Maye-day Every Day

[BaseballJones]

Here's what I predict will happen as Maye takes over:

(1) He will quite often be running for his life.
(2) He will quite often be running for positive yards in a way that Brissett couldn't.
(3) He will make a lot of godawful mistakes, from (a) being a rookie, and (b) being pressured.
(4) He will make a bunch of plays - both with his feet and, most importantly, with his arm - that Brissett could only dream of.
(5) The Pats' offense will put up more points, but will also turn the ball over more.
(6) He will improve as the season goes on.
(7) The team will win a few games but still have among the worst records in the NFL (and an accompanying high draft slot).
(8) We will, for the most part, be encouraged that this team has a future with Maye at QB.

 

[Garshaparra]

Here's what I predict will happen as Maye takes over:

(1) He will quite often be running for his life.
(2) He will quite often be running for positive yards in a way that Brissett couldn't.
(3) He will make a lot of godawful mistakes, from (a) being a rookie, and (b) being pressured.
(4) He will make a bunch of plays - both with his feet and, most importantly, with his arm - that Brissett could only dream of.
(5) The Pats' offense will put up more points, but will also turn the ball over more.
(6) He will improve as the season goes on.
(7) The team will win a few games but still have among the worst records in the NFL (and an accompanying high draft slot).
(8) We will, for the most part, be encouraged that this team has a future with Maye at QB.

Yep, as the kids say, let him cook. And sometimes, that cooking will be a Tiktok mess of inedible crockpot crap, and sometimes, the chicken will be cooked through. Let him learn, cross our fingers for no significant injuries, and see what we have here.

 

[Toe Nash]

All of y’all thinking “well, if he struggles against Houston it’s okay” should fire up the Bill-Texans game last week. Josh Allen, a mobile quarterback who is “good against the blitz” got chased all over the field and went 9-30. Then he got body slammed and got the brain scramblies.

I’m in the “bubble wrap Maye except for a few late season starts against weak defenses camp.” But I’m even if I were Team Play Maye I’d wait one more week. The Texans will have him running for his life in every passing down, and when they eventually catch him (and they will) they will try to break him in half.

Allen is a big tough guy who regularly runs on his own and in designed QB runs and looks for contact because he can often truck people and get additional yards. Also he's very tough to bring down and can often avoid sacks and then find guys for completions.

There is risk putting Maye out there against a good defense (or any defense), but I think and hope he is going to be instructed to slide, go OOB and turtle if he can't get rid of the ball instead of seeking out contact like Allen does. I would not recommend any young QB play like Allen does.

 

[Mystic Merlin]

It’s unclear to me whether Mayo is making this move now because he has changed his mind since Week 1 about which QB gives the team the best chance to win, or whether he’s doing it because this season is clearly lost now and he’s doing what’s best for 2025 and beyond even if that means sacrificing a win or two this year. All the voices in the Pats’ organization are saying the former. That’s a good thing — you can’t build or sustain a strong culture when the team has given up a third of the way into the season. Like others, though, I suspect Mayo’s decision would have been different if the Pats found a way to win on Sunday and were 2-3, just one game behind division-leading Buffalo.

I agree, but for a different reason than some seem to reach that conclusion. My perception all along was they were trying to hold Maye out as long as feasible, and losing that game - even if they should’ve won it - made it incrementally harder to do that because of the clear trend towards Maye’s day coming. It’s also important to remember that there was a sentiment, informed by Mayo himself commenting that Maye had outplayed Brissett/closed the gap, that Maye should’ve gotten the job Week 1. And you don’t give Maye 30 percent of first team snaps in practice if you aren’t taking seriously the idea of him taking the job midyear.

Going by the sum of the reporting over the last few months, I think this is at least as plausible as the alternate scenarios (eg, they ‘changed the plan’, ‘this can’t be the plan’).

