We're in a strange place.
The Patriots won a game Sunday to get to .500. They were the far more physical team, affected the quarterback to the level their head coach demanded - Christian Barmore wasn’t the only one who said Mike Vrabel got on their ass - and got a half-dozen “x-plays,” offensively, as they like to say over there. Those were all undeniable positives, and a good response to what happened in Seattle.
And yet, there’s this uneasy feeling. Drake Maye doesn’t look like himself. This has been going on for some time — a half-dozen games, dating back to the start of last year's playoffs. It’s not as if his talent went poof and disappeared. We see that version of Maye come out in pockets here and there. But the consistency from series to series, hell, down to down, is lacking.
Perhaps Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels can rediscover that version of Maye. But mostly, this falls on a 24-year-old. There is no substitute for time on task, and right now, Maye’s going through it. How he handles that will determine how quickly he gets to the other side. It’s not a guarantee, but internally, the Pats' belief in their quarterback remains unshaken. Until proven otherwise, mine does too (but don’t think he gets a free pass here. You know better).
On to Musings….
I don’t need the stats to tell me Christian Gonzalez owned his matchup with D.K. Metcalf. All they did was confirm what I saw with my own eyes (I wrote about that dominance in part of my postgame piece). However, who doesn’t love some nerd numbers to put an exclamation point on the day? Per Next Gen Stats, Gonzalez had Metcalf for 34 snaps, the most he’s ever gone head-to-head with another receiver. Metcalf finished with 3 catches for 11 yards in those scenarios, including two screen passes. Oh, and for you PFF lovers, they had Metcalf with a better grade than Gonzalez…
I see you, Elijah Ponder. I wrote that he had a pedestrian summer. I stand by that. But his start to the season has been