Patriots can't give into calls for Drake Maye to replace Jacoby Brissett (yet)

The first two weeks of the Patriots 2024 season gave the impression that the team might be more competitive than anyone projected they good, given their circumstances.

A new head coach and staff, a newly signed veteran quarterback mentoring a rookie, and roster holes filled with not the talented needed to drastically improve performance made it easy for analysts and fans to predict New England would win a maximum of three games this fall. In some cases, even that was too many.

So when they shockingly beat the Bengals in Week 1 and barely lost in overtime to the Seahawks the week after, there was some optimism that they could go into MetLife Stadium on a short week and beat the Jets, just as they always do. But as we saw, that was far from a possibility on Thursday night.

Besides the countless mistakes made throughout the game, most notably the abandonment of the run game, an overall knack for missing tackles on defense, and the offense's inability to stay on the field beyond one set of downs, the biggest problem was once again the offensive line.

As it would for any team with a weakened unit, their below-average performance led to Jacoby Brissett spending more time being pressured or hit than any other quarterback this season, forcing Jerod Mayo to give Drake Maye a try late in the fourth quarter.

The rookie was able to move the ball a bit down the field, prompting many to demand a quarterback change as soon as Week 5, to which Mayo seemed to entertain, at least immediately after the game. But given how things looked on Thursday night, it would be a mistake for Maye to take over under center that soon.

Jerod Mayo and the Patriots cannot make a quarterback change as early as Week 5

While some would argue that a quarterback getting hit by defensive linemen is part of the game and shielding a rookie from that early on is foolish, that narrative doesn't seem to fit the situation that a Patriots quarterback would be in right now.

Brissett was the victim of a a lack of protection against the Jets' defensive front, which allowed defenders to sack the quarterback five times, hit 12 times, and pressured on nearly 60% of his total dropbacks.

Once he was done for the night, Maye replaced him with 4:24 seconds left in the game. Through that one drive, the rookie was sacked twice for a loss of 13 yards and pressured on almost every snap. On top of that, the offense could only move the ball 16 yards in over four minutes, with the only good play coming from DeMario Douglas on a fourth and ten play with less than a minute remaining.

Given how the night went, it seemed there was more than enough proof that the Patriots have no reason to bench Brissett for Maye, not just because he didn't look much better than the veteran, but the risk in putting him behind what looks to be an incompetent offensive line would not be worth it.

It might not be the popular decision, and it's understandable why fans want something to be excited about this season, which is expected to be filled with disappointment, and Maye would certainly provide that immediately.

But there is a lot of value in keeping him on the sideline until the offensive line gets figured out or improves, allowing Maye to continuing watching and learning to develop for the future, a point that even Tom Brady believes is the right thing to do.

The Patriots weren't expected to be a contender during a rebuilding year, which makes it more sensical to keep Maye at bay until the offense is built to support and help him succeed.

While the roster doesn't have to be perfect for him, everything runs through the offensive line, and their job of protecting the quarterback is probably the most crucial to the success of any team. Risking Maye getting injured just to appease fans' demands could be far too costly when the point is to build for the future, not right this second.

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