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It has been the talk of Boston. Who should be the New England Patriots starting quarterback in 2024? After the preseason ended, it became clear Drake Maye should be Patriots Week 1 starter over Jacoby Brissett.
Yes, there is a very good argument for Brissett to be the man in Week 1. After Sunday night’s game against the Commanders, Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald laid out a nice reason why Maye shouldn’t be behind center just yet.
“Washington defensive end K.J. Henry fired unblocked off the right edge and crushed Brissett, dropping him on his right shoulder for a sack,” Callahan wrote. “Brissett winced in pain as he regathered the huddle after his third dropback. Three snaps later, he was done for the night. That sack spoke to another nasty truth: the Patriots’ offensive line right now is an abject disaster. A complete mess.”
But, consider what Maye did when he took over for Brissett.
Patriots QB Drake Maye has that special something
After Brissett’s injury, Maye jumped in and led the Patriots on an 11-play scoring drive. He did it with passing, he did it with playmaking, and he did it with mobility. And he did it behind the same offensive line. So maybe Brissett’s lack of mobility makes him the bad choice for Week 1.
This is, of course, assuming the Patriots plan on trying to win games in 2024. And head coach Jerod Mayo hasn’t thrown his offensive line under the bus. He said they’ve fought back against criticism, according to a team transcript.
“They've responded well,” Mayo said. “I will say, going back and looking at the film, the practice, I got that. But if you were to look at the whole body of work with our offensive line, they've done a good job, and they're getting better going forward.”
But Maye said after Sunday night’s game he will address the situation with the line, according to his comments on The Greg Hill Show via audacy.com.
“You always want to support a rookie quarterback no matter who it is with a great O-line and receivers that can catch the ball and make things right and run and make big plays,” Mayo said. “All those things. Right now, the O-Line is continuing to try to jell. Pre-snap penalties aside, I thought they did some good things last night, as well, especially in the run game.
“To your point, you want the quarterback to feel comfortable back there no matter who it is – it could (Tom) Brady back there or it could be Drake Maye. But you want those guys to be comfortable behind the offensive line. We still have some time.”
What does it take to makes things behind sub-par line play?
Mayo also said there’s still time for Maye or Brissett to learn how to thrive behind the line that is in place.
“I understand the season is a couple weeks away, but we still have some time for the quarterbacks to build that trust in the offensive line and the coaching staff and (among) the players,” Mayo said. “It’s not always putting the best person at an individual spot, it’s about which combination gives us the best chance to win football games.”
How about what the head coach says? Mayo said it’s quite obvious what has occurred during the preseason, according to The Greg Hill Show via ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
“What I will say this is a true competition and I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby,” said Mayo.” Now in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work, going all the way back to the spring and beginning of training camp. And we'll see where we end up. But those are the conversations that will happen here over the next couple of days.”
Mayo also said last week, “I think anyone can see the confidence growing in Drake.”
What do preseason numbers say?
Maye’s final numbers against the Commanders, who did not play their starters, were 13 of 20 for 126 yards and a touchdown.
It’s almost as if the Patriots need to find reasons not to start Maye. Jason Garrett of NBC Sports, chimed in at halftime of Sunday night’s game with the overused Patrick Mahomes theory. It’s kind of funny to hear NFL observers talk about Mahomes, and how he played just one game in his rookie season. And now he’s one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. As if to say, teams should always sit their rookie quarterbacks in their first season. Well, look at C.J. Stroud last year and it’s easy to see that’s not the case.
Could Maye elevate the Patriots to the same success the Texans had last year? It seems unlikely, but it’s not impossible. Nobody expected Stroud to lift the Texans like he did.
