{"id":237,"date":"2024-10-27T12:25:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T12:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=237"},"modified":"2024-10-27T12:25:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-27T12:25:53","slug":"sunday-patriots-notes-salvaging-increasingly-lost-season-about-more-than-wins-and-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=237","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Patriots Notes: Salvaging increasingly lost season about more than wins and losses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sunday<\/p>\n

Notes and thoughts on the Patriots at 1-6, Drake Maye\u2019s footwork, and more.<\/p>\n

Having put their cross-Atlantic trip behind them, the New England Patriots will be back at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Hosting the New York Jets in their third AFC East game of the season, the team of first-year head coach Jerod Mayo will try to put an end to the longest active losing streak in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Naturally, most of our attention over the last few days was on that particular game. As for everything else, here are this week\u2019s Sunday Patriots Notes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Salvaging an increasingly lost season is about more than wins and losses<\/h2>\n

The 2024 season so far has been anything but smooth sailing for the Patriots. At 1-6, it is seemingly slipping from their grasp, and they are already virtually eliminated from playoff contention.<\/p>\n

But while the NFL is a wins and losses business at the end of the day, the Patriots salvaging what is an increasingly lost season will be about more than just their final record. The organization, after all, has embraced undergoing a major rebuild after the Bill Belichick era came to an end back in January.<\/p>\n

How that process will go will determine whether or not the 2024 season will eventually be determined a success or failure.<\/p>\n

\"Patriots<\/p>\n

Seven weeks in, the results have been all over the place. The most important development, though, might be Drake Maye looking competent as a starting quarterback; the first round rookie has definitive room for improvement still, but has been impressive in both of his career starts up until this point and is also emerging as a leader in the locker room.<\/p>\n

Maye will be the single most important piece of the puzzle, but he cannot alone carry the team back to relevance. Other next generation players need to step up and establish themselves as foundational pieces as well.<\/p>\n

Luckily for the Patriots, a few candidates seem to be emerging. Outside of veterans such as David Andrews and Ja\u2019Whaun Bentley, the team will likely continue building around the likes of Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore, and Brenden Schooler \u2014 all of whom having shown their blue-chip potential either this year or, in Barmore\u2019s case, in the past.<\/p>\n

Obviously, more players need to be added to that group either by internal development or external acquisition. Still, a core including Maye, Gonzalez, Barmore, Schooler and the team\u2019s established leaders is not necessarily a bad one to cultivate.<\/p>\n

Going hand-to-hand with that is re-establishing a culture under Mayo and Wolf. Both have made it clear that they are trying to run the ship differently than Belichick did rather successfully for two decades, something Wolf referred to as having \u201cless of a hard-ass vibe\u201d in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Whether or not that alone will be sufficient to build a culture remains to be seen, especially in light of Mayo\u2019s recent comments about the Patriots being a \u201csoft football team across the board\u201d (comments he has since tried to walk back from). Whatever the top duo is aiming for, it needs to start manifesting itself regardless of New England\u2019s win-loss column this season.<\/p>\n

From the outside looking in, this aspect of the rebuild in particular seems to be a work in progress and something not going entirely smoothly. However, the fact that Drake Maye is buying in might just be enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Mayo always preaches, \u2018Hard work works.\u2019 Working hard and dropping your ego at the door, I think we\u2019re learning that,\u201d the rookie QB said this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really young team, so guys are starting to figure that out and buying into the process. We always preach process and payoff. And also, there are some things that come along; we\u2019ve had some bumps in the road. But these guys are starting to figure it out and he started challenging us. Really, what is the identity of this football team? What do we want to be this year as the season go on?\u201d<\/p>\n

The questions to those answers will, ultimately, determine the success or failure of the Patriots in 2024; and, by extension, what the future will hold for Mayo, Wolf and the rest of a staff seemingly learning on the fly as well.<\/p>\n

Drake Maye crediting coaches with improved footwork<\/h2>\n

When the Patriots selected Drake Maye third overall in this year\u2019s draft, they did so knowing that they would not get a finished product. One of the biggest areas of development was his footwork: playing almost exclusively out of shotgun at North Carolina, he needed to show that he can adapt to a more nuanced, under center attack in New England.<\/p>\n

While there still is room for improvement, Maye is trending in a positive direction. According to the man himself, his support staff \u2014 offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney \u2014 deserve praise for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a credit to the coaches here, AVP and T.C. They\u2019ve really hammered it home,\u201d Maye said. \u201cAt the same time, I think some things, some different drops that I\u2019m taking now, weren\u2019t really asked of me in college. Some of these five-step under-center play-actions, we didn\u2019t do much of those. So, it probably really didn\u2019t give me a chance to show off some of the footwork stuff. There\u2019s two ways to look at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, credit to these guys here. I think we\u2019re still working on things throughout the week. T.C. puts it up on the board, little things throughout the week that I keep in mind. I feel comfortable back there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drake Maye has been an elite deep passer since taking over<\/h2>\n

The sample size obviously is limited, but two games into his career as Patriots starting quarterback Drake Maye has shown promise in many facets of the game. Throwing the ball deep is one part of that.<\/p>\n

According to Pro Football Focus, he is ranked in the top four in various categories since entering the lineup in Week 6:<\/p>\n

\n

Very small sample size, but Drake Maye has been an elite deep passer since becoming the #Patriots<\/a>' starting QB pic.twitter.com\/ld34lfnhRB<\/a><\/p>\n

— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) October 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n