Drake Maye looks the part of a franchise quarterback, but Patriots fans’ concerns over his development grew after last Sunday.
Maye guided the New England offense to 422 total yards. However, offensive line penalties, a defensive collapse and questionable coaching decisions doomed Jerod Mayo’s side against the Indianapolis Colts.
One of Mayo’s most perplexing calls was to send on Joey Slye to attempt a 68-yard field goal, which would have been an NFL record. The veteran kicker’s attempt was accurate but didn’t reach the distance needed. Mayo defended the decision and didn’t seem to believe a Hail Mary attempt would have been a viable call. Maye supported his head coach, but the rookie quarterback was confident he had the arm strength to give his team a chance at a miracle play.
This should sound familiar to Patriots fans, especially those who still think Mac Jones was done dirty by the franchise.
In Week 15 of the 2022 season, New England had the final possession against the Raiders. Instead of a Hail Mary attempt, the Patriots chose to run a draw play for Rhamondre Stevenson. Fans should know what happened next. Stevenson lateraled to Jakobi Meyers, who lateraled it to Jones, who lost the ball and got stiff-armed by Chandler Jones as Las Vegas won on a walk-off touchdown.
Fans were left shocked, but Bill Belichick defended the play. On the other hand, Mac Jones didn’t seem too happy that he didn’t get a chance to help the team win; it certainly doesn’t help that he became a meme after the play.
A similar situation played out last season when the Patriots opted to throw a short pass to close out the first half against the Colts in Germany. When asked why there wasn’t a Hail Mary attempt, Jones admitted he had “no clue.”
Maye wasn’t as blunt as Jones was, and a Hail Mary attempt is a low-percentage play. But it’s hard not to see the parallels of a coaching staff not trusting their young quarterbacks.
Mayo was all too confident to throw out a Super Bowl XLIX reference after last Sunday’s loss, a comment he regretted saying. And he seemed to channel his inner Belichick when he went for a strange call instead of putting the game in his young signal-caller’s hands.
Fans can only hope that New England learned its lessons from the Jones era and doesn’t make the same mistakes with Maye.
