New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel tends to divide plays between three different buckets: the good, the bad, and the s—t that gets you beat.
Coming off of his career-best start, plenty of good remained for quarterback Drake Maye despite New England dropping their Week 3 contest 21-14.
Operating in another strong game plan from coordinator Josh McDaniels, Maye finished as a net positive adding +0.13 EPA per drop back (59th percentile) and out-dueling Aaron Rodgers in ESPN’s quarterback rating — one of Vrabel’s key indicators for winning football.
After a slow start for the entire offense in the first quarter, McDaniels got Maye in rhythm by getting back to the moving pockets we saw last week in Miami. On their first drop back of the second quarter, McDaniels dialed up a play-action bootleg to Maye’s right. Despite Pittsburgh doing a strong job in coverage on that side of the field, Maye’s athleticism allows him to beat Derrick Harmon around the edge and turn it into a 15-yard scramble.
New England went on to score that possession as Maye found Hunter Henry for a 5-yard touchdown. Then came a long 17-play drive that featured Maye’s best pass of the day.
With Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte running intermediate routes from left-to-right, Maye’s purposefully looks left to move linebacker Patrick Queen (No. 6) and safety Juan Thornhill (No. 22) just enough to create a passing window for Boutte on the deep dig. Maye then shows off the arm talent to fire in a 20-yard completion on a third-and-13.
Despite following that up with a pretty completion to Henry shortly after, Maye and the offense were not able to cap off a 17-play that traveled 92 yards with a touchdown. That’s where the “s—t that gets you beat” comes into play.
With the ball at the two-yard line, a motion from DeMario Douglas achieves it’s purpose to take Jalen Ramsey out of the play and free Boutte in the left corner of the end zone as the outside corner bites up to take Douglas. But instead of lofting one to the back pylon, Maye fires a dart which gets tipped and intercepted.
“I had [Kayshon] Boutte. I fired in there and I think No. 97 [Cameron Heyward] got a hand on it, and just kind of took it a different route,” Maye explained. “It was a good play by him, but yeah, I think I could have given him a different ball flight in the back corner of the end zone for a touchdown. So, just one of those things that stings.”
After playing a clean game in Miami, the interception was one of three turnover-worthy plays for Maye on the day. In addition to Pittsburgh dropping an interception on an overthrow (while a similar play was overruled earlier due to illegal contact), Maye also put the ball on the ground in a tie game in the fourth quarter.
New England sets up a well-time shot play against a single-high safety look with Mack Hollins running a double move to the quarterback’s right and Henry on the seam to Maye’s left. Pittsburgh does not bite on Hollins’ double move and Maye’s pump fake but the centerfield safety does follow the quarterback’s movement in that direction which opens up the seam to Henry.
However, traffic around Maye’s feet likely makes him uncomfortable to let it rip and he instead attempts to do too much before getting strip sacked — New England’s fifth turnover of the game, which clearly is not a winning formula.
“I just saw TreVeyon [Henderson] late and tried to do something stupid. So really, I think it’s just continue playing. My capability of getting outside the pocket makes it tough on them,” Maye said. “But yeah, just be more decisive, and if I have to take a sack, just take care of the football. That’s the number one thing.”
While “the good” plays continue to lead to high level flashes from Maye, there still remains the occasional “s—t that gets you beat” (mainly turnovers) which has hurt New England in close games — as Maye also worked his way into pressure at times to pair with some inaccuracies.
However, with Maye still just making his 15th career start on Sunday and Josh McDaniels continuing to lay a strong groundwork scheme wise to start the season, there are reasons for excitement with the Patriots offense.
