As Patriots’ season winds down, Drake Maye can prove himself against another star QB, Chargers’ Justin Herbert
Maye continues to be the bright light in a season that dimmed weeks ago.
Welcome to Season 13, Episode 17 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup …
So, what constitutes a good day for Patriots quarterback Drake Maye against the Chargers on Saturday?
I’m sure he’d say winning, since it’s the right thing to say and the Kid QB has a knack for authentically saying the right thing. It’s one of the many likable things about him.
But winning isn’t the best thing for the Patriots, who are one of five 3-12 teams jostling for draft position behind the 2-13 Giants.
So, it’s something like this:
· Maye plays aggressively but doesn’t throw an interception for the first time in eight games.
· He shows resilience against a tough defense, which will be trying to bait him into the kind of mistakes he made in the second half against the Bills.
· And no matter the outcome, he plays well enough that NFL fans who haven’t seen much of him yet recognize all of his similarities to Chargers superstar quarterback Justin Herbert, much as they saw last week that Maye has some similar skills to Bills force-of-nature Josh Allen.
In other words, keep being the bright light in a Patriots season that otherwise dimmed weeks ago.
Kick it off, Slye, and let’s get this thing started …
Three players worth watching other than the quarterbacks
Hunter Henry: A trustworthy tight end is one of the greatest comforts a rookie quarterback can have, and Henry has been just that.
Henry, who left the Chargers to sign a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Patriots in March 2021, is having the most productive season of his nine-year career.
He’s had career highs in targets (96), receptions (66), and receiving yards (674). And while he has just two touchdowns, one came last week to cut Buffalo’s lead to 24-21 late in the game.
His on-field rapport with Maye was obvious on an earlier play in last Sunday’s game, a 12-yard catch on third down on the Patriots’ first possession to keep an eventual touchdown drive alive. Maye, under pressure, threw a dart to where he anticipated Henry, who hadn’t yet come out of his break, would be. It was one of Maye’s best throws and decisions of the game, and it was borne from total trust in Henry.
Maye and Henry’s rapport off the field was obvious on Tuesday, when they shared the podium for their media availability.
“It’s just awesome having one of the best tight ends in the league playing for the Patriots here in my first year,” Maye said. “I think you’ve kind of seen this season what he’s meant to this team. Every week he shows up in the run game, shows up in the pass game, in the huddle when I’m forgetting plays.”
In five seasons with the Chargers (2016-20) — including one with Herbert — Henry had 196 catches for 2,322 yards and 21 touchdowns. His statistics in four seasons with the Patriots are remarkably similar: 199 catches for 2,205 yards and 19 TDs.
Ladd McConkey: Too soon to call him the one that got away? Probably not.
The uphill battle has been fought in this space regarding how Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf fared in his first draft. The general case: He got the most important thing right in Maye. Not much else looks good, but it’s still early.
But there’s one part that is already regrettable, and may well remain that way: the decision to trade the Nos. 34 and 137 picks to the Chargers for the Nos. 37 and 110 picks.
At No. 34, the Chargers took McConkey, who likely will go over 1,000 yards for the season on Saturday unless Christian Gonzalez really locks him down. McConkey has emerged as the receiving weapon Herbert desperately needed, with 69 receptions on 96 targets for 960 yards and 5 scores. With the No. 137 pick, the Chargers took cornerback Tarheeb Still, who starts and leads the team with four interceptions.
The Patriots? Uh, let’s just say they’re waiting for any hints of payoff. No. 37 choice Ja’Lynn Polk has 12 receptions for 87 yards all season. (McConkey had 87 yards against the Broncos last week.) And the No. 110 pick, receiver Javon Baker, is yet to record a catch. Yikes.
J.K. Dobbins: The Bills shredded the Patriots on the ground Sunday. On just 11 carries, James Cook had 100 of Buffalo’s 172 rushing yards, including a 46-yarder in which Patriots linebackers and safeties toppled like bowling pins. The tackling was even poorer two weeks ago against the Cardinals, and Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh is going to want to test their 24th-ranked run defense (130.4 yards per game).
