With rookie quarterback Drake Maye at the helm the New England Patriots took on the Houston Texans Sunday at Gillette Stadium. What happened? Here are my biggest takeaways in the immediate aftermath. FINAL SCORE: Texans 41 – Patriots 21
— New England lost its fifth game in a row. But it was a different kind of losing. Instead of a slow, inevitable descent, this was a sudden pitfall with occasional glimpses of optimism.
— It was chaos, Maye-hem. Was it better? It’s really hard to tell.
— The Patriots under Jacoby Brissett were a slow, plodding machine that tried to win every game by turning it into a 12-9 field goal battle. However, it was a boring approach that unraveled as soon as everything went wrong.
— The Patriots under Maye? They’re a brand new Camaro that’s all gas, no breaks and careening down a hill at max speed. Will the team stick the landing? At this point, probably not. But either way, there’s a lot more happening.
— Drake Maye showcased the talent that made the Patriots bet the farm on him with the No. 3 overall pick. He ran for first downs. He bought times with his legs. He threw some brilliant passes for touchdowns.
— Maye even showed a knack for improvising on the run. He showed that on a third-quarter scramble where he drifted to the line of scrimmage and flipped the ball to a wide-open Hunter Henry for a 30-yard gain.
— Unlike the first five games, the Patrots offense now has the ability to slam on the gas and fire on all cylinders. That part is great — if you know how to brake, go through corners and handle the inevitable bumps in the road.
— Oh boy are there bumps in the road. When you live by the rookie quarterback, you die by the rookie quarterback.
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— Maye’s first turnover was an overthrow on a deep crosser to Pop Douglas. Those will happen with a young quarterback.
— Maye’s second turnover was a strip-sack after right tackle Demontrey Jacobs was beaten badly. Maybe he could have gotten rid of the ball. But that’s still a tough situation.
— Maye’s third turnover was positively bonkers. The rookie fired left on a designed screen. However, Will Anderson got his hands up, deflecting the ball. It fell right to the Texans’ Eric Murray, who hauled it in with one hand as he was still being blocked by Austin Hooper.
— The dumb penalties are still there. We’re still seeing bad fundamentals — like with Austin Hooper’s fumble. The offensive line is still injured.
— Yes, it was sloppy. Yes, there were turnovers. Yes, Houston was in full control the whole game. But this is the first time all season where you could say, no, the offense wasn’t lifeless and boring.
— This is the first time the Patriots offensive has had a real sense of kinetic energy about it. With Maye buying time, improvising and firing downfield. It feels like opposing defenses are finally getting stretched. They now have to account for Maye’s athleticism, whether it’s keeping him in the pocket or having to cover receivers longer.
— The Patriots can have as much excitement as they want. But if they can’t block, it didn’t mean anything. This offensive line continues to be battered with injuries. Sunday’s game saw left tackle Vederian Lowe and left guard Michael Jordan leave with injuries.
— One major bright spot was Pop Douglas, who finally broke out with a big game. Maye misfired on some passes his way, but finally hit pay dirt on a 35-yard touchdown on a crossing route.
— Kayshon Boutte also appears to be coming on strong. He scored his first touchdown before halftime, hauling in a beautiful deep ball from Maye for a 40-yard score.
— Ja’Lynn Polk had a rough day. He was held without a catch until the closing seconds.
— With Rhamondre Stevenson out, the running game was nothing to write home about. Antonio Gibson had nothing to work with. Maye was the leading rusher on the day by a wide margin, which should tell you a lot.
— I’m focusing a lot on the offense. But it was really the focal point of the game. The defense didn’t play its best game. But it’s pretty tough to grade this performance.
— The Patriots repeatedly turned it over on their own end of the field, giving easy scoring opportunities to the Texans. Houston moved the ball pretty easily, but the short fields gave the defense basically zero margin for error.
— This was an uncharacteristically bad game for the run defense. They gave up runs of 59 yards and 54 yards. Those two runs combined are more than New England gave up in either of their first two games. That unit is trending the wrong way.
— Cornerback Christian Gonzalez matched up with receiver Stefon Diggs for much of the day. It was a good battle, marking the most interesting matchup on that side of the ball.
— Oof. That was a rough play by Hooper. The veteran tight end initially made a nice play to catch a low pass from Maye off of play action. However, he never quite secured it, allowing a Texans defender to come in and punch the ball out for the third turnover of the game.
