Giardi: For Maye, practice makes perfect

FOXBOROUGH - Where were you when Drake Maye dipped, ducked and dodged his way to a game-tying touchdown pass in Tennessee? The then-rookie made one of those plays that won't be forgotten, even in defeat. That is, if the path he's on this year is just the beginning. After the last five weeks, it surely feels that way.

But the Drake Maye of a year ago wasn't consistently making the types of plays that we've seen over these last few weeks. 

"Just another year of playing football in this league is the biggest thing," Maye said. "More experiences of making throws, studying opponents, studying different defenses. The guys around us. We've got new guys, new players that help make my job easier."

But at the root of this breakout is Maye himself. His pocket awareness has improved, not just from a season ago, but from a month ago. Look no further than a handful of plays he made in the win at New Orleans. 

It started on the game's opening drive. Both tackles were dealing with speed rushes off the edge, and it was touch-and-go from the top of Maye's drop. But instead of panicking or tucking the ball to run, the 23-year-old calmly stepped up in the pocket, kept his head up, flipping an easy, chain-moving completion to Kayshon Boutte on third-and-nine. One play later, the Patriots scored on the long touchdown pass to Pop Douglas.

Later in the first, Maye once again kept his head when others around him were losing theirs. Left tackle Will Campbell was beaten by Cam Jordan. The veteran pass rusher was a half-step away from reaching out his big paw and swiping at the ball. But Maye had eyes in the back of his head,  pulling the ball closer to his body, while turning his shoulders. In that moment, he saw TreVeyon Henderson and flipped him the ball for a nine-yard gain.

In week three, a similar play occurred, but in that one, Maye got loose with the ball, and Nate Herbig knocked it free. That fumble contributed to the Patriots' loss, the last one they've suffered. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and QB coach Ashton Grant have been drilling that into their young signal-caller. And when I say drilling, I mean actual drills designed for similar situations and similar rushes.

"It’s cool to see it translate," Maye said. "The biggest thing that coaches want to see in individual drills and in practice is things translating to the game. I take it really seriously to put two hands in the pocket and try not to run around with one hand. That hurt me last year in Tennessee, I think, on a fumble. So, just trying to have those little things in the memory bank that, man, hurt the football team and just trying to have that in the back of my mind."

"It's great to watch a young player work the way he works, and digest information - good or bad - and try to make progress from it," McDaniels said earlier this year. "Any good player that I've ever been around has followed that blueprint..."`

Later, on the same drive, Henderson had his hands full with a blitzer, and Garrett Bradbury was fighting a losing battle up the gut. All Maye did in that moment was step into the void created and throw a strike to Boutte in the end zone. It was a perfectly placed ball 20-some odd yards down the field, and while Boutte did a terrific job to high-point the football, Maye made it all possible. 

"You've just kind of got a sense in there," he said. "Playing quarterback for a long time, you've got a sense of when things are closing in and where defenders are at. I can do even better when the pockets have been cleaned, not running out quick and getting to the backside of the field on some of the progressions. So, that's what I'm working on. We still have some stuff, some meat left on the bone."

But he can also play the schoolyard ball, and that was illustrated on his 20-yard run that was stopped within a shadow of the goal. Rhamondre Stevenson did an excellent job on a blitzing linebacker. But his cut block left Demario Davis at Maye's feet. Right guard Mike Onwenu was holding on for dear life, and Morgan Moses had lost contact with his man as well. Maye sidestepped Davis, slid to the place where Onwenu and Moses had vacated, then saw a lot of open turf in front of him. He still needed to escape one last hand, but then took off, even throwing a straight arm at the tail end of the run.

"Some of those things that go off script, you see Drake able to run down to the 1-yard line," Mike Vrabel noted, "or scrambling out there to the left, throwing the ball, using the rules to our advantage and taking an incompletion as opposed to a hit or a sack."

A year ago - maybe even a few weeks ago - Maye was just as likely to put the ball - or himself - in harm's way. Now? Those instances have been few and far between, a great sign of growth for a player with just 18 career starts.