Patriots don’t have the luxury of deviating from the Drake Maye plan that originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
They have a plan and they stick to it. Your results may vary, but I give the Patriots credit for that.
If the Patriots move on to Drake Maye, more things will go wrong than right. And while it might – MAY – cause a sugar rush of excitement, the temporary hit has the potential for long-term damage that needs to be undone.
Clearly, the last eight quarters of attacking football were not on display. Absorbing the throbbing Jacoby Brissett is merciless. Blitz-averse defenses for the Jets and 49ers gave themselves a pass and simply went after Brissett. The tsunami of pressure is practically a mockery.
“You can’t stop us… we both know that… so we’ll make an exception and blow the snot out of you… here we come… TOLD YOU!!!”
Faced with that reality, the temptation to do something – ANYTHING – to make it stop must be powerful. Or don’t even make it “stop”, just make it look different.
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Maybe make it look different. Escape some blitzes. Rush to some big wins. Launch a one-footed 56-yarder across his body that lands like a spear into Tyquan Thornton’s chest.
But he would be just as likely to take an 60-foot bag in an attempt to retreat and escape. Or getting fired for not being aware that (take your pick from the practice squad castoffs currently manning starting spots on the offensive line) smelled like his block. Or put it in a team meeting because panic breaks out.
Or — after a few weeks of being used as a crash-test dummy — you start abandoning all the teachings and fundamentals the Patriots have instilled in him over the past six months.
Mac Jones has taken the physical blows quite well in his first two seasons (despite the pathetic grimace following the 2022 high ankle sprain). But in Week 4 last year, he lost it to the Cowboys and it never came back.
In announcing Monday that Brissett would continue as starter, head coach Jerod Mayo said: “He’s done a good job of doing what we asked. Are there a lot of plays we could do better on? Absolutely. But I would .” Never doubt his strength, reliability and his leadership style for this team, and that’s what we need right now.”
Notice that Mayo didn’t say anything about production, playmaking ability or the ability to push the ball down the field?
Because that stuff is secondary to the fact that someone is willing to take a beating every week, and then stands up and says, “It didn’t hurt. I can take it.”
Think about the offensive line.
Four left tackles in four games. Chukwuma Okorafor, the free agent they signed to play that spot – who had never played there in the NFL – quit. And now they’ve cycled through three guys who were team-level players when they were brought in. That’s at LEFT TACKLE!!!
Cole Strange, the 2022 first-round pick they drafted to play left guard, has been injured since offseason surgery. He’s fine at best when he’s available. Sidy Sow was injured for weeks. He played his first match on Sunday. Center David Andrews was out on Sunday with a shoulder injury and was replaced by a guy named Nick Leverett, who isn’t great.
There’s a rookie at right guard, Layden Robinson, and he’s going through as teams tee off with extra rushers. Mike Onwenu has the right tackle and if the other four fingers don’t work properly, does it matter what the thumb does?
When you have a guy who is willing to play behind an offensive line as overmatched as this one and take the hits that come with it, you do it.
Back at the NFL owners meeting in March, Robert Kraft said, “I hope we don’t struggle…”
Well, they’re having a hard time. Bad. You’ll recall that they were even worse offensively last season, when they failed to score even 10 points six times. There was resignation to the suck at the time, though, because there was no “knight in shining armor” waiting on the couch to put on his cape and Superman this thing.
The fact is that there is no Superman there now either. Young Drake isn’t ready for the poop storm. And the Patriots are resisting any impulse to push him out of there.
“What we do is what we think is best,” Mayo explained. “What I do is what I believe is best for the Patriots today and in the future. And that’s how I have to look at these things. (Media) looks at this from week to week. I think there’s a combination of several things I’m dealing with.”
Brissett had six sacks on Sunday. He took five against the Jets. The hits are piling up. Somehow he seems even MORE hesitant to let go of throws, despite knowing he’s about to get crushed. He doesn’t look well.
On the surface, it makes sense to go to Maye just because things are getting worse for Brissett. But the opposite of that is that Maye won’t make it better.
When the line stabilizes a bit – when the time between breaking and collapsing the bag is more than two seconds (it’s now 1.6 for Brissett) – Maye trot out. But going to him now will set him up for failure.
The biggest killer of first-round quarterbacks is early exposure to chaos. Do you want to be at the top of the list again in 2028 and pick a kid who is now 17 to lead the Patriots into the 2030s? Then let Maye play.
Do you want to give Maye the best chance for success? Leave him where he is.
