You’d think by now it wouldn’t be necessary to point out that Drake Maye is the rookie quarterback of the New England Patriots, that he’s only 22, that he began this season as the wide-eyed backup to veteran Jacoby Brissett.
But these aren’t ordinary times. Maye continues to do things that belie his age and lack of experience, such as the manner in which he comported himself on Sunday after the Patriots’ painful 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. What made the loss painful is that New England jumped out to a 14-0 lead against the powerhouse Bills and then frittered it all away, thanks to the same dumpster fire of turnovers and penalties that have had Pats fans ripping their hair out over the past four months. And Maye, while connecting with Kayshon Boutte on a magnificent 28-yard touchdown completion down the right sideline, did contribute to some of the bad. His third-quarter red zone interception was very bad.
Bills ball brought to you by Cam Lewis!
📺: @paramountplus & @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/CAg7KMqnCM
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 22, 2024
But while Maye delivered the appropriate mea culpas in response to questions about things that went wrong, let’s skip all that this time. Instead, we’ll fast-forward to when Maye was asked if the Pats’ glass-half-filled performance — again, they took a 14-0 lead against one of the best teams in the NFL — showed the players have the coaches’ backs.
Here’s the complete answer:
“Yeah, just trying to block out that noise,” Maye said. “I think it’s a bunch of conversations about our coaching staff and stuff like that. I think it’s some BS, to be quite honest. Coach Mayo, those guys, like I said, we’ve got his back, and he’s coached us hard. He wants to win. We all want to win. We’re all frustrated. AVP’s (Alex Van Pelt) been — I feel like — calling great the past weeks. We’re just plays away, and it’s basically me turning the ball over. I think it’s just a testament to these guys that keep fighting.
“We keep fighting,” Maye continued. “Shoot, we’re not going to make the playoffs. We’re out of the race, and these guys are coming in, frustrated when we don’t score. They’ve got energy at practice, and they’ve got energy coming into the game. We want to win. There’s guys not even playing that are yelling on the sidelines and wanting to win. So, I think we’re building something good, building something that feels right here, and I’m proud to be a Patriot.”
Let’s put those words from Maye on a warming plate for a moment while we consider what happened the previous week during the Patriots’ 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz. Late in the second quarter, New England trailing 10-0, the customary network Kiss-Cam shot of the owner’s box revealed an irritated Jonathan Kraft turning to his father, Patriots chairman/CEO Robert Kraft, and then shaking his head and sweeping his right arm across his chest, palm up.
Naturally, that gesture by Jonathan Kraft led to a weeklong debate about the future of first-year head coach Jerod Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Maye was asked to share his thoughts during his Wednesday media availability, and he was positive and diplomatic.
Sunday was different. Maye was stronger in his defense of Mayo and Van Pelt, and he capped it with that bit about being “proud to be a Patriot.”
It’s possible Maye was again being diplomatic, and a little patriotic for good measure. There’s a term, “sports fib,” in which somebody in the sports biz says something that’s not necessarily true, either in an attempt to be polite or in pursuit of an ulterior motive. (I’m pretty sure “sports fib” was coined by Eddie Andelman, who practically invented sports-talk radio when he, Mark Witkin and the late Jimmy McCarthy launched “The Sports Huddle” in 1969.)
Only I don’t believe what Maye said was a sports fib. And it’s pretty brassy for Maye to speak so demonstratively in favor of Mayo and Van Pelt, given that he’s so … so … well, this is why Maye’s age and lack of NFL experience are of heightened relevance this week.
LIVE: Patriots Postgame Press Conferences: https://t.co/0XKWk4XEhS
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) December 23, 2024
Maye’s spirited defense of Mayo and Van Pelt doesn’t necessarily box the Krafts into a corner. In fact, one could look at this as a lucky break for Robert Kraft, since he’s the one who hired Mayo despite the former Patriots linebacker’s limited coaching experience. To play this scenario out, Kraft could keep his coaching staff in place under the guise of placating a burgeoning star quarterback; in doing so it would liberate him from admitting that hiring Mayo was a mistake.
Whatever happens, it’s remarkable that Maye has the fortitude and comfort level to walk into a room of media people with his (very) limited NFL resume and make it known he’d like Mayo and Van Pelt to be back in 2025.
Drake Maye DIME to Boutte for the TD!
📺: #NEvsBUF on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/lyOsqDG3zs— NFL (@NFL) December 22, 2024
Perhaps Maye sees a future in which all three of them, having gained side-by-side-by-side experience, form a three-headed offensive monster that gets the Patriots back into the Super Bowl business.
Or, perhaps Maye’s just saying stuff.
Only he didn’t sound like he was saying stuff. And so comfortable, confident and been-around-the-block-a-few-
It was just last month I wrote how “this is Maye’s team now.” But I was only thinking in terms of play calls and who gets the best space in the players’ parking lot. If Sunday is any indication, it’s so much more than that. And it’ll behoove the Krafts to listen to Maye.
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(Photo: Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images)
