Drake Maye was back on the field a week after suffering a concussion, getting cleared to play on the eve of the New England Patriots' 20-17 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
As Maye returned to action, there was a good deal of concern over his health and ability to protect himself. He entered the league's concussion protocol after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from linebacker Jamien Sherwood on an 18-yard run in the Patriots' Week 9 win over the New York Jets. On the play, Maye barreled over a Jets defender before beginning to slide, which was when Sherwood made contact with his helmet.
That play didn't prevent Maye from scrambling in Sunday's game against the Titans. He took off eight times, rushing for a team-high 95 yards in the loss. However, Maye admitted that his approach when running with the ball changed after the hit he took last week.
“I tried to slide headfirst a little bit,” Maye said. “Sometimes I think that’s just as dangerous diving into people’s legs, but I’m not going to change the player that I am. I’m past the protocol and cleared and I’m going to be the player. If they’re dropping out guys and you know there’s some rush lanes up front, I’m going to make them pay. That’s my mindset.”
Maye notably lunged forward on some of his runs in Sunday's game, but he also left himself vulnerable on a couple, too. His best run of the day was on a 22-yard gain on a third-and-15 on the opening drive of the second half. While Maye picked up the first down, he didn't give himself up, getting tackled from behind by Titans linebacker Kenneth Murray.
Maye also made a tremendous play on the touchdown he threw as time expired in regulation, but he did take a good hit at the end of it.
Pariots' Drake Maye shared his experience in concussion protocol 
Maye had a bit of an unusual experience with the league's concussion protocol. Even though he took a hit to the head against the Jets, he remained in last week's game for a few more plays before the league's spotter requested him to be checked out.
That was the last time Maye played in the game against the Jets as he was ruled out shortly after. He explained the difficulty he had with passing the test needed to return to play in last week's game against the Jets.
“It’s tough. You want to be out there, and you want to be out there last week,” Maye said. “The spotter up top, they do to protect us quarterbacks now and you can’t blame them with what’s going on with some of the quarterback hits. So maybe the process — I watched the last game on the sideline, I’m in my pads and in my cleats and there’s some metal on the ground inside the tent and I’m doing the balance test, so there’s some gray area there. I don’t know if anybody could have passed that, but really coming into this week, just trusting it and took some tests and felt good.”
Maye was quickly back in action for the Patriots in practice this past week, participating in each workout the team had, but in limited fashion. He was cleared to play in Sunday's game on Saturday.
The Patriots will have Maye in practice for a full week ahead of their matchup against the Chicago Bears next Sunday. Maybe having him participate in full can help change their fortune when they take on the Bears.
Follow Us
Subscribe
