New England Patriots
“Probably the best thing for him was to go through a little adversity.”
After a somewhat concerning start to the year, Drake Maye has come back to life in recent weeks.
Maye has thrown for 643 yards and has a total of 8 touchdowns in his last two games against the Bills and Raiders. He also added 79 yards on the ground and made better decisions with the football across the board.
Some credit for his turnaround can almost certainly be given to Josh McDaniels’s play-calling changes. He’s deployed a more motion-heavy scheme the last two weeks that’s seemed to help Maye read the defense better and help his receivers get open more.
But, according to former Patriot and now FOX NFL analyst Julian Edelman, Maye coming out of his struggles speaks more to him internally than McDaniels coordinating things better for him.
“I don’t think Josh really tweaked anything. I think this is a product of a 24-year-old quarterback who probably went through the first bit of adversity in his career,” Edelman told Colin Cowherd on “The Herd” this week. “I talk to Josh all the time and he goes, ‘Nothing’s ever been hard for the kid’. He goes out and shoots a 78 at Augusta, can win a 3-point contest, hit dingers when he’s at a home run derby.
“He’s good at everything he does, and probably the best thing for him was to go through a little adversity.”
Maye didn’t look like himself in New England’s season-opening loss to Seattle, and he seemed to get arguably worse in each of his following two contests, having a lot of trouble protecting the football both in terms of interceptions and fumbles.
But, even in year 3, Maye remains one of the youngest starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Some growing pains are to be expected, just more difficult to fathom given that Maye was the MVP runner-up last year.
And, as Tom Brady noted, Patriots September struggles are nothing new.
New England always seems to find its stride in the middle of the season. Even Brady’s best Super Bowl teams looked mediocre for the first month of the year. Bill Belichick’s famous “we’re onto Cincinnati” quote came after an abysmal Week 4 loss to Kansas City, and that Patriots team turned out just fine.
So, Maye being off isn’t all that concerning, especially given he’s already responded to those doubts. He’ll be getting A.J. Brown back in the near future as well, as soon as possibly this Sunday against the Jets. Brown is listed as “questionable” to return for that matchup, but his 21-day window to return to play has already been opened by Mike Vrabel and the Patriots.
Maye and New England will look to keep their momentum going at Gillette Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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