 

[Remagellan]

Here's what I predict will happen as Maye takes over:

(1) He will quite often be running for his life.
(2) He will quite often be running for positive yards in a way that Brissett couldn't.
(3) He will make a lot of godawful mistakes, from (a) being a rookie, and (b) being pressured.
(4) He will make a bunch of plays - both with his feet and, most importantly, with his arm - that Brissett could only dream of.
(5) The Pats' offense will put up more points, but will also turn the ball over more.
(6) He will improve as the season goes on.
(7) The team will win a few games but still have among the worst records in the NFL (and an accompanying high draft slot).
(8) We will, for the most part, be encouraged that this team has a future with Maye at QB.

all of that will probably prove to be the case, but in the end only number 8 matters. (Fitting for a Red Sox site.)

 

[Trapaholic]

I can't tell if people are surprised at the timing or simply did not want Drake to play at all this year. He has been the only other active QB on the roster for the past few weeks. He already got into an actual game. Every week up until now, there has been a real chance that he would have to come in anyways due to an injury. Before the most recent game, Mayo admitted that Maye has been outplaying Brissett in practice and he is in fact the better quarterback at this juncture.

He was always going to play at some point this year and it was just a matter of when. You can try and game it so he has the "softest" landing possible, but its the NFL and nothing is going to be easy.

 

[Deathofthebambino]

It’s unclear to me whether Mayo is making this move now because he has changed his mind since Week 1 about which QB gives the team the best chance to win, or whether he’s doing it because this season is clearly lost now and he’s doing what’s best for 2025 and beyond even if that means sacrificing a win or two this year. All the voices in the Pats’ organization are saying the former. That’s a good thing — you can’t build or sustain a strong culture when the team has given up a third of the way into the season. Like others, though, I suspect Mayo’s decision would have been different if the Pats found a way to win on Sunday and were 2-3, just one game behind division-leading Buffalo.

I don't think we can start from the assumption that Mayo is the decision maker on this. I believe Mayo knows and likely has known all along that Drake gives them the best chance to win games, and has quite publicly acknowledged that with the "he outplayed Jacoby" type comments. I personally believe it's more likely that Wolf and Co. wanted Maye to be sitting as long as possible until they got a line and receivers that could take some pressure off, but I think Kraft was done with it and wants to see the team either win games, put Pats fans in the stadium, generate some buzz around the team and save Mayo from losing the locker room entirely, or more likely, a combination of all of that. Head coaches want to win games above all else, and it was pretty glaringly apparent from week 2 onward that Jacoby wasn't winning them any games, and actively costing them wins. There's no way Mayo didn't see that too.

 

[RedOctober3829]

I don't think we can start from the assumption that Mayo is the decision maker on this. I believe Mayo knows and likely has known all along that Drake gives them the best chance to win games, and has quite publicly acknowledged that with the "he outplayed Jacoby" type comments. I personally believe it's more likely that Wolf and Co. wanted Maye to be sitting as long as possible until they got a line and receivers that could take some pressure off, but I think Kraft was done with it and wants to see the team either win games, put Pats fans in the stadium, generate some buzz around the team and save Mayo from losing the locker room entirely, or more likely, a combination of all of that. Head coaches want to win games above all else, and it was pretty glaringly apparent from week 2 onward that Jacoby wasn't winning them any games, and actively costing them wins. There's no way Mayo didn't see that too.

This is the right move for now and for the long-term. The offense as currently constituted sucks mostly in part because Brissett has been really bad the past few weeks. The OL actually was stabilized on Sunday and they still only threw for just over 100 yards. There is no perfect time to do it. Just rip the band-aid off and get Maye out there. Let him go through the struggles and learn from them. If Maye was in there from Day 1, I firmly believe they'd be 3-2 today.

 

[Cellar-Door]

This is the right move for now and for the long-term. The offense as currently constituted sucks mostly in part because Brissett has been really bad the past few weeks. The OL actually was stabilized on Sunday and they still only threw for just over 100 yards. There is no perfect time to do it. Just rip the band-aid off and get Maye out there. Let him go through the struggles and learn from them. If Maye was in there from Day 1, I firmly believe they'd be 3-2 today.

