FOXBOROUGH — After an appetizer in the preseason opener, the Patriots served a real course of Drake Maye against the Eagles. The No. 3 overall pick played two full quarters on Thursday and assimilated quite well.
Maye ran for his first (preseason) NFL touchdown, led a pair of scoring drives, and was a bright spot in New England’s 14-13 loss to Philadelphia. Here are seven takeaways from a highly-anticipated evening at Gillette Stadium: 1. Maye gets some real run — and runs with it After getting six snaps in the opener, Maye was given an extended look on Thursday and made the most of it.
The rookie entered the game in the second quarter with most of the starting offensive line in tact — only David Andrews was removed — and promptly led a field goal drive. He wasn’t running for his life like he had been with the backups in Tuesday’s joint practice. Maye followed that by finding the end zone on New England’s next possession.
Facing a 3rd-and-goal on the Philadelphia 4-yard line, the 21-year-old quarterback rolled to his right on a red zone read, tucked the ball, and glided into the end zone untouched. The Patriots could really have some fun with his athleticism. All told, Maye went 6-of-11 for 47 yards and carried the ball four times for 15 yards; he was better than his numbers indicated.
The rookie also took his first welcome-to-the-NFL hit when Vederian Lowe lost track of Nolan Smith, who proceeded to freight train the quarterback. Maye popped right up, so it was a productive night on all fronts. 2.
Bad evening for Brissett Billed as a savvy veteran, Jacoby Brissett was the quarterback who made a rookie-like mistake on Thursday. Facing a 3rd-and-3 at the Philadelphia 8-yard line, Brissett didn’t have his first read, so he opted to force a ball late to Austin Hooper, who was blanketed by Avonte Maddox. The Eagles cornerback picked the pass off in the end zone and brought it back 48 yards.
Brissett needed to either hum that pass out of the back of the end zone or just take a sack; it was a third down in the red zone. By forcing the pass Hooper’s way, the veteran took points off the board. He finished the evening 3-of-7 for 17 yards, and though it was a small sample size, it was likely Brissett’s worst showing of the summer.
He also missed Ja’Lynn Polk on a deep ball and flung a dangerous pass to Pop Douglas that fell incomplete. 3. Life after Judon begins With Matthew Judon now an Atlanta Falcon, the Patriots rolled out Keion White and Anfernee Jennings as their starting edge players on Thursday night.
Later in the series, Deatrich Wise and Joshua Uche rotated in as reserves. It couldn’t have gone much better. Uche recorded a sack of Kenny Pickett late in the first quarter while White and Wise each added one in the second.
While none of them boast Judon’s four-time Pro Bowl pedigree, the Patriots could certainly do worse than those four players. 4. Tough night for Baker Rookie wideout Javon Baker got plenty of targets, but struggled to convert them.
In the third quarter, Maye dropped a beautiful deep ball into the bucket, but it bounced off Baker’s gloves and fell incomplete. The fourth-rounder popped up and slapped his hands together in frustration. Baker was also forced out of bounds on another sideline throw off his hands and finished with one catch for 12 yards on four targets.
5. Running game struggles New England trotted out the same starting offensive line — left to right: Lowe, Sidy Sow, Andrews, Mike Onwenu and Chuks Okorafor — and that group couldn’t generate much offense on the ground. Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson, the top two backs on the depth chart, combined for 26 yards on 10 carries.
Jerod Mayo might want the Patriots to be a running team, but saying that and executing the vision are two different things. 6. Slye coming on strong Joey Slye was tasked with a pair of field goals and nailed them both, hitting a 51-yarder and a 45-yarder.
He’s really kicked well since camp has gotten rolling. His competitor Chad Ryland also converted his lone kick of the night, too, an extra point following Maye’s touchdown run. 7.
Wait, what’s going on here? The most head-scratching decision of the evening came on the last play of the first quarter. With the Eagles in punt formation, Pop Douglas was sent back deep — and actually returned the kick. It’d be one thing if Douglas was instructed to simply fair catch the ball, but he didn’t.
Putting the undersized receiver back there in a preseason game felt like playing with fire. Douglas was hurt on a punt in the Meadowlands last November. He’s already been injured this August.
Why take that risk in a game that means nothing? Read more about the Patriots.
