Jacoby Brissett will remain Patriots’ starting quarterback after Drake Maye made his debut
"Jacoby's still our starting quarterback."
Jacoby Brissett will remain the Patriots’ starting quarterback, coach Jerod Mayo told reporters Friday.
Rookie Drake Maye made his NFL debut in the closing minutes of Thursday’s loss to the Jets after the game got out of hand, but Mayo said he will stick with Brissett.
“Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he’s not the quarterback,” Mayo said. “I thought last night he showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grit. On protection breakdowns, he tried to do what we asked him to do. I would say as a team, as a coaching staff, we’ve just got to be better.”
Mayo said the Patriots also are sticking with their plan to give Brissett around 70 percent of the practice reps, with Maye taking the other 30.
“Right now, I would say it’s still status quo,” Mayo said. “I said it earlier. Jacoby’s still our starting quarterback, and we’ve got to be ready to support him. There are 11 guys out there on offense, so it’s everyone.”
Maye went 4 of 8 passing for 22 yards and was sacked twice. The offensive line had protection issues all night long, allowing seven total sacks.
Mayo said Maye fared well under the circumstances.
“Another guy who has athleticism,” Mayo said. “He can make all the throws. Coming off the bench at that time is always tough, no matter what position, but especially at the quarterback position.
“I thought he did handle himself well and tried to put a drive together. Something to build off of. I thought it was a good opportunity for him to go out there and get some live reps.”
Being able to play was a good experience for Maye, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. Van Pelt added that he is excited for Maye’s future, but also pointed out a few aspects of his game that still need work, such as his footwork and the way he handles pressure.
“Up and down,” Van Pelt said. “There were some things there to correct and that’s usually the case the first time you’re out for live bullets.
“It can change your feet, revert back. We’re still a work in progress there, but the strides he’s made over the course of the spring and the summer camp and the games in the preseason, you’ll be able to do that, take it to the next level.”
The best thing for Maye’s development right now is to watch and learn, Van Pelt said.
“I still think it’s by watching,” he said. “I think there’s a lot to be learned yet, and that’s where I’ll stand on that. Jacoby is our starter, like Coach said, and until that changes, I think we have to do everything we can to get the starter ready to win a game on Sunday.”
Pocket change
The Patriots have had issues keeping opposing quarterbacks in the pocket the past two games, and it is affecting their pass rush.
Defensive coordinator DaMarcus Covington said the defense needs to tighten that up to defend the pass more effectively.
“We’ve just got to be more disciplined, definitely,” Covington said. “That’s one of the things we need to clean up, especially over the past two weeks.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we communicate right, we’re communicating our rush right, and then we’ve just got to do a good job with knowing our assignment and doing our job.”
Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked comfortable Thursday night, completing 27 of his 35 attempts for 281 yards, with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions.
His success had more to do with the Patriots not executing fundamentals than anything special the Jets did schematically, Covington said.
“It’s not really what they did,” Covington said. “It’s what we didn’t do to get them off the field. Whether it was a penalty, whether it was the missed tackles, whether it was misalignment, those are things that’s not really anything the Jets did, it was what NEP defense did.
“It was really catch and throw and tackle, simple fundamental football. It wasn’t anything where it was like X’s and O’s. It was really about catching, blocking, defeating blocks, and tackling. That’s what it came down to, and we didn’t execute well.”
Leg day
Punter Bryce Baringer was a bright spot in the loss, special teams coach Jeremy Springer said.
Baringer averaged 49 yards per punt on five attempts, with a long of 57.
“I told him straight up, he was undoubtedly last night our best coverage player because of how well he punted the ball,” Springer said. “I think if he continues to progress and be confident in himself, we can take care of it through the week how we manage his kicking.
“He’s undoubtedly been a great weapon for us. I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen over the past three weeks. I want to continue to encourage him to progress because he is going to help our defense out and set them up with good field position.”
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