Just going to run down some thoughts by position after going over the offensive coaching film, before we break each play from the Jacoby Brissett/Drake Maye stint, post the ratings for each player, and three up and three down:
QUARTERBACK
Pretty underwhelming start for Jacoby Brissett, who has shown well in practices. For all the talk about Drake Maye's footwork, Brissett's was terrible on the layup miss to Mitchell Wilcox. Feet were too wide and open, which led to the high throw - not the wet conditions. ... I didn't really mind the slight underthrow to Tyquan Thornton down the right sideline. It was his fourth read, and he was flat-footed by that time. Just taking a chance, giving Thornton and opportunity and the receiver didn't really fight for it - that's not in his bag. The throw was 46 yards and pretty well thrown. I had a bigger issue with the decision. Brissett just should have gone to Austin Hooper quickly, who was open. ... Maye really had only one opportunity to show anything, the incompletion to Jalen Reagor, and it was not a passing grade. Maye appeared to take a false step away from center, the playfake was subpar (neither linebacker moved) and he delivered the ball late on a simple play due to an unneeded hop, his little hitch, and he didn't cut the pass loose. That's sort of the Maye we've seen most of the time in practice during team periods. Thinking a lot, tentative. But that's where he is. ... I thought Bailey Zappe showed well, especially in the timing department on three passes to Kayshon Boutte. Zappe obviously trusts him. Contrast Maye's timing with that of Zappe, who was throwing before the receivers were out of their breaks. That's NFL QBing ... Joe Milton did about as expected as a 24-year-old physical specimen who has played six college football seasons against camp bodies. ... I wouldn't say his touchdown was all that impressive outside of his arm strength. It was obviously a designed shot play where Milton is instructed to pump to one side to hold the safety, and then let it loose in the fourth quarter of the first preseason game.
Video from the Brissett and Maye series:
RUNNING BACK
Thought they all had their moments and showed some juice. The only error was JaMycal Hasty contributing to a sack in blitz pickup. Didn't love a couple of decisions from Terrell Jennings, but he made it work.
RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS
Austin Hooper didn't play much, but he had a dynamite seal on the linebacker on the first play of the game. ... JaQuae Jackson keeps showing up with nice route running as he drew a PI and scored the touchdown on the same out-and-go. ... Rookies Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker were solid in their debut. There wasn't much down the field against a Panthers defense that was playing a lot of Cover 4 and 3 deep zones. The underneath stuff had to be taken. Polk had one poor run block, and Baker had a poor, round-off route on the 2nd and 5 incompletion with 11:40 left in the second quarter. If he was better at the top of the route, that's an easy completion. ... Juju Smith-Schuster just had nothing in the legs and now he is gone. ... TE Mitchell Wilcox continued his rough camp with two drops, a bad run block and a holding penalty/stuff.
OFFENSIVE LINE
The lineman who stood out the most in this game was fourth-round pick Layden Robinson, who played both guard spots well. His technique was sharp and he played physically. Had a standout run and pass block, and only allowed one hurry in 46 snaps. ... In a bigger surprise, Sidy Sow did not show well after being one of the standouts in camp. Nothing egregious, but he was caught off balance a few times and had issues getting the proper leverage in the zone blocking scheme. ... The Patriots have a lot of work to do at tackle. Calvin Anderson, Vederian Lowe and Chuks Okorafor were my three lowest graded offensive linemen. That's a big issue. Okorafor at least has the excuse that he was rusty after not practicing leading up to the game (questionable decision to play him for that reason). ... Caeden Wallace led the team with 2.5 pressures allowed but I thought he showed some promise in his 39 snaps. I would not be surprised if they go back to Wallace at LT and Okorafor at RT to start this week, or flip-flop them. ... Great block by Nick Leverett on the Harris touchdown, but another snap issue under center.
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My ratings from the game. GB+ and GB- are my plus and minus plays from the game, not all of them show up in QB pressures and stuffs. The rating is dividing the sum of the +/- plays by the numbers of plays. It's a very rough guide but a solid indicator.
THREE UP
QB Joe Milton: Did what he should have done as literally a man amongst boys late in the game.
OG Layden Robinson: If Sidy Sow continues to slip, Robinson could very well push him for time.
WR JaQuae Jackson: Two great routes, two big plays for the Patriots. Of course he's from Rutgers.
THREE DOWN
TE Mitchell Wilcox: A night and camp to forget for him.
OT Calvin Anderson: It's been a long time since he's played in a game due to his illness last year. Hopefully that was just a lot of rust because he had all sorts of issues.
OT Chuks Okorafor: I question him being put out there without any practice time (Belichick would not have done that), but two hurries and a false start in 10 plays is not a great debut.