FOXBOROUGH — Drake Maye went out there in his debut, made some plays and showed the Patriots at least have the potential to be entertaining on offense the rest of this season - even if it happened in a 20-point loss at home to the Texans, which dropped the team to 1-5 on the young season.
The Patriots had six pass plays of over 20 yards in the first five games. They had four against the Texans: 40-yard touchdown to Kayshon Boutte, 35-yard touchdown to Demario Douglas, 30-yard pass on the move to Hunter Henry and 22 yards to Douglas. Maye also contributed two "explosive runs: 15 and 11 yards.
That's what the coaches and everyone else were hoping for when Maye was injected into the lineup. So checkmark on that.
Maye also had typical rookie mistakes in this game, including two interceptions (one, the Will Anderson tip, was not his fault since 15th-string LT Zach Thomas did not execute his cut block on the screen pass) and one fumble when Maye didn't sense the obvious pressure coming from his front side. Maye also had his normal handful of ... "where was that throw going?" tosses.
So everybody got the full UNC Drake Maye experience in this one. But on the whole, you leave the stadium feeling pretty good. Patriots now have the ability to make some plays on offense. Now you're just hoping the good outweighs the bad more every week with Maye.
You just wonder if the rest of Mayo's team is going to come along for the ride and do its part.
And that's my biggest takeaway from this one. Don't let Maye's little fireworks display distract you from the real issues with this team: can these guys coach it up well enough in all three phases to make the rest of the season more than the weekly Drake Maye Variety Show?
During this five-game losing streak, the answer has definitively been no and it's actually getting worse by the week.
The Patriots haven't given up 41 points in a regular-season game since the 2017 season opener against the Chiefs, when Kansas City beat the Patriots 42-27 at Gillette. And there were team-wide contributions to that point total: offense (17 points off turnovers), defense (two plays allowed over 50 yards, six plays of at least 20), and special teams (short-field punt led to TD, penalty ruined field possession).
I'm sure there are some of you out there who have already put your hands up in the air and blamed the state of the team on Eliot Wolf and the roster, let alone the injuries/issues with stalwarts like Christian Barmore, Ja'Whaun Bentley and Jabrill Peppers. Is this team talent-poor? Absolutely. Could Wolf have done more to help this team in the offseason? I don't think there's any question about that. So that's valid.
But I think it's a mistake to just blame everything that plagues this team on personnel. It is possible to separate the personnel from the coaching, and I don't think the coaching has been particularly good so far either. Wolf and Mayo (and his coaches) are all being evaluated this season, just like the players. It is possible that all are underwhelming, and that's what I see.
The most distressing part for me is the inability of this coaching staff to correct the mistakes and show on the field this team is making progress and getting better through coaching. We're through six games - more than a third of the way into the schedule. We're through the extended preseason. On any team, we should start to see the imprints of the coaching staff on this group - especially a new group like this one.
I'm sorry, I just don't see it. All I see is a coaching staff that's incapable of fixing repeated mistakes. I mean, how many more times are we going to hear Mayo say some version of, "We talk about it all the time ..." yet nothing ever changes.
Mayo had it right after this one when he said, "It's the same story over and over again."
He's right. It's the same thing week after week.
"The penalties in the first half, just too many. ... Had three or four turnovers in the game. Can't win if you lose that battle. Defensively I would say just the fundamentals of just tackling, our run fits have to improve. They have to improve. ... That's just not winning football."
The same things that plagued the Patriots last week against the Dolphins, which prevented them from winning an extremely winnable game, came up again in a game against the Texans that should have been more competitive than it ultimately was.
The run fits were once again terrible. The Texans had two runs over 50 yards and another 20-yard run for a touchdown. A week after the Dolphins ran for 193 yards. The Texans ran for 192. You can't use the number of plays and time possession argument this week: they were just about dead even.
That's embarrassing and not about talent.
The Patriots, a week after 12 penalties against Miami, had another nine against the Texans.
"We talk about it all the time, and Saturday night meetings we talk about what crew is going to be out there, what do they call frequently, and we knew that this was a high penalty calling crew," Mayo said. "I thought the second half kind of cleaned it up a little bit, but just way too many penalties in the game."
That's embarrassing and not about talent.
The Patriots had seven missed tackles in this game. They had 11 against Miami. There were seven against the Niners, 11 against the Jets, eight against the Seahawks ... and just three in the only win against the Bengals. It's been a problem every week.
That's embarrassing and not about talent.
On special teams, the Patriots had another 21-yard net punt (it was 19 against the Dolphins) and that led to a Texans short-field touchdown. The Patriots returned six kickoffs (any kick that hits in the landing zone must be returned) for an average of 23.2 and a long of 29. A holding penalty on a 28-yard punt return by Marcus Jones sent the Patriots back from the 49 to the 10-yard line.
That's embarrassing and not about talent.
Alex Van Pelt repeatedly leaving the Texans' ends of Will Anderson (three sacks, two hurries) and Danielle Hunter (sack, three hurries) single-blocked without chips or help...
That's embarrassing and not about talent.
Through six games, who has gotten better on this team? You could argue Demario Douglas with his breakout against the Texans - but was that about improvement, or just having a capable quarterback? Anyone else? I'm struggling to come up with names.
Mayo, for the first time, sounds like he's exasperated.
"I told all those (defenders), I said, 'you should feel like crap today. You should feel like crap,'" he said.
"From a team-wide perspective right now, we let him down. It was his first game, and I feel like I let him down. I'm sure all the coaches feel like we let everyone down. We've just got to be better."
Maybe the reality is starting to sink in for Mayo. Through six games, his team has been shown to be a group of error-repeaters, somewhat undisciplined and not capable of stringing together consistent play in all three phases to stay competitive for all four quarters (they've been blown out three out of their last four games - thank goodness for Snoop Huntley).
Don't let the Maye Show distract you from that.
If the Patriots aren't more consistent in all three phases, you're going to see a lot more repeats of Sunday going forward.
The change has to start with Mayo and his staff. It's on them to identify the problems and get them solved. Obviously telling the players X, Y and Z repeatedly isn't doing much.
There are no excuses. They don't have much to work with, but Mayo and his coaches have to do their jobs better for this team to have a chance.
