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Brian Hoyer shares old advice to Mac Jones that could benefit Drake Maye
Hoyer's sage words to the former Patriot Jones could soon come in handy for the current future of the franchise.
Brian Hoyer has seen his share of deflating losses, like the one the Patriots just suffered against the Seahawks in overtime on Sunday. From that experience came an important piece of advice he once rendered to former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones that young quarterbacks, including the rookie Drake Maye, would do well to remember.
While breaking down Sunday’s defeat on the latest episode of “The Quick Snap” podcast, Andrews made a pointed comment to Hoyer about the bitterness of a frustrating loss — even if you personally had a solid performance.
“I think if you ever sit there and say, as a competitor and a teammate, ‘Well, I played good [in a loss]’, that’s [expletive],” Andrews said. ” … No, you didn’t play good enough. There’s something you could’ve done to help the team play better. That’s what we’ve got to do.”
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That led the former Patriots QB to share a piece of a conversation he once had with Jones during the latter’s rookie year in 2021.
“He came from Alabama. He didn’t lose a lot,” Hoyer recalled, “There were some games we lost early in his career here … but he played really well. And I said, ‘Dude, this is not college in college. If you’re the quarterback and you play well [in college], you’re going to win. In the NFL, you may play your best game and lose. And there may be a game where you just play average, don’t turn the ball over, and we win.’ That’s the NFL.”
The sequence of those comments is interesting. Jones had a successful rookie season after a National Championship-winning senior season with the Crimson Tide in 2020 but regressed due to questionable coaching decisions and his own deteriorated decision-making. In the end, Jones was benched halfway through his third year in New England and was subsequently traded to Jacksonville this offseason, where he now serves as a backup.
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It seems Jones struggled to adhere to Hoyer’s advice. Hopefully, New England’s next-man-up at the position, Maye, does better.
Maye doesn’t look or play much like Jones, who was more of a game manager who occasionally forgot his limitations. The No. 3 overall pick out of North Carolina is athletic, rocket-armed and sometimes reckless in his willingness to throw into tight windows and take on contact as a runner.
He’ll likely go through a prolonged adjustment to the speed and complexity of NFL defenses when he first takes the field, just as this year’s top pick Caleb Williams is through two starts. That will make it all the more important for Maye to limit mistakes similarly to current starter Jacoby Brissett as he learns how to harness his talent.
The Patriots would almost surely welcome a game (especially in his rookie year) in which Maye throws for just 130 yards but commits no turnovers in a win than a gun-slinging three-turnover game with more passing yards in a loss.
Sometimes, winning football is about not messing up more than making spectacular plays, which is what Hoyer tried to convey to Jones. We’ll see if Maye embraces that message when it’s his turn under center.
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