In the eyes of New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, rookie quarterback Drake Maye "outplayed" veteran Jacoby Brissett in the preseason.
Mayo expressed as much when he appeared on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" Monday morning. Mayo's radio appearance came about 12 hours after Maye impressed in New England's 20-10 preseason road loss to the Washington Commanders.
Brissett (2-for-4, 19 yards) played one series before he suffered a shoulder injury. Maye took over and completed 13 of his 20 passes for 126 yards and one touchdown over five first-half series.
"I'm not going to get too far down the road on if Jacoby could play or couldn't play," Mayo said. "What I will say is, this is a true competition. It wasn't fluff or anything like that. It's a true competition. And I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby. Now in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work, going all the way back to the spring and beginning of training camp. And we'll see where we end up."
Mayo expanded on those comments when he met with the media on a video conference Monday morning.
"It starts in practice and also in the game where Drake has played better," Mayo said. "Now, in saying that, everyone wants to know who the starter is going to be. I think there are multiple factors that kind of have to go into this decision. One is the total body of work, whether we're talking about the spring or the entirety of training camp. And I would also say oftentimes we forget about the overall experience that a guy like Jacoby has, which will also be weighed in the decision we have to make here in the near future."
Mayo said Maye has grown more comfortable with the offense and players around him, factors which helped him perform better in recent weeks. Mayo did not point to a specific time in training camp when Maye started to outperform Brissett, but the confidence of the head coach and Patriots teammates seemed to increase following Maye's performance against the Philadelphia Eagles in mid-August.
Maye impressed in joint practice when not under the threat of a Philadelphia pass-rush, and performed better than Brissett in the preseason game against Eagles backups.
The Patriots expected to decide on the quarterback position either Monday or Tuesday, but Mayo indicated it would not be made public until after the team was informed. New England has until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday to trim its roster from 90 to 53 players.
