FOXBOROUGH - Drake Maye's education continues each and every week. The Patriots have put a ton on his plate, and he's attacking it like most of us get after our Thanksgiving day meals. His growth has been evident in some areas; in others, it requires a finer eye for detail. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has been pleased with most of what he's seen, calling Maye "an anomaly" for "playing at a high level for a rookie quarterback."
But Van Pelt is not one to sugarcoat his 22-year-old signal caller's issues. In fact, he made clear Thursday that as much as we'd like to gloss over the sheer number of turnovers - Maye's up to 12 in seven starts - he would not be nearly as lenient.
"The turnovers, they have to stop," Van Pelt told us. "I mean, there's no excuse there. Rookie, 10-year player, that doesn't matter. We can't turn the ball over and expect to win games. So, that's definitely an area of emphasis for us. You know, with Drake, he just continues to develop. You forget sometimes that he is a rookie. There are some mistakes that he'll make just from experience; he just (needs) more reps into certain plays and understanding the concepts. But he continues to develop and does a really nice job. He's got to take care of the football."
Maye has only managed to be turnover-free once in games he's gone wire-to-wire, and that was the 32-16 loss in London to Jacksonville. Otherwise, he's been serving them up with regularity. They all need to be viewed individually and in their own bucket. For instance, the interception he tossed in Chicago drew the player's immediate "What the hell are you doing?" response, never mind the coaching staff. That play prompted Van Pelt to remind us that the "tuba player" is always open; in other words, throw the ball away and live to fight another down.
The game-ending pick in Tennessee was decidedly different than the one versus Los Angeles. Against the Titans, Maye didn't see the safety lurking and hung the ball too long (wind was a factor). In Van Pelt's mind, the Rams' interception was on wide receiver DeMario Douglas, who lacked the feel for what the defense was presenting and did his best Forrest Gump impression, running and never looking back. So, while the turnovers are adding up, don't treat them all the same. Maye isn't.
"Yeah, I think I'm not too worried about turnovers. Obviously, putting the ball in harm's way is a big emphasis for a football team as a quarterback. But I think when you're trying to fight back, you're trying to make some plays, some of them happen," he said.
The tipped interception down two-plus scores in Miami would be a perfect example of that. And while you hope Maye won't do the same thing when presented with a similar situation in the future, he's a playmaker, and there may always be a little of this in his game. Josh Allen was this way as a rookie. He had 17 turnovers in a dozen starts and had an average of one per game in year two. Most of you would be psyched if Maye became the Pats' version of Allen, wouldn't you? That means you are set at quarterback for a decade, maybe more. Plus, Maye was wise enough to realize how his statement came off - "not too worried" - and correct it within the same answer.
"But I do think, back on my statement, I am worried about turning the football over," he continued. "That's a problem. But at the end of the day, you can't turn the football over, especially – I think we're losing the turnover margin in most of the games with me back there, so that's something I need to improve on."
Some other bad habits have been creeping into Maye's game dating back to the win in Chicago, including a penchant to run or drift into pressure, either side-to-side or out toward the back. Van Pelt acknowledged that when I asked.
"I thought he was deep in the pocket a couple times there and caused issues for the tackles," he responded. "And that's human nature. When the heat's coming, you want to get further away from it, but at the same time, you're hurting yourself. So, there's definitely a human nature element of the game. And it's definitely an area of correction for this week."
There's no question, and Van Pelt acknowledged poor line play has been a contributing factor (all the more reason to attack that problem like never before this off-season). There's also the matter of opposing defensive coordinators getting more tape on Maye and this offense and taking different approaches. For instance, the Dolphins played a ton of zone defense on the back end but still cooked up many simulated pressures to confuse the protection schemes and slow Maye's processing.
"I think they're just bringing different guys," noted Maye. "I think it's kind of bringing guys externally and trying to do some different things to kind of either make me hot, make me throw hot, or little things like that. So, I think I'm just trying to see different experiences, learn from them, just go about the next week, and hopefully not be a repeat offender. That's what AVP [Van Pelt] preaches and Coach [Jerod] Mayo. So, that's my biggest thing."
It's not just that, says Van Pelt.
"Probably more containing him in the pocket, not being so reckless with the rush lanes, and giving him areas to escape," he said. "I think that's probably the biggest one. The disguises will continue to come up. Any young player - show you one thing and then change the picture right at the snap. So we're continuing to get in to grow in that area."
How Maye - and Van Pelt - adapt in the coming weeks will be telling. They'll see different defenses - the Chargers' Jesse Minter comes from the Mike Macdonald tree, and the Bills' Sean McDermott can no longer be pigeonholed and cooked up an air-tight scheme to beat the Chiefs just a few weeks ago. And while I suspect the Pats will carve up Gus Bradley's static cover 3 approach on Sunday, that's not a foregone conclusion either. How can anything be with this team? That said, the Pats are giving Maye the necessary experience to ensure he's ready to take an even more significant leap in year two than what we've seen from him from the spring to now, and that's been sizable.