I'm fine with starting him for sure, but I'd caution against assuming the line "stabilized", they faced a really bad defense, and the pass pro from the center and right side was still really bad. So it could be we are seeing improvement (I do think our best pass pro LT and LG were out there) but also a lot of the appearance of less pressure was just facing a bad defense.

Edit- yeah looked it up 51% pressure rate (HORRENDOUS) but fewer quick pressures than normal which is nice, also... a ton of penalties.

 

[tims4wins]

I'm fine with starting him for sure, but I'd caution against assuming the line "stabilized", they faced a really bad defense, and the pass pro from the center and right side was still really bad. So it could be we are seeing improvement (I do think our best pass pro LT and LG were out there) but also a lot of the appearance of less pressure was just facing a bad defense.

Maybe it wasn’t stabilized last week, but I believe this week will be the first time all season that the same 5 guys line up in the same spots. Not sure we can reasonably expect it to get much more stable than that this season, unfortunately.

 

[dirtynine]

Interceptions have not been a big issue so far. I expect that to change as Maye figures things out. If the fumbling doesn’t improve things could get lopsided easily or early. I’m cool with it as long as he’s progressing.

 

[rodderick]

Interceptions have not been a big issue so far. I expect that to change as Maye figures things out. If the fumbling doesn’t improve things could get lopsided easily or early. I’m cool with it as long as he’s progressing.

If he makes more plays I'd be down with some picks. Brissett is top 10 in time to throw, takes a ton of sacks and yet even though he holds onto the ball he makes zero plays, which leads to stagnant offense.

 

[RedOctober3829]

I'm fine with starting him for sure, but I'd caution against assuming the line "stabilized", they faced a really bad defense, and the pass pro from the center and right side was still really bad. So it could be we are seeing improvement (I do think our best pass pro LT and LG were out there) but also a lot of the appearance of less pressure was just facing a bad defense.

Edit- yeah looked it up 51% pressure rate (HORRENDOUS) but fewer quick pressures than normal which is nice, also... a ton of penalties.

I think the pressure rate is skewed by how bad Leverett was. The penalties weren't great, but generally speaking Brissett had opportunities to throw. I agree that Lowe and Jordan were fine. Jacobs and Onwenu were OK as well.

 

[Eric Fernsten's Disco Mustache]

I'm fine with starting him for sure, but I'd caution against assuming the line "stabilized", they faced a really bad defense, and the pass pro from the center and right side was still really bad. So it could be we are seeing improvement (I do think our best pass pro LT and LG were out there) but also a lot of the appearance of less pressure was just facing a bad defense.

Edit- yeah looked it up 51% pressure rate (HORRENDOUS) but fewer quick pressures than normal which is nice, also... a ton of penalties.

Yeah, agree with this take

If you want to feel optimistic about this you could tell yourself that fixable communications issues and everyone starting for the first time at their position were behind a bunch of problems on the right side.

If you wanna feel more pessimistic you'd wonder why Leverett is having perhaps the worst game of his career against team without a very good d-line, and why someone with Jacob's obvious physical gifts keeps getting blown-by so often.

If we had a better option at RT I'd be feeling more confident. But I'm assuming the coaching staff moved Onwenu over to RG because they decided they just couldn't afford to give Robinson more time to show something better.

Either way, starting Jacobs right now at RT is not something you do because you're looking at a bunch of good options

 

[Cellar-Door]

Yeah, agree with this take

If you want to feel optimistic about this you could tell yourself that fixable communications issues and everyone starting for the first time at their position were behind a bunch of problems on the right side.

If you wanna feel more pessimistic you'd wonder why Leverett is having perhaps the worst game of his career against team without a very good d-line, and why someone with Jacob's obvious physical gifts keeps getting blown-by so often.

If we had a better option at RT I'd be feeling more confident. But I'm assuming the coaching staff moved Onwenu over to RG because they decided they just couldn't afford to give Robinson more time to show something better.

Either way, starting Jacobs right now at RT is not something you do because you're looking at a bunch of good options

I think Leverett just is not comfortable at C with real opponents opposite him, and I think Jacobs is just not good.

I do think Jordan has been a bit of a find, and Lowe is not as bad as he was.

