Final Thoughts: Offensive line is showing exactly why Patriots shouldn’t rush to start Drake Maye
The Patriots' offensive line had another brutal showing, yet another reason why it might be smart to sit Drake Maye for a while.
If this were a true quarterback battle, the numbers would say that Drake Maye beat out Jacoby Brissett decisively.
Maye completed a higher percentage of passes, scored more touchdowns, produced fewer turnovers, and threw for more than five times as many passing yards as Brissett during this Patriots preseason.
He’s been gaining on Brissett in practice too, looking increasingly comfortable as the weeks of training camp wore on.
But, things don’t appear to be quite that simple. Despite his progress, Maye has consistently practiced with the second-stringers. Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo referred to Maye as the second-best quarterback on the Patriots’ roster after the game on Sunday.
The Patriots have a development plan for Maye and so far it has called for them to take things slow with him. They’ve slowly ramped up Maye’s playing time from one series in the preseason opener, to a quarter and some change against the Eagles, to virtually the entire first-half against the Commanders.
Some would argue that Maye deserves to start based on his play, and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. But, keep in mind how the offensive line that is supposed to protect him has looked recently.
Consider the play when rookie guard Layden Robinson got pushed backward into the path of a pulling Sidy Sow, leaving an edge rusher a free path to whack Jacoby Brissett, causing the Patriots quarterback to sustain a shoulder injury.
Think about when Sow stepped on Maye’s cleat with enough force to send it flying off when Maye dropped back to pass. Don’t forget about the double-digit penalties from false starts to illegal formations.
Remember that all that stuff happened against the Commanders’ backups and the Patriots reportedly gave up 15 sacks against the Eagles’ starters during their joint practice.
Sunday night’s performance reinforced the point that playing Maye behind this offensive line is a risk for both his health and development. Maye will have to play eventually, but throwing him out there behind that line Week 1 could be costly. Even if they are confident that the line is capable of a quarterback upright against NFL starter, wouldn’t you rather go through a test run with Brissett over the first few games than with the future of the franchise?
Maye has momentum, and there’s little doubt that experience will help as he grows. But, the pieces around him don’t seem to be there yet, and it doesn’t seem like a little patience is a bad idea.
Here are a few more thoughts from the action:
Brissett seems to be OK, according to Mayo
Brissett played a couple more snaps after the injury and was listed as questionable to return afterward.
Maye finished out the first half after Brissett left.
“That was the plan,” coach Jerod Mayo said. “We were going to play Jacoby a series or two and get Drake in.”
Mayo said that Brissett would have been able to continue playing if the circumstances were different.
“I talked to him, but we’ll see (Monday). You’re always a bit more sore the next day, but he said he was good. We’ll find out tomorrow.”
KJ Osborn almost changed the game – twice
KJ Osborn was very close to a pair of big plays, but neither ended the way he wanted them to.
Osborn spun past a defender on a route, and Brissett threw a deep ball that hit Osborn in the hand. It was a one-handed catch attempt and it wound up incomplete.
Later on, Maye hit a wide-open Osborn on what should have been a 48-yard touchdown. Osborn made the catch, beat the one defender between him and the end zone, and raced in for the score, but the play was called back because of an illegal formation penalty by Chukwuma Okorafor.
Those were two big opportunities. There was nothing Osborn could do about the second play getting wiped away. He got open on the first one, but using his other hand may have helped.
A rough end to a big night for Christian Elliss
Sunday night was a big one for linebacker Christian Elliss, who recorded 11 tackles including a tackle for loss.
He left the game with a head injury.
Elliss, who began his career with Philadelphia before being claimed by the Patriots off of waivers last year, has 37 career tackles and one start.
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