FOXBOROUGH – Drake Maye’s playoff debut was certainly memorable on a number of different fronts.
There was some good. And some not so good.
And that left observers both encouraged and worried at the same time.
My biggest takeaways from Maye’s performance in the Patriots 16-3 win over the LA Chargers?
If the Patriots want to advance further in the tournament, and give themselves a chance to get to the Super Bowl, the MVP candidate needs to play better.
That’s first and foremost.
Seeing the type of mistakes that Maye made, mistakes that appeared to be cleaned up in wake of similar miscues earlier in the year, wasn’t the best development, especially with the Houston Texans on tap in the divisional round.
The Texans, with the NFL’s op-ranked defense at the end of the regular season, might not be as forgiving as the Chargers, who failed to capitalize.
Week 9, Maye had a three turnover game in a win against Atlanta. He also had three turnovers in the Week 15 against Baltimore, shaking those off to lead the Patriots back from 11 in the fourth quarter.
In between, Maye had largely been clean. Until Sunday.
The turnovers against the Chargers – Maye committed two (pick, fumble), and could have had a third – were largely avoidable.
Of those, the fumbles are toughest to stomach.
He lost the ball twice while trying to buy time from the Chargers pass rush. Instead of protecting the football, taking the sack and living another down, he left the ball exposed, trying to make a play.
The Chargers recovered one deep in Patriots territory, while guard Jared Wilson fell on the second.
Perhaps some of this was the product of first-game playoff jitters. Still, it was disconcerting to see some of those old habits return.
While Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was measured in his remarks about Maye, it was obvious he wasn’t pleased with the turnovers, saying: “We turned the ball over far too many times.”
Maye was the lone Patriot in the turnover category. So it’s easy to connect the dots.
And, now facing a ferocious Texans defense in the divisional round, a defense that scored two defensive touchdowns on a pick-six, and sack-fumble recovery on Aaron Rodgers in their WildCard round win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, it behooves Maye to be better with the football.
Second?
This takeaway falls into the category of a silver lining.
It was good for Maye to see that he doesn’t have to be Superman every game. He doesn’t have to put on the cape, and take the team on his back, in order to pull out wins.
That’s what the dominant performance by the defense showed him Sunday night. And that’s significant. It takes some of the pressure off Maye thinking he has to do it all to produce wins.
The latter leads to turnovers and bad decision-making. Perhaps he’ll be a little more relaxed knowing the defense is capable of winning a game.
“It wasn’t my best tonight,” Maye said immediately after the game. “But that’s why you have teammates, those guys picked me up.”
Third?
Given how well Maye has made fixes and corrections throughout the year, it’s reasonable to assume the Patriots quarterback will have a better outing against the Texans in the divisional round game, which is next up.
He won’t be so prone to losing the football while he’s in the process of being sacked. He’ll take the sack, or get rid of the ball, and live another down, as opposed to turning it over.
Party of the beauty of Maye has been his ability to make fixes on the fly, to self-correct as he goes along.
To some extent, he actually did that against the Chargers. It’s rare for Maye to stay out of sorts for very long, and he played much better in the second half, than the first.
He used his legs effectively and finally got the deep ball humming. He hit Kayshon Boutte for a 42-yard completion down the left sideline in the third quarter. And his fourth quarter touchdown pass to Hunter Henry was a thing of beauty.
He finished the game completing 17 of 29 passes for 268 yards with a touchdown, and pick. He was sacked five times.
“Just got to be better, whether it’s accuracy or ball placement or little things, making decisions faster,” Maye said. “Held onto the ball a little bit tonight.”
Ultimately, Maye will be better for it, he’ll learn from that initial playoff experience.
During his weekly appearance on WEEI on Monday, Maye said he didn’t plan on dwelling on an outing that wasn’t his best. He was ready to tackle the next challenge.
“It’s in the past,” Maye said of his Chargers performance. “The only way to make it better is to make plays and help the team win in the future.”
Starting Sunday afternoon against the Texans, who will pose Maye’s greatest challenge yet.