Dobbins, who has been sidelined since a Week 12 loss to the Ravens with a knee injury, is expected to return Saturday. He was excellent before the injury, running for 766 yards and 8 TDs in 11 games.
The flashback
It’s kind of wild that the ignominious 46-10 loss to the Bears in Super Bowl XX isn’t the franchise’s largest margin of defeat in a championship game.
That occurred more than two decades earlier, when the Chargers, hosting at Balboa Field in San Diego, trampled the Boston Patriots, 51-10, in the 1963 AFL Championship Game.
The Chargers, coached by passing-game innovator Sid Gillman and featuring a defensive staff that included future four-time Super Bowl-winning Steelers coach Chuck Noll, ran roughshod.
According to Jan. 6, 1964, editions of the Globe the day after the game, Gillman and the Chargers devised a scheme designed to pull star Patriots linebacker Nick Buoniconti away from the middle of the field, which they believed would open up running lanes all the way to Chula Vista.
They got close, racking up 610 yards of total offense, including 318 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
Running back Keith Lincoln gained 206 yards on just 13 carries, including a 67-yard touchdown, and also contributed 132 receiving yards on seven receptions.
Paul Lowe added 94 yards on 12 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown that, like Lincoln’s 67-yard jaunt, happened in the first quarter. The Chargers led, 31-10, at halftime and scored 20 unanswered points in the second half.
“The Chargers just whipped us bad,” said Patriots quarterback Babe Parilli to the Globe’s Will McDonough. “They played every moment of the game like they wanted to kill us.”
(A little more than two years later, in June 1966, the NFL and AFL finalized their merger, commencing the Super Bowl era.)
Grievance of the week
There’s already a lengthy list of familiar gripes about this Patriots team, many of which recur week to week. I won’t harp on them here, since we’ll probably have more opportunities to revisit them over the final two games. You know the ones I mean.
Instead, let’s go with a lesser one-off of a grievance. I can’t believe there were any Patriots fans that wanted to see them claim receiver Diontae Johnson on waivers from the Ravens this week. Johnson ended up going to the Texans. The Chargers reportedly were the other team to put in a claim.
The Patriots, who had waiver priority over both, could have had him if they wanted, and I heard a few chirps in recent days about their supposed missed opportunity in not doing so.
Let’s be clear: The Patriots did the right thing.
Johnson has been a productive receiver, with 391 catches for 4,363 yards and 25 touchdowns over five seasons with the Steelers. But he wore out his welcome with Mike Tomlin — a coach with a history of tolerating talented headaches, including Antonio Brown — and was traded to the Panthers in the offseason. He was decent for the Panthers, but after a trade to the Ravens he caught just 1 pass for 6 yards in four games before his release last Friday — a decision sparked by his refusal to enter their Week 13 game with the Eagles.
Johnson might still be a competent pass catcher, but selfish players are the last thing you want to saddle Maye with in the huddle.
Prediction, or did you know Wes Chandler had 1,032 yards in just eight games in 1982?
The Patriots come in with a lament that may or may not linger. After playing their best quarter of football all season in taking a quick 14-0 lead Sunday against the Bills, they did not handle prosperity well, allowing 24 straight points aided by a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble and two Maye turnovers. They had an opportunity to pull off one of the upsets of the season and let it slip.
Maybe that will carry over and maybe it won’t, but at 3-12 and slotted in the No. 2 spot in the 2025 NFL Draft, there isn’t much practical benefit to beating the Chargers beyond salvaging some pride.
The Chargers, however, come in riding high after a come-from-behind 34-27 win over the Broncos last week, a victory made more memorable by a successfully executed fair-catch kick, the first in the NFL in 48 years. (The rule allows a team that has just made a fair catch to try a free kick from the line of scrimmage for 3 points. You know Bill Belichick loved this.)
Not only are the Chargers feeling good about themselves, but the outcome Saturday has real stakes. Currently the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoff race, they will clinch a playoff berth with a victory at Gillette Stadium. They are the better team, the more confident team, and the team with something tangible to play for.
The Patriots’ losing streak reaches six straight. It hurts now, but it’s the best thing in the long run. Chargers 26, Patriots 20.
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