What would be great long term is if Strange comes back and plays C and Wallace gets healthy and slides into RT.

 

[DJnVa]

Like others, though, I suspect Mayo’s decision would have been different if the Pats found a way to win on Sunday and were 2-3, just one game behind division-leading Buffalo.

Well of course, Because results do matter. One of the reasons we went with Brissett was he would eliminate mistakes, then the clock ran down to zero because he threw that ball in the middle of the field. If we're going to do things like that with the veteran, then the delta between him and Maye is much much smaller.

 

[chilidawg]

Fun look at Patriots QB debuts. Most successful, Scott Zolak. The quote: “Scott was amazing out there. He made some great plays out there and he’s fun to watch. He’s enthusiastic and energetic, and I hope you’re seeing a guy who can perform at that level for a long time.” — Assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia, filling in for head coach Dick MacPherson, who missed the game because of illness.

Mac and Zappe were pretty good too.


https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5830329/2024/10/09/patriots-drake-maye-starting-quarterbacks/

 

[RorschachsMask]

View: https://twitter.com/tkyles39/status/1844393578820518153

 

[tims4wins]

View: https://twitter.com/tkyles39/status/1844393578820518153

Except they named him the starter Tuesday

They need to stop fucking talking

 

[Time to Mo Vaughn]

I'm not sure why there's so much focus right now on how Drake Maye is against the blitz. With the state of the offensive line over the last few games, teams are getting plenty of pressure on the QB without the need to even bother blitzing.

 

[BaseballJones]

Except they named him the starter Tuesday

They need to stop fucking talking

For all the crap Belichick took for not saying anything....THIS is why (or one reason why, anyway) he didn't say anything.

 

[cshea]

Except they named him the starter Tuesday

They need to stop fucking talking

He was using it to illustrate his point, not stating that yesterdays practice is what swung the decision.

 

[tims4wins]

He was using it to illustrate his point, not stating that yesterdays practice is what swung the decision.

They named him the starter before he checked the box. Maybe something was lost in terms of how he delivered the message. But it sounds backwards. Hence, my comment that they need to stop talking, because they put their foot in their mouth pretty much every time.

 

[changer591]

They named him the starter before he checked the box. Maybe something was lost in terms of how he delivered the message. But it sounds backwards. Hence, my comment that they need to stop talking, because they put their foot in their mouth pretty much every time.

Or maybe people can just not dissect every single thing that comes out of their mouths and live a more care free life.
Like is that statement really that big of a deal regardless of how it was said?

 

[tims4wins]

Or maybe people can just not dissect every single thing that comes out of their mouths and live a more care free life.
Like is that statement really that big of a deal regardless of how it was said?

It makes them look dumb and that the process is backwards IMO. YMMV.

If it was a one-time thing, whatever. But Mayo has consistently said things that he nearly immediately has admitted to regretting. It's a trend with this staff.

Edit: I will absolutely allow for the possibility that the reporter did not phrase this optimally and that I am overreacting

 

[Justthetippett]

Except they named him the starter Tuesday

They need to stop fucking talking

Reminds me of that scene from some movie where the wife complains that her husband never talks, he says something stupid and she asks him to please shut up about it. We should be careful what we ask for when it comes to transparency out of this staff!

 

[rodderick]

The OC offering up practice statlines just fills you with confidence.

 

[Jimbodandy]

I'm not sure why there's so much focus right now on how Drake Maye is against the blitz. With the state of the offensive line over the last few games, teams are getting plenty of pressure on the QB without the need to even bother blitzing.

On the one hand, you're absolutely right. Teams will bring 4 and drop 7 and still get pressure without sacrificing coverage. But on the other hand, general modus operandi against rookies and inexperienced guys is to bring extra dudes and force the kid to identify and make the right quick reads and checkdowns, which they often can't do at NFL gamespeed. Getting an assessment that he's as ready for that as he can be...probably has value.

 

[tims4wins]

The OC offering up practice statlines just fills you with confidence.

