It was a hard weekend for New England Patriots fans who saw all the other rookie quarterbacks across the league ball out for their respective teams, while Drake Maye only got one drive in the team's first preseason game.
So going into Week 2 of the preseason, fans needed some good news about Maye's playing time. And head coach Jerod Mayo delivered.
"Yeah, for all the quarterbacks, it’s a huge week for those guys to really show development," Mayo began by saying. " Drake will play more this week, for sure ."
The Patriots are hosting the Philadelphia Eagles for a joint practice on Tuesday before competing against them on Thursday night. o that provides both sides with an advantage. Specifically, the Eagles defense will get to see how Maye plays in practice before officially facing him in a game situation.
"But don’t forget, anytime you practice against a team, they’ll get a lot of good reps against someone else and based on that, we’ll see how they’ll play in a game," Mayo added. "That’s all positions, though."
Jacoby Brissett got the first drive against the Carolina Panthers, but afterwards the crowd went wild when they saw No. 10 run onto the field. Maye only got one drive, and he went two-for-three, recording 18 passing yards.
But after that, the rest of the first half and into the third quarter was all Bailey Zappe. And then Joe Milton III got the rest of the game. Mayo spoke about this controversial decision following Thursday's contest.
"We wanted to see Jacoby [Brissett] obviously go out there and operate as well as Drake [Maye], mixing them in there with the ones," Mayo said on Thursday. "The rest of those guys, like [Bailey] Zappe and Joe [Milton III], they went out there and finished up the game. Thought they did a good job. But that was kind of the thinking."
And with that, Mayo didn't decide to just bench Brissett and Maye after one drive. This was something that was decided before.
"That was always the plan. The plan was to get him in there for one series, to get Jacoby in there for one series, and then really turn it into the Zappe show and then the Joe show," Mayo explained. "That was the plan going in."
When the crowd saw No. 10 begin to run out on the field and join the offense for the second drive of the night, the cheers were loud.
Everyone was excited to see what the rookie quarterback could do.
While Drake Maye only got one drive in the pocket, he still was able to make some plays. And after the game, the rookie quarterback spoke about the excitement of playing in his first NFL game.
“Yeah, I think it was awesome. First of all, to get out there in the stadium. Really the first time since I think the day after I got drafted being in the stadium, other than the walkthrough yesterday. Being there with the fans, it was a different feeling," Maye said. "I felt some little chills through my body, but it was just awesome getting to compete against somebody else."
And as for how he handled everything...
“Yeah, I think just enjoying the moment is kind of the biggest thing out there. As a rookie in their first preseason game, I thought I handled the nerves pretty well," Maye explained. "Cheering on my teammates, that’s the biggest thing, cheering on the guys. Loud on the sidelines, engaged, that’s the biggest thing. You know, as a rookie, coming in there, you want to be engaged.
But while he spoke about the things that he did well, he didn't shy away from mentioning what he can improve on. And with that, he is deferring to the film. Maye will watch, learn, and apply it so the next time he gets on the field, he will be even better.
"Take a look at the iPad, at the plays, other than that, on the field, not a lot happening. Threw a screen, first down moved the chains, but I think on a third down maybe should’ve moved down the field, had some routes on the chains instead of throwing to the flat," Maye added. "But hey, that’s why you watch film.”
In preparation for the Panthers, the Patriots offense spent the week going up against the defense. And naturally, that's going to be different then any game situation.
So Thursday night was a big step for Maye in getting him ready for the regular season.
"We’re going through camp and practice with ourselves and finally get a chance to come together and compete as one," the rookie quarterback said after the game. "Thought the guys did a great job, that was the biggest thing, through the rain, through the weather in the first half. It cleared up and was glad that we came up on the right side.
"That’s what preseason is for, I think just a good group of guys, having them make the plays and it’s just fun to cheer on your teammates. So for me just kind of an idea of how much I played tonight and just going there and trying to take care of the football and execute and other than that just fun to be out there.”
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