Twist in Patriots QB battle: Drake Maye has 'outplayed' Jacoby Brissett, but veteran QB might still win job

After holding a quarterback battle all through training camp, the New England Patriots still haven't named a starter, and it sounds like the coaching staff is going to take a few more days to think things over.

Drake Maye absolutely outplayed Jacoby Brissett during the preseason, and that's something Jerod Mayo is well aware of. The Patriots coach was asked about the QB battle during an interview with WEEI in Boston on Monday morning, and he gave an honest answer.

"This is a true competition and I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby," Mayo said, via the Boston Globe .

If that's the case, you'd think the Patriots would role with Maye, but it's not a done deal that the rookie will be the starter on the field for New England's opener against the Bengals . In the same interview, Mayo left the door wide open for giving the job to Brissett.

"Now in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work going all the way back to the spring and the beginning of training camp," Mayo said. "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 made another comment that seemed to indicate that he might be leaning toward Brissett.

"We've all seen the horror stories of rookie QBs getting thrown to the wolves," Mayo said, via the Athletic .

The Patriots coach seems hesitant to throw Maye out there behind a Patriots offensive line that has struggled during the preseason.

The radio interview from Mayo came less than 24 hours after his postgame press conference following New England's loss to the Commanders .

Following the 20-10 loss on Sunday night, Mayo was asked about his QB situation, which took an unexpected turn during the game when Brissett was forced to leave after taking a big hit that caused a shoulder injury. Mayo was asked if Maye would be the starter if Brissett isn't healthy enough to play in Week 1 and the Patriots coach gave an interesting answer.

"I would like to say 100%," Mayo said. "He's the second-best quarterback on our roster right now."

If Maye is the second-best quarterback on the roster, that presumably means that the Patriots believe that Brissett is the best quarterback on the roster, and if that's the case, it would seem they're leaning toward Brissett as Mayo said that the best players are going to play this year.

"Look, we always say, the best players are going to play," Mayo said after the loss. "No matter if it's at quarterback or if it's at offensive line. It doesn't matter."

Brissett only played one possession on Sunday night and during his short time on the field, he finished 2 of 4 for 19 yards. As for Maye, he looked sharp at times, going 13 of 20 for 126 yards and one touchdown.

"He showed great poise," Mayo said of Maye. "He went out there, his quarterback rating was [99.2]. He made plays. He was in control of the offense. He did a good job for us.

The rookie quarterback also had a 48-yard touchdown pass called back due to an illegal formation penalty on the Patriots.

Although Maye played pretty well, he came off the bench for the third straight preseason game and that's probably another indicator of how the Patriots feel about their quarterback situation. Brissett started each game, which means he got to face the other team's ones, something that Maye didn't really get to do.

The only question now is whether Brissett will be ready for New England's opener in Cincinnati. According to Mayo, Brissett would have been able to return if Sunday night's game had been a regular-season situation.

"He would've been able to continue," Mayo said.

However, the coach did caution that he's going to wait until Monday before declaring that Brissett is going to be healthy enough to practice this week.

"We'll see [Monday]," Mayo said. "You always feel a little bit more sore the next day. He said he was good. We'll find out [Monday]."

If Brissett's shoulder is banged up, then the quarterback decision becomes an easy one for the Patriots, because that means Maye will be the starter in Week 1. If Brissett's injury is just a minor one, though, then it won't be surprising if he gets tabbed to start the opener.