After his final pass of the game was partially deflected and fell well short of the intended target, Drake Maye dropped his head and unbuckled his chin strap. There was a slight shake as if to say, 'Not again.' Alas, the Patriots keep starring in the same bad movie, and a day that began with such great promise in London ended the way it has in each of the last six weeks, with a loss.
Maye is the best thing this sad sack team has going for it. That a whole lot of nothing surrounds him is not his fault, but it might very well impact his development, and that's far from what you're looking for. Drops were a problem - Ja'Lynn Polk, oh my - and there were still protection issues, though not nearly what it's been, partly because Maye is adept at avoiding pressure.
"I think I'm seeing it well, make a few different throws, but other than that, I think I can do a better job on the sideline," said Maye, adding, "Sometimes pumping guys up or relaying some messages to different guys 'You may see this. Hey, what are you thinking?' and little things like that. But, some bright spots again today. But like I said, not good enough."
Maye (26-of-37, 276 yards, 2 TDs) was in rhythm on the opening snap, ripping up the Jags with completions of six of his first seven throws. The script from Alex Van Pelt was tight, and offered plenty of motion (that is allowed, Alex), two kinds of screens, and play action out of the wazoo. The Jags countered with blitzes on the final three plays of the drive, but after taking a sack, Maye found Hunter Henry for six, then wisely checked down to JaMychal Hasty in the right flat. It was either a coverage bust by the Jags or an ill-designed approach, as edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen was left in the open field with the quick-as-a-cat Hasty. 16 yards later, Hasty was in the end zone, the first time in 11 games the Pats had a touchdown in the opening drive.
"(It was a) hot to the back," said Maye of the TD. "They ended up bringing the backer and safety and dropped out defensive end on the opposite side (Hines-Allen). So, just find a completion. Third and 10, we're already in field goal range, and Hasty made a play. Gotta do more of that, getting guys the ball and let them make plays."
The second drive was more of the same, with Maye looking like the best quarterback on the field. He used his legs to rip off a 15-yard scramble on third and long to continue the series, then fired a 13-yard rocket to Hunter Henry on a sail route to get the ball to midfield. A nifty cross-body throw to Henry - similar to last week - resulted in another 12 yards, and it looked like the Pats were headed for the end zone again.
The first sign of what would come happened on the final third down of the drive when Maye led Kendrick Bourne a little too much on a slant route. There was immediate pressure off Sidy Sow, who had to step in earlier for the injured Layden Robinson, causing Maye to fade away from the throw just a touch. Joey Slye had to come on and kick a field goal. Still, 10-0 with this team? In this spot? After the beginning of this season? It felt like a win. They were taking it to a team in Jacksonville that was teetering coming in. But that's where the leverage acquired through the first 15 minutes or so of the game burned up quickly.
"I think I had KB (Bourne) open on the third down there. You know, on (the) second drive, punch one in, and maybe it's a different ballgame. So a couple throws here and there..."
After that impressive opening drive, where the run game was secondary, the Pats ran the ball eight times the rest of the half, resulting in minus two yards. I understand the desire to force-feed the ground game a little as you hope to protect a rookie quarterback behind another line combination, their seventh in seven games (11 players involved), but Maye had been cooking. Did Van Pelt unintentionally cool him down? The next four series were downright debacles.
- It started with one first down - courtesy of a defensive pass interference (drawn by Kayshon Boutte). After that, a run for negative one, a tight end screen to Henry for negative five, and a harmless check-down. Enter Bryce Baringer for the first of many.
- Three-and-out, hampered by a third-and-five false start by Henry. Baringer out-kicks the coverage. Parker Washington returns it 96 yards for a touchdown. Oh boy.
- Three-and-out that included a negative run by Hasty to start, then a lousy ball from Maye that sailed well over DeMario Douglas' head (Pop was dealing with an illness today).
- The first possession of the third quarter was no better. After a first-down conversion on a short completion to Austin Hooper, the drive went incomplete, immediate pressure off Mike Onwenu to force a short check-down, and then a dropped interception as Maye threw off his back foot.
Maye put plenty of the blame on himself.
"When we do throw on first and second down, then we gotta - I gotta find some completions to get us in third and manageable," he said. "Third and long is hard in this league..."
What had begun as a two-score lead had quickly become a 15-point deficit. And the game script you wanted to manage with a young quarterback had gone up in flames for a second straight week. The only positive this time around was it didn't happen right out of the chute, but boy, that escalated quickly, didn't it?
Maye did take the paddles to the offense after a staggering 17-play, 11+ minute drive by the Jags ended up with zero points. He had a couple of short completions, then wisely recognized Darnell Savage with his back turned in coverage. He floated up a 32-yard completion to Henry, which was some kind of catch. Maye followed that up with a 31-yard strike to Boutte down the sideline, and just like that, the Pats were back in business. After another important veteran made a dumb mistake (Onwenu false start), Maye bailed out his right tackle with a 22-yard TD pass to K.J. Osborn. A failed two-point conversion - Polk slipped - kept it a two-score game, and the Pats were done scoring anyway, looking at a long flight home and an upcoming date with the Jets, who shredded them back in week three.
"I'm here to help this football team win, and we're not getting that done, so (we) gotta do something different."
Maye is the start of that change, but he can't do it alone. Sadly, with a defense that has cratered, he may just have to.