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Drake Maye is getting better even if his team is getting worse.
The week two report on Maye as the Patriots’ starting quarterback is both pretty good and really bad.
Maye looked something like his days as a Tar Heel on the first two drives of the game for New England which reverted to its place as perhaps the lousiest team in the NFL.
Maye took the opening kickoff on a 68-yard drive, completing six out of seven passes on the way to his fourth TD toss as a pro, a 16-yarder to give the Pats a 7-0 lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London’s Wembley Stadium.
On his second possession, Maye connected on five more passes and had a nifty 15-yard scramble for first down as the Patriots took a 10-led with a field goal. That was their last score until Maye’s second TD pass in the fourth quarter of the 32-16 loss.
More good news for the wealthy rookie is that he had no turnovers and is getting comfortable even though his team is racked with some injured starters and the rest inferior players for the former two-decade juggernaut.
After the game, Maye echoed what his rookie head coach Jerod Mayo said when he called his team soft, which of course is his fault more than anyone else’s. When you tool around the channels on Sunday afternoon and night, you see some amazing talent; New England doesn’t have a shadow of that.
When Maye joined the team for summer workouts and training camp, the word of his talent slinging the football was not overrated but it was almost a given he would not start right away. In two games, he has proven to be far more skilled than veteran starter Jacoby Brissett, but he desperately needs better wide receivers to go with tight end Hunter Henry.
The fact that the Pats are going with Maye as their quarterback for the rest of the season is good for the team and the player. At 1-6 after six straight losses, this is another lost season for the team, but Maye is gaining valuable experience as the team tries to trade for or draft much-needed help.
Maye’s accuracy is looking familiar to what we saw at Carolina for two seasons, as he throws darts down the seam and lofts long balls along the sideline and completed 26 of 37 throws for 276 yards and those two touchdowns. For the second straight game he had as many yards rushing as anyone else on the predictable and unimaginable offense of coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who my guess won’t be with the team for the entire season.
The Pats play the 2-5 Jets with Aaron Rodgers next week and have five games in November against teams that will all struggle to make the playoffs. So Maye could get his first win as an NFL starter.
Featured image via Associated Press/Ian Walton
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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