Breaking down Drake Maye’s performance against the Bills in Week 16.
Heading into Buffalo as a double-digit underdog in his first matchup against MVP-frontrunner Josh Allen, New England Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye didn’t flinch.
The rookie led back-to-back scoring drives to jump out to a 14-0 lead in Buffalo, before the Bills’ talent eventually took over. The start and finish that resulted in a 24-21 loss, however, represented what the Patriots could potentially be down the line under head coach Jerod Mayo and with Maye behind center.
“I think it’s kind of a sneak peek, hopefully, into some meaningful games here, and hopefully, it’s at our place in the future years,” Maye said following the game. “But some meaningful games at the end, with Buffalo in December, and hopefully — we’re seeing them in two weeks, so.”
The fast start (which was perhaps New England’s best half of football in years) was largely triggered behind offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt opening things up for his rookie gunslinger — coming a week after Maye finished the first half with a negative air yards per attempt.
Buffalo took last week’s game plan right from Arizona, manning up New England’s pass catchers but bringing more pressure in the process. Right out of the gate on the first third-down of the ball game, Buffalo plays straight man-to-man with a single-high safety and blitz from the second level.
With pressure right in his face and in a muddy pocket, Maye stands in and hits Hunter Henry on the crosser for a first-down.
The aggressiveness came later that drive to cap it off with Buffalo again packing the line of scrimmage on third-down and manning things up with a single-high safety. In a 3×1 formation, Maye makes them pay by picking the deep shot to Boutte and hand delivers a beautiful ball down the field for six.
Even after a successful two scoring drives — the second where Maye overcame both a false start and negative run to convert third-and-longs with his legs and arm — the Bills kept their strategy into the second half — leading to one of Maye’s best off-platform highlight throws of the day.
Running two downfield routes (go and dig) against another man-to-man look with a single-high safety, Maye ends up rolling to his right and throws back his left while fading away and getting hit to get a ball to Boutte downfield on the dig.
Credit to Antonio Gibson as well with the blitz pickup which helps creates the 22-yard gain.
This is just ridiculous pic.twitter.com/XRiNoQ6hYh
— Brian Hines (@iambrianhines) December 23, 2024
Buffalo tried to complicate the picture for Maye throughout the day with their blitzes and pressure looks — stacking bodies at the line of scrimmage and making the rookie figure out who is dropping out and where pressure is coming from.
For most of the day, Maye handled things extremely well from the mental side of things.
“I mean, just me seeing it. They’re presenting a picture and then bringing zero. They’re presenting a picture and then dropping out,” Maye explained. “I think it’s just a challenge on me to, ‘Hey, we’re going to force you to make tight throws, we’re going force you to be ready for blitz zero and we’re going to force you to not be able to run the ball.’ Maybe I make a play – not letting me scramble.”
His physical tools also were helpful in those situations — such as allowing him to beat a pair of free rushers by scrambling to his right and hitting Pop Douglas in the process to turn a negative into a positive.
These parts of Maye’s game is what makes the future promising for the Patriots with what hopefully becomes a better supporting cast around the rookie. And, we did not even mention the designed QB run game that debuted to help add another wrinkle to the offense.
Unfortunately, however, the good was not enough to steal a divisional road upset in Buffalo. After back-to-back scoring drives to open the game, New England went scoreless over their next seven possessions which included three drives ending with turnovers leading to 10 points for the opponent.
While Maye went into the scorebook with a fumble and interception, he was low on the list of blame when it came to the backwards pass fumble that was recovered for a Bills touchdown.
On the interception, the post-corner scissor concept is not a clean route combo with Kendrick Bourne getting hung up on the defender and allowing the single-high safety to work his way over to Austin Hooper. As Maye throws with some anticipation and deals with pressure, the ball is a bit under thrown and finds that safety working to the tight end.
“I think, shoot, it was a collision. Definitely had the goal line. We had a concept, and it kind of felt like it was going to be the same type of throw against the Colts to Hoop,” Maye explain post game. “I let it go early thinking he’d break it off and just wasn’t on the same page. I’ve got to give him a chance. I think he was thinking back pylon, so I’ve got to give him a better chance to maybe hold the safety a little bit.
“So, just frustrating we were down there. I got a chance to go up and make it a 21-17 ball game, and just a frustrating kind of heartbreaker.”
Maye did connect with Hooper later in the game up the seam on one of his prettiest throws of the day, although he looked upset with the throw leading the tight end into a hit.
But, Maye then helped extend the nine-play sequence inside their 10-yard line to end the game as he dropped a snap to lead to a sack with an open Bourne running free in the end zone. But, dealing with more pressure looks it took too long for Van Pelt to give Maye answers along the goal line before the quarterback eventually connected with Henry for a touchdown.
“Just got to be better in the red zone. It’s on me,” Maye said. “I’ve got to be better, and I’ve got to be better with getting to stuff and be ready for blitz zero and making plays. At some point down there, it’s a reflection of the quarterback. I think it’s starting to come that way down in the red zone, and I’ve got to do better, do more, make better throws and give our guys chances because they’re playing their butts off.”
The red area sequence summarized the inconsistencies that remain with this offense, but the arrow continues to be pointed up for Maye. The quarterback might just not feel that way until the results on the scoreboard change, however.
“I think when you lose, it’s tough to kind of think about the positives,” Maye said. “It’s so frustrating, and I’m going hold myself from some anger. It’s just, at some point, it turns from disappointment to just kind of, you’re getting frustrated, real frustrated.”