The New England Patriots have some young, athletic quarterbacks who take off running. That’s great. It’s how a lot of quarterbacks make big plays these days.
We saw the benefits from both Drake Maye and Joe Milton, who both made plays with their legs.
“If you look at the best quarterbacks in the league, they have to be able to make those off-schedule plays. … It’s more about the hits,” Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said. “It’s OK getting out of the pocket.”
What’s not great is when those quarterbacks are over-aggressive and trying to run over defenders — in the preseason, no less.
“Yeah, you won’t see me do that,” veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett said.
We saw the positives and negatives of quarterbacks on the run Thursday night against the Eagles. Maye looked sharp on a designed run for the Patriots’ only touchdown on the night. Meanwhile, Milton had a few plays where he bought extra time with his legs and hit receivers off-schedule, as Mayo put it.
Those plays were great. So were the times when Maye slipped out of the pocket to buy time before tossing the ball harmlessly out of bounds.
What wasn’t great was the play where Milton crashed into Eagles safety Tristin McCollum on a run up the middle.
“You don’t want to see them take big hits,” Mayo said. “I talked with Joe when he came off the field when he tried to run over a guy. These are grown men on the other side as well.”
Milton was asked after the game about the coaching staff’s response to him taking a big hit.
The rookie knew it probably wasn’t the smartest choice. But he did want to clarify how the question was asked.
“Me getting hit, or me laying the hit?” Milton said, pausing before a laugh.
Veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett felt the same way.
“He didn’t take it. He gave it,” the veteran said.
To be clear, the 6-foot-5, 246-pound Milton absolutely trucked over the safety on the play. On the other hand, Milton knows that it probably wasn’t the smartest move to be involved in such a heavy hit for what amounted to a 2-yard gain in a game that doesn’t count.
“Just not in preseason,” Milton said. “You gotta take care of your body, and some of the things I got from the vets was just, if you want to play a long time, just learn how to slide.”
Even Maye said that he was a little overzealous in his running. After the game, he said that he would have been better off sitting in the pocket and making a throw as opposed to scrambling outside.
Having a player who wants to run for yards isn’t the worst thing in the world. It shows competitiveness. Even a seasoned veteran like Brissett knows that.
“He’s playing football. As time comes, you realize that that’s probably not what’s best for you, probably,” Brissett said. “He’s his own man. He has to make his own decision.”
Maye and Brissett have two games under their belts. Even with the running, they appear to be no worse for the wear.
The Patriots will probably want both quarterbacks to be more judicious with their running. But for now, it appears to be working out.
