The New England Patriots couldn’t have scripted a better dress rehearsal for the Mike Vrabel era. Their 48-18 shellacking of the Washington Commanders left fans with a feeling they haven’t had in years — hope for a meaningful football season.
But masked by a fun night at Gillette Stadium on Friday was a brutal truth: Young quarterback Drake Maye had a rough and indecisive night against a collection of backups on Washington’s defense.
Maye’s day was over with 5:41 remaining in the first quarter. The Patriots were leading 14-0. By all accounts, the first look at New England’s offense under Vrabel and Josh McDaniels was a rousing success.
Just not for the passing game. On Maye’s first drive, he held the ball too long and took a brutal strip-sack that led to a lost fumble. His second (and final) series ended with his own 5-yard, walk-in rushing touchdown on a third-down scramble.
Maye wound up completing three of his five pass attempts for 12 yards. And to Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal, it was the shots Maye didn’t take in the game that show the growth still needed for the Patriots’ 22-year-old QB.
Drake Maye passed on opportunities… to pass the ball in preseason opener
Bedard did his weekly Tuesday afternoon spot on the Felger & Massarotti show this week, and the conversation on Maye’s performance was well worth a listen.
Maye was one of Bedard’s three “downs” for the game — a predictable take given Maye’s lost fumble and 2.4 yards per completion average. What was interesting, though, was that the guys gave Maye zero credit for his lone touchdown drive.
First, host Mike Felger ranted about the uselessness of scramble yards in preseason games, when defenses aren’t scheming up QB spies or game plans to stop those plays. His point: Those yards are always there in the preseason, and taking them over a tight-window pass, for example, doesn’t help the team (or its young quarterback) get better.
“Vrabel has this right. McDaniels has this right,” Felger said. “They’ve talked about this a lot. Drake Maye — this is another thing that’s going to define him. Are you a passer or a runner? You have to be a passer. And taking those easy yards when they give them to you in the preseason — don't help him be a passer.”
Bedard, the guy who attends all the practices and charts every play on film for BSJ, fully agreed with Felger’s take. He felt Maye passed on opportunities for big plays in the passing game, instead bailing on the play and scrambling on two specific occasions.
“I did ask Vrabel about it. Vrabel disagrees. He was OK about it,” Bedard said. “But the third down that he ran for, you know, the safety is to the right side of the field. On the left side he’s got Mack Hollins one-on-one. He’s got Austin Hooper one-on-one. There’s no safety over the top. I want to see Drake Maye — it’s a tight window; they’re not really open — freaking throw ‘em open. I want to see Drake Maye make that pass, because those are the passes that are going to determine whether this team is going to win games late, not him running. I know he can do that. Try to fit it in there to Austin Hooper.
“And then on the touchdown, he’s got Mack Hollins coming open on the back line of the end zone. Throw it to Mack Hollins. I want to see you fit it in there. You guys need to learn how to work together.”
Again, it was an interesting conversation that speaks to Maye’s development as a young quarterback. He already had one brutal turnover in the game. Risking an interception in those microseconds probably felt a little too risky.
But this is the preseason — when literally nothing else matters. Vrabel did back up his quarterback this week in sessions with the media, but these conversations are likely happening behind the scenes. If the Patriots are going to return to playoff contention this season, Maye’s arm and decision-making will be the ultimate factor. These preseason games are the perfect opportunity to try new things, maybe make a few mistakes, and be better for it when the scoreboard starts counting for real in September.
In this case, the 14-0 showing by the starters was a bit misleading. If Friday night was all we see from Maye in the preseason, the Patriots' new franchise quarterback left plenty of meat on the bone.