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 w.