Yeah this too

 

[Jimbodandy]

Reminds me of that scene from some movie where the wife complains that her husband never talks, he says something stupid and she asks him to please shut up about it. We should be careful what we ask for when it comes to transparency out of this staff!

Maybe Mayo talking so much is giving the press and sports talk blowhards something else to complain about (him) rather than the horrible performance of the team. Taking the pressure off of his players and putting it on himself is a strategy.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

If we had a hip hop group I would call us Entitled To Titles. Its terrible but accurate.

The Pats have their brand new rookie QB starting this weekend. Sunday is Maye Day. And yet the negativity around here is at peak levels.

The Pats aren't making the playoffs but the season just got a lot more interesting. Lets see what we have before covering our heads again. Or you can be negative but you might miss something cool.

 

[Remagellan]

If we had a hip hop group I would call us Entitled To Titles. Its terrible but accurate.

The Pats have their brand new rookie QB starting this weekend. Sunday is Maye Day. And yet the negativity around here is at peak levels.

The Pats aren't making the playoffs but the season just got a lot more interesting. Lets see what we have before covering our heads again. Or you can be negative but you might miss something cool.

Amen.

 

[cshea]

They named him the starter before he checked the box. Maybe something was lost in terms of how he delivered the message. But it sounds backwards. Hence, my comment that they need to stop talking, because they put their foot in their mouth pretty much every time.

Yeah, I mean, I haven't seen the video of AVP's answer but I don't think he literally meant the box was checked at yesterday's practice. He spent the whole opening lauding Maye's development and growth in practice. I believe he was asked about the blitz and that's when the comment came out. Kyles is the only reporter who included the check box bit in tweeting AVP's answer.

Feels pretty harmless to me.

 

[tims4wins]

Yeah, I mean, I haven't seen the video of AVP's answer but I don't think he literally meant the box was checked at yesterday's practice. He spent the whole opening lauding Maye's development and growth in practice. I believe he was asked about the blitz and that's when the comment came out. Kyles is the only reporter who included the check box bit in tweeting AVP's answer.

Feels pretty harmless to me.

Right, as I wrote in a subsequent post, I could be overreacting based on poor tweeting from the reporter.

 

[lexrageorge]

Belichick was unique among modern day NFL coaches in terms of rectitude. As noted, the quote is harmless.

 

[DJnVa]

JFC, this thread is overreacting to everything.

"The tweet said yesterday but he was named the day before!'

Because apparently it's impossible that AVP was simply giving the latest update on an ongoing process.

 

[Bowhemian]

If we had a hip hop group I would call us Entitled To 2 Titles. Its terrible but accurate.

The Pats have their brand new rookie QB starting this weekend. Sunday is Maye Day. And yet the negativity around here is at peak levels.

The Pats aren't making the playoffs but the season just got a lot more interesting. Lets see what we have before covering our heads again. Or you can be negative but you might miss something cool.

Co-signed.
Oh, and FYP

 

[Ralphwiggum]

We've all spent the last 20 years watching the GOAT coach who didn't operate like other coaches in lots of ways. It isn't surprising that Pats fans attribute a lot of that unparalleled success with his unconventional ways, and (over)react to the next guy doing things differently, even if differently looks a lot like how the other 31 NFL coaches do it.

The guy who followed the guy was always going to have to deal with this, and it makes it harder that the former guy left the cupboard pretty bare roster wise and the team would most likely suck no matter who was coaching them.

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

Right, as I wrote in a subsequent post, I could be overreacting based on poor tweeting from the reporter.

Or, you could just be overreacting.

If we had a hip hop group I would call us Entitled To Titles. Its terrible but accurate.

The Pats have their brand new rookie QB starting this weekend. Sunday is Maye Day. And yet the negativity around here is at peak levels.

The Pats aren't making the playoffs but the season just got a lot more interesting. Lets see what we have before covering our heads again. Or you can be negative but you might miss something cool.

The Plan, widely accepted following the draft, was that Maye was going to sit for a year and we were going to suck, but we got a QB to dream on. Given that Maye has shown signs of growth somewhat faster than expected and JB has proven to be the I-195 Washington Bridge of Bridge Quarterbacks, it's disappointing but not all that surprising that the torches and pitchforks have come out encouraging the team to throw the plan into the ocean and burn the witches on the coaching staff.

