FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots were skunked by the Texans in Drake Maye’s debut, 41-21, but the rookie showed some promising flashes of the player they hope he can be.
Maye threw three touchdown passes, his 243 passing yards were easily the most for a Patriots quarterback this season, and he finished as the team’s leading rusher (38 yards) to boot. Here are five takeaways from a memorable afternoon at Gillette Stadium:
Promising debut for Maye
It’s easy to see why the Patriots drafted Maye at No. 3 overall.
The rifle-armed rookie dropped a 40-yard touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte into a bucket late in the second quarter, hitting the wideout in stride for his first career touchdown pass. The degree of difficulty was lessened for his second, a third quarter touchdown to a wide open Hunter Henry, and his final touchdown pass was a 35-yarder to Pop Douglas, getting the second-year wideout into the end zone for the first time of his career. Maye also took a beating behind a patchwork offensive line — more on them in a moment — but kept popping back up.
It wasn’t perfect; Maye threw a pair of picks. On the first, he overshot Pop Douglas, but kept it from being a pick-six by tackling Texans safety Calen Bullock himself, and the second was deflected at the line of scrimmage. The rookie also missed a few open throws, but it’s to be expected of a 22-year-old that was only a two-year starter in the ACC.
Maye might be a little raw, but the early reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
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Defense gets gashed
Though they aspire to be Top 10 defense, the Patriots looked anything but that on Sunday afternoon. C.J. Stroud picked the secondary apart as the pass rush struggled to get home, and in addition to 41 points, the Texans picked up 368 yards in total offense.
After a strong start to the season for Christian Gonzalez, Stefon Diggs got the better him. The young cornerback was beaten for a 10-yard touchdown and Diggs spun the football at his feet in celebration to let him know. Per in-game tracking, Gonzalez allowed a team-high seven receptions.
Wanted: Running game
Maye’s day could’ve been a lot easier if the Patriots could run the football, but with Rhamondre Stevenson sidelined with a foot injury, they couldn’t get anything going on the ground. Lead back Antonio Gibson averaged 1.5 yards per carry (13 rushes, 19 yards) and that really complicated things for New England’s offense.
OL rotation continues
In Week 6, the Patriots had their sixth different offensive line combination of the season. Signed off of Las Vegas’ practice squad on Thursday, Ben Brown got the nod at center in Maye’s debut. He’d practiced with the team twice but held up relatively well.
Things got even more complicated when Vederian Lowe left with an early ankle injury, forcing Zach Thomas into the game at left tackle. That meant both of New England’s tackles were waiver claims, as like Thomas, Demontrey Jacobs was also pulled from the waiver wire earlier this season. They still can’t find any continuity up front.
Too many penalties
For the second week in a row, the Patriots shot themselves in the foot with penalties, as they were flagged nine times.
Houston opened the game with back-to-back touchdown drives, both of which were extended by defensive penalties on third down. A Marcellas Dial holding call on a punt return went in the books as a 10-yard penalty, but really cost the Patriots 38 yards in field position because it wiped out an excellent Marcus Jones return.
They’re not talented enough to overcome self-inflicted issues like these.
