which the Patriots have an excellent chance of doing. Five of those sacks that Maye took came at the hands of Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett, arguably one of the best edge rushers of this generation.
Does the offensive line have to be better? Yes. But it's not like Maye is taking astronomical losses or has pass rushers right in his face within seconds of taking the snap, as was the case last year. There are some silver linings here.
Drake Maye has been sacked 15 times in the last 11 quarters, and has been sacked 4 or more times in 11 of his 21 starts.
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) November 2, 2025
How can the Patriots' offensive line be better? Running the ball would be a good start
One thing Mike Vrabel is not panicking about is the Patriots' inconsistencies in the running game, between ball-security issues and a lack of explosive plays, which has been one area of the field that the Patriots have been up-and-down at during the first half of the season.
When opposing defenses can key on the pass, it often leads to coverage sacks. An offensive line can only hold up for so long, and most of the sacks that Maye has taken this year have been as a result of receivers not getting separation.
We also have to remember this is almost an entirely new group up front, featuring two rookies, including the talented Will Campbell at left tackle. Campbell has only allowed four sacks over the first half of the season, a major improvement from the revolving door that existed at that position last season.
The other thing is that Maye needs to be more efficient at making quick reads. On a couple of occasions against Atlanta, where he'd take a sack, he could've easily dumped the ball off to a running back or a tight end. The issues that a second-year quarterback tends to have cropped up, but the Patriots managed to get a win.
The stats from the last two weeks are a bit eschewed, given that the Falcons came into Sunday's game with the league's best pass rush and that Garrett is a future Hall of Famer. The offensive line will be fine.