There was no shortage of problems for the New England Patriots in their Week 1 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. While Drake Maye might not be the biggest problem, he didn’t do much to hide the other issues either.
Maye had a ho-hum afternoon in his Year 2 debut, the first under new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, and longtime Patriots beat writer Mike Reiss thinks New England needs more out of the North Carolina product. Reiss wrote for ESPN.com that his “biggest question” about the Patriots is whether Maye is capable of hiding his team’s deficiencies in other areas.
Drake Maye Can’t Elevate Patriots in Week 1 Loss
What can QB Drake Maye do to elevate the offense?” Reiss wrote for ESPN.com the day after New England’s 20-13 loss to the Raiders. “Maye’s preseason struggles with high throws continued into the regular season. The Patriots need to address how best to settle him down early and produce a better success rate on higher-percentage throws.
Maye did find more of a rhythm as the first half progressed but then got derailed coming out of halftime and played a poor second half as the Patriots fizzled out. He finished 30-of-46 for 287 yards with one touchdown and one interception — a stat line that was bolstered on a final drive when the Raiders were playing a prevent-style defense — as Raiders QB Geno Smith outdueled him in making the critical throws.
Reiss doubled down on the critiques during an appearance with “Toucher and Hardy” on 98.5 The Sports Hub, flatly stating that Maye must be better for the Patriots to take a leap in his second year.
“I felt like they needed more out from him in the game,” he said on The Sports Hub. ” … I think there’s throws that are higher-percentage throws he’s not making … and I think it’s making it harder on himself. That’s one thing that stands out and they need more from him.”
Reiss wasn’t on an island with his take, either. Multiple Patriots reporters, columnists, media personalities and plenty of fans harped on it, too, including veteran Boston sportswriter Michael Hurley, who wrote this for NBC Sports Boston:
Yet with the entire New England region desperate to see a significant improvement from a team that’s gone 4-13 in consecutive seasons, the reality is that Maye likely will have to carry the Patriots at certain points if they’re going to win football games,” Hurley wrote.
“On Sunday, Maye did not really do it.
“And on top of that, he had too many throws that were simply not good.”
Patriots’ Focus on Second Half Didn’t Show Up
The bottom line didn’t look awful for Maye. He finished the day completing 30 of 46 passes for 287 yards with a touchdown and an interception. A lot of that yardage, though, came late when the game was more or less out of reach, and the second-half performance on the whole was troubling. Maye went 14-for-20 for 150 yards and the touchdown in the first half before throwing the pack and taking three sacks after halftime.
“They talked for a week about the importance of the second half and Mike Vrabel even structured his practices last week to focus on the second half by putting a break in the practice and then having the players come back as if it was a simulated halftime,” Reiss added. “For them to come out and play the way they did in the second half, that does shake the confidence a little bit.”
If there’s a silver lining it’s that New England gets a Miami Dolphins team that looked even worse than they did in Week 2. The Fins, who got rocked in Indianapolis, open as slight 1.5-point favorites in their home opener against the Patriots.
Patriots’ Drake Maye Challenged to Answer This ‘Big Question’ After Week 1 Loss