What's gone wrong for Drake Maye and the Patriots through 3 weeks
· Yahoo Sports
Drake Maye had just made the long walk out of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Patriots were steered to the press conference tents behind the Super Bowl venue. The losers were first to speak as the Seahawks enjoyed their moments postgame.
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Maye was emotional during his 16-minute closing remarks.
Part of his confidence that ignited the Patriots’ rebuilding project might have remained in California. Maye’s athleticism isn’t commanding games, his eyes are betraying him on throws and his team is tumbling in this post-Super Bowl hangover.
“I think that’s the biggest thing about life,” Maye said after the Super Bowl loss. “You’re going to have times like this and it’s how you bounce back. All those guys in that locker room are going to use this as fuel. I would go to war with those guys any time, any day, anywhere. It’s motivation to get back here and not have this feeling and feel what they’re feeling out there.”
Reversing that loss isn’t happening. A Week 1 crumbling against the Seahawks — three turnovers being Maye's undoing — compounded the timidness for the quarterback who was on the verge of superstardom. He’s been forcing offense on each drive and defenses are feasting.
“We’ll have to continue to try to get everybody to their sweet spot and get them to understand that one play, or in this case, hopefully, one game, does not define a season,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said on Monday, Sept. 28. “And there is certainly nothing we can do about it. We can’t go back and fix it; we cannot change it. But we can focus on what we are going to do moving forward and that starts with a game.”
It’s all about Maye and the offense on Sunday. Here’s why the game on Week 4 against Buffalo is a crossroads for the Patriots’ season.
Can New England change its trajectory again?
Identical 1-2 records to start back-to-back years provide a glimmer of hope. Maye needs to find himself at Highmark Stadium this week against the Bills. A win there could spark a similar run that New England experienced after a blistering of the Carolina Panthers in Week 4 last year. The quarterback finished with 203 passing yards, three total touchdowns and posted his fourth-highest total quarterback rating, or QBR, of the season.
The Pats went to Buffalo the following week and won, 23-20, on essentially a walk-off, 52-yard field goal by Andy Borregales. Replicating that performance could pull Maye out of his funk. Another demoralizing loss, this time against a division rival, would put New England behind early in the playoff race.
The Bills are 3-0 and own wins over playoff teams from last year in the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers.
“I think speaking for offense, I think it’s getting out of my own way as well, personally,” Maye said after the loss to Jacksonville. “I think it’s nothing that I feel like these mistakes that I’m making personally are really them beating us. I think it’s beating myself and realizing that there’s times last year where you have to flip to the next play. And realize that this league will humble you quick and just finding ways for me to step up when I feel like I’m not playing my best and still lead the team.”
Greater expectations in New England
Even after defeating Carolina, the Patriots didn’t have many believers until they were well into their season-altering 10-game winning streak. The ensuing playoff run and Maye’s runner-up finish in the MVP voting had the Patriots near the top for preseason Super Bowl odds this summer.
Roster turnover, injuries and simply poor football have made those expectations look silly. It also heightened scrutiny on Maye as he tries to replicate his second year in the league.
“Twenty-four of the 54 guys on the game-day roster are first-year players to our team,” Vrabel said. “I have to remind myself that I have to continue to coach that and explain to them the identity that we want to build and that we have to see that out there on the games. That’s the most important thing.”
Get DeMario Douglas going
Douglas is supposed to be the layup. He’s the completion that gets the offense in rhythm and Maye could use some easy throws.
Douglas is a constant winner in man coverage but Maye hasn’t found him yet (just seven catches for 67 yards). Maye’s 3.04 seconds to throw is sixth longest in the league, per Next Gen Stats. Part of that is the quarterback’s indecisiveness, but the offensive line has held more than expected despite injuries.
Finding Douglas in stride in the middle of the field would open the boundaries for receivers Mack Hollins and Romeo Doubs. “Confidence comes from your preparation and it comes from going out there,” Vrabel said. “I can’t manufacture confidence.
“Sometimes you want to do something so badly. It’s like the tighter you hold the golf club, the more crooked it goes when you hit it. We just have to be able to make sure that we’re on the same page, that everybody knows what is expected of them, have a few details and then go play football.”
Clean up the penalties
Hollins, at the start of the fourth quarter against the Jaguars, celebrated a third-and-10 catch that went for 9 yards. The reception got New England down to the Jacksonville 7 with the Patriots trailing, 28-3.
The game was likely over but Hollins got a 15-yard taunting penalty that forced the Patriots to kick a field goal on a rare advance inside the Jaguars’ 10-yard line.
Maye’s 21-yard touchdown rush in the second quarter was nullified after a holding call against offensive tackle Morgan Moses. Doubs was then called for offensive pass interference on the next play. New England, which started the drive just outside the red zone, turned the scoring opportunity into a first-and-30.
The Patriots finished Week 3 with nine penalties for 68 yards — they averaged 50 yards per game in the regular season last year. Poor quarterback play was the team’s demise but it would have been tough to find a positive result with the self-inflicted mistakes.
“When you have games like that throughout the entire team — how do you fix some things?” Vrabel said. “You get back to the basics. Again, we want to continue to impress upon the importance of what our identity is. We still have to build it. You have to put it out there. Before you can protect something, you have to build it. And we have to get back to the basics.”
Defense was gassed against Jacksonville
The defense was on the field too much in the blowout loss in Jacksonville.
Injuries were already a problem as safety Craig Woodson and linebacker Dre'Mont Jones were both inactive. Jacksonville had nearly four more minutes of possession than New England and that hurt the Patriots in the red zone.
The Jaguars went 5-for-5 deep in Patriots territory to break open the game. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen is tied with Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry with six rushing touchdowns — it won’t get any easier to force stops at that end of the field against the Bills.
“I don’t know if there will be a ton of things that change,” Vrabel said. “We’ll still have to make sure that we are ready and we’re good on first and second down, that we find ways to convert on third. And then defensively, we’ll hit red zone [drills] on Friday. But a lot of it is depending on the health of the football team, what guys are able to do and the pace in which you have to practice.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: What's gone wrong for Drake Maye and the Patriots through 3 weeks