FOXBOROUGH - It took precisely one start for Drake Maye to appear on the Patriots injury report. But based on the reaction from offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt on Thursday, it seems to be much ado about nothing, at least for now.
"Not concerned," said Van Pelt. "That's for the head coach and trainers. But he looked good to me yesterday as he worked."
"I'm not going to get into the medicals," said Jerod Mayo from London Friday. "He looks good. He's been out there at practice and taken the majority of reps."
Maye was listed with a knee after Wednesday's practice but was a full participant. Later, there was a report saying he had gotten an MRI on that knee (unconfirmed). On Thursday, with all eyes locked on him, the 22-year-old moved well and without a hitch in his giddy-up, which is to say that if it's bothering him, there were no outward indications.
“Felt good at practice, feeling good now, ready to go for Sunday," said Maye from London Friday morning. He declined to reveal when the injury happened.
"We'll see as we go through the course of the week," said Van Pelt when asked if his play calling might have to be altered because of Maye's knee. "But, right now, I think it's probably precautionary. I think he feels good about where he is right now."
It would be unfortunate if Van Pelt was once again forced to shelve items in his playbook, as he had to do so with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback and an offensive line that has turned pass blocking into an adventure dating back to the summer. In fact, Van Pelt's eyes lit up when I asked him if Maye's athleticism and arm talent have added things to his play sheet, not taken away.
"Absolutely," he said. "When you have a quarterback that's young and mobile, you can use him in some different ways. For sure."
Maye continues to impress those around him, whether because of some of the throws and decisions he made in his debut or his work in practice. It happened again on Wednesday, and Van Pelt highlighted it when he was asked just how different a player Maye is from when the regular season started to now, entering week seven.
"Different. Completely different," he said. "We had a period (yesterday) - another fast start period against the defense, good on good in the red zone. I didn't give him an answer for a zero-blitz look that the defense presented. He got himself out of trouble with the right protection adjustment and the route changing and threw a touchdown. So for me, wow, okay, he can get in there and he can protect himself. He knows the calls he needs to make. So I don't know if we'd have gotten that done in week one."
"I'm not going to give you the play called," said tight end Austin Hooper of that situation. "It was three by one set (three receivers on one side, a solo on the other). The defense was playing some man-to-man match coverage. We had some crossers and communication on their side, two-on-one, leaving one uncovered, and Drake went through his progression and found the guy in the back of the end zone. So, really good awareness on his part."
The Pats have acknowledged that this season is more about re-establishing a culture and developing players, with Maye at the head of that list. And, at least when it comes to the latter, it feels like the quarterback is growing, learning, and leading, which is a damn good place to start.
OL WOES CONTINUING?
One thing Van Pelt will likely have to deal with again this weekend is another line combination. Mike Onwenu, who had shifted back to right guard, is working at both guard and tackle this week. That's been made necessary because of Sunday's injury to Vederian Lowe (ankle) and, in part, Zach Thomas' struggles filling in for Lowe. Demontray Jacobs would likely move from right tackle, where he's started the last two games, to left tackle in Lowe's absence (he has been ruled out). Jacobs started week four in San Francisco at that spot and played there collegiately as well. Onwenu would kick over one spot, and Layden Robinson would emerge from his one-game break and be back in at right guard.
"If we do that, it'll be our seventh (lineup) out of seven games," Van Pelt said. "We loved to create - get some continuity with those guys. That's a key piece of all the success - whether it's pass protection or the run block - you having those guys beside each other week after week helps. We'll go through the week. We have options, and we'll see where we end at the end of the week."
CHANGE THE TONE
Jahlani Tavai is mad as hell. He was after the loss Sunday, again on Monday, and guess what? That hasn't changed as the week has moved along.
"I'm still ticked off," he said. "We turned the page, but that's how I'm feeling right now."
The linebacker's big issue is an underperforming defense, especially against opposing ground games.
"We got to change the mentality," he said. "People have been running (for) over 100 yards on us, and we got to take that personally."
He's not wrong. The Pats surrendered 193 yards rushing to the Texans last weekend, 192 to the Dolphins the week before, and had Jordan Mason go off for 124 in week four.
"When I look at it, it's always about, like, you never know when that play is going to come for you," said DeMarcus Covington. "So that's about being consistent on every single play, every single down. And then that's the goal, the standard, is to try to perform excellently on every single snap, whoever it might be. So whether you have 20 snaps, you know, (make it) a good 20 snaps."
As Jerod Mayo told us Wednesday, changes to the lineup are coming. Linebacker Raekwon McMillan may find himself watching Christian Elliiss more than the other way around, and, based on recent play, it wouldn't surprise me if Deatrich Wise is also in a reduced role. That won't matter much if the Pats continue to have mental lapses that have plagued them since putting forth a nearly flawless effort at Cincinnati in week one.
"It's just about that, doing the little things, making sure we're executing day in and day out," added Covington, "and not have, you know, where there's one guy here (messing up), or one guy there, and just making sure that we stay on top of that from a down-to-down base."