 

[rodderick]

Or, you could just be overreacting.

The Plan, widely accepted following the draft, was that Maye was going to sit for a year and we were going to suck, but we got a QB to dream on. Given that Maye has shown signs of growth somewhat faster than expected and JB has proven to be the I-195 Washington Bridge of Bridge Quarterbacks, it's disappointing but not all that surprising that the torches and pitchforks have come out encouraging the team to throw the plan into the ocean and burn the witches on the coaching staff.

Where was it widely accepted he was going to sit for a year? Most people on SoSH either didn't believe or didn't want that to happen. More people expected him to start week 1 than expected he'd be on the bench for the whole season.

 

[lexrageorge]

Where was it widely accepted he was going to sit for a year? Most people on SoSH either didn't believe or didn't want that to happen. More people expected him to start week 1 than expected he'd be on the bench for the whole season.

The draft pundits were near unanimous that Maye was not going to be ready on Week 1.

 

[BaseballJones]

The draft pundits were near unanimous that Maye was not going to be ready on Week 1.

There's a lot of space between "won't be ready week 1" and "will sit out his whole first year".

 

[cshea]

Yeah the pundits said that but I don't think anyone ever thought the Patriots plan was to sit him the entire year. The team confirmed they were giving Maye 30% of the practice snaps and he's been the game day backup so always 1 snap away from playing. You don't do those things if the plan was for him to sit the entire year.

I think the plan was always to play him sometime around now, though may have been accelerated a week or two. The only way Maye wasn't getting on the field was if they were unexpectedly winning games.

 

[rodderick]

The draft pundits were near unanimous that Maye was not going to be ready on Week 1.

Eh, nevermind the fact that there's a huge difference between sitting out the year and not being ready on week 1, I think the "oh my gooooood he's too raw" crew was simply more vocal. For every Dan Orlovsky there was a Nate Tice.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Eh, nevermind the fact that there's a huge difference between sitting out the year and not being ready on week 1, I think the "oh my gooooood he's too raw" crew was simply more vocal. For every Dan Orlovsky there was a Nate Tice.

Orlovsky honestly was the only "he needs to sit a full year" guy I heard, most people were saying "it'll take time, and you might want at least some of that time to be watching from the sideline first"

 

[rodderick]

Orlovsky honestly was the only "he needs to sit a full year" guy I heard, most people were saying "it'll take time, and you might want at least some of that time to be watching from the sideline first"

To be fair to Orlovsky, he thought Maye needed to sit for at least two years, lol.

 

[DJnVa]

Yeah, I think the consensus among most everyone else was he was gonna sit maybe 5-12 games depending on progress.

But they've also thought enough about him that he's the backup QB on a team where the QB gets hit a lot, and never thought they needed a vet there just in case.

 

[Mystic Merlin]

To be fair to Orlovsky, he thought Maye needed to sit for at least two years, lol.

It would make it more likely that Maye would retain Orlovsky for his services, no doubt.

 

[SMU_Sox]

He was using it to illustrate his point, not stating that yesterdays practice is what swung the decision.

JFC, this thread is overreacting to everything.

"The tweet said yesterday but he was named the day before!'

Because apparently it's impossible that AVP was simply giving the latest update on an ongoing process.

I can't find the tweet but this has been a theme since late late camp and was brought up a couple of weeks ago. It's a continuation of a process. You two have it right. The rest of you are missing the historical context. It was also noted last week or a few days ago (Pre-tuesday) he has been getting better and better vs the blitz in practice.

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

If you want to take issue with the "whole year" thing, have at it. It's fair, and the "whole year" thing was hyperbolic. But the criticism of keeping him on the bench over the past three weeks or so has largely been based on how much JB has sucked, not on any substantive information about how DM has been ready to go and how Mayo/Wolf have been missing the obvious.

Happily, Christmas arrives Sunday (and I'm as excited as everyone!), and we can argue about something else for a while.