Bedard: Patriots look like they have A Guy in Drake Maye, but why does it feel like they are getting farther away?

Think I'm just going to ramble here on a few points because after watching the mess that was the Titans-Patriots, I'm kind of all over the place - like a coaching 'battle' between Brian Callahan and Jerod Mayo ...

 - So the Patriots appear to have A Guy in Drake Maye, the kind of quarterback who can carry the offense if needed and give the team a chance to win every game. I mean, this was ridiculous:

Not only did he have that play, but he rushed for 95 yards and threw for 185 net yards. That's 280 total yards. The Patriots had 295 as a team. Maye accounted for 95 percent of the Patriots' offense.

That's amazing for any quarterback. But a 22-year-old passer making his fourth start after only playing two years in college? That's astounding.

Yeah, he had three turnovers for the second time but what did you expect when you can't run the ball a lick, the line gets whipped a lot, and the receivers outside of Hunter Henry are either rookies or players not exactly known as technicians? Dan Marino had 65 games with at least two interceptions. No risk-it, no biscuit. Some plays aren't going to go your way. Maye to this point is making more plays than he's giving the other team. Just have to hope he learns with each rep, and it sure looks like he is.

Probably most impressive: Maye just seems to have one of those demeanors where his blood pressure never rises, even when the pressure is so high that you're biting your pillows on your couch. Maye is calm and cool all the time.

 - So the Patriots have gotten improved quarterback play, they're making more plays in the passing game - and overall thanks to Maye's legs.

So why does it feel like the Patriots are getting closer away from making any tangible progress?

To recap, in Maye's starts, the Patriots lost by 20 to the Texans, jumped out to a 10-0 lead against the 1-win Jaguars and lost by 16, had Jacoby Brissett lead two fourth-quarter scoring drives to beat the Jets, and the Patriots fell in overtime Sunday to the 1-win Titans who tried giving you the game in 100 different ways?

As I've surmised countless times here (yes, I'm sick of it as well), the easy thing to do is just point to a lack of talent. And, for sure, that is a big factor.

But how does Brissett beat the Bengals, have you on the doorstep of beating the Seahawks, a Ja'Lynn Polk second foot from beating the Dolphins, and authored a comeback against the Jets?

Meanwhile, Maye is 0-3 in games he started and finished — and two of those losses were to teams that had one win at the time?

This makes absolutely no sense.

 - The only thing I can point to is another area I'm sick of writing about, coaching.

And it leads me to this thought I had ... We all thought inserting Maye was out of desperation and going to save a lot of jobs after a 1-4 start. Is it possible that the coaching on this team is getting more exposed by Maye?

 - We know about the Patriots' injury issues, but the Titans had plenty of their own. The Patriots couldn't stop the run against a Titans line that was down their center and right guard, was missing their second top back (Tyjae Spears), had traded away WR DeAndre Hopkins ... and did I mention the Titans started Mason Rudolph at quarterback?

The Patriots couldn't run the ball, had just one drive over 50 yards and needed a miracle from their rookie QB on the final play to have more than 10 points against a Titans defense that saw their best safety (Quandre Diggs) go out, and didn't have L'Jarius Sneed?

 - I don't really have a problem with Jerod Mayo not going for the win with a two-point conversion, but I do need the anti-Belichick who embraces transparency to provide a better explanation than ... whatever this was:

(Opening statement) "Obviously disappointed by the outcome of the game. We had our chances. We always talk about it, it’s not just one play, it’s not the interception, it’s not going for two, there are multiple plays that happen within a game that can change the tide of it. And at the time, I felt like that was the right thing to do. It’s easy to make a judgment one way or the other. But I thought that was the right thing to do at the time."

(Jerod, did his running around and kind of tiredness, it looked like after, factor into not going for two there.) I'm not going to get in. I don't want to get into that. It's a good question. I just don’t want to get into it now.

I found it a little bit odd that Mayo led off by mentioning the two-point decision. I mean, I considered it but it wasn't paramount in my mind - the defense giving up 13 plays and 72 yards to start overtime and Maye's interception were.

Did PR maven Stacey James tell Mayo that was going to be asked? Quite possibly. Is it possible the Krafts asked him why he didn't in the locker room? The whole sequence was very odd.

Why didn't Mayo want to get into his decision-making? He's the head coach. I'm sure he had a reason ... unless he didn't think about it, or he forgot to tell someone to make sure they had a 2-pointer ready to go, or he was covering for Van Pelt not having a play ready to go.

If you "don't want to get into it now" it means that it's a complicated answer, which leads to speculation about why it's complicated.

 - Let's play a game ... who had the worse decisions?

 Brian Callahan allowing the Titans to punt two line drives to Marcus Jones for 69 yards, including the kick at the two-minute warning that allowed Jones to return it 25 yards and set New England up at the 50 before the game-tying drive?

Mayo electing to kick a 56-yard field goal into the wind on the first possession?

Callahan throwing twice - the second one getting picked off - on 2nd and goal at the 3 when the Patriots couldn't stop the run and a field goal would put the Titans up 10?

Mayo approving the decision to juggle the offensive line once again - even though they didn't need to - by inserting rookie Layden Robinson into right guard, and kicking Mike Onwenu back out to right tackle, where he hasn't been good? Someone thought it was a good idea to ask Robinson to block All-World DT Jeffrey Simmons? They benched Robinson before halftime and move Onwenu back to right guard and inserted Demontrey Jacobs at right tackle.

Mayo at least approving, if not ordering, Alex Van Pelt to run it twice on 2nd and 1 before halftime — for no-gain and minus-1 — after Maye hit two passes for 23 yards to get them there.

Callahan, who calls the plays, ending up with this after Mayo's decision-making there and Bryce Baringer's 15-yard punt; holding, delay of game on 2nd and 17 and not allowing Rudolph to throw a Hail Mary from the New England 47 with no time left.

 - I mean, holy hell, what a lightweight fight between two obvious rookie head coaches.

Mayo couldn't win a coaching battle against Callahan? This much we know: this wasn't exactly Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel matching wits. Think those two owners are having similar second thoughts about some of the decisions they've made?

 - Speaking of bad coaching ... it sure seemed like Van Pelt and DeMarcus Covington, one week after keeping it simple and delivering a win, started feeling themselves and allowed their units to regress. Seemed like Van Pelt went right back to not helping the tackles. And the Patriots went back to undisciplined and bad tackling on defense. Did everyone think everything was solved from win over the Jets and their mess of a coaching situation?

- Again, it feels like the Patriots have taken 10 steps ahead with Maye at the helm, but the team is right back to sinking in the quicksand.

Didn't I just see this same game five weeks ago against the Dolphins with Brissett at quarterback?

None of this makes any sense.