Whatever the Patriots' plan with Drake Maye was has gone out the window. According to multiple reports, the Patriots will turn over the keys to the rookie for Sunday's game at home against the Texans, benching veteran Jacoby Brissett after just five games.
The decision was made Monday night after multiple meetings, per sources. Brissett had struggled to take advantage of some downfield opportunities in recent weeks. Despite assertions by the coaching staff, it was clear that the consistent pressure (it's hovered around 50% this season) and the number of hits have taken their toll on the 31-year-old. Brissett stopped seeing the field as well as he had the first couple of weeks, and even his usually consistent footwork has gotten erratic, starting with the second half of the Jets game two Thursdays ago.
That was the first and only time we've seen the rookie Maye play in the regular season. He had a couple of positive plays, hitting DeMario Douglas over the middle and scrambling for an 11-yard gain. Conversely, his first attempt was telegraphed and should have been intercepted. He got sawed in half on his second dropback after leaving the pocket too soon, and needed Kayshon Boutte to make a ridiculous one-handed catch to save what should have been an easy completion. On his first sack, he had JaMychal Hasty and Douglas open on the play. Later, Maye missed wide to Austin Hooper, though the clear choice on that play was an open Boutte.
The following day, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said that Maye's footwork - a clear and identifiable issue even before the Pats selected him number three overall - was "up and down."
"There were some things there to correct. That's usually the case the first time you're out for live bullets.," he said. "It can change your feet and revert back ... we're still a work in progress there. But the strides he's made over the course of the spring and the summer camp and the games in the preseason. Obviously, he'll be able to do that (improve) and take it to the next level."
On that day, Van Pelt also insisted Maye's best path for learning was to remain on the sidelines and keep watching. 18 days later, that approach has been shelved, or the kid picked it up at an incredible rate.
Would the Pats have done this had Ja'Lynn Polk gotten his feet in bounds at the tail end of Sunday's loss to the Dolphins? That feels unlikely, despite an offense that has been stuck in the mud for the entirety of the season. Mayo clearly left the door open Monday (as I wrote) for this change.
"It just wasn't good enough," said Mayo of Brissett's play. "I thought we played well enough defensively and on special teams to win the football game and look as the quarterback - and he understands this - he touched the ball in every single play, and we didn't win the game or score enough points to win the game. And I think he would echo that same sentiment: that it wasn't good enough."
Brissett is 79 of 135 for 696 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. Some of the pass catchers have shown their frustrations both on and off the field for weeks — it started with K.J. Osborn telling us to watch the tape after week two's 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks — and have only been bolder recently (see Polk walking off the field, and Douglas stomping his feet after an incompletion in San Francisco).
Mayo didn't take a firehose to this behavior; he actually said their frustrations were a good sign. In many ways, the first-year coach helped fuel the unrest, starting with his comment in August that Maye had outplayed Brissett the final two weeks of training camp and then leaving bread crumbs nearly every week since, including his comment that winning the way the Pats did in week one was "unsustainable."
Regardless, the Pats now turn their lonely eyes to the rookie to help save a season or at least provide some hope for a 1-4 team that has lost four in a row and is averaging less than 13 points per game. Maye will have to start that journey against a Texans defense that suffocated Josh Allen and the Bills offense, holding him to 9-of-30 passing. That's the lowest completion percentage by a quarterback with 30 or more attempts in the last 30 seasons.
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One player tells me, "This sucks for Jacoby. He's had a target on him all season. He's a warrior."
Another text from a player on offense, "We need some life. I don't know if Drake can give us that, but what we're doing isn't working."
A defensive player tells me, "I'd want to play our offense. With Drake, it's the unknown. Maybe he doesn't know what he doesn't know, and it helps us."
From league sources:
"I'd have just started him from day one, set the bar low, and if he soared over it, awesome. They'd all look like geniuses. Now? You're 1-4. Is the pressure off, and he can wing it? Or does he feel even more heat to deliver?"
"He's (Maye) so raw. The tape from the Jets game was a little scary. He's going to make some plays for you, but he will make a lot more plays for them (opposition)."