Comparing Drake Maye to past Patriots Qbs
Written by Joseph Medeiros
Drake Maye has played 5 games for the Patriots and in that short time span has shown many flashes of becoming great. The Patriots upset the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field 19-3 and Drake Maye had some great moments to lead his team to victory.
While 4 games may not be an extensive sample size the eye test shows the offense has done better under Maye; so much so there is a surprising fact that may be telling about how good Drake Maye is.
The Joe Murray show started the conversation on Drake Maye’s comparison to other Patriots QBs.
Points Matter
One of the main talking points about the Patriots was the offense’s lack of production with Jacoby Brissett at the helm. This is a problem that they have faced ever since Mac Jones’ second season.
Looking at the start of this season, Jacoby Brissett averaged 12.4 points per game(ppg) in his 5 starts for the Patriots.
However, when replacing Jacoby Brissett with Drake Maye the Patriots averaged a touchdown more with 19.6 points per game in his 5 starts. While this is not a high-flying offense by any means, it is a significant improvement from the start of the season.
This number is so impressive that it is the highest average ppg by a Patriot since… Tom Brady. In his 2019 season, Tom Brady averaged 23.1 ppg, which was considered low for the time.
Mac Jones only averaged 19.3 ppg in his 42 starts in the red, white, and blue and Bailey Zappe averaged 16.8 ppg through 8 starts.
Besides the Points
There are many other aspects of Drake Maye’s game to look at besides just points per game. Although there have been improvements with the Patriots offensive line, the unit is still far from good.
This graph shows the PFF grades of the Patriots’ offensive line in both run blocking and pass protection, and the fact the Patriots are still abysmal in both, yet Maye is still scoring more points than Brissett is a testament to his abilities.
This graphic perfectly illustrates what Drake Maye has brought to the New England Patriot’s offense. It can be seen both visually and statistically that Maye does a fantastic job at making plays outside of the pocket. This was an aspect of his game on display in college that has translated well to the NFL.
Where He Needs to Improve
While there has been a lot to celebrate with Maye’s performances, and considering the situation he has walked into it is hard to make critiques of his performances.
One area of a quarterback’s game that is in his control is decision-making, and through five games Drake Maye has shown himself to make poor decisions at times.
As seen above, when comparing Maye’s big play percentage to his turnover-worthy play percentage, Maye finds himself in a less-than-desirable position.
He may have a high percentage of big plays, but he also has a high percentage of turnover-worthy plays. While some of the blame may be the lack of a true receiver, the Titans game is a perfect example of a turnover that could have easily been avoided.
At a glance there seems to be no worry here, Drake Maye looks like he does great against two high coverage. However, when you look at his single high coverage, his EPA is significantly lower than most quarterbacks.
This means that Maye has been unable to take advantage of teams undervaluing his deep ball accuracy, which has been inconsistent at times this season.
Drake Maye has been one of the only reasons fans are watching and it is clear that he can develop into a great quarterback in the league, the better question is whether the Patriots will be able to build a team around him.
Other Content Written by Me:
MLB Odds for Big Ticket Free Agents
What History Tells Us About First-Year NFL Coaches
Worst 1-Year Boston Head Coaches: Ranked
Payton Pritchard’s Case for 6th Man of the Year
Should The Revs Move On From Porter?
