Patriots feeling āhopefulā about Drake Mayeās availability Sunday vs. Titans
"Very hopeful that things going in the way theyāre trending. But again, thatās not in my area.ā
Despite missing most of last Sunday’s win over the Jets after suffering a concussion, Patriots QB Drake Maye may not be on the mend for long.
Before the start of Thursday’s practice at Gillette Stadium, Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt signaled that Maye has made significant strides since first landing in the concussion protocol earlier this week.
“He is in the protocol, and I’ll let the training staff handle all that,” Van Pelt said on Thursday. “He did show up yesterday in practice, did some limited things on the field. Hopefully, he’s progressing. Very hopeful that things going in the way they’re trending. But again, that’s not in my area.”
Maye continued to make more progress once Thursday’s practice got underway.
After being limited in practice Wednesday and not getting spotted during the media portion of practice, Christopher Price of The Boston Globe noted Thursday that Maye was present at the start of practice — even taking the first QB reps ahead of veteran Jacoby Brissett.
Maye was officially listed as “limited” on Thursday, but might already be at Phase 4 of the NFL’s 5-stage concussion protocol.
Per the NFL’s rules, Phase 4 stands as “club based non-contract drills,” which falls in line with Maye’s participation on Thursday.
“The player continues cardiovascular, strength and balance training, team-based sports-specific exercise, and participates in non-contact football activities (e.g.throwing, catching, running, and other position-specific activities),” the league rules note for Phase 4. “Neurocognitive and balance testing should be completed no later than the end of Phase Four with the results interpreted as back to baseline.”
The last hurdle for Maye is Phase 5, which involves “full football activity/clearance”.
Even though Brissett helped New England orchestrate a last-minute comeback against the Jets, New England’s offensive capabilities are higher with Maye under center.
Through four games, Maye has completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 564 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. He’s also developed into a legitimate rushing threat — gaining 114 rushing yards (8.8 yards per carry) while scoring a touchdown against the Jets before his injury.
While Maye was injured on a scramble play later in New England’s game against the Jets, Van Pelt stressed that the Patriots aren’t going to discourage their rookie QB from using his legs to gain extra yards.
“You would hate to take that away from a player,” Van Pelt said on Thursday. “That’s a strength of his, his ability to move out of the pocket. … “The one thing we talked about was being safe in the slide.
“Oftentimes you get into space where you feel like you’re clean and you can go feet first — which is what we coach in open space — but again, you never know what’s coming behind. So the quarterbacks that avoid injury oftentimes will find a soft place by going head first and just getting down in that regard. So that’s something we continue to work on with